Best 2015 Free Agents for Miami Heat to Pair with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh
The Miami Heat, at least in recent years, have always been about building teams through free agency.
It was through free agency that Pat Riley built the “Big Three” of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. It was through free agency that the Heat put together their team this season. And it'll be through free agency (with maybe a trade or two sprinkled in) that Miami builds upon its current core.
That makes this summer's free-agency crop more than a little important for the Heat. Miami's best chance to make a splashy signing is in 2016, when most of its salary clears the books, per HoopsHype. But with some luck, it could do the same this summer. And at worst, Miami can make some valuable depth signings.
The Heat need to focus on players who will fit well next to Bosh and Wade while making sure to address the need for wing depth. Let's take a look some of the role players Miami should be targeting.
Luke Babbitt
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As far as pure shooting is concerned, only Kyle Korver has outplayed Luke Babbitt this season.
Babbitt is connecting on a whopping 51 percent of his threes. He ranks in the 97th percentile in terms of points per possession on catch-and-shoot looks, and the vast majority of his shots are of that variety. He's also somehow shooting even better from the corners (54 percent).
Babbitt has a lightning-fast release, and he's nearly as good at shooting on the move as he is launching from a standstill. That makes him a tough cover for forwards who like to dive into the paint to provide weak-side help. Watch how he takes advantage of some ball-watching by Luis Scola with a hard cut toward the left corner.
He can't create his own offense, but fortunately, Babbitt is aware of this. The ball never sticks in his hands. Over 80 percent of his shots have come after zero or one dribble, and he's only holding the ball for about 18 seconds per game. Because of that, he rarely turns it over.
Even if some of Babbitt's shooting is unsustainable (he's only taken 94 threes this season), he spaces the floor like few players in the league. The Wade-Hassan Whiteside pick-and-roll combination would be lethal with the right shooters waiting in the corners.
It's hard to find a better one than Babbitt.
Rasual Butler
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Rasual Butler is a tough player to peg.
Like Babbitt, Butler is primarily a shooter. But unlike Babbitt, it's hard to nail down exactly how good he is from deep. He's connecting on 41 percent of his outside shots this season. But he's a career 36.4 percent three-point shooter and has cooled off after a blistering start.
In 2015, Butler is hitting just 31 percent from three compared to 49.4 percent over the first two months of the season.
He probably lands somewhere in the middle of those two marks—the high 30s or low 40s. It's hard to say for certain, though, and the Heat may feel their money is better spent on a sure thing. But it would be unwise to completely overlook Butler.
He's 35 years old and probably won't be looking for a lengthy deal. He also adds flexibility as a combo 2/3 and has a little off-the-bounce punch to boot.
The Washington Wizards don't often ask him to create shots off the dribble. But he does it occasionally, and he does it with some success. Butler doesn't have the tightest handle, but he's quicker than you'd expect and is a great finisher (69 percent at the rim).
It's nice to have guys who can provide a little of that. The league's best defenses are able to collapse onto ball-handlers and make crazy closeouts to contest three-pointers. Players who can get those defenders to bite on pump fakes for easy dribble-drives into the paint are very valuable.
Butler can, at times, provide that.
Goran Dragic
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This is an obvious one.
Goran Dragic fits well on the Heat because he'd quite honestly fit well on any team. He's one of the most efficient guards in the league (57 percent true shooting this season), a dynamite passer and a terror in transition. He also partners all of that with average defense and solid three-point shooting. There aren't many more well-rounded point guards in the game.
What makes the idea of Dragic staying in Miami so enticing, however, is how well he could complement Bosh and Whiteside.
The high point of Dragic's NBA career was last season, when he got to play heavy minutes alongside Channing Frye. Last March, he told Grantland's Kirk Goldsberry:
"This year, when we play pick-and-roll, Channing stretches the floor so I have room to operate; I can get inside the paint and make other plays for him and everybody else. He just gives us that spacing, and especially for me and Eric he makes things much easier because nobody can rotate from him.
"
You can see an example of what he's saying right here. The New Orleans Pelicans' Jeff Withey has to stay glued to Frye as he sets a screen. That all but eliminates him as a help defender as Dragic ignores the screen and zips right by Austin Rivers for an easy basket.
Like Frye, Bosh is an elite pick-and-pop target who pulls defending bigs toward him with his shooting. But in Miami, Dragic would also get the chance to play alongside an elite roll man in Whiteside.
That's something he's never experienced before, and it would be a blast to see. He's such a smart pick-and-roll player that it's hard to imagine he couldn't help lift the Heat to something like a top-10 or even top-five offense.
Mike Dunleavy
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Mike Dunleavy has been awesome for the Chicago Bulls over the past few seasons, so it's entirely possible that he doesn't plan on looking around much in the offseason. But if he does end up wanting a change of scenery, Miami should push hard to sign him.
Similar to Babbitt and Butler, Dunleavy is a knockdown shooter—noticing a pattern here? He's hitting 41 percent of his outside shots this season and has been really terrific from deep over the past five years.
He adds a little more offensive variety than most spot-up threats. While he's at his best as a standard catch-and-shoot target from the corners, Chicago uses Dunleavy to attack defenses in all sorts of ways. Handoffs and pin-down screens are particular favorites.
The Bulls sometimes use those plays to get him on the move toward the basket. Dunleavy isn't a guy you want running high pick-and-rolls all game long. But he's surprisingly decent off the dribble, especially if he gets jump-started through a screen. He's shooting 53 percent on drives for the year.
Dunleavy is also a solid defender, especially compared to most pure shooters. ESPN's real-plus-minus system ranks him as a slight positive, and he's been a part of some vicious defensive lineups.
Jonas Jerebko
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Honestly, Jonas Jerebko's presence might be unnecessary on the Heat. Assuming health, Miami's frontcourt rotation of Bosh, Whiteside, Josh McRoberts and Chris Andersen is solid.
However, Jerebko is a good player who seems weirdly undervalued in the league (as evidenced by his being traded to the Boston Celtics for Tayshaun Prince). If the Heat can get him for cheap, he'd be a great signing, even if he is superfluous on the roster.
Jerebko, like Bosh, is one of just a few bigs in the league who can connect from outside and play solid defense. He's hitting 39 percent from deep on the year, and opponents are shooting 2.5 percent lower than their season averages against him. He's rangy for a 4/5 and covers a lot of ground defensively. He's even played spot minutes at the 3 in the past, per 82games.com.
Offensively, he can also do some fun off-the-dribble scoring at times. It's not a huge part of his game, but Jerebko can catch passes at the top of the key for one-dribble attacks, or he can score on nifty fake handoffs like this one.
Again, when healthy, the Heat's frontcourt is set, and Jerebko's game overlaps with some of the bigs already on the roster. But he'd be a sneaky value signing and could even be flipped later on if need be.
Wesley Johnson
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Wesley Johnson was tagged with the “bust” label after experiencing a rocky (read: bad) first few years in the NBA. But he's made incremental strides in his game since then and has actually morphed into a very playable wing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Johnson isn't an elite three-point shooter, but he's hit 37 percent from deep over the past two seasons, including 41 percent on catch-and-shoot looks. As a spot-up threat alone, he's dangerous.
Unfortunately, he's been asked to take on a fair bit of shot-creating in Los Angeles. And that's something he doesn't do well. He's not a particularly good ball-handler and launches a lot of deep twos because he can't find a way to the rim.
In Miami, he wouldn't have to do nearly as much offensively.
What makes Johnson really intriguing is the potential defensive punch he could provide the Heat. He's only a so-so defender at the moment—NBA tracking data and ESPN's real-plus-minus system both have him slotted as a slight negative to neutral presence. But he's a springy athlete who would fit nicely in the Heat's blitz-heavy defensive scheme.
Even if he only does an adequate job defensively, Johnson's length and ability to check multiple positions could be big. If possible, Miami should avoid having Wade check the league's best players every night.
Johnson could make that a reality.
Al-Farouq Aminu
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Al-Farouq Aminu has the ability to opt out of his deal this summer, per HoopsHype. And considering how well he's played for the Dallas Mavericks, it wouldn't be surprising to see him test the market.
Unlike virtually everyone else on this list, Aminu is a poor shooter. He's hitting 26.4 percent of his threes this year and is a career 28.4 percent shooter from behind the arc. Needless to say, he wouldn't be doing much floor spacing for the Heat.
He would, however, give Miami a super-versatile wing defender to throw at just about anyone on the opponent's roster.
Aminu is big (he's 6'9”), he's lengthy and he has played all sorts of positions for the Mavericks this season. His ability to check almost any guard or forward would give Miami the opportunity to throw out wacky small-lineup combinations and get away with it defensively.
While Aminu can't shoot or handle the ball very well, he's not totally useless offensively. He's a savvy cutter and has become particularly good at running the baseline when opposing bigs shade up to ward off ball-handlers.
He also can crash the glass well.
He's rebounding eight percent of the Mavs' misses this season, a very strong mark for a forward. The Heat would have to play Aminu alongside a lot of shooting to keep their offense from sputtering, but his all-around game is worth the lineup complications.
All statistics accurate as of February 27, 2015, and courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com or NBA.com unless stated otherwise.
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