The Heat’s top three scorers this season will be…
Ehsan Kassim: 1. Hassan Whiteside, 2. Goran Dragic, 3. Justise Winslow. I believe Winslow takes a significant step up this season. He is going to have the ball in his hands more and we saw last year he can drive and get to the line when needed. Winslow was regulated to a spot-up shooter last season, which is not his game at all. With more chances to settle into his game, Winslow breaks out for Miami. I love how prepared Winslow sounds when he talks about the upcoming season. The other two are pretty obvious choices.
Chris Posada: Whiteside, Dragic, Tyler Johnson. The first two are obvious, as the offense will run through them. Johnson is a wild card, but his mindset is to be aggressive and he showed that in the preseason. Per 36 minutes, of the players that made the roster, he was second behind Whiteside at 19.4 points per game. And for a guy that’s going to make $50 million, he’s likely going to be playing with a chip on his shoulder to prove he’s worth that deal.
Simon Smith: 1. Hassan Whiteside; 2. Goran Dragic; 3. Dion Waiters. Judging from the preseason, Whiteside and Dragic appear set to be the cornerstones of the Heat offence. Waiters, meanwhile, is now 24 and entering his fifth season in the league. This is an ideal situation for him to thrive and demonstrate his considerable talent.
Allana Tachauer: Obviously Whiteside and Dragic are one and two, but number three is certainly an interesting question. I have a weird amount of faith in Waiters right now though, for whatever reason. He’s hungry to start a new chapter of his career, and I think Miami may turn out to be the perfect place for him. On top of that he’s both young, but has enough experience under his belt to hold his own. D.W. 2.0, here we come?
Cory Sanning: 1. Hassan Whiteside 2. Goran Dragic and number three (drumroll please) will be none other than Justise Winslow himself. Reverted to no more than a spot-up shooter last season, the absence of Wade will open up a truck load of opportunities for the former lottery pick, who’s proven numerous times he can effectively make plays with the ball in his hands. Expect Winslow to break out in a big way.
Kristopher Keaton: I’m going to go with Dragic/Whiteside/Waiters. Although he’s not always efficient, Waiters can score in bunches at times. I think he’ll be called on to score more this year than he was in OKC last year.
Wes Goldberg: Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic will be the core of the offense and therefore score the most points. There won’t be many games in which they play that they won’t be among the top three for the Heat. While I see both Dion Waiters and Tyler Johnson thriving with the second unit, I think Josh Richardson will become the third wheel of the starting offense and make a bunch of three-pointers off of Dragic and (hopefully) Whiteside kick outs. I’ll go with Richardson.