Norman Powell's emergence and play this season should give the Miami Heat the assurance that they have enough offensive firepower on that end of the floor. In fact, Powell has already proven to be the exact scoring supporting partner that Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo needed last season.
For better or worse, once the Heat is back at full strength, they should be rock solid on that end of the floor. The fact that the Heat has a borderline top 10 offensive rating and is a top 5 scoring team without Herro should give fans all the calmness they need. Their offense is going to be just fine.
Powell should give Herro and Bam the exact supplementary scoring punch that the team just didn't have last season, while taking significant pressure off both of them in crunch time.
Through the first few weeks of this season, Powell has averaged 26 points and four rebounds per game on a blistering 48 percent shooting from 3-point range. That's probably not going to be a consistent trend all year long, but it just goes to show how productive and efficient Powell can be.
Throw a primary scorer like Herro into the fold, and Powell's shots and spots are going to be that much freer and come that much easier. Of course, we won't know exactly how these two players are going to fit together on the wing until the Heat is back at full strength.
Miami hasn't been at full strength all season long, but they're close.
Tyler Herro's return is close
Recent reporting does seem to indicate that Herro's return is right around the corner. He's already traveling with the team, and there's at least a non-zero chance that he makes his debut for the Heat on Monday in New York against the Knicks.
I have my doubts about whether that's the right spot for Herro to make his debut, but there is some smoke surrounding that possibility.
Regardless of whether Herro makes his season debut in New York on Monday or not, the bottom line is that he's close. And that should get Heat fans excited. And, boy, does this team need a jump start at this point in the season.
After an encouraging start to the year, the Heat has lost five of its last nine games. Sure, their schedule has tightened up a bit of late, but that's not good for a team that is trying to finish outside the Play-In Tournament for the first time in three years.
If the Heat is able to pull that off, much of that will fall on the shoulders of Powell and Herro, at least on the offensive end of the floor. For the first time since Jimmy Butler was a healthy and motivated member of the Heat, fans should be confident in their ability on the offensive end of the floor.