Would Miami Heat Have Been Better off with Michael Beasley or Mike Miller?

Let's deviate from the attention grabbers in the Big Three and focus on their supporting cast for a moment, shall we?

Obtaining the Big Three was the easiest part of the summer for the Miami Heat organization. All they had to do was convince Chris Bosh to join the team so that Dwyane Wade would re-sign and then LeBron James would sign his deal with the team. It all occurred around the same time; all three players signed on to the Heat within a week to form one of the most deadly teams in league history.

The most difficult part of the summer would then be finding players to surround the Big Three with talent. Obviously they were low on funds—after giving $100 million to each player over the next five seasons—and needed to either sign some lower-tier players or convince some middle-tier players to sign for a lower cost.

Aging veterans would sign on for the minimum since they would basically ride the coat tails of the Big Three to a championship. Juwan Howard, Eddie House and even Jerry Stackhouse would all be a part of that consensus.

Aside from those veterans that would be gone within a few seasons, the team also needed some role players that were consistent and could be relied on. Their options were limited and their hands were tied with the amount of money already tied up in Wade, James and Bosh, but they would still be able to find the players they were looking for since they were the Miami Heat and suddenly had the best chance at winning.

The team was fortunate enough to re-sign Udonis Haslem to an incredibly low deal that he signed as a thank you for giving him the only tryout after he went undrafted in 2003. Haslem's mid-range, rebounding and all-around hustle merited him the contract, and the outside offers worth a whole lot more, and it greatly helped the Heat as they didn't have to spend too much on him, enabling them to look for more players.

It wasn't until they rid themselves of Michael Beasley and Dorell Wright's contracts that they were really able to start spending their money; they shelled out $30 million over the next five seasons on sharpshooter Mike Miller. The three-point specialist was 30 years old at the time, and was coming off of a career season where he converted on 48 percent of his three-point attempts with the Washington Wizards.

He was expected to be the team's main three-point threat ahead of James Jones, Mario Chalmers and Eddie House and was also expected to be one of the league's best because of just how many open looks he would receive, courtesy of the Big Three. Their influence would attract so much attention whenever they were driving that Miller could stand in one spot at the perimeter for the entirety of the game and still average better than 10 points per game.

More importantly, he'd be hitting nearly half of his three-point attempts or better. The chances were highly likely since Miller was a career 40-percent shooter as he spent time with teams that had little to no chance of advancing very deep in the postseason. The 48 percent he shot from deep the previous season was on a Wizards team that couldn't even eclipse 30 wins—so he would only shoot better if he received easier opportunities to score naturally, right?

Then the season came around and Miller wasn't the player that the team signed him on for. He suffered a thumb injury on his shooting hand before the season even commenced, sidelining him until late December.

He would return, but he would be so badly inconsistent that it sometimes wasn't even worth playing him. His shot was off and his confidence was at an all-time low as he couldn't hit anything; he shot a near career-low of 36 percent from deep in the 41 games he played.

With no Miller and no Haslem for the majority of the season, the Big Three were forced to pick up the load as they then had to deal with James Jones and Joel Anthony as their greatest contributors. With no bench, the Heat wouldn't have the season they envisioned as they secured a two seed and finished with a 58-24 record. Haslem would return in the Conference Finals, but hardly made a difference. Miller also came back, but still couldn't find any consistency in his shot.

Miller's injury was by far more concerning because it applied to his fingers. You know, those things that you really need to use to shoot from 25 feet from the basket?

He had never experienced an injury of this magnitude before; he had always played in 53 games or more for the first 10 years of his career. This injury was devastating as it greatly limited his shot, causing his shot at its release to go on a clearly different path than Miller originally desired. Not only that, but Miller's psyche was bruised from his lack of being able to hit a shot and the fact that he had a newborn daughter in critical condition.

All of these obstacles were placed in front of Miller and he couldn't hurdle all of them; he had one of the worst seasons of his career. He would at least attempt to make up for it in ways that didn't require shooting by grabbing boards, hustling and playing some quality defense, but the Heat signed him on to be a three-point threat and he wasn't performing up to the Heat's standards.

If it wasn't for Jones hitting three-pointers at an unusually high rate, the Heat would have found shooting from the perimeter a lot more difficult than before.

With Miller's injuries piling up by the game, it made Heat fans—the real ones—wonder if they should have possibly held on to current Minnesota Timberwolf Michael Beasley who was busy killing it with his new team to the tune of 19 points per game. With his increased role on the team, as well as being the team's offensive leader, Beasley would take full advantage and finish second on the team in scoring.

It appeared that he improved every aspect of his offense since joining the Wolves; his driving was more frequent and his jump shot was more polished. He was hitting 45 percent of his shots from the field overall and was even converting on 37 percent of his two three-point attempts per game. Beasley was having a field day as the Wolves' go-to guy and was even hitting clutch shots to boot.

For those who don't remember, or just weren't fans of the Heat prior to July 8th, 2010, Beasley spent his first two seasons with the Heat after being drafted second by the team in 2008. His stock was high—he was considered the most complete player in the draft thanks to his athleticism, quickness off the dribble and ability to score from just about anywhere on the floor. The Heat might not have secured that first pick, but Beasley was a fair consolation prize.

However, Beasley still had a number of negatives with the team. He kept drawing too much interest off the court with other activities and would occasionally be a huge liability on defense as he would sometimes lay off his defender. Not being the first option was also a concern as it seemed that he was lost at times when Dwyane Wade had the ball in his hands and dictated the offense.

Beasley was the type of scorer that needed the ball in his hands in order to flourish and it was difficult to do so when he was the team's second option. He scored as much as 15 points per game in his final season with the Heat.

With that being said, it raises the question of if Beasley should have been kept around instead of Miller.

The answer should be a resounding no, even with the stats Beasley posted with the Wolves. The only reason his stats escalated that high, and probably will continue to do so, is because he's a main scoring option out in Minnesota and will have the ball in his hands for the majority of the game. Kevin Love may be the leading scorer at 20 points per game, but don't forget that most of those looks are coming from inside off of offensive rebounds.

Beasley flourished in his first year in Minnesota, unlike his first two years with Miami, because he was dictating and leading the offense and not a superstar like Dwyane Wade. The Heat were on the lookout for role players last summer; they knew that Beasley would never fit into the role of fourth- or fifth-scoring option because of how prolific of a scorer he could have been. The team realized that he was too good of a player to be on a team where he wouldn't get near the amount of looks he deserved and they let him off the hook.

Miller, however, was the perfect complement. The Heat needed a consistent threat from the perimeter and there weren't many players in the free-agency class more fitting than him. He would fit in very well with the team as he was extremely reliable, wasn't injury prone and could hit the big shot when called upon. The organization lucked out in obtaining Miller as they got the three-point threat they needed as well as a hard worker and quality rebounder.

Beasley was one of the most beloved players in franchise history, even in the short time he played, but he just didn't fit in when Chris Bosh and LeBron James came to town. It wouldn't have been fair to give him less than 10 shots per game and have him averaging around 10 points per game when he could have very easily been averaging 20 points per game on any team that was wise enough to make him their No. 1 scoring option.

As for Miller, his injures will heal in time and he'll be back to his usual form. Miller is too good of a shooter to let a few injuries deter him from his ultimate goal of helping lead the team to a title. He should be back in regular form and healthy for whenever the next season starts.

For Beasley, let's just hope that he doesn't get into too much trouble.