Unfortunately for the Miami Heat, they entered the All-Star Break on a four-game losing streak, their longest of the season. But this marked the first week of their three new trade deadline acquisitions– Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and Davion Mitchell –who each made their debuts Monday against the Boston Celtics.
Now that we are a week removed from the transaction, how did each player perform in their first week? Let’s examine!
Andrew Wiggins:
(2 games: 12.0 PTS, 4.5 REB, 4.0 AST, 1.0 STL, 1.0 BLK, 29.2 FG%, 35.4 eFG%, 42.9 TS%)
Wiggins, 29, was the Miami Heat’s prized new acquisition. He did not play in Thursday’s game against Dallas due to a stomach bug that’s made its way around the team. But he did play 30 and 34 minutes over its first two games against Boston and Oklahoma City, respectively.
Wiggins had difficulty building a rhythm offensively after hot starts; both Boston and Oklahoma City are two of the best defenses in the NBA–especially at guarding wings. He’s also trying to find his role offensively in a completely different system. He had a mixed bag of results in the post and as a secondary creator, but Wiggins did a good job remaining active defensively and on the offensive glass. He was far from efficient, but he didn’t let that affect the rest of his game, which matters. There’s an adjustment period, so while this was a below-average first week, expect him to be better the rest of the season. I’m not worried.
Grade: C-
Davion Mitchell:
(3 games: 7.7 PTS, 1.3 REB, 3.7 AST, 1.0 STL, 40.9 FG%, 47.7 eFG%, 50.3 TS%)
Mitchell, 26, had the best week of the three. He started in all three games and was noticeably impactful at the point-of-attack. He showed he was a capable playmaker and decision-maker when getting downhill. He’s not going to be your primary initiator, but he showed he could set up others in the pick-and-roll despite defenders ducking under his screen due to his inconsistent 3-point stroke.
His perimeter shooting and how that may compromise spacing may be his biggest knock. But I am a huge fan of his game. He’s a #HEATCulture™ player; you take the good with the bad for 25 minutes a game. He’s quicker than lightning and isn’t afraid to take on tough assignments each night–making it difficult for the offense to settle into their primary and secondary actions. It wasn’t perfect, but all things considered, this was a good week for Mitchell. He opened plenty of eyes.
Grade: B
Kyle Anderson:
(2 games: 7.5 PTS, 6.5 REB, 1.0 BLK, 40.0 FG%, 40.0 eFG%, 42.5 TS%)
Anderson got little run against Boston while being a DNP-CD against Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. Though due to myriad illnesses and absences Thursday, he was one of the 10 active players … and impressed. He may not be the most spry athlete–he’s nicknamed “Slo-Mo” for a reason–but he’s one of the smartest on the court whenever he’s on it. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds and was arguably their second-best player behind Tyler Herro, despite the result. Anderson’s a savvy veteran and a pro’s pro. He showed in both games that he’s a good screener, decision-maker in the short-roll, active on the glass and smart on- and off-ball defensively. Head coach Erik Spoelstra will find ways to utilize his skillset, one way or another.
Grade: C+
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Hmmm, this q and a sounds a bit familiar to me 😆
I’m not sure the Bam Adebayo/Kel’el Ware combo is working. Bam’s stats are up, but the team results are not. Ware being a rookie has a long way to go to be an impactful player. He definitely needs to hit the weight room this summer. – Joel.
A: But you also can’t have it both ways. You can’t clamor for months about Erik Spoelstra not getting to Bam Adebayo/Kel’el Ware and then complain after a single month that it’s not working. This is a dramatic shift from the Heat’s smallball norm. And that is going to require time and patience.
Growing pains are part of the process. Good year to do it.
Wiggins is Heat good starter at SF, but he won’t move the needle. Mitchell makes an excellent point of attack defensive point guard/back-up PG, but he is not a scorer. Anderson is a Swiss Army knife. Nice luxury to have but he will also not move the needle.
Unfortunately, the Heat have several second unit/ marginal rotation type players. However, the team is lacking a good floor general who can also score and a good tw-way back-up big.
There are a few PG free agents this summer the may may be able to obtain:
Kyrie Irving (UFA)
James Harden (UFA)
Josh Giddey (RFA)
With his history of blowing up locker rooms (and casual anti-semitism), I really don’t want Kyrie in Miami when we’ve just gotten away from Jimmy. Harden turns 36 in the off-season, so we’d be gambling that he doesn’t hit his drop-off. Giddey is interesting, but Bout30Man isn’t going to like that idea…
Yup. Just spitballin. Not many options. Maybe Stevens can do a better job. Dru Smith will be back next year. Then there’s always the draft assuming we don’t make the playoffs and Golden State makes at least the play-in round. Otherwise we have zilch in 2025 draft.
Yes, we need to hope for the draft scenario you describe, which could happen. As for Harden, that would be exactly what we should avoid, the aging, primma donna-ish former superstar. OTOH, I learned to like Mel Gibson when he made the movie Apocalypto, which I thought was great. I would love to have Kyrie, a superstar still in his prime who moves every needle.
I agree with your won’t move the needle assessments. I do believe Wiggins is better than we have seen, but the difference between a solid starter and a Jimmy in his prime type player is huge.
We still are in better shape than if we paid Jimmy so we did the right thing. Luckily basketball is a game of nine players, really more like eight. We are only two players away. The draft could put us right back in business.
If Dru Smith can return, he could be a big help.
I really like Dru Smith’s game a lot. He would make an excellent back-up PG. What the Heat needs is a starting caliber/borderline all-star PG, at minimum. You put a really good two-way PG on this team with Herro, Wiggins, Bam and Ware and you can do some serious damage.
I don’t like it. And it does seem like every idea about our team is to trade for a guy like that, like the pundits all know our tendencies of which players to acquire. Giddy is a nice player. He did us in last time we played them. But, again, it’s an accumulation of redundancy of skillset limitations that we need to avoid. Giddy could help a lot of other teams.
Irving behave more then fine in past two years in Dallas. And he will be probably available this offseason.. I dont think he like what Dallas did to Luka.
I’m willing to give kyrie a shot, just like vagi said he Been behaving more then fine the past 2 seasons. Also word on the street is he been the captain on that team, which means he matured a lot. Also still is 32 with some prime left. I would say no to harden, he might lose himself in miami party life. Giddey would be a decent choice for an upgrade at pg with tantalizing length. Bout30 says he’s redundant and I agree to a certain extent, but he’s still a young guy 22 to be exact, and still can get better. Also he helps with rebounding, and playmaking.
Exactly.
wiggins is the only one that might start for some teams.other two are bench players.