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The majority of Heat fans woke up on trade deadline day excited by the prospect of adding veteran All-Stars Kyle Lowry and LaMarcus Aldridge. Having traded away the injured Myers Leonard for another wing vet in Trevor Ariza just a week earlier, the Heat looked to be in a good position and assembling a strong squad for a shot at making the NBA Finals for a second year in a row.
Fast-forward 24 hours and the dynamic in South Beach had all changed. The Raptors wouldn’t budge on their asking price for Lowry, and Aldridge had outlined his intentions to join the Brooklyn ‘Superteam’ Nets. However, the Heat still managed to acquire themselves a former All-NBA, and All-Defense man. Victor Oladipo’s admiration of the Miami Heat is well documented, and combining this with him being in a contract year seems to make the trade a low-risk, potential high-reward move. Oladipo has averaged 21-5-5* through 29 games with Indiana and Houston in a stop-start season thus far, but his impact goes far deeper than just his impressive totals. Many Heat fans and reporters are presuming that Vic will slot into the starting five alongside Duncan Robinson at guard, giving the Heat a dependable scorer and playmaker to take some of the pressure off Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. If the inclusion of Trevor Ariza as starting power forward continues, the Heat will have a lockdown line-up with the ability to switch 1 thorough 5 and cause problems for any offense come playoff time.
The Heat’s other deadline day acquisition was Serbian big-man Nemanja Bjelica. A 6’10” sharpshooting big from Belgrade, Bjelica will provide an offensive approach similar to Kelly Olynyk’s - adequate floor-spacing, as well as rebounding and facilitating capabilities at the pivot. He should be a welcomed addition and especially in light of Olynyk being traded away in the Oladipo deal. He will no doubt provide competition for the starting 4 spot, but if Bjelica is to come off the bench he will add a considerable threat and scoring option to the Heat’s second unit.
The absence of a back-up big is concerning, considering Precious Achiuwa’s struggles this season where he is averaging a net rating of -9.2 in just 12.9 minutes per game. With Aldridge off to Brooklyn, and other potential buyout targets Andre Drummond and Gorgui Dieng on their ways to the Lakers and Spurs respectively, it looks as though the Heat’s best option may fall at the feet of DeMarcus Cousins. In his prime, Boogie was a dominating force and arguably the league’s best centre, but those days have passed him by. While his net rating through 25 games this season is -3.4 in 20.2 minutes on a poor Houston team, it is still a considerable upgrade on the young and still-developing Precious. Boogie’s ability to knock down the three ball (a career 34% shooter from deep) coupled with his size inside and rebounding potential will give the Heat a big boost off the bench and should allow Coach Spo the peace of mind to give Bam a decent amount of rest without it being too detrimental to the team. The renowned culture in Miami will hopefully get Boogie back to his best. Don’t forget, he was averaging 25-13-5 just three years ago. The talent is there, but question marks remain over his durability and hunger.
If the Heat can snag Cousins in the buyout market, they should have a solid 10-man rotation for the rest of the season and for another deep playoff run. Time will tell if the acquisitions of Ariza, Oladipo and Bjelica will help or hinder the Heat, but once again, Pat Riley flexed his muscles and reminded the league that he is in fact, the Godfather.
*rounded to, averages of 20.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.7 apg.
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