NBA Free Agency 2020: 5 offseason targets for the Miami Heat
By John Likanje
The Miami Heat are in excellent shape from a financial standpoint. Here are five free agents they should look to sign over this offseason.
Although they couldn’t cap off their Cinderella run, the Miami Heat have a lot to look forward to over the next few years. They have an abundance of cap space, a slew of young talent, veteran leadership (players and coaches alike) and arguably the smartest man in the sport, Pat Riley.
However, the NBA Finals proved that the Heat still have some work to do if they want to repeat as Eastern Conference champions and actually win the title next season. With about $27 million of cap space for what will be an extremely short offseason, here are five free agents they need to focus on signing.
5. Aron Baynes
Aron Baynes would be both a nice steal and bargain for the Heat. The 6-foot-10 center averaged career-highs in points (11.5), rebounds (5.6) and two-point percentage (58.2 percent). But the most outlandish statistic from Baynes this past season is that he shot a career-high 35.1% from long range on four attempts per game.
Baynes does have his cons though. He’s 33 years old and will be 34 when next season starts (His birthday is in early December). The 6-foot-10 center only played 42 of the Suns’ 73 games this season as well. He even sat out the entire Orlando bubble with a knee injury along with contracting the coronavirus.
Basically, Baynes is a high-risk, high-reward type player but the reward would be extremely high, especially if he maintains his shooting stroke. He would be the perfect backup center for the Heat. The Heat are mostly guard-oriented in that they like to play small ball, get out in transition, shoot the three and run zone-type defenses. So over the next two offseasons, unless Giannis Antetokounmpo is available, the team’s main priority should be signing two-way wing players, especially at the small forward position and backup big men who can shoot.
Baynes is a wild card in terms of the free-agent power forwards and centers. Considering the Phoenix Suns own his bird rights, it remains to be seen whether he re-signs with them or takes his talents elsewhere. It wouldn’t be surprising if he remains in the desert because the Suns are riding positive momentum into next season after an 8-0 mark in the bubble.