With Giannis Antetokounmpo finally on the Miami Heat, it might feel easy for Heat fans to exhale and relax right now. The truth is that the work has just begun.
Between the haul of players sent to Milwaukee and Norman Powell's impending free agency, there are real gaps in the current Heat depth chart and a lot of open roster spots. In the months ahead, the Heat need to morph what they have into a juggernaut around their new superstar.
The Heat retained one big piece at a good price with Andrew Wiggins' extension, but that represents a more solid foundation upon which to build. Between the amount of the salary cap taken up by Giannis and Bam's contracts and Miami's emptied asset cabinet, a big trade acquisition is highly unlikely. That leaves one option: free agency — and it's about to get started.
Just ahead of free agency, let's examine some of the types of players the Heat should be looking to add. Instead of trying to guess specific players, I'll instead lay out the archetypes and skills the Heat could use, and provide some examples among the available free agents within their price range.
Shooting, shooting, shooting
This is the single most important team-wide skill to invest in around Giannis, at all positions. Giving him as much space as possible unlocks the most devastating downhill force of this generation by punishing teams for trying to shut him down.
Miami's frontcourt is in a pretty good place in this regard right now; with Bobby Portis coming alongside Giannis and Bam's newfound three-pointer, they have a center rotation that can play next to him for 48 minutes. Wiggins' three-point shot can fluctuate, but he shot 41% last season and has hit 38% over his last six.
Outside of that, the cupboard is much barer. Potentially losing both f Herro and Powell would be a catastrophic hit to Miami's perimeter shooting, and that's going to need to be replaced in a real way. Some names that could fit? Tim Hardaway Jr. has already been linked to the Heat, and for good reason; he was a major piece of the Nuggets' rotation off the bench for the minimum last season. Khris Middleton isn't the level of shot creator that made him Giannis' championship costar anymore, but he may still be able to contribute in a reduced role as one of the league's all-time efficient wings.
Another former Buck, Gary Trent Jr., would fit great, contractual demands pending. Names like Anfernee Simons and Collin Sexton theoretically make some sense, but would give me some pause for reasons we'll get to later. Perhaps Cam Payne is worth a look at the minimum. The Heat could also bring back one of their own, non-Powell, free agents in Simone Fontecchio, though his shot has fluctuated throughout his career.
Whichever player — or, more appropriately, players — the Heat end up adding remains to be seen, but it's all but guaranteed that this is a major need that will get addressed in the coming days.
Perimeter stoppers
A team built around Giannis can't win without shooting, but a team built around Giannis wins with its defense. The Bucks won more games than any team in the NBA three times in the Antetokounmpo era, and they posted a top-five defense each time.
Their formula was simple, yet brutally effective: wall off the rim with Brook Lopez in a deep drop and Antetokounmpo lurking on the weak side. To make it work, elite perimeter defense was necessary. They took their first leap with Eric Bledsoe in that role, then became champions with Jrue Holiday.
Those teams and their schemes had their limitations, but they demonstrated how building an elite defense is key to unlocking a Giannis-led contender. Fortunately, the Heat have a defensive weapon the likes of which Giannis has never played with in Bam Adebayo. Those two alone lay a potentially suffocating defensive foundation, and Wiggins slots in perfectly as a wing stopper.
The rest of the roster will determine how close Miami will get to its defensive ceiling. Davion Mitchell and Pelle Larsson are both quality defenders at point guard and on the wing, respectively, but there's precious little else on the team right now. Dru Smith is an option, but he and Mitchell both give up a lot of height. The Heat need to acquire as much point-of-attack defense as they can.
The problem the Heat face is that just about all of the players that check multiple boxes Miami needs are out of their price range, so they may have to settle for some specialists. Many of the good shooters are subpar defenders, and many of the good defenders are poor shooters. Miami's going to have to find the right level of compromise.
For this need, the Heat have a number of options. Josh Okogie and Javonte Green are shaky shooters that defenses will ignore, but they represent the exact sort of tenacity Miami could stand to gain in a real way. Matisse Thybulle was making All-Defense teams as a seventh man before his spate of injuries. Jevon Carter has made an entire career off of perimeter tenacity, and he's had elite shooting seasons in the past.
Perhaps Erik Spoelstra can unlock Keon Ellis, who struggled to find real minutes in both of his previous stops despite consistent flashes. De'Anthony Melton has struggled to stay on the court, but he's as disruptive a defender as the Heat will find in this price range.
As the Heat fill out their lineup, they cannot make the same mistake Milwaukee did after the Damian Lillard trade. A subpar perimeter defensive unit sets a hard ceiling for any Giannis team. If this is going to work, that part comes with the package.
Secondary ball-handling
This is more of an immediate need thanks to the players involved in the Giannis trade. Without Herro or Jaime Jaquez Jr., the Heat will be without two players who assumed a lot of on-ball responsibility over the last two seasons. If Powell is gone, that's a third.
Right now, there's just Mitchell. He's a huge swing piece for this Miami team thanks to his skillset filling so many roster needs, but he can't be alone. One name associated with the Heat already has been Mike Conley, but it's simply unrealistic to expect consistent production from a player in his 20th season (with one notable exception).
There are fewer options for this role, and it's possible this gets addressed with a trade. But it's still worth it to go through the exercise, just in case. I mentioned Sexton and Simons above; perhaps they could take on some of the load Jaquez took on as a sixth man. I also brought up Payne, a proven depth guard on good teams. Perhaps the Cavaliers, facing a daunting tax bill, end up waiving Dennis Schroder — he may be worth a flier.
Beyond that, though, there's not much in the free agent market. I expect this to be addressed at some point in the offseason, but it may well come from another move. Regardless, these are some names to look out for.
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