Any shot at the NBA Finals for the Miami Heat will require the contributions from Andre Iguodala they expected upon acquiring him in February.
Andre Iguodala has spent the last five years as the linchpin to the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty. He was everything you’d want in a role player, an unselfish ball mover and savvy cutter on offense and active defender with hands that have come up with crucial strips in a game’s closing minutes.
Incredible was the way his two-way value shone through on a team with as many as four All-Stars. It was that impactful, enough to earn Finals MVP honors in 2015.
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So when the Miami Heat, a team dramatically exceeding expectations but still a notch below legitimate contention, traded for Iguodala back in February, the presence of a three-time champion was poised to push them into their desired stratosphere.
14 games were all Iguodala managed before the season shut down, a relatively small sample size that leaves little room for conclusions. That being said, the early returns certainly weren’t what Miami was hoping for, creating concern about the end result of this experiment and how it affects their bottom line.
Beyond statistical contributions, the true value of a complementary player, which Iguodala is, rests in their ability to play off a team’s best player. Even while age and attrition had him in shambles at times during his final season in Golden State, Iguodala still managed a net rating no smaller than 9.1 alongside each of the other members of the Hamptons 5.
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo run things down in South Beach as the Heat’s two All-Stars and leading scorers. In terms of net rating per 100 possessions, Iguodala is a minus-21.7 with the former and a minus-13.2 with the latter.
The difference between the leaders in Golden State and Miami, and Iguodala’s play alongside them, isn’t only attributed to a stark talent gap but also a difference in playstyle.
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant are three of the greatest shooters of their time. The space their prowess created freed Iguodala for the slipped screens and perimeter slashes that were a staple of his offensive contributions.
Butler is shooting just 24.8 percent from downtown this season. Adebayo has attempted 13 triples all year. It’s no coincidence, then, that the only two Heat players to have a positive net rating alongside Iguodala lead Miami in 3-point percentage, Duncan Robinson and Kelly Olynyk.
More so, Miami’s two most-used five-man lineups featuring Iguodala include no fewer than three respected perimeter shooters. Their net rating? 39.8 and 16.4, respectively.
Iguodala’s arrival was supposed to improve a middle-of-the-pack defense. The Heat’s defensive rating has actually increased 2.9 points in his 14 games since. Though not entirely his fault amid a defense in a season-long decline after a hot start, a trend in the opposite direction was not what Miami was expecting after acquiring one the league’s savviest stoppers.
Even after taking most of this season off, age and attrition remain a concern for a 36-year-old with five consecutive Finals runs on his legs. Those factors could explain some of the drop-offs in value, especially defensively, admittedly with minimal data to go off of.
Miami is no favorite out east, needing every asset in sight to close the gap between the three teams above them in the Eastern Conference standings.
Iguodala was brought in to do exactly that. Obstacles, from the reestablishment of peak physical fitness to on-court chemistry still in its early stages, remain present. Not as much time exists to fix them as would normally be available in any other season.
But the Heat wouldn’t have acquired Iguodala, and subsequently inked him to a two-year $30 million deal, if they viewed him as anything less than part of the answer to their championship puzzle.
They do and he can be, as has been proven last postseason even at the tail end of his career. The questions Miami will soon find answers to lie in how much he has left and whether head coach Erik Spoelstra knows how to get the most out of it.