Miami Heat: They Don’t Really Need A Point Guard In Free Agency

As the Miami Heat begin their search to improve the team, attention should immediately turn to their offense. Is a star point guard the answer?

With upcoming unrestricted free agent point guards, such as the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry and the Utah Jazz’s Mike Conley, potentially headlining as the Heat’s primary targets at the one-spot, they are both guys who can dictate offenses and are known to be quality defenders.

Other Heat options are rumored to be Pelicans guard, Lonzo Ball and Spencer Dinwiddie, last of the Brooklyn Nets. Even though they’re potential fits and much younger than Lowry or Conley, they don’t carry that postseason experience that corresponds to the Heat’s timeline.

While it’s possible for Miami to land a point guard and it’ll give a new direction to their offense if they do, a point guard isn’t going to be their saving grace… necessarily. Through the last few weeks, it’s been an easy route to become envious of other NBA teams that are flourishing with a traditional point guard on their roster.

A common example is the recent success of Chris Paul, who has led the Phoenix Suns to their first NBA Finals since 1993 and is doing so by tearing defenses apart as a savvy pick-and-roll artist. The last time we saw a consistent playmaking point guard for the Heat was last year, when Goran Dragic gave a spectator 2020 postseason run in the NBA Bubble.

While Miami didn’t have that same postseason success as they did the year before in this most recent season, it could be argued that they added new wrinkles to their offense. Miami finished in the top-ten in assists per game in 2021 and the majority of credit should be allocated to Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, who combined for 13.5 assists a night on their own.