The Miami Heat switched up their starting lineup for their NBA restart opener. Including Jae Crowder, is this a sign about the impending free-agent?
The Miami Heat made a change heading into their NBA restart opener. With Meyers Leonard back and healthy, they decided that he was not the best option to continue with as apart of their NBA restart opening day starting lineup. Yea, that was a mouthful.
In any scenario, the sharpshooting seven-footer was replaced in the starting unit by another guy who has shot the air out of the ball since arriving in Miami as apart of a midseason trade with the Memphis Grizzlies. Jae Crowder has been nothing but a positive addition to this Miami Heat team since he landed on South Beach in the deal that saw the Miami Heat receive him, Andre Iguodala, and Solomon Hill.
That is obvious, as Coach Spo felt strong enough about what he has done to insert into the first unit on the floor. That’s something that the fans have noticed since the beginning though. Heck, we even pondered with the idea of potentially locking him up for the future back in February.
That is the next question on the docket though. Is his sudden addition to the Miami Heat’s starting lineup a foreshadowing of things to come? Is this the Miami Heat acknowledging that they really like what he adds to the team and the starting unit?
It certainly seems that way to me! Jae Crowder has Miami Heat Culture written all over him, it seems to be in his DNA. The toughness, the dedication, the Sticktoitiveness, the grit, it’s all the stuff that the Miami Heat has built their culture and legacy on.
The Miami Heat started Jae Crowder in their NBA restart opener. Is that a sign of what they hope for in the future?
When you look at the actual performance on the court, that is all positive too. He is a multi-positional defender, who is almost as versatile on the offensive end.
To tie it all together, he has been one of the Miami Heat’s absolute best distance shooters since the moment he arrived. On 6.6 attempts from deep per game for Miami, Crowder has knocked down 40.9 percent of them since he’s been apart of the team. That’s production.
So, while we don’t know for sure if this is the Miami Heat signaling that they want him around for the long term, it certainly does appear to be shaping up that way. We sure hope so anyway. That’s why I believe that Jae Crowder’s addition to starting lineup is definitely a foreshadowing of events to come.