Breaking Down the Blueprint for Miami Heat to Return to the Playoffs Next Season

The Miami Heat may have missed the playoffs this year, but they have a good chance to return there in 2015-16.

Though Miami finished with just a 37-45 record, that's almost solely due to injuries. It's hard to imagine a fully healthy Heat squad not going at least .500. They simply have too much top-shelf talent relative to the rest of the Eastern Conference.

Even so, a playoff spot isn't going to be handed to Miami, even if it could probably get in by sheer talent alone. To ensure that it punches a ticket to the postseason next year, it will need to take care of a few things this summer.

Re-Sign Goran Dragic

Unless the Heat want Dragic to be an extraordinarily expensive rental, they're going to have to pony up this summer. Dragic has a 2015 player option and has every intention of using it, per the Sun Sentinel's Ira Winderman:

Miami is expected to offer Dragic a max-level contract and could give as much as $109 million over five years, as noted by the Miami Herald's Joseph Goodman. That's an overpay, but not a crippling one. The salary cap is set to explode, and plenty of teams would happily throw money at Dragic. There's a good chance that many contracts given this summer end up looking like bargains a few years down the road.

To maximize their offseason, the Heat can't just retain Dragic, however. They also need to tweak their offense to best suit him as a player. And they can start by working out the kinks in the Dragic-Dwyane Wade pairing.

Miami didn't do a great job divvying up possessions between its two stars last season. Wade posted a usage rate of 35.4 percent, compared to Dragic's 21.7 percent. That chasm was even more pronounced when the two shared the floor—Wade's usage was 35.1 percent to just 18.5 percent for Dragic, per NBAwowy!.

Wade himself admitted that the two needed some time to mesh, and hopefully an offseason of scheming helps smooth over some of their rough edges. Dragic is a super-efficient scorer (58.6 percent true shooting with Miami), and he deserves a bigger chunk of the offense than he's been given.

It would also be unwise to give Wade, who's now 33 years old, such a big offensive load to carry moving forward.

One other tweak the Heat should (and apparently are planning to) implement: a more uptempo offense. Head coach Erik Spoelstra recently stated that the Heat plan to run more next season, saying, via the Sun Sentinel's Winderman:

"

Pace, speed, quickness . . . let's go. Players will see that right away in training camp. We have players best fit to play that style.

"

Basically every coach talks about playing faster, so this should be taken with a grain of salt. But if true, it could give Miami a big offensive boost. Though the Heat played at a quicker pace after acquiring Dragic, they didn't really commit to running. Injuries just forced them to play small (which tends to lead to faster play).

Over 22 percent of Dragic's possessions came in transition. And yet, the Heat still didn't play at high speeds when he was on the court. Miami needs to fully commit to playing uptempo offense in order to maximize his abilities. He's a one-man wrecking crew on the break and is more than willing to attack multiple defenders.

Courtesy of Instagiffer

The Heat need to see a lot more of that.

Find a Rotation Wing

It's unclear whether or not Luol Deng will exercise his 2015 player option, per HoopsHype. But even if he doesn't, Miami should aggressively hunt for a wing in both the NBA draft and the free-agency market. The team is very thin behind Deng and Wade and could use some shooting to help space the floor for its stars.

There's a nine percent chance that the Heat lose their first-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers, per the Sun Sentinel's Winderman. However, odds are they'll be picking at No. 10 this summer. They may want to think about using their pick on a wing and searching the free-agent market for another.

Given Hassan Whiteside's impending free agency, Miami is unlikely to re-sign Deng once his contract expires. They could find a stopgap in free agency and select a future franchise mainstay in the draft.

There are actually a few cheap free-agency options.

Players like Kyle Singler, Wesley Johnson and Dorell Wright can shoot (all hit at least 35 percent from deep this season) and play some semblance of defense. Mike Dunleavy would be a fantastic fit if Miami was able to pry him away from the Chicago Bulls. Heck, even someone like Wayne Ellington or Marcus Thornton could be useful.

As far as the draft goes, Miami should have a shot at one of the year's top shooting guards or small forwards. Two great options (who could be around at No. 10) would be either Kansas' Kelly Oubre or Wisconsin's Sam Dekker.

Oubre is a raw but athletic forward who projects to be a very good defender at the next level. He also shot 36 percent from deep and has real “three and D” potential. He has a few warts—he's not a particularly good shot creator, for instance—but with the proper coaching he could be a great complement to Wade and Dragic.

Dekker doesn't have the raw ability Oubre does, but he's perhaps the most NBA-ready wing in the draft. He was phenomenal at getting to the rim and finishing, per hoop-math.com, and he has the size to play the 3 or 4. He didn't shoot particularly well this season (hitting just 33 percent from deep). But he's terrifying when he gets hot and hit some massive shots for Wisconsin down the stretch.

Develop Young Players

One last thing Miami has to do: Develop some of its younger players.

Whiteside's growth is particularly important. Some of his issues—defensive positioning, avoiding silly fouls—will likely be worked out in time. But his passing (or lack of it) is one problem the Heat need to address immediately.

He totaled just six assists last year. Six. He averaged roughly one assist per every eight games, which is a terrible mark even for a center.

Whiteside is a great pick-and-roll finisher, and he shows genuine promise in the low post. He shot 51 percent on the block, and a good chunk of his possessions came from there.

But his inability to make even the most basic of passes could come back to bite him. As it stands, teams can send help defenders at him with virtually no repercussions. That can't happen next season, not if he's to be a major part of Miami's offense.

With a little growth, Shabazz Napier and James Ennis could also be a big part of the Heat rotation. Napier is already a solid shooter (36.4 percent from three) and showed some slash-and-kick flashes as a rookie.

Courtesy of Instagiffer

His problem is turnovers. He coughed the ball up on 24.3 percent of his possessions, by far the worst rate among Miami's regulars. Turnover issues are common among young guards, so Napier's play isn't a concern yet. But he needs to tighten that up to earn any real minutes next year.

Conversely, Ennis needs to work on his shooting. Nearly 40 percent of his looks came from behind the arc, but he connected on just 32.6 percent of them. The Heat desperately need floor spacing, and if he can improve upon that mark, he could be one of their first guys off the bench.

All statistics accurate as of April 4, 2015 and courtesy of NBA.com/Stats or Basketball-Reference.com unless stated otherwise.