2015-16 NBA Season Preview: Miami Heat

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Miami Heat

2014-15

Offseason Roundup

Projected Starting 5

• PG Goran Dragic
• SG Dwyane Wade
• SF Luol Deng
• PF Chris Bosh
• C Hassan Whiteside

MVP: Chris Bosh

After having his season cut short due to a life-threatening blot clot on his lung, Bosh is back and ready to take up the reins as the Heat's top dog, his first time playing that role since his last season with the Toronto Raptors in 2009-10.

It won't quite be the same this time around, though, given the glut of talent surrounding him in Miami. Any three of his teammates could assume that lead role on a given night, and Bosh won't be leaned on as a late-clock, one-on-one scorer. Both the supporting cast and coach Erik Spoelstra's system should allow him to thrive playing off the ball and in space.

Bosh didn't play a game alongside Goran Dragic last season, and played just 18 with Hassan Whiteside, both of whom look like near-perfect complements. On offense, Whiteside can dive hard and scavenge for second-chance points while Bosh roves the elbows or spots up on the perimeter. Given Whiteside's ability to disrupt shots at the rim and Bosh's to hedge aggressively or smother ball-handlers on switches, the two could make a strong defensive frontcourt tandem.

Dragic, meanwhile, is a quick, crafty, slash-and-kick point guard nicely suited to Bosh's ability to shoot and to draw opposing bigs out of the paint; the two should be able to wreak havoc on the pick-and-pop.

Breakout Player: Hassan Whiteside

Whiteside already broke out last season - in a way no one could have possibly imagined - but there's reason to believe even greater things may be on the horizon for the 26-year-old center, who is playing for a potential monster free-agent contract this offseason.

In his first NBA action in nearly three years, Whiteside averaged 11.8 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks, shot 62.8 percent from the field, and posted a 26.3 PER that would've ranked fifth in the NBA if he'd played enough minutes to qualify. The Heat rebounded at the league's third-best rate with him on the floor, compared the league's very worst without him.

Whiteside may not be a paragon of versatility, but the Heat don't need him to be. All they need him to be is a hellacious glass-cleaner and finisher. If he can develop chemistry alongside Dragic as a pick-and-roll dive man, and hone his defense to cut down on his fouls (six per 36 minutes last season), he could be Miami's answer to DeAndre Jordan.

Season Expectations

So much of Miami's success depends on health - once again the big unknown dogging the Heat, and their greatest theoretical obstacle to making serious noise in the Eastern Conference.

With an anemic bench (again) and question marks dotting the roster, the Heat might be the league's biggest swing team. They look, on paper like a 50 to 55-win outfit, but as last year's iteration proved, the game is not played on paper.

Miami's offense struggled to put up points even before Bosh's season was cut short, thanks largely to a dearth of outside shooting. Gerald Green should help in that regard, but it's unclear if he can do anything else well enough to justify regular run. Dragic and Dwyane Wade made for a disastrous defensive backcourt last year. Dragic thrives playing uptempo, and wants the Heat to speed things up, but that will be an adjustment for a team that ranked 29th in both pace and fast-break points last year. Wade hasn't hit the 70-game plateau in five years, and his knees don't appear capable of handling the rigors of a full regular season, let alone a potential playoff run.

In short, things could go any number of ways for the Heat. The good news, however, is that it's almost impossible that they could have any worse luck with injuries than they did last year. It says here their talent will win out this time, and they'll finish with a top-four seed in the East.