Potential Chris Bosh Fill-Ins for Miami Heat
The Miami Heat aren't in the market for Chris Bosh's replacement. They know better than to even dream that some unclaimed baller out there is capable of replicating his two-way skill set.
But with the All-Star forward lost for this season to blood clots on his lung, the Heat are in desperate need of a stopgap solution.
As the label implies, these are not going to be the sexiest substitute options. Miami might have weathered some injury blows earlier this year, but the loss of Bosh is a knockout punch.
Maybe the Heat survive long enough to make a brief cameo in the NBA postseason. But Bosh's absence officially dashed any hopes beyond that.
That doesn't mean Miami will abandon ship on this season, however. Despite all the turmoil it has faced, this team still currently has its hands wrapped around the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed.
"We’re still in a position where we still have a playoff spot, and that says a lot about our team and says a lot about our character," Heat forward Udonis Haslem said, per Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. "Obviously, things haven’t gone the way we would like them to go, but we continue to work the process."
As the Heat assess the plug-and-play options in front of them, they might find that the following are the best at their disposal.
Andray Blatche
Andray Blatche may have spent the first part of this season in China, but the skilled 6'11" forward-center's name continues to make noise in the States.
He was reportedly on Miami's watch list back in December, per ESPN.com's Marc Stein, and could still be a part of this team's plans. The Heat have an open roster spot if they want to use it, and ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh said Blatche could be an option to fill it:
Blatche is a gifted offensive player.
He can bully his way on the low block, create shots off the dribble and light the lamp from mid-range. In 2012-13, he connected on 57 of his 141 looks (40.4 percent) from 16 feet and out. For context, Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin has made 40.7 percent of his attempts from 16 to 24 feet this season.
Blatche produced at a respectable rate for the Brooklyn Nets last season. He averaged 11.2 points on 47.6 percent shooting, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 22.2 minutes per game. More importantly, those weren't empty numbers. The Nets were 2.6 points per 100 possessions better with Blatche on the floor.
The season prior, his first with Brooklyn, was even more impressive.
"Blatche authored career highs in player efficiency rating (21.9), true shooting percentage (55 percent), total rebounding percentage (16 percent) and win shares per 48 minutes (.153) [in 2012-13]," wrote Bleacher Report's Jim Cavan.
Without Bosh, the Heat need more size. And newcomer Goran Dragic can only do so much to scratch this team's season-long itch for individual offensive creativity.
On his best days, Blatche could fill both voids. That's why he's among the names that Miami will "discuss internally," per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Consistency has always been a challenge for the 28-year-old, and his track record holds some unsightly off-court baggage.
But it's hard to imagine the Heat finding a perfect solution to their imperfect situation. If expectations are tempered and his leash is kept at a controlled length, Blatche might be able to pack a punch on a frontcourt that just lost its heaviest hitter.
Michael Beasley
Could the third time in South Beach be the charm for former No. 2 pick Michael Beasley? If the scoring forward had his way, he'd at least have the opportunity to find out.
One of Beasley's close confidants told Jackson he "would love to come back."
And why wouldn't he? This is a franchise that has already gambled twice on his intriguing-but-far-from-polished talent, first grabbing him with the second selection of the 2008 draft and later swooping him up off the free-agent market after the Phoenix Suns waived him in September 2013.
In blossoming big man Hassan Whiteside and high-energy reserve Chris Andersen, the Heat have the defensive protection to guard against Beasley's wavering focus on that side of the ball. At the other end, Miami's 18th-ranked offense could use the jolt that a career 19.2 points-per-36-minutes scorer would provide.
Beasley only averaged 15.1 minutes per game in Miami last season and still cleared the 15-point mark 10 different times.
But numbers have often been a footnote in his basketball story, taking a backseat to his off-court troubles and on-court struggles in just about every area that doesn't involve scoring.
It's telling that the Heat had Beasley on the roster last season and limited him to only 23 playoff minutes during their run to the NBA Finals. It's even more revealing that Miami opted against re-signing him for this season, a call that "ultimately came down to the coaching staff's lack of complete trust in him," Jackson reported.
Even if this were a statistics-based discussion, Beasley's have trended in the wrong direction.
Last season, the Heat were 2.7 points per 100 possessions better without him.
Still, Jackson included Beasley among the players Miami would consider. And in some respects, the interest makes sense.
If Luol Deng finds more minutes at power forward with Bosh out of the lineup, the Heat will need an athletic scorer on the wing. Rookie James Ennis has the athleticism down, but his .384 field-goal percentage and subpar 10.5 player efficiency rating highlight how raw his offensive game is. Scoring has always come naturally for Beasley.
But Miami must decide whether Beasley's offense is enough to justify bringing him back for a third go-round.
Tyrus Thomas
The Heat were also said to be watching former lottery pick Thomas Robinson, per Jackson, but he's off to join the Brooklyn Nets after clearing waivers, league sources told Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. If Miami had hoped to catch lightning in a bottle with Robinson, perhaps it would see similar potential in Tyrus Thomas.
Evaluating Thomas requires going back further in the archives. The No. 4 selection in 2006, he was out of the NBA last season and made just a two-game appearance for the Memphis Grizzlies this time around. He has suited up six times for the NBA D-League's Iowa Energy and averaged just 9.2 points on 37.7 percent shooting and 5.8 rebounds in 24.9 minutes per game.
He looks incredibly rusty, but there's a reason for that. The then-Charlotte Bobcats amnestied him in July 2013, and he had a cyst removed from his spinal cord the following March.
He's been away from the game for a while, and though he hasn't lost all of his ability, his once-elite athleticism looks worlds removed from his younger days.
However, he is motivated to prove his basketball career will be more than a story of what could have been. He says he's more mature than before, accepting of the role he played in his rapid fall from grace.
"There was a lot I could've done differently to help myself in a lot of situations that I didn't take advantage of," Thomas told Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears. "...I put the onus on myself for things that happened both on and off the court. Just my attitude."
Any permanent losses in his athleticism would limit his impact as a defensive presence, but the Heat have shot-blockers already. What they really need are shooters to relieve congestion in the paint, so that Dragic and Dwyane Wade can attack the rim. Thomas has never had three-point range, but he shot 44.1 percent from 10 feet to the three-point line in 2009-10 and 41.6 percent the following year.
If chemistry concerns keep Miami away from Blatche and Beasley, a hungry and humbled Thomas might be a better addition for this veteran locker room. But if his ability to contribute inside the lines isn't where the Heat need it to be, they might find their best options already exist within their ranks.
Internal Options
After landing the speedy Dragic at the trade deadline, the Heat needed to adjust their approach. And that was true even before Bosh was removed from the equation.
Dragic is electric in the open court. The Heat are tied with the Utah Jazz for the league's slowest pace. Something had to give, and so far those adjustments have been coming from Miami's end, as Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post observed:
"When we get a rebound, it's off to the races," Dragic said after Miami scored a season-high 119 points in Monday's 11-point win over the Philadelphia 76ers, via Lieser. "We can push the ball and make plays."
If the Heat want to prioritize speed, then size becomes less of a need. That means Miami can deploy the 6'9" Deng at the 4, a look that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says they have "talked about," per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Moving Deng creates a void at small forward, but it's possible the Heat have enough to build a workable perimeter rotation with Dragic, Wade, Ennis, Mario Chalmers, Tyler Johnson and newcomer Henry Walker (formerly known as Bill Walker). That would also lighten the load for Whiteside, Andersen and Haslem, who would now only have to cover the center spot and backup minutes behind Deng.
In certain matchups, Miami will need more size down low than Deng can offer. But Whiteside (20.2 minutes per game), Andersen (19.9) and Haslem (career-low 13.6) all seem capable of expanding their roles when needed.
However, the Heat would then be operating with a thin margin for error, and they might feel more comfortable with an extra insurance policy in place. Considering that every possible placeholder for Bosh would be a gamble, it makes sense for Miami to explore all options—even if it knows none of them involve finding a replacement for the versatile All-Star.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are current through games played on Monday, Feb. 23.
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