When the Miami Heat acquired point guard Goran Dragic from the Phoenix Suns right before the trade deadline this past Thursday, one word popped into mind—genius.
Pat Riley, who has spent 20 years within the Heat organization, has made countless moves that have made the Heat contenders over the last two decades. Riley was the mastermind behind the trades that brought Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Hardaway to Miami. In more recent memory, the signings of LeBron James and Chris Bosh brought the Heat two championships.
Now, Riley has brought another name to South Beach—that would be none other than Dragic.
While it remains to be seen how long the 28-year-old will remain with the Heat, there is little doubt about his actual ability on the court. The Slovenian point guard was a third team All-NBA selection last season after posting averages of 20.3 points and 5.9 assists per game. He shot a scorching 50.5 percent from the field and 40.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Although Dragic’s numbers have been down this season while splitting the backcourt with former teammates Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas in Phoenix, he is still converting on 50.1 percent of his shots from the field.
The Heat had envisioned a projected starting lineup of Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Bosh and Hassan Whiteside after acquiring the point guard at the trade deadline. But those hopes will have to wait as it was recently announced that Bosh would miss the rest of the season due to blood clots on one of his lungs.
Despite Miami missing CB for the rest of the year, here are five reasons why Dragic makes the Heat contenders in the East in 2015:
1. Stability at the Point Guard Position
It isn’t farfetched to say that the Heat had the worst play at the point guard position of any team in the NBA during the first half of the season.
Miami experimented with Norris Cole at PG to start the season, before shifting to Mario Chalmers and then giving Shabazz Napier a short run as the starter. None of these players proved to be the answer to the Heat’s woes at the position.
Now the team will have a legit playmaker to play alongside Wade in the backcourt. Dragic possesses it all—efficient shooting, ability to make teammates better, and he’s a dangerous scorer capable of carrying the offensive workload.
Simply put, that is a significant upgrade over Cole, Chalmers and Napier.
Coach Erik Spoelstra had the following to say in regards to his new weapon at the point guard slot, ”The players will ultimately tell us, but this man right here has an incredible energy, a real battery that we want to utilize.”
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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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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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4. Less Ball-Handling Duties for Wade
Through two-thirds of the NBA season, the 33-year-old Wade ranks third in usage percentage. Usage percentage is a statistic that estimates the percentage of a team’s possessions a player uses while he is in the game.
Because the Heat had a lack of natural playmakers and ball distributors at the point position before the trade deadline, Miami had to rely heavily upon to Wade to not only score, but to set up other teammates while running the Heat’s offense.
With the addition of Dragic, the Heat will no longer be using a natural shooting guard as the primary ball handler. Due to the team’s lack of stability at the point during the first 52 games of the season, Miami averaged just 91.8 possessions per game, ranking last in the league in that category. Meanwhile, Dragic led a Phoenix team that averaged 98 possessions per contest.
Less ball-handling for Wade means less wear-and-tear, which means less injuries for the oft-injured veteran guard.
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5. A Fresh Start for Dragic
It’s no secret that Dragic wanted out of Phoenix. What’s also not a secret is that he wanted to be in Miami.
When rumors initially leaked out about Dragic’s impending departure from the Suns, the Heat were one of three destinations the point guard listed on his wish list. Lo and behold, he got his wish.
Dragic didn’t hide his feelings of excitement upon his introduction to Miami on Saturday:
“I’m really happy that we’re (he and Zoran) here….right now I’m just focused on helping my team and learning my plays. In the future I hope that I’m going to stay here.”
The 6’3″ guard was asked on how long he plans to play for Miami:
“Hopefully for several years. This is a business, we’ll see what happens after the season.”
While Dragic enjoyed a breakout season in 2014, which culminated in him winning the Most Improved Player of the Year award, things soured quickly in Phoenix this season. The 2014 All-NBA selection was unhappy playing in a three-guard lineup alongside Bledsoe and Thomas, which limited his opportunities of handling the ball like a natural point guard. In fact, Goran even played small forward in the Suns’ small-ball lineup.
Now that he has a home where he’s comfortable and playing in his natural position, he’s eager to have the Heat contend for a championship. Dragic cited championships as one of the main reasons for wanting to play in Miami:
“They won three championship rings and everybody wants to play for a championship team.”
He’ll have that opportunity now that he’s a member of the Heat organization.
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