Without Tyler Herro for a good bit of time, the Miami Heat could use their veteran depth. Having two rising stars in Kel'el Ware and Nikola Jovic will help keep the foot on the throttle, but also having one or multiple players who have been in the league for over ten seasons would help a team without their star guard navigate the most challenging moments of adversity.
Moreover, the Heat traded two key veterans on their roster last season, Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love, to land Norman Powell in a three-team deal. This seemed worth it from a production standpoint, as Powell dominated for the LA Clippers last season, yet Miami quickly forgot that Anderson and Love helped their roster last season make the first round of the playoffs.
That said, the Heat were given A-grades for their trade from everyone, but after their first preseason game, head coach Erik Spoelstra has to be questioning if Miami's front office made a mistake they will eventually regret by giving up Anderson and Love for Powell's three-level scoring.
Norman Powell looked rough in the Miami Heat's first preseason game
While the Miami Heat need big-time contributions from Norman Powell next season, his first showing in the team's uniform made it clear that some games will be tougher than expected for the veteran guard to be the first scoring option with Tyler Herro out.
Yesterday evening, the Heat played the Orlando Magic in Puerto Rico, as part of one of the many preseason games overseas. Powell was one of the newest additions that debuted, but he was far from the top in scoring, rebounding, assisting, and shooting the ball at the most efficient rate.
In fact, Powell played 14 minutes, posting five points, one assist, zero rebounds, and two turnovers, while shooting 2-for-6 from the field and 1-for-3 from three-point territory.
Yes, it was just a preseason game, and he didn't even play 15 minutes, which is an extremely small sample size, especially for getting acclimated to a new system. Yet, fans of the Heat expected more shot-making and an aggressive approach to the rim.
Fulfilling these two factors will help Erik Spoelstra's offense without Herro, and they simply were not there in the Heat's preseason opener.
Thus, although the Heat may wish for the three-team trade they made to be undone, it is on Spoelstra to cooperate with Powell and try again and again to ensure he has the best chance of succeeding in South Beach.