Why don’t the Miami Heat have more traditional point guards?

The Miami Heat have nine guards entering into training camp next week, but Goran Dragic is their sole, guaranteed point guard. What gives?

Take a look at the Miami Heat’s depth charts from 2017-18.

As a matter of fact, wait, I’ll do it for you.

According to logs at basketball-reference, Miami’s point guard position was primarily held by three players.

Coming in third there was Derrick Walton Jr., a former two-way player who no longer suits up in Miami red. Next was Tyler Johnson, a combo guard who plays like a plucky, undrafted version of Dwyane Wade.

And finally, playing 2378 minutes at point, was Goran Dragic.

Those 2378 minutes represent all of Dragic’s regular season time spent on court. But more importantly, those 2378 minutes represent the only time Miami played with a true point guard.

The idea of the point has drastically changed in the last quarter century in the NBA.

Where Mark Jackson could thrive while scoring fewer than 15 points per game but dish out at least 7 dimes each night in the 1990’s, the point man in 2018 needs a dual focus on playmaking and bucket draining.

For Miami, Dragic thrived in that role, accurately posing as the traditional point guard in 2018, not unlike John Wall, Kyrie Irving or Kyle Lowry. But each of those aforementioned guards has two legs up on Dragic; they each have a backup point guard.

Calling into work sick is awful.

It’s even worse when you are the only person capable of doing your job.

What should be a measly, uneventful sick day, spirals into a life-shattering chaos as co-workers scramble to replicate the afflicted.

Dragic however, can’t call in sick. He, like Michael Bluth from Arrested Development, can’t decide to stay home without warning, unless wants to see his team crumble around him like a shoddily built model home.

Miami’s lack of point guards is partially an outgrowth of tradition and partially a choice of confirmation. When head coach Erik Spoelstra took the helm, he began trending towards his current positionless philosophy.

As a coach, Pat Riley was old-school.

He had point guards – Tim Hardaway, Gary Payton, Jason Williams – and he had centers – Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Michael Doleac – and everyone else fit nicely in between.

However, Spoelstra quickly dropped that idea in favor of his fluid, laissez-faire model, that didn’t limit guards like Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole to being Miami’s only playmakers. Instead, LeBron James often manned point duties, creating nightmarish matchups for traditional guards and help defenders alike.

In fact, had Chalmers and Cole had any higher usage rates in the early 2010’s than they did, the Heat would surely be looking at a trophy case populated by a lone, 2006 chalice.

But while tradition undercuts Miami’s budget for a Dragic understudy, the team’s lack of point guards is also an exercise in confirmation bias.

When Miami’s positionless basketball works, it works. And if it works with just a single point guard on the roster, then why splurge for more?

Unfortunately, the time is approaching for Miami to splurge.

2018-19 could be dubbed the year of the understudy – Terry Rozier, Fred VanVleet, Austin Rivers, Tyreke Evans, Markelle Fultz… need I continue? – all have the go ahead to run their team’s offenses when their All-Star point guards are benched.

As a true point guard in 2018, Dragic understands the measured approach that takes facilitating in equal parts with self-starting. His game is attuned to creating shots for himself and others.

His current backups however, namely James Johnson and Justice Winslow, lack such discipline.

Johnson saw a reduced offensive role last season, while Winslow’s work-in-progress jumper is not a consistent Dragic-like threat.

Miami still has an opportunity however, to enlist another traditional point guard. The team’s training camp will feature Briante Weber, a four-time returnee to the Miami Heat and a defense-mined ballhandler.

Weber’s call up to Miami could help stabilize Miami’s offense in the same way VanVleet kept the ball rolling for the Toronto Raptors. In the G-League, Weber had the green light to attack the basket, which subsequently opened options for his teammates.

Last season he averaged 7.1 assists per game for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, some of which came with slick dimes in transition.

Considering Miami’s current salary predicament, Weber could be the answer to the team’s lacking point guard shortage. Already familiar with the Heat brand, Weber would also free up Winslow and the Johnsons to play to play closer to their strengths, to solidify Miami’s rotations.

Expectations for the Heat must be modest next season. The year will be sidelined (and for good reason) by what is likely to become a Wade farewell tour.

Making use of that time to mix and match rotations however, should be a simultaneous priority to re-calibrate the Heat back towards deep playoff runs.