The Miami Heat hope the investment they made in Goran Dragic will pay dividends in the playoffs.
If the Miami Heat want a legitimate chance to dethrone the Cleveland Cavaliers atop the Eastern Conference, they will need their $85 million point guard, Goran Dragic, to live up to his worth.
If you look at championship teams in the past, they always have one thing in common, superstars under team-friendly contracts. Whether it’s the Dallas Mavericks with Dirk Nowitzki, or even the Heat with Dwyane Wade; discounted talent is essential.
The Heat took a risk this summer by signing ex-Sun Goran Dragic to a five-year, $85 million contract, in hopes of locking up an elite point guard in a guard-driven league. He’s had his moments, but for the most part, the Slovenian veteran has not lived up to his deal.
In 72 games, Dragic averaged 14.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, which isn’t terrible, but certainly not the stat-line of a max-level player. The 29-year-old has also struggled from down town, shooting only 31.2 percent on 3-point attempts. His career average is 35.5 percent.
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If the Heat truly want a chance to spoil the Cavaliers free trip to an NBA Finals, they’ll need Dragic to finally look like himself from his old Phoenix days. In his last full season with the Suns, Dragic averaged 20.3 points on 50.5 percent shooting and 40.8 percent on 3-point attempts.
In his defense, Dragic has looked like a much different player since Chris Bosh’s absence. In March, the only full month without Bosh, Dragic recorded a 119 offensive rating, his best month of the season, per NBA.com. He also ended the season strong, averaging 17.4 points on 50 percent shooting in April.
Perhaps the combination of both Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside on the floor at once was too much of a paint-clogger for Dragic, whose best asset is his ability to finish at the rim. But Dragic has been given more room to navigate, and it’s clearly benefited him and the team as a whole.
Since the All-Star break, Dragic is averaging 5.1 more points, 1.4 more assists, and is shooting 1.6 percent better from the field, per NBA.com. Since Dragic’s recent uptick, the Heat have looked like a true contender, winning 65.5 percent of their contests since the All-Star break. They’re also averaging 11.4 more points per game, and are shooting 3.4 percent better from long range.
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The Heat are not better without Bosh, but Dragic might be, and perhaps that’s enough to elevate this team to the top of the East. No matter how you slice it, the Heat need Dragic to be at his best, because without him, they may not even make it past the Charlotte Hornets.