The Miami Heat are in the market for another point guard.
Grab your resumes and highlight reels because the Miami Heat are looking for a new addition.
About a month after Miami extended a qualifying offer to Derrick Walton Jr., making him a restricted free agent, the club has announced they are in the market for more young talent.
The Heat are seeking a young developmental point guard to potentially backup Goran Dragic, per @flasportsbuzz. There’s room on the roster for an end-of-bench type player.
— Locked On Heat (@LockedOnHeat) July 26, 2018
Miami’s ideal pickup is more likely to be a bench fixture and G-League warrior than find any real minutes in the rotation.
With Goran Dragic starting and Justise Winslow, Tyler Johnson and James Johnson providing backup, the new player’s biggest role will come in the hours he gets through Miami’s world-class player development program.
What then, should Miami’s acquisition look like? For starters, he’d need to be cheap.
Real cheap.
Miami is already serving up $127 million next season, a mark that puts the team over the luxury tax line. Young, likely undrafted talent seems the way to go, if only to keep potential payouts at a minimum.
Walton, who played point on Miami’s 2018 NBA Summer League team would be the perfect fit. He’s acquainted with the culture, having served on a two-way contract last season.
Unfortunately, as a restricted free agent, the NBA’s remaining 29 teams have the option to offer him a standard level deal. Miami could of course match it, but it’d likely come at a price higher than the $50,000 he’s guaranteed under Miami’s current arrangement.
With Summer League in the wind and teams eyeing training camps in September, which prospect could be worth a look?
Close to Home
Rifle down the list of suitable talent and Chris Chiozza’s name will stand out. An undrafted player with four seasons of college at Florida under his belt, Chiozza would fill a void in both talent an culture in Miami.
Assuming Udonis Haslem re-signs with Miami – team president Pat Riley expects him to do so by mid-August, along with Wade – Chiozza would be in good hands.
Evidenced by his annual wagers with Heat staff over college sports results, Haslem would surely take Chiozza under his wing, likely bonding over their shared reverence of the “U” chain.
Chris Quinn and Udonis Haslem had some stakes on the line when Miami and Notre Dame faced off. It ended with Quinn wearing a turnover chain to Tuesday's practice: https://t.co/nHgT3hjGv2 pic.twitter.com/8dFgI32Zmz
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) November 15, 2017
Standing a flat 6-feet tall, Chiozza would be committed to a guard role if he made Miami’s main squad, immediately calling to question his usefulness. The Heat have embraced a positionless model. Physically, Chiozza would be limited in lineups to lineups that rely on traditional guardsmanship.
Still, development of Chiozza’s court vision would make up for his vertical disadvantage. During the Vegas Summer League with the Washington Wizards Chiozza ranked third in assists per game with 7.4.
He peaked with a pair of 11 assist games in a five-point loss and eight-point victory against the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers respectively, earlier this month.
Capable of driving the transition offense, Chiozza’s success comes from his quick hands and heads up mentality. He complimented his passing game with two steals per contest through five games played in Las Vegas.
The Heat snagging Chiozza to split time between Sioux Falls and Miami would be a safe and cost effective move. Though he’s an undersized scorer in the vein of Allen Iverson or Isaiah Thomas, Chiazzo showed promise through his collegiate career.
He averaged 11 points per game in his senior season, willing to attack the basket despite his slight frame.
Priding themselves on the contributions from similarly undrafted guards Johnson and Rodney McGruder, Chiazzo could develop into Miami next success story.