Miami Heat's Problems Start with Their Broken Backcourt
NBA teams lean on their guards for a variety of things: scoring, assisting, shooting, defense and leadership, preferably a combination of all the different elements.
Right now, the Miami Heat would settle for any of the above from their underwhelming backcourt.
So much has gone wrong in their first LeBron James-less season since 2010. The rotation has been ripped apart by injuries, a problem aggravated by an overall lack of depth. The defense has been a little too generous, the offense not greedy enough.
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But diagnosing these issues and, more importantly, finding solutions have been difficult tasks due to how little time this team has spent together. Coach Erik Spoelstra has trotted out 19 different starting lineups during the team's first 48 games. Prized offseason addition Josh McRoberts was lost for the year (knee surgery) before prized in-season addition Hassan Whiteside forced his way into the rotation.
"The most disappointing thing is we're not even having the chance to be at full strength to even see what we can do," Chris Bosh said, per Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. "Not 100 percent, but at least have most of our guys available. And it seems like every time that it looks like we're going to turn the corner there is a drawback."
That makes it tough to get a read on this group as a whole. There is, however, more than enough data in hand to know this backcourt is broken.
An Injured Wade and...Nothing Else at Shooting Guard
Dwyane Wade has been the most consistent contributor among Miami's guards. He leads the team in scoring (21.4) and assists (5.4) and paces his backcourt mates in field-goal percentage (48.7) and player efficiency rating (22.5).
The problem is that the 33-year-old's body won't allow him to be a consistent presence in the lineup. He's missed 13 games on the season, including each of the last three with a strained hamstring. This is not the first time he's battled that injury, and history says it could keep him sidelined for some time.
"This is Wade's third significant hamstring injury over the past two seasons, and he missed at least seven games each of the last two times," noted Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post.
In other words, we can add a new entry to Wade's list of nagging repeat injuries, right after the knee problems and migraine headaches he's encountered.
Given his injury history—and Miami's desire to remain competitive without LeBron—surely the Heat put together a reliable insurance plan behind Wade, right?
Wrong.
The Heat already pulled the plug on two long-shot options: journeyman Shannon Brown and undrafted rookie Andre Dawkins. Their current emergency plan involves the likes of point guard-by-trade Mario Chalmers, organic-granola-raw James Ennis and recent D-League call-up Tyler Johnson.
"Right now we're a little raw," Heat president Pat Riley said, per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "The injuries have exacerbated it. But also this is an opportunity maybe for some of these guys to get a shot at it. I'm concerned about it. But I'm not overly concerned about it."
If that sounds like a glass-overflowing answer from Riley, it probably is one. But somehow, the Heat's biggest backcourt problem isn't their wafer-thin shooting guard crop. At least when Wade is healthy, he can help combat that issue.
There are no such solutions for the putrid play of Miami's three point guards: Chalmers, Norris Cole and rookie Shabazz Napier.
Miami's Major Point Guard Problems
As the table shows below, all three have performed below the level of an average NBA point guard nearly across the board, courtesy of BoxScoreGeeks.com.
With James and Wade splitting playmaking duties the past four seasons, the Heat could afford to neglect the point guard position. But with James gone and Wade shuffling in and out of the lineup, those years of neglect are starting to show.
"James was the Heat’s de facto point guard for four seasons, and the Heat hasn’t found a consistent replacement to facilitate offense," Goodman wrote. "Dwyane Wade has been the Heat’s best point guard this season, and that’s not even his position."
As a unit, Miami's point guards have been arguably the league's least productive.
The Heat's lead guards rank 30th in scoring (13.1 points per game), 29th in assists (6.1), 28th in field-goal percentage (38.2) and 27th in three-point shooting (30.5), per HoopsStats.com.
Tightening the focus to the individual players makes them look even worse. Chalmers' 52.0 true shooting percentage ranks 105th out of this season's 141 double-digit scorers. Cole's 9.3 PER, which is actually a career high, sits 169th out of the 174 players averaging at least 24 minutes. Among the NBA's 92 point guards, Napier checks in at No. 85 with only 1.38 assists per turnover.
Miami doesn't have the facilitators needed to hide these players, so the team has tried living with its mistakes. But that approach carries a heavy cost, like the 43-1 scoring disadvantage by starting guards the Heat stomached during their 108-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.
And it's not just these players' lack of production that stings. It's also the problems they create for their teammates. With Wade out of the lineup, Bosh is the obvious target of defensive attention. But teams are allowed to exaggerate that coverage because Miami's point guards pose such a minuscule threat as shooters.
Look how the Pistons handled a Bosh post-up.
There isn't a defender in the same area code as Chalmers. Bosh made the right read and found the wide-open shooter. Chalmers received the pass ready to shoot, lifted off and fired—and missed everything.
Later, Miami cleared an entire side of the floor for Bosh to attack. But of Detroit's five defenders, four had their eyes on the All-Star, including the ones "guarding" Chalmers and Cole.
Bosh tried to attack anyway, wound up forcing a desperation pass to Chris Andersen, and Birdman hurried a pass to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope—who plays for the Pistons.
When the Heat guards look for their own shots, that only complicates the issue. Sometimes they show a strong aggressiveness to start, but as Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick observed, a lot of their drives dissolve into meaningless dribbling:
Take this fourth-quarter penetration from Cole for instance. It starts out promising, as he has a step on his defender and no great deterrents in his path.
The weak-side defender is Jodie Meeks, who has 23 blocks in 382 career regular-season games. Rim protector Joel Anthony is in the neighborhood, but he's locked in a battle with Birdman.
It seems like it should end in points, either via a close-range shot, a trip to the foul line or maybe even both.
It didn't. Cole entered one side of the lane, exited the other and created nothing more than a contested three that Bosh clanked off the back iron.
To make matters worse, Miami's point guard troubles have extended to the opposite side of the floor. Only three teams allow opposing point guards to convert a higher percentage of their field goals than the Heat (45.1), per RotoWire.com.
Clearly, this spot of the roster needs some serious attention. Unfortunately, no solutions are likely to be found before the offseason.
Summer Vacation Spent Backcourt Shopping
If there's a silver lining to be found in all of this, it's that the Heat could have some decent spending money this summer. Of their six players holding guaranteed contracts for next season, only Bosh is set to collect more than a $5.5 million salary.
Miami's wiggle room could be greatly reduced if Wade ($16.1 million), Luol Deng ($10.1 million) and Danny Granger ($2.1 million) all exercise their player options for 2015-16.
Assuming one of the Heat's high-priced players declines, they'll have the funds needed to chase some of the bigger names on the market.
Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic should be at the top of Miami's wish list. He can rain down shots from distance, attack the basket and create good looks for others.
The good news is that Dragic plans to have an "open" free agency, sources told Sporting News' Sean Deveney, meaning there's no guarantee he'll return to the desert. The bad news is that the Suns are still in the race, and the field of potential suitors could include teams with more cap space like the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks.
Restricted-free-agent-to-be Reggie Jackson could be another target, as he appears to have outgrown his reserve role with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But OKC will have the option to match any offer he receives, and Miami might not even put one on the table. Pairing Wade (a career 29 percent three-point shooter) with Jackson (28.8 percent) could be a logistical nightmare.
There would be similar spacing concerns with Rajon Rondo, and similar restricted free-agency hangups with Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Knight. After those four, the pool of available point guard talent dwindles considerably.
So, what other options would Miami have? It could try to throw a Band-Aid on the problem by chasing a veteran now, either through free agency (Nate Robinson) or trade (Mo Williams). It could take a low-risk, low-reward flier on the summer, hoping to be the team that expands Patrick Beverley's offensive game or helps Jeremy Lin recapture the glory from his Linsanity days.
Or, the Heat could play another season in point guard purgatory, then make their move in 2016 when the salary cap balloons with the new TV money and players like Mike Conley and Damian Lillard potentially hit the open market.
As for the lack of shooting guard depth, that problem might correct itself as Ennis and Johnson get more seasoning. If it doesn't, the Heat could address it in free agency either this summer (Iman Shumpert, Rodney Stuckey, Gerald Green) or next (Evan Turner, O.J. Mayo, Courtney Lee).
With Bosh, Whiteside and, when healthy, Wade on board, the Heat have a foundation to build around. Not every team is afforded that luxury. There are reasons to keep hope alive.
But this backcourt situation must be fixed before Miami can even think about rejoining the ranks of the NBA's elite.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Salary information obtained via HoopsHype.com.
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