Miami Heat: Who Will Make Up For Lack of Shooting
By Evan Massey
The Miami Heat will be without their superstar cornerstone LeBron James this year, but there are other players that are no longer in town that will also be missed. Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and James Jones are three of the main players that have left a hole in the Heat’s shooting, and will be missed. All three of those players were deadly three-point shooters, and Miami simply didn’t add that type of shooting back onto the roster after they lost them.
Allen is one of the best three-point shooters of all-time, and bucketed 116 threes last season for the Heat shooting 37.5 percent from behind the arc. Not only was he a great three-point shooter, he also made clutch baskets when the Heat needed them. His veteran presence will be missed, and his shooting coaching will be missed as well.
Jones played in just 20 games last year averaging 11.8 minutes per game, but still shot 51.9 percent from the arc when given the minutes. Lewis on the other hand was a key piece for the Heat in the playoffs, and shot 34.3 percent from behind the arc in the regular season. Both players were dangerous threats for opponents out behind the arc, and stretched defenses out very effectively.
Danny Granger and Shawne Williams were brought in this past offseason, and both players will be asked to step up in a big way and help carry the three-point shooting for Miami. Neither player has been all that successful in recent years, and it certainly isn’t ideal for the Heat to be relying on them to become three-point threats.
At one point in time, Granger was one of the more dangerous scorers in the NBA but those days are in the past. He has been struggling with knee injuries throughout the last few seasons, and simply hasn’t been able to get his shot back. Granger hasn’t shot better than 35.3 percent in his stints with the Pacers and Clippers over the past three years, and that is a major concern for the Heat.
Williams on the other hand hasn’t shot very well since the 2010-11 season with the New York Knicks when he shot 40.1 percent from behind the arc. He can turn things around and become the knockdown shooter that Miami needs, but has a lot of work to do in other areas of his game. Even though he has the potential to become a deadly shooter like the Heat need, he doesn’t exactly have the track record that the Heat can depend on.
Both players are veterans who know that the Heat need them to step up this season in a big way. Granger is the biggest X-Factor for the Heat this season, and is confident that he can get his career back on track. During the 2011-12 season, which was the last season that Granger was healthy, he averaged 18.7 points per game while shooting 38.1 percent from behind the three-point arc.
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There is one other player that could step up and be a deadly three-point shooter this season for the Heat, but he’ll have to work on the consistency issues that he has had in the past. His three-point percentage was 38.5 percent last season, but it lowered quite a bit towards the end of the year when they needed him the most. Mario Chalmers is back after re-signing with the Heat this past offseason, and he is ready for a season without James telling him what to do. He has a good three-point shot, but was inconsistent to say the least last year.
Chris Bosh will take his share of threes as well, and there will likely be a few more threes put up by Dwyane Wade as well. That being said, Granger and Williams will be the top two players that need to come through to help make up for the overall lack of three-point shooting on the roster. If that doesn’t happen, the Heat will be in a world of hurt heading into a very difficult 2014-15 season against a much improved Eastern Conference.
What will happen to the Heat if they are unable to get their three-point shooting going this season? Quite simply, the game will get much more difficult and it will be fairly difficult for them to score at the level that they’ll need. Wade would have to create a lot more off of the dribble, and the offense simply wouldn’t be anything close to what the Heat need.
Three-point shooting isn’t necessarily something that will make or break a team, but the Heat don’t have the electric guards or dominant big men that they would need otherwise. Miami is going to rely on the three-point shooters stepping up and providing support for Wade and Bosh.