The Miami Heat are coming off of a third straight lackluster season, as they missed the playoffs for the second time in three years and never resembled anything more than a mediocre team at any point during the 2018-19 campaign.
Obviously, the Heat need to make some roster adjustments, as this current group is going nowhere. The problem is, Miami might not even have any cap room to sign any free agents this summer.
It all depends on what Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic do. Both guys have player options for next year, with Whiteside owning a $27.1 million option and Dragic having a $19.2 million option.
If both players decide to opt out, the Heat would actually have some cap space to play around with. The chances of that happening seem rather slim, but hey; Miami can dream, right?
So let's operate under the unlikely assumption that the Heat do end up with some money to spend this offseason.
Here are a few free agents they could pursue if that does indeed occur:
The Heat need a whole lot of help offensively, and if Dragic opts out, the need for a guy who can create his own shot will become even more dire.
Enter Khris Middleton, who has had a terrific season for the Milwaukee Bucks and has long been one of the more overlooked small forwards in the league.
Middleton isn't a No. 1 option or anything, but he is significantly better than anything the Heat have, and, at the very least, he would provide Erik Spoelstra with a player who can score buckets on his own.
Of course, the Bucks probably won't want to let Middleton go, as he is their second or third-best player, and Milwaukee surely wants to do everything in its power to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo happy, but we really don't know just how much the Bucks are willing to spend. Remember: they are a very small-market club.
A two-way player who would essentially give the Heat what they thought they were getting when they acquired Luol Deng during the summer of 2014, Middleton would be a perfect fit in South Beach.
Yes, Middleton is a better player than Bojan Bogdanovic, so don't trip over the fact that Bogdanovic is ranked higher on this list.
This ranking is based on the fact that Bogdanovic will be a more realistic target, both financially and based on the fact that the Indiana Pacers are more likely to part with Bogdanovic than the Bucks are with Middleton.
Like Middleton, Bogdanovic can actually get his own shot, and when Victor Oladipo went down, Bogdanovic actually became the Pacers' No. 1 option.
He can shoot, he can handle the ball, he can get to the free-throw line and he can pass a little bit. Basically, Bogdanovic is one of the more underrated players in the league, and he could represent a relatively (key word: relatively) cheap option in free agency to fill a major hole.
Believe it or not, Bogdanovic averaged 18 points per game this season. The Heat would have certainly loved to have that type of production come from one of their wing scorers.
It does not seem all that likely that the Philadelphia 76ers will be able to keep both Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris this summer, and a legitimate argument can be made that they may actually lose both of them.
Let's be very clear: Harris is not a No. 1 option, and defensively, he is not very good, but he is a smooth scorer who has improved his outside shot in recent years and is certainly better than anything Miami's roster currently has to offer.
The question is, just how much will Harris cost?
He is not worthy of being the highest-paid player on a contender, so the Heat need to keep that in mind. If they are going to try and sign Harris, they need to not handicap themselves for the future in doing so.
But Miami is in desperate need of a scorer, and Harris will certainly come cheaper than the Kawhi Leonards and Butlers of the world.
It would not be the least bit surprising to see Pat Riley place a call to Harris and/or his agent this offseason. Well, if the Heat have the cap space, of course.
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