2. New Additions
While the Heat have one of the best all-around starting lineups for this upcoming season, it’s the additions to the bench that will lift this team into contender status.
Justise Winslow, Gerald Green and Amar’e Stoudemire are the three big names that were added to the bench over the past couple of months. Winslow was added by way of the draft, while Green and Stoudemire were both signed as free agents. All three were steals for the Heat as Winslow unexpectedly slipped to the No. 10 overall selection, and Green and Stoudemire were both signed to the veteran’s minimum for roughly $1.5 million apiece.
In particular, Stoudemire took a huge pay cut as he earned $21 million just last season while playing for the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. It is the largest pay cut for any player this season.
It is no doubt the definition of sacrifice for the sake of winning. The 13-year veteran said as much following his signing with the Heat:
“I think with Miami, it’s now time to make a push. We have a team that understands what’s there for us this year. We’ll go into training camp with that mentality (of winning) and see what we can do.”
The Heat had one of the worst benches in terms of scoring last season, as they ranked in the bottom three in the league. Adding a former All-Star, a three-point shooting specialist and a talented rookie should improve the bench in a huge way.
Next: Starting Five Healthy for First Time
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