It could come down to who fits best alongside Goran Dragic in the Miami Heat’s backcourt.
Following Dwyane Wade’s departure, the Miami Heat have a clear strategy at shooting guard: throw a bunch of players at the wall and see who sticks.
After Wade committed to signing with the Chicago Bulls, the Heat made moves to backfill his position. They signed three-point shooter Wayne Ellington, matched Tyler Johnson’s $50 million offer sheet and, later, signed Dion Waiters to $2.9 million this season. With Johnson, Waiters, and Josh Richardson–who is coming off of a promising rookie season–the Heat have some options at 2 guard.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman, there is no clear favorite of that group to take the vacated shooting guard spot, which has been held by Wade for the last 13 years.
"I am sure that Erik Spoelstra will go into camp saying nothing is set in stone when it comes to the lineup, As he should. But there also is no clear front-runner to emerge as the starter, so it could be a case of Richardson or Tyler Johnson having to earn their way into the starting lineup. This is where the eight-game preseason, as well as the time in training camp, could particularly come in handy, with Spoelstra having the time to experiment with pairings and rotations."
It should come down to who fits best alongside Dragic, as Winderman points out. With Wade in the backcourt, Dragic wasn’t able to play his preferred up-tempo style. Now the ball will be in Dragic’s hands, and whichever shooting guard best matches that style should be the one announced at the starter alongside him.
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For my money, I’m going with Josh Richardson. Richardson is not only a good three-point shooter, which should help Miami’s spacing and pace, but he’s also the better defender of the group. Richardson can take the tougher backcourt assignment, allowing Dragic to take a bit of a break on defense so he can focus on running a fast-paced offense.
I also think Dion Waiters would be best coming off the bench as a sixth man, while Tyler Johnson’s ability to play both guard positions makes him an ideal utility player.
That said, we won’t know until the coaching staff sees them in action in training camp and, more importantly, preseason.