Now that Pat Riley and the Miami Heat completed the hard part of landing the big fish in Giannis Antetokounmpo, their attention will turn to immediately filling out the rest of this roster.
Let’s assume that Andrew Wiggins decides to remain with the Heat by either opting into his $30 million player option or opting out and then re-signing on a cheaper deal. Norman Powell, who is in unrestricted free agent entirely, is a big question mark to return. That could be totally dependent on if Miami can free up more money to bring him back at around a $20 million price tag.
Regardless, if you factor in Miami’s second-round selection in the NBA Draft on Wednesday, there will be roughly 3-4 more vet minimum slots to add after officially landing Giannis Antetokounmpo. This does not include one more additional $15 million mid-level exception addition, which the Heat will have access to utilize.
Yes, the Heat will need shooters. And ESPN’s Shams Charania has iterated several times in recent days that will be a top priority for Miami. We went over a few sharpshooting options here.
But there’s still room for more to add. Here’s some free agent veteran minimum and mid-level choices that Riley and company could take a look at:
Vet minimum targets (according to Heat insider Ethan Skolnick):
- Khris Middleton
- Bruce Brown
- Gabe Vincent
- Tim Hardaway Jr. (linked to Heat in the past)
Mid-level targets:
- Anfernee Simons (linked to Heat by ESPN’s Bobby Marks)
- Quentin Grimes (shooting option)
- Coby White (shooting option)
- Kelly Oubre Jr.
- Collin Sexton
- Robert Williams |||
- LeBron James (???)
If it’s not 3-point floor spreaders, the common denominator in these targets are two-way role guys. Players that have built a reputation of providing impact on both sides of the ball have been key to recent championship teams (Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, etc.).
The Heat have never struggled in finding the Mike Miller’s, Shane Battier’s, Ray Allen’s, Max Strus’, Duncan Robinson’s over the years to supplement a superstar. This is the part of roster building that comes easy to an experienced front office like Miami’s.
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LeBron as a mid-level target? get out of here
Hardaway #1 then Brown #2 from vet minimum list.
Grimes #1 overall for me from that list (Lebron isn’t coming). Anfernee is #2
If we can get one from vet minimum and one from mid-level that would be huge.
I’ve thought about it and say a serious no to Middleton. With Portis already on the team we can’t be old Milwaukee (beer).