Miami Heat: Is The Team’s Power Forward Of The Future Already On The Roster?

Offseason Plan At Power Forward

Let’s face it, the odds the Heat land a stud during this summer’s free agency are slim.

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement — which ensured players a lot more money for re-signing with their current teams — is partially to blame. But even besides that, it’s difficult to convince franchise-type guys to uproot their lives and start anew somewhere they don’t have as much familiarity.

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Using Hoops Hype’s extremely helpful free agency guide, we see the top five power forwards set to hit the open market are: Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap, Serge Ibaka, Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic.

The first two would take up almost all of Miami’s cap room by themselves. The third won’t be quite as expensive, but Toronto owns his Bird Rights, meaning they can go past their cap space to re-sign him.

Instead of trying to break the bank for the first three players, or potentially downgrading with Gasol or Mirotic, why not re-sign Johnson on something like a three-year deal in the $30-35 million range? Defense, ball-handling, floor-spacing, positional versatility, he has everything you would want from a modern NBA starter at the 4.

Plus, he’s still just 30 years old, with fewer than 10,000 career minutes played. Johnson’s got plenty left in the tank.

If you’re concerned about what this move would do to Miami’s bench (which has been one of the league’s best this season), don’t be. In his stead, Winslow can be given the role of reserve specialist. After struggling as a starter this season, a move to the pine could help him regain his rookie-year form.

A home run offseason would have the Heat heading into 2018 with an opening lineup of Dragic, Waiters, a free agent small forward (Danilo Gallinari, anybody?), Johnson and Whiteside. A bench comprised of Winslow, Rodney McGruder, Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson and whoever Miami takes in the first round of the draft would be apt to replicate the success of this year’s bench.

Next: 2016-17 NBA Power Rankings: Week 24

Altogether, that’s a team that can win 50 games, in no small part thanks to their newly-minted starting power forward.