The early returns on the Heat‘s investment of $90MM over five years in Goran Dragic are not very good because the point guard and Dwyane Wade have been struggling to work together all season, Israel Gutierrez of ESPN.com details. Dragic’s seeming lack of confidence and reluctance to take open shots are not helping to resolve the issue, Gutierrez adds. This is not a new revelation, but Gutierrez expresses concern because many thought the problem would be behind the Heat by now.
“I like seeing guys go through a struggle to see how they respond, and he responded in a very positive way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think it was great to see him show some character when the chips are not going your way. You can grind through it and help your team.”
Here’s more out of the Eastern Conference:
- The addition of coach Fred Hoiberg was supposed to gin up the Bulls offense, but instead it’s been the mainstay of their defense that has the Bulls in third place in the Eastern Conference in spite of some disconcerting signs early this season, observes TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com.
- Hornets coach Steve Clifford did not dismiss the idea that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who has a dislocated right shoulder, would appear in the playoffs, but added there is no timeline for the small forward to return, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer tweets.
- Ian Mahinmi, who is in the final year of his contract with the Pacers, has solidified his role as a solid shooting center and veteran locker room presence, Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star writes.
The problem was that Dragic came to camp out of shape, and has looked abhorrent on the defensive end. They played together pretty well last year. There just isn’t much space on the floor, with our lack of shooting, and Dragic has been indecisive at times, while he is also shooting poorly and not finishing at the rim at the same percentage. As much as I originally liked it, though I did speak about being wary of that 5th year, that deal looks horrible right now. We would have been better off holding onto Rio, with Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson behind him, and use that money on a Batum or Jeff Green in free agency. Of course, nobody likely thought he would decline before the 1st year of the deal
Having said all that, Dragic has had his moments at times, mostly in the last couple of weeks. Tonight may have been his best all around game of the season. Hopefully, that will continue moving forward
Yeah, compare Dragic to where he was two years ago, and it’s night and day. It’s quite surprising that he seems to have dropped off like this, just as it was surprising to see how well he played in 2013/14.
Even last year though. He was never good defensively, but he was ok/serviceable. This year, he has been really bad. I don’t know of the offensive stuff is going to be an issue, as it has been so far this year, moving forward, but the defensive end needs is very worrisome. Last night was a good sin though. He did a good job against Jeff Teague and Schroeder, which really surprised me