2015 Miami Heat

Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, David Kay and Peter Christian of the The Sports Bank. Send Paul an e-mail here: paulb05 AT hotmail DOT com.
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Miami Heat (Last Year: 37-45)

2015-16 Projected Depth Chart:

C: Hassan Whiteside/Chris Andersen

PF: Chris Bosh/Josh McRoberts/Udonis Haslem

SF: ^Luol Deng/James Ennis

SG: ^Dwyane Wade/Zoran Dragic/Tyler Johnson

PG: ^Goran Dragic/Mario Chalmers/Shabazz Napier

NBA Free Agents:

^SG-Dwyane Wade (PO)

^PG-Goran Dragic (PO)

^SF-Luol Deng (PO)

SF-Michael Beasley (UFA)

2015-16 Team Salary: Approximately $77.6 million

NBA Offseason Team Needs:

1. Player Option Guys: With Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Goran Dragic all holding player options on their contracts, all three of those guys could test the free agent waters. Wade is due a little more than $16 million, but he might be looking for a long-term extension that Miami may be hesitant to pay since he is getting up there in age and always banged up. Deng is owed more than $10 million next year, but I can’t imagine him walking away from that. Dragic is the big one since the final year of his contract is only worth $7.5 million and he will be looking for a significant pay raise.

The Heat need to find a way to keep all three guys because they cannot be a playoff team without them. It really just depends how much they want to open up their wallets for Dragic and if they would be willing to extend Wade and/or Deng. If all three end up walking this summer, which is highly doubtful, Miami would have significant cap space to play with in free agency.

2. Wing Depth: Outside of Wade and Deng (assuming they are both back), Miami doesn’t have a whole lot of talent on the wing. There should be some guys available when the Heat pick tenth in the 2015 NBA Draft who could help add depth (Stanley Johnson, Devin Booker, Sam Dekker, Kelly Oubre), but Miami should also look to add a veteran on the wing especially again, since Wade’s nagging injury issues are a concern. Finding someone who can consistently knock down some outside shots would help immensely since the Heat finished 24th in the league in three-point shooting.

3. Maintain Future Flexibility: The way things are lining up for the Heat, they only have two players under contract beyond next season: Chris Bosh and Josh McRoberts. That could change depending on what happens with Wade, Deng and Dragic, but with the cap expected to take a significant jump next offseason, hanging on to as much cap space as possible has to be a goal. Again, that could be challenging with the trio of player-option guys, especially if Hassan Whiteside proves to be more than a 1-year wonder, as Miami will have to pay its big man a ton of money next summer.