3. Another Option in the Offense
One of the reasons the Heat have struggled so much on offense this season—they rank 28th in points and 27th in assists—is because of their lack of offensive options beyond Bosh, Wade and Deng.
With a guard capable of averaging 20 points per game now in the lineup, Chalmers will permanently be shifted to the bench. In Dragic’s first game with Miami, he struggled a bit on his way to 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Nonetheless, he showed his propensity to score by posting 10 points in the third quarter alone. Equally as important however, ‘Rio led the Heat in scoring with 20 points off the bench.
Before the trade, the Heat’s leading scorers off the bench were Williams, Granger and Cole. None of those three averaged any more than 6.6 points per game.
What Dragic brings to the table cannot be understated. He can drive to the basket at will, set up Whiteside on the pick-and-roll, relieve Wade the pressure of handling the ball up court and set up Deng for spot-up jump shots.
The Heat now have a dynamic scoring option at point guard and have a legit “sixth man” in Chalmers to give Miami some scoring punch outside of the starting lineup.
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