If the Miami Heat are indeed looking to compete in the Eastern Conference this season, it’s hard to think that they didn’t miss a great opportunity to improve their roster. Instead of the Heat taking advantage, it’s the New York Knicks who signed Malcolm Brogdon to a one-year deal, an underrated move that the Heat should have been willing to make.
Especially considering the uncertainties in their backcourt heading into the start of training camp, the Heat would’ve benefited from adding a veteran player like Brogdon.
Sure, he’s no longer in the prime of his career, and his injury history is certainly concerning, but he’s the type of combo guard that could’ve made sense for Miami. Looking at the Heat’s roster, signing a player like Brogdon probably would’ve made much more sense than inking an unproven and injury-prone player like Dru Smith.
But we’re not going to argue one player or another, especially considering that the Heat have an open roster spot and wouldn’t necessarily have had to cut anyone on their current roster to pull off a move.
They probably would’ve had to do some cap gymnastics to make it happen (especially if they want to remain out of the luxury tax), but the Heat could’ve found a way to make it all work.
The Heat could still be looking to add a big man
On the other hand, this hesitance from the Heat to add another guard could mean that they would prefer to keep their final roster spot open in the event that the right big man becomes available. In theory, that would make sense.
If the Heat are thin in the backcourt, there’d have to be a new adjective created to explain how little depth the team has in the frontcourt.
Even if Miami considers Nikola Jovic to be a “big” in their rotation, they could still probably use another experienced body or two for added depth behind Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware heading into the 82-game regular season.
Still, it would have been nice to see the Heat take a flier on a proven veteran talent like Brogdon. Maybe the Heat truly trusts their young backcourt. Maybe they do believe Smith will be back before we know it. Maybe they don’t see the vision with Brogdon at this stage of his career.
It will be interesting to see how this move pays out for the Knicks, who clearly needed depth in their backcourt. Brogdon could be the right low-risk move that could end up paying big dividends for them, especially come playoff time.
At the very least, it’s a bit unfortunate the Heat didn’t find much value in taking such a gamble.
