Power Ranking Miami Heat Players Heading into 2014-15 NBA Season
During a preseason game against the Miami Heat last weekend, LeBron James appeared to accidentally set a pick on teammate Matthew Dellavedova, allowing Norris Cole to drive past the pair.
Video of the gaffe was heavily circulated online, and the joke wrote itself: Did LeBron forget what team he’s on?
The joke, ultimately, might be on the Heat. While James might not realize what squad he plays for, Miami will be palpably aware of his absence. The four-time defending Eastern Conference champion is primed for a fall minus the best player on the planet.
That said, the Heat roster isn’t entirely bereft of talent. Here’s a breakdown of Miami’s top 10 players headed into 2014-15.
10: James Ennis
1 of 10
James Ennis is interesting.
After a stellar college career at Long Beach State, the 50th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft spent last season playing in Australia and Puerto Rico rather than suit up for Miami's developmental league team. He excelled in both locales.
In the Australian NBL, the 6'7" forward averaged 21.2 points and 7.1 rebounds and, at season's end, finished third in MVP voting.
Then, upon returning to Miami, the 24-year-old continued to impress. During the summer league, Ennis led the Heat with 15.5 points on 51.7 percent shooting and added five rebounds for good measure.
The preseason has been more of the same. Across four games, Ennis is shooting 18-of-34 from the floor and has broken double figures in each contest.
"Ennis has the athleticism, length and shooting ability to make him a valuable asset in Miami for the foreseeable future," Bleacher Report's Sam Richmond wrote in August. "He might be third on the depth chart here, but expect him to get some real minutes next season."
And expect him to do well.
9: Khem Birch
2 of 10
OK. Admittedly, this is a bit higher than Khem Birch would be on most Heat player power rankings. But it's arguably lower than he deserves.
Miami signed the 6'7.5" rookie power forward in September after the UNLV product went undrafted and spent the summer with the Washington Wizards. It was a canny acquisition.
Birch was simply tremendous at UNLV. In 2013-14, he posted averages of 11.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.8 blocks. The latter figure was good for second in the nation.
Birch is also capable of helping a team without needing the basketball in his hands, which is a useful skill for a rookie. Take it from DraftExpress:
"Birch is still at his best off of the ball, where he can make the best of his solid hands, length, and explosiveness to finish off of cuts, clean up his teammates' misses, and run the floor in transition. He finished an impressive 61% of his non-post up attempts around the basket, showing the ability to catch-and-finish with the best of them and a better than average court awareness in terms of spacing and movement off the ball.
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Sure, he's undersized for a power forward, but the 22-year-old has the athletic chops and the college production to contribute right away for the Heat. Think Udonis Haslem 2.0.
8: Danny Granger
3 of 10
Danny Granger's best days are behind him. But the 31-year-old might, might, still have some productive basketball left in his old legs.
Though he's played in just 46 games over the last two seasons due to problems with his patella tendon, and his athleticism has taken a significant hit from age and the injury, he still has one valuable skill: The guy can shoot.
Granger is a career 38.1 percent three-point shooter who finished in the top 10 in total three-pointers made for five consecutive seasons between 2007-08 and 2011-12. Even with jumper's knee, Granger should be a helpful perimeter presence for Miami's offense.
“The skills are always there," he told the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson at media day. "Just a matter of if your body is going to let you do it or not."
The Heat are crossing their fingers his body lets him do it.
7: Mario Chalmers
4 of 10
Mario Chalmers is the most consistently, relentlessly average player in sports. You could set a watch to his ordinariness.
According to Basketball-Reference.com, Chalmers' career win shares per 48 minutes is exactly 0.1—in other words, precisely league average. In six professional seasons, he's never posted a mark below .072 or above 0.12.
His counting stats are also strikingly similar from year to year. Per 36 minutes, he set a career scoring high in 2011-12 with 12.4 points. His career low, the previous season, was 10.2. That's a pretty narrow band.
For better or worse, or the point exactly between the two, Miami knows precisely what it's going to get from Chalmers in 2014-15. Entering a season of uncertainty, that's kind of nice.
Kind of.
6: Shabazz Napier
5 of 10
Shabazz Napier had a rocky summer.
Across the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, the rookie struggled, looking overmatched and confused by the speed of the game. As I wrote in July:
"In fairness, “awful” might not be the best word to describe the rookie’s play. He’s been worse than that.
Over the course of five games in Orlando, Napier averaged 9.2 points on 27.3 percent shooting to go along with 3.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
Then, after regrouping, collecting himself and heading back to the old drawing board...he averaged 10.3 points on 27.7 percent shooting in Vegas, chipping in 1.3 rebounds and 2.8 dimes for good (bad? putrid?) measure.
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So it was bad. But there's still ample reason to be optimistic about the 6'1" point guard's 2014-15 prospects.
For starters, his college production was outrageous. In leading UConn to the national championship, Napier averaged 18 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists. He also, per Sports-Reference.com, paced the nation in win shares during his senior season.
Napier's aggressive playing style also figures to help Miami fill the shot creation void left by LeBron James.
It's only a matter of time before Napier starts seeing significant minutes at the point for the Heat. Expect him to take advantage once Erik Spoelstra starts calling his number.
5: Josh McRoberts
6 of 10
The Heat made a bet on Josh McRoberts this summer. It's one that seems likely to pay off handsomely.
The 6'10" power forward shot 36.1 percent from three-point range last season for the Charlotte Bobcats and established himself as one of, if not the, premier passing big men in the game.
The numbers are staggering. According to ESPN.com, in 2013-14, McRoberts posted 4.3 assists per night against just 1.1 turnovers. His 32.7 assist ratio led all power forwards by 8.6 percentage points and placed him 14th in the league. He had a better assist ratio than Kyle Lowry.
McBob is also a capable, if unexceptional, defender. Mavs Moneyball's Doyle Rader and Charlotte Hornets' blogger Ben Swanson broke down his D in a conversation after the Heat made the signing:
"Defensively, McRoberts is no Serge Ibaka—he lacks the strength in the post and agility—but he proved to be a fine part of the Bobcats defense. Charlotte's defense is pretty unique (I'm not sure how many coaches could make a top-5 defense out of a roster starting McRoberts and Al Jefferson in the frontcourt) so who knows if that translates over, but McRoberts rotated fairly well in the defense's schemes.
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Great shooter. Great passer. Quietly effective defender. McRoberts checks a lot of boxes for Miami.
4: Luol Deng
7 of 10
Luol Deng is no LeBron James. Which is a bummer, because 'Bron is the player Deng will be compared with the most this coming season.
But while Deng will struggle (i.e., fail) to fill the gaping LeBron-sized hole in Miami's lineup, he's a crafty veteran with a lot to recommend him. He's a stellar defender (in 2011-12 Deng was voted to the second All-Defensive team) who manages to score at a reasonably efficient clip despite the fact that he's not much of a shooter.
The shooting thing could be a problem, though. Deng and Wade are both limited from the perimeter. When the two play alongside each other, this could create spacing issues that will frustrate Miami's offense.
But Pat Riley doesn't seem too worried about the spacing. After coming to terms with the veteran, Riley told the Miami Herald's Joseph Goodman that it was one of the biggest acquisitions in "the history of the franchise": "Signing Luol Deng is one of the most important free agent signings that we have ever had in the history of the franchise. He is a proven All-Star and quintessential team player, both as a scorer, as well as an All-NBA defender."
Right. A touch hyperbolic, sure, but still a smart signing by the Heat. Deng should be an above-average starter over the life of his contract.
3: Chris Andersen
8 of 10
Blanch at this lofty ranking all you like: Chris Andersen is the best.
The heavily tattooed, mohawked center has quietly become not simply one of the top bench players in basketball but one of the game's most efficient. He's that good. Shame on us for not recognizing it and screaming it from the rooftops.
Think on this: Per Basketball-Reference.com, among players who logged more than 1,000 minutes in 2013-14, the Birdman finished ninth in the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes and second in true shooting percentage.
In summary, Andersen finished ninth in the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes. Ninth. As in eight ahead of him, and the rest behind.
Case closed.
2: Dwyane Wade
9 of 10
Dwyane Wade at 32 is not the same player he was at 31. Or 30 or 28 or 27 or 26. But he's still a pretty darn good one.
Lost in all the hand wringing over Wade's decline is this interesting fact: According to ESPN.com, he finished second among all shooting guards in player efficiency rating during 2013-14. Only James Harden bested him.
Wade also doesn't figure to suffer much from the absence of LeBron. It's counterintuitive, but the stats suggest the guard has actually been better without James over the last several seasons.
According to NBAwowy.com, Wade posted a true shooting percentage of 57.1 last season—playoffs included—with LeBron on the bench and 58.6 with James in the game. And since January of 2012, Wade has posted a true shooting percentage of 56.8 with LeBron and 55.8 without him.
And he notched these marks with a much heavier usage rate, which generally has a depressing effect on efficiency. Since January of 2012, in the regular season and playoffs, Wade has posted a usage rate of 36.5 percent without LeBron and 25.5 percent with him.
All of which is to say: The guard could be in for a better season than we think. Rumors of his demise, to crib an old line, may have been greatly exaggerated.
1: Chris Bosh
10 of 10
Chris Bosh is the best player on the Miami Heat. This is uncontroversial, and for good reason. All signs are pointing toward a monster season for the Bostrich.
This is partly a matter of the new role he will assume. To make the potent Heat attack fly the past four seasons, Bosh spent a lot of time on the perimeter, knocking down mid-range shots and creating the space necessary for Wade and James to make hay attacking the rim.
But now Bosh is returning to the post, which should have a powerful effect on his numbers across the board.
For starters, it's hard to hit mid-range shots. They're the least efficient in the sport. Even an ace jump-shooter like Bosh will improve his percentages by de-emphasizing that aspect of his game.
But it goes further. Bosh is also a sneakily great scorer in the low post. According to NBA.com, during 2013-14, Bosh finished fourth among qualified players in field-goal percentage from within five feet of the basket.
The move inside should also goose his rebounding numbers, which have sagged in recent seasons. As The Washington Post’s Seth Partnow has argued, Bosh's offensive rebounding rates are strongly correlated with the average distance of his shots. Basically, as he has shot the ball further from the hoop, his offensive boards have dipped. This season, that trend should reverse itself.
Bosh might not exactly be an MVP candidate, but he's the best the Heat have. 2010 was a long time ago for the franchise, but a 20/10 season could be in reach for its top weapon.
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