The Miami Heat are constructed around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Everyone knows that.
But for the Heat to reach their ceiling, they need their third-highest-paid player to deliver, too. That’s Andrew Wiggins, and he has started the season in horrific fashion.
The Heat are just 3-6, and Wiggins hasn’t helped at either end of the floor.
Wiggins, unlike Giannis and Bam, isn’t a clear star. He’s got lots of name value, and he’s had very good seasons in his career.
But if Wiggins doesn’t pick it up in this new season, Miami is going to have a lot of trouble reaching its ceiling.
Andrew Wiggins Problem
Wiggins is supposed to make a decent impact at both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, but that’s pretty much lacking so far this year.
“Andrew Wiggins is the third-highest-paid player on Miami’s roster, making roughly $30 million this season,” The Athletic’s Eric Nehm wrote on Friday. “Miami needs him to be its most impactful defender on the wing, ready to take on the toughest defensive assignments every night, and also a capable scorer who can take advantage of the attention created by Antetokounmpo. Coming off the most efficient season of his 13-year career, Wiggins is averaging only 8.6 points per game on 40.8 percent shooting from the field and 29.7 percent from 3. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra believes he is not playing up to his defensive potential either.”
If Wiggins isn’t scoring, and if Wiggins isn’t defending, then what is he doing?
“I don’t need to look at a statistic,” Spoelstra said in regard to Wiggins’ impact defensively, via Nehm. “Your teammates don’t need to. The coaching staff doesn’t need to, in this regard. You can see it. You can feel it.”
That’s as brutal a quote as a player could get, and Wiggins has earned it.
Andrew Wiggins Not Getting Help
Nehm goes on to point out that amid Wiggins’ struggles, the hoped-for help that Tim Hardaway Jr. could provide hasn’t arrived.
“One of Miami’s top reserves on the wing has also not performed as well as expected,” Nehm writes. “After Tim Hardaway Jr. finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting with the Denver Nuggets last season, the Heat signed him for roughly $6 million on the first day of free agency to fill a need for more spacing around Antetokounmpo. Hardaway shot just 28.1 percent from 3 in the first seven games of the season before seeing his minutes decline significantly on Miami’s back-to-back in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In each game, Hardaway made his first appearance of the night in the first quarter, finished up his first stint and then never re-entered.”
The Heat clearly don’t trust Hardaway at the moment, but they need to find a way to get Wiggins or Hardaway going, because they have to use one of them for hefty minutes.
The roster construction of this Miami team was questioned after the trade for Antetokounmpo. Those questions have not been answered yet.
Heat Have $30 Million Andrew Wiggins Problem