Miami Heat Rumors: Victor Oladipo the Pacer to want, sorry Myles Turner

The Miami Heat will be looking to make upgrades and additions following this season. While the Pacers do have a desired piece, it’s not Myles Turner.

The Miami Heat are in a very funny, but ideal, position. They are perhaps good enough to win big now, with more development to their current group and young players, but they are also primed to be able to go out and get a guy on the open market.

While Giannis Antetokounmpo is the big fish or the whale in Pat Riley talk, there are several other smaller catches that could be made, although not tiny, just smaller than getting The Greek Freak would be.

One name that has come up over the last season or so, and continues to do so, is that of Victor Oladipo. A combo guard capable of running either guard spot with high efficiency, a two-way player, and a guy built in the mold of the Miami Heat Culture, Oladipo would be the ideal fit with the exact crop of talent the Heat have now, save for the piece or two it would take to land him in a trade if it happened that way or to clear space for his role (Kendrick Nunn would be an excellent trade chip).

That’s only providing if the Heat and Pat Riley feel as though they can’t wait until free agency, which they can or that they won’t land The Freak, which we don’t know about at the moment. Heck, having Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Victor Oladipo may further entice Giannis to join, but who knows, about that in general or about how extremely hard those numbers would be to crunch.

If anybody could do it though, it’s Pat Riley. If he wants you, he always gets his guy.

The Miami Heat may be interested in a current Indiana Pacer. He’s a rim attacker though, not a rim protector.

In any situation, some people think that the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat should be willing to do a deal before next summer’s free agency where Victor Oladipo would be a free agent, except for, the deal wouldn’t be for Dipo.

Josh Wilson of 8 points 9 seconds tends to believe that Myles Turner would be the ideal piece of the Pacers’ for the Miami Heat to inquire about. He stands firm on the grounds that Turner, a rim protector and capable floor spacer from five position, would be ideal next to Bam Adebayo. This goes especially considering Meyers Leonard’s effectiveness in Miami, but lack of rim-protecting prowess.

His most sturdy point is the clunky fit betwixt first-time All-Star Domatis Sabonis and Turner, but that’s just where we will start in our case against.

Turner would have the same impact on Bam. Although I would say Bam is an overall more versatile player than Sabonis, they both have very similar skillsets and abilities. With both doing most of their damage and their best work from the free-throw line to the rim, Turner would only serve to clunk it up for Bam as well.

Meyers Leonard works because he stays out of the way or floats along the perimeter, as opposed to anchoring down in the paint. The secondary points are these, Turner’s scoring and three-point percentage are down, based on the last three seasons.

Let’s also throw in the fact that Meyers Leonard may not only be cheaper to bring back after the end of his current deal and when you pair that with what we mentioned earlier, about how his natural fit is a much better one for Bam than Turner’s, you stay with what you have if it’s your desire to keep a 7-footer beside Bam.

For a cherry on top of it all, Leonard is shooting nearly 10 percentage points higher from distance than Turner is and the answer becomes a self-explanatory one. So, while his defensive prowess may be better, it won’t matter if he totally wrecks offensive spacing.

Besides, the Miami Heat will probably just wait Oladipo out, meaning that they won’t be dealing for anyone. This is especially why it won’t be for Myles Turner.