Former Miami Heat forward Luke Babbitt signs with Atlanta Hawks

The Miami Heat’s starting power forward from last season, Luke Babbitt, has signed with the Atlanta Hawks.

After one season with the Miami Heat, free agent forward Luke Babbitt has agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Heat acquired Babbitt from the New Orleans Pelicans prior to the start of last season via trade. Babbitt started 55 games at power forward for Miami last season, and averaged 4.8 points and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 41.4 percent on 3.1 3-point attempts per game.

Babbitt signing with another team in free agency isn’t surprising. The Heat essentially moved on when they signed Kelly Olynyk this summer who, like Babbitt, can play the stretch-4 position.

The Heat could have still gone over the cap to sign him because they had his Bird Rights–or signed him to the minimum–but it seems the team may be opting to use its remaining roster spots on developmental players such as rookie sharpshooter Matt Williams.

In Babbitt, the Hawks will get a player who can hit open 3s and demand the respect of a defense from the perimeter. His presence will create more space for their ball handlers to attack the paint, just as it did for Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters in Miami last season.

At the start of the offseason, I thought bringing back Babbitt, 28, would be a good idea. The Heat could go over the cap to sign him, and he’d be a cheap, experienced 3-point shooter off the bench. He could have been Miami’s latest in a long line of reserve 3-point specialists, such as Jason Kapono and James Jones.

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However, the team opted to go younger and more versatile, which I can’t blame them for. The Heat have several shooters on the roster already, and Olynyk’s addition will help in that regard, too.

Babbitt is a good pickup for the Hawks, and a departure the Heat can live with.