Goran Dragic adjusting to life in new role for Heat

While it’s only early days, the Miami Heat will be delighted with Goran Dragic’s impressive play thus far in a reserve role.

It appears that the Miami Heat may have very quickly found their Dwyane Wade replacement. Although he spent a portion of last season as a backup for the Miami Heat on his way back from knee surgery, this is the first time since early in his career that Goran Dragic will enter the year as a member of the second unit.

Given he was named an All-Star for the first time just 20 months ago, this is naturally going to be some adjustment for the 33-year-old. However, the early signs have been more than positive for both Dragic and the Heat, thus hopefully giving the team a boost in a similar vein to Wade last season.

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Over his four preseason games, Dragic averaged a modest 9.3 points and 4.8 assists in just 20.1 minutes per game. However, the most promising sign without doubt was his efficiency at the offensive end.

While he struggled mightily last season in returning a .413/.348/.782 shooting split, the Slovenian national recorded the elite .520/.533/1.000 shooting splits over his four preseason appearances.

Entering his 12th season and with over 22,000 career minutes on his odometer, the use of Dragic moving forward is clearly going to represent a talking point. Recently when asked how his veteran floor leader will be handled moving forward, head coach Erik Spoelstra said:

"“We’ll see how he feels once we start playing games. He’s not 43. He’s still a young professional. But we want to keep him fresh, we want to keep him healthy, want to keep him playing strong. We’ll figure out something that’s appropriate for that.”"

Having started in 384 consecutive games dating back to his Phoenix Suns days prior to last season’s injury, Dragic also recently commented on his adjustment to a new role, and the manner in which he plans to attack this fresh challenge:

"“I did change my game a little bit. So of course I want to change my game. When you get older, you cannot play the same. But pace-wise, I don’t know. You need to be in shape every year… .I’m a basketball player. I can play the whole game. Of course, when you get older, it’s a little bit tougher, but whatever.“Like I’ve said, coach wants me to do something or he decides to go to what kind of role it’s going to be, I’m a team player.”"

Although he’s not the first-choice floor general entering the season, that’s not to say Dragic can’t have a significant impact for the Heat. With the recently announced team suspension of Dion Waiters for the season opener, Dragic clearly represents the most experienced option in the backcourt rotation.

While Justise Winslow is now entering his fifth season, the rookie duo of Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn have yet to play a single regular-season minute and their contributions can’t be heavily relied upon in the early stages of the season.

So while he may not have title of starter next to his name, Goran Dragic still remains an integral part of the Miami Heat for season 2019-20.