Would DeMarre Carroll Fit On The Miami Heat?

Next season, Luol Deng has a player option with the Miami Heat that it is rumored he won’t pick up. Deng has said that he is happy in Miami, even though he had the impossible misfortune of replacing the greatest player in the league, LeBron James, and the Heat failed to make the NBA Finals for the first time in the last five years.

In this past season, Deng made just a shade below $10 million, and will inevitably make more than that next season if he picks up the option. What is important for Deng to decide is whether he wants to continue to maintain the role that he has been given in Miami.

This season, Miami asked a lot of Deng because of the injuries that they had. Dwyane Wade went down with an injury early in the season, which meant that Deng had to score more. Then Chris Bosh went down with a season-ending injury, and that meant that more was required of Deng again.

With these players coming back healthy, Deng’s role might decrease a bit. That could be something that he wants, given his age and the amount of minutes that he has logged in as a player. But it also might not be something he wants if he wants to continue playing a scoring role for a team.

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Thus, the Heat have to look in different directions for their team. DeMarre Carroll is still playing in the postseason, so his year has not ended the way the Heat’s season has. And things can certainly change if the Atlanta Hawks make the NBA Finals or win the championship. But if they don’t, Carroll might be looking for greener pastures. Carroll would fit in nicely with the Heat, primarily because they need a defensive hawk like Carroll to make plays and lead them defensively. The only real defenders that Miami has in their starting lineup are Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside.

Miami needs to focus on their wing defense. Wade is getting too old to be able to play the kind of defense that can lead Miami. His lateral movement is slow, he often (as has been his ritual) follows the ball on defense to try to make a steal or block and he is too short. Carroll would be able to help on all these fronts. He is tall and athletic, and he is a really cerebral defender. Pay attention to how he plays this pick and roll:

His offensive game has gotten increasingly better with time. This past regular season, Carroll averaged 12.6 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range. This is a man who can flat-out shoot, and that is on top of the fact that he is doing this as a fourth or fifth option on the Hawks.

While the season is not over, and free agency hasn’t officially started, the Heat should try to go after Carroll if not just for the fact that he is younger, cheaper and has fresher legs. Miami needs to save as much money as they can to sign Goran Dragic, who has opted out of his contract to make more money. We will have to wait to see if Deng opts out of his as well.

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