With the season officially over for everyone, nonetheless the Miami Heat, it’s time to fully reflect. Upon doing so, one immediate thought is about how the Heat’s run through the playoffs revealed several problems on the roster.
One such issue, of the glaring variety, has to be playmaking. The playoffs showed that the Heat need more playmakers to move the offense and take advantage of the attention that Jimmy Butler draws.
According to Miami’s on-court stats, the Heat’s offense racks up double-digit assists when eight different players are on the court.
However, when Bam Adedabyo, Butler, or Kyle Lowry are off the court, the Heat average just six assists.
Precise moves are in order to add pieces to the roster who can create offense. Adebayo relies heavily on the initiation of other players, while Lowry spent the playoffs saddled with injury.
With so much of the scoring sitting on Butler’s shoulders in the postseason, the offense seemed inevitably doomed to fail in hindsight. Fortunately, free agency is littered with playmakers for the Heat to find in an effort to bolster the creation on the roster.
Miami Heat: Building Their Playmaking Should Be Offseason Priority
There is an absolute goldmine in the free-agent market. For Miami’s purposes, some promising prospects are Jalen Brunson, Tyus Jones, and Ricky Rubio.
The Unrestricted Market Is Loaded
Jones set the assist to turnover ratio record again last year and is a careful distributor. He elevates everyone around him by making few mistakes and getting teammates the ball at precisely the right moments.
Rubio is older, not the defender he used to be, but possesses the same calculating qualities as Jones. Both could be affordable additions and go a long way towards creating space on the floor.
Jones could potentially start and both would be money coming off the bench without needing to move much capital around the with the books. Brunson is an old-school guard who showed real chops in these past NBA playoffs.
The Villanova guard averaged 21 points and nearly four assists in the playoffs, while his on/off-court stats showed Brunson’s impact on the ball movement. With Brunson on the court, the Dallas Mavericks averaged over 14 assists, compared to just four when he was on the bench.
But, the Mavs are already aggressively pursuing Brunson, so the Miami Heat would need to move pieces to create budget space. It can be done though if that’s what they are looking to do.
Miami Heat: There Are Several Different Ways That They Could Go About It
There is just one restricted free agent the Heat could bring in to address the playmaking deficit: Collin Sexton.
Restricted Pieces To Chase
The Alabama guard had made strides every year of his career before an early injury sidelined him in 2021. Sexton averaged three assists in his first two years before getting over four in his third year.
His assist percentage jumped from 15.1 to 22.6 from his second to third seasons. The Cleveland Cavaliers distributor is another player Miami will need to move contracts for if the team ever looks to bring Sexton to South Florida.
Moving off the Lowry or Duncan Robinson contracts could create the space. The downside is the challenge of making a move to make a move, likely compromising the depth of the roster in the process.
Whatever the future holds, there are a plethora of players on the market to get the rock moving in the Miami Heat’s offense more. Even more crucial, nearly all of the options boast playoff experience, critical to a Miami Heat team hoping t make another run for the title as soon as this coming season.