The Miami Heat won their playoff game Tuesday behind strong games by Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic. Dragic showed why he’s the man for now and later.
The Miami Heat came out on Tuesday and handled their business. After taking note of what occurred during the season series between these two teams, did you expect any different?
Behind strong performances from their two leaders, Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic, the Miami Heat got a much-needed victory. Goran Dragic got the start in the game for Kendrick Nunn, with Nunn not seeing a single minute of action.
That isn’t really the story though. The story here is the mere fact that Coach Spo said Dragic was his guy yesterday as the starter.
For me, that spoke volumes. While it was only one instance and directly related to yesterday’s game, it said two things to me. Not only was Goran Dragic the man for now or yesterday, but he is also the man for the future or later.
What am I speaking towards here? I am glad you asked.
If you follow the league closely, meaning everything from draft prospects to pending free agents, then you know that Dragic fits the latter bill. In the last year of a five year $85 million dollar pact that started between him and the Miami Heat during the 2015-16 season, Dragic will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
The Miami Heat are still playing very meaningful basketball, but they have tough decisions to make soon. Here’s why one of them shouldn’t be that tough at all.
Plainly put, he should be brought back. Not only because he has been one of the best Miami Heat players this year.
This is also not only because he has been the Miami Heat’s super sixth man, a microwave off the bench even, all year long. This isn’t even just because he had arguably his best season from a shooting efficiency perspective this season.
It is more to the story than that. Check out this tweet from Five Reasons Sports Network that goes into it a little bit.
Goran Dragic is Jimmy Butler’s closest friend on the Heat, he wants to be here and he can still do what he did today if managed right. He’s not going anywhere this offseason.
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) August 18, 2020
As stated, he wants to be in Miami, Miami should still also want him there, and it’s all tied together by the fact that the Miami Heat’s two best players right now, Dragic and Jimmy Butler, are the “closest” friends on the team. That’s enough.
You combine that with the fact that he is still performing at a very high level, in the playoffs, and in the most pressure-packed moments in general for Miami and you have more than enough incentive to get a new deal done with The Dragon.
Please get it done Pat, please? That’s why Goran Dragic is not only the man for now, but he can still be a guy for later and in the future for this Miami Heat team.