Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic shot 31 percent on three-pointers last season, and Pat Riley wants to see an improvement.
When the Miami Heat traded for Goran Dragic a season-and-a-half ago, they acquired the most talented point guard the franchise has had since Tim Hardaway. Dragic was expected to be the NOS for the Heat’s offense engine, bringing it up to speeds to match the fast-paced trends of the NBA.
That hasn’t quite been the case, and Dragic’s time in Miami has been inconsistent. At times, the Heat have ran with Dragic. Most times, though, they push against the pace and slow things down. It’s to be expected with a team led by Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside.
It’s led to a lot of speculation about whether or not the Heat should move on from Dragic, and pursue a point guard more in line with the team’s behavior. However, according to the the Palm Beach Post, Pat Riley doesn’t want to hear that the guy he paid $85 million to is a system player.
"“I keep telling (Dragic) it’s 50-40-80,” Riley said. “I’ll give you 10 percent on your free throws because you’ll be tired from picking your butt up off the floor from getting knocked down all the time for all that space (coach Erik) Spoelstra is going to create for you.“That’s another thing. Come on, he isn’t a player that you’ve got to create something just to make sure he gets space. No, he’s got to be a player who can create and score when there’s no space. That’s part of the game also because when teams start to take things away from you and from the offense that the coach creates, what are we gonna do? Sit you on the bench? No, we’re not going to do that. That’s up to you to go out of the box.”"
Riley gets to the heart of the issue here. Dragic can play to his own pace, whether or not his teammates with join him. He’s not so impressed with Dragic’s ability to out-run guys in the open court as much as he wants to see him make moves in limited space.
He also wants Dragic to play efficiently like Steve Nash–another former Phoenix Suns point guard that Dragic is often compared to. The key here, and the key to creating more space for himself, is for Dragic to shoot better from three-point range. Last season, Dragic made just 31.2 percent of his three’s on just 2.8 attempts per game. If Dragic becomes more of a threat from the arc, it’ll provide more space for him to attack the paint.
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In Dragic’s best season in Phoenix, when he was an All-NBA point guard, he shot 50.5 percent from the field and 40.8 percent from three-point range. He’s a career 35.5 percent three-point shooter. He can make that improvements that Riley wants to see.