The Miami Heat should bring a little Boogie to South Beach…
Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that Leonard’s exit from the Heat’s lineup was two-fold. Crowder’s addition and positive contributions set it off, while Leonard’s inability to get a rebound or stop just compounded it. In essence, making him expendable.
If anyone does not believe that, look no further than the Miami Heat having the audacity to put Andre Iguodala and Crowder on Anthony Davis during the NBA Finals.
But where can the Heat go for a cheap fix? DeMarcus Cousins comes to mind.
After suffering a torn Achilles, torn quadriceps, and a torn ACL– all across the last three seasons–Cousins may be willing to take a one-year flyer in order to rebuild his market. All while doing so without sacrificing his body against the Western Conference gauntlet of centers.
Not to mention if Cousins is any bit as healthy as his workout video shows, Miami would have their best legit center since Shaquille O’Neal. That is not a stretch by far.
To be fair, Cousins’ career 33 percent three-point shooting would be a downgrade from Leonard’s 39 percent. However, this is worth sacrificing even if Cousins does not reach his 21.2 points per game clip.
Offensively, his ability to pass makes him an ideal fit with Miami’s ball movement schemes. He showed this while averaging 5.4 assists for the New Orleans Pelicans. Defensively, he is not known as a stopper but he is also not easily moved in the post and grabs 8.1 defensive rebounds a game in addition to 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals to boot.
The only hurdle looks to be if the pull of friends and former teammates, Davis and Rajon Rondo, will bring Cousins’ journey back to Los Angeles.
And if it does, then Miami has to reach for the next big who should be on their radar.