The Miami Heat lost more than LeBron James over the summer, they also watched the depth behind oft-injured Dwyane Wade evaporate. Ray Allen and James Jones both chose to leave, and Mike Miller was amnestied a year before. The backup shooting guard position is the most important to Miami, seeing how Wade play less than 60 games last season.
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To find Wade’s backup, Miami signed a variety of 2-guards this offseason, including Shannon Brown, Reggie Williams and Tyler Johnson.
Of those three, Brown is the most experienced and balanced two-way player. He also has experience backing up a future Hall-of-Famer, when he came off the bench for Kobe Bryant in two championship seasons.
As the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Shandel Richardson writes, it’s only a matter of time before Brown is named the primary backup behind Wade.
"The Heat have completed just four practices, but naming Brown the backup shooting guard appears just a formality. …“He’s pretty good,” center Chris Bosh said. “I’m surprised we were able to get him in the position he was in. He’s a champion. He’s proved that he can really backup a very good two guard. His defense is very good. He’s learning the system on offense. He’s going to be a very good player for us.”"
Being Wade’s backup is like being the backup to Robert Griffin III–you have to be good enough to start about a quarter of your team’s games. After being waived from the New York Knicks, Brown went unclaimed for about a month before the Heat picked him up. The lack of demand for his talents is concerning, but the Heat seem more than happy with his addition (who knows, he could have been holding out for a bigger deal the entire time, before eventually settling).
Brown offers a lot in the way of athleticism and perimeter defense, but what separates him the most from the two he is competing with is his ability to create with the ball and get to the rim. For someone who will have to replace Wade for minutes during a game or in the starting lineup some nights, that’s an immensely important attribute.
You can check out our full breakdown of Brown here.
While Brown won’t likely be in the running for Sixth Man of the Year, he will contribute. Remember, though, that Erik Spoelstra often refers to his bench as a “bull pen.” That means if he feels like he needs a court spacer, he could opt to sub in Reggie Williams or Danny Granger at the 2 over Brown.