In our ongoing Bold Prediction series, we’ll go through the Miami Heat roster and make one bold prediction for their coming season. Next up is Goran Dragic.
Goran Dragic had an injury-riddled season to forget in 2018-19 for the Miami Heat. He only played 36 games, starting just 22 of them as he was supplanted in the starting point guard spot by Justise Winslow, only reclaiming the job late in the season when the Heat were wracked from top to bottom by injury.
After the NBA draft in June, team president Pat Riley stated that he expects Dragic to be the starting point guard once again next season, so with that endorsement he could be considered the front-runner at this early stage.
He struggled mightily when he was on the floor last season, posting some of the worst shooting numbers he’s put up since his rookie season with a field goal percentage of 41.3 percent and an effective field goal percentage of just 47.9 percent.
He had a free throw rate much below his career mark at .233, surely thanks to his inability to blow by defenders and force them to foul him to keep him from scoring easy baskets.
This leads us to our bold prediction for Dragic.
Goran Dragic will play a fully healthy season leading to a bounce-back campaign
Dragic closed the 2018-19 season the healthiest he had been all year, playing the final 18 games and starting the final eight games of the season. His performances were spotty, but the bright spots were glittering indeed. He had a 23 point, 12 rebound and 11 assist triple double, three 20+ point games and a 30 point game in that final stretch.
While still playing himself back into game shape and rhythm, surrounding by a roster absolutely decimated by injuries, Dragic gave some hope that he still had what it took to start and play at a high level in the NBA.
With no international play to distract his preparation for the coming season and good health with which to work through the offseason, Goran Dragic will come into 2019-20 in a condition and state of mind which we haven’t seen from him at the beginning of a season in some time.
Unburdened from the uncharacteristic injuries (he hadn’t played fewer than 72 games since 2011-12) which hampered him a season ago, and playing alongside Jimmy Butler to take bulk of the offensive burden off his shoulders, Dragic will put up a season worthy of a player looking to go into free agency next summer on a high note.
Put it in stone, Dragic is amping up for one of the biggest seasons of his career for the Miami Heat.