Miami Heat: Victor Oladipo’s Return Coming At Perfect Time
The Miami Heat have a major opportunity in front of them over the next few games. With the Southeast Division more or less wrapped up, all sights should be set on attaining the number one seed in the East.
With Kyle Lowry hitting the sidelines due to personal reasons, yet again, Miami finds themselves understaffed for what feels like the 100th time this season. They are the Heat, of course, so they play through it.
Victor Oladipo is scheduled to be back any minute though. Performing a series of workouts with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, Oladipo is getting closer and closer to his return to action.
The Miami Heat have a major opportunity in front of them down the stretch. With Victor Oladipo’s return, they could cement the East’s top seed.
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This comes at the perfect time for the Heat. With a load of minutes temporarily exiting the starting lineup, Oladipo may be able to slide right into the nightly rotation and play meaningful minutes straight away.
While he is unlikely to fill in for Lowry’s minutes at point guard, Dipo can definitely take a stab at the shooting guard minutes that will naturally become available with the lineup changing. Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent will now primarily be playing at point guard, which leaves Duncan Robinson as the only real shooting guard in the rotation.
If Dipo can return sooner than later, he could see a steady stream of minutes that slowly increase as he gets more comfortable with this Miami Heat roster. With a two-time All-Star returning to the mix, one should not envy Erik Spoelstra’s difficult position as coach and minutes distributor.
On one hand, Oladipo should have a slow easing back into play. On the other hand, he needs to play a lot of minutes to see how he will gel with the roster.
Will Dipo take Lowry’s minutes at point guard? Almost certainly no.
Could he eat into Robinson’s minutes at shooting guard? That looks like a forgone conclusion.
Next. Miami Fine-Tuning Offense And Defense Going Into Stretch Run. dark
The big thing will be getting him back on the court and playing actual minutes, with “any at all” being a plus. What those minutes look like is yet to be determined, but with Lowry hitting the shelf for the foreseeable future once again, Oladipo’s return is some potential light at the end of a long regular-season tunnel for the Heat.