The Miami Heat continue to add key pieces in their roster this offseason in the wake of LeBron James departure. After acquiring Luol Deng, Danny Granger, and Josh Mcroberts in July, the Heat are now aggressively searching for another shooting guard and center to integrate in their rotation... if they are willing to take a slight pay cut that is.
Leandro Barbosa , Emeka Okafor, Ekpe Udoh, and Jordan Crawford are among the top names that the Heat are looking at per Miami Herald:
(Miami) is serious about adding another shooting guard and a big man if it can find two good ones willing to take the veteran's minimum
Matt Moore of CBS Sports believes that the Heat are looking at a pretty good list of free agents, a handful of which are surprisingly still on the market given the kind of production they can offer to any team for a discount price. Moore has this to say about Okafor and Udoh:
Okafor is recovering from a serious neck injury that cost him the entire season last year, but he would be a perfect fit next to Chris Bosh, providing shot blocking and rebounding. Udoh has long been a high-upside prospect but has never been able to crack a rotation despite his sterling plus/minus numbers.
Barbosa and Crawford, who remains one of the best bargain buys in the market, will provide the Heat with some scoring while Dwyane Wade takes a breather. Both can handle the ball and shoot from any where on the floor making them a valuable addition to the Heat's front court who are already without Ray Allen and James Jones. Crawford, who is still in his prime, could be a steal if he meshes well with the Heat's system.
Even without LeBron James, the Heat are doing their best to remain competitive by surrounding Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with all the help that they can get. Bringing in Deng, Granger, and Josh Mcroberts provided the team with some decent front court depth and now they look to further bolster the roster as a whole by adding quality veteran players at the 2-guard and center position.
Leandro Barbosa, Emeka Okafor, Ekpe Ugdoh, and Jordan Crawfor - look for one or two of these names to be added in the Heat's roster before the start of the season.
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