5 Reasons Why Goran Dragic Makes the Heat Contenders in the East

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2. Addition by Subtraction

It may be odd to hear this, but the Heat’s roster improved after trades that sent Cole, Danny Granger, Justin Hamilton and Shawne Williams packing.

Miami acquired a top-tier point guard in Dragic along with a project player at shooting guard in Zoran Dragic, Goran’s younger brother.

The fact of the matter is this—the Heat were a struggling team (eight games below .500 through 52 games of the season) when they decided to part ways with the four aforementioned players.

Three of those four players struggled mightily as cogs in the rotation, while Hamilton was a bit player that only saw action during mop-up duty of games. Cole was shooting 38.6 percent from the field, Granger averaged just 6.3 PPG as the team’s “sixth man,” while Williams slipped out of the team’s rotation despite beginning the season as the team’s starting power forward.

By ridding themselves of pieces that weren’t contributing in return for a top point guard in his prime, the Heat have instantly improved as a result.

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D.J. Siddiqi grew up in the heart of South Florida in Broward County. Growing up in South Florida during the late 90's and 2000's, D.J. witnessed the Pat Riley years where the Miami Heat faced off with the New York Knicks all the way to the painful late 2000's seasons where the Heat were a one-man team with Dwyane Wade. D.J. has closely followed the Heat over the past decade-and-a-half, and unfortunately witnessed Game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals in person when the Dallas Mavericks overcame a 15-point deficit to knock off the Heat. D.J. has writing experience as a columnist with sites such as Bleacher Report and Rant Sports, and he is proud to bring his knowledge of the Heat and the NBA to Heat Nation.