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Miami Heat: 2016 Offseason Grades

By Gerald Bourguet

Mar 22, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) against the New Orleans Pelicans during the fourth quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Heat defeated the Pelicans 113-99. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) against the New Orleans Pelicans during the fourth quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Heat defeated the Pelicans 113-99. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 26, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Wayne Ellington (21) drives past Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Miami Heat won 102-98. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /

Odds And Ends

To round out the roster, Pat Riley really had to reach deep into 2016’s bag of free agents to unearth some useful end-of-the-rotation players. Unfortunately for the Heat, none of them are difference-makers.

The most notable names are probably Wayne Ellington (two-year, $12.3 million partially guaranteed deal) and Luke Babbitt (one-year, $1.2 million deal). Ellington was last seen with the Brooklyn Nets last year, averaging 7.7 points per game on 38.9 percent shooting, while Babbitt posted 7.0 points per game and shot 40.4 percent from three-point range for the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Heat also signed former Toronto Raptors power forward James Johnson to a one-year, $4 million deal. Johnson averaged 5.0 points and 2.2 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game for the Raptors last season, shooting 47.5 percent from the field but only 30.3 percent from downtown.

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    • Babbitt provides some help at the 3-spot vacated by Deng, Ellington will try to supply some scoring off the bench behind that Waiters/Johnson/Richardson hodgepodge and James Johnson provides much-needed frontcourt depth — especially in the event that Chris Bosh is unable to play the 2016-17 season.

    There’s also Willie Reed, a 6’10” power forward/center who went undrafted back in 2011 and bounced around from D-League team to D-League team until working his way onto the Nets’ roster last season, when he averaged a meager 4.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Reed is on a two-year deal with a $1.1 million player option for the second year.

    Rodney McGruder, a 6’4″ shooting guard who helped the Sioux Falls Skyforce win the D-League title last year, will be joining the Heat on a three-year, partially guaranteed deal.

    Finally, there’s Stefan Jankovic and Okaro White, who are both on three-year, partially guaranteed deals. Jankovic is a 6’10” Serbian-Canadian center who went undrafted in this year’s draft, while White is a 6’8″ power forward who went undrafted in 2014 and has been tearing it up in Greece ever since.

    None of these is a bad signing, especially for a team looking to unearth its next diamond in the rough. But with guys like Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson and Luol Deng leaving, these are hardly the kind of replacements you’d hope to find on the open market during the biggest spending spree in NBA history — marking yet another unfortunate consequence of losing the Kevin Durant Sweepstakes.

    Grade: D-

    Next: Overall

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