The NBA season has officially returned to its stage, and rumors of DeMar DeRozan joining the Heat are starting to surface. That’s not surprising at all, considering the Chicago Bulls’ recent struggles.
Furthermore, even though that might have been fantastic news years ago, it might not be in their best interests at this time. A significant factor could be the new CBA and the luxury tax, in addition to the fact that, despite his skill, he is not among the best shooting guards in NBA history, as the Bulls’ asking price for him might suggest.
In light of this, we’ll examine the Miami Heat trade rumors in great detail and present our argument for Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra to pass on this opportunity and not even think about trading picks or anything else in order to acquire the former Toronto Raptors player.
Excessive pricing:
As of right now, DeMar DeRozan is in the latter year of a three-year, $81,900,000 contract he signed with the Chicago Bulls. Since he has consistently produced strong results during his time in the Windy City, that is essentially the base pay he will request moving forward.
It’s difficult to have multiple players earning large salaries under the new CBA, so paying DeRozan more than $28 million annually at this stage of his career would be excessive. Alternatively, they could rent him out and take the chance of losing him when he leaves for no reason. That is not financially sound business.
Inadequate Distance:
As things stand, the Miami Heat are not a very good three-point shooter. Their most reliable scorer outside the arc is Tyler Herro, but he is frequently injured. Thus, rather than players who might clog the paint and worsen their spacing, they ought to be concentrating on shooters and floor-spacers.
DeRozan has never been a good three-point shooter, despite being one of the NBA’s best mid-range scorers. He doesn’t even try to score from outside the paint, and as he gets older, he won’t start doing so.
Age:
The rumors of DeMar DeRozan joining the Heat have been going around for years. In order to make up for their lack of spacing, they might have worked something out years ago by positioning him or Jimmy Butler at the point and surrounding both with shooters.
However, DeRozan will soon turn 35. We understand that the Heat have been vying for an NBA title for a while now, and both of their unsuccessful trips to the Finals during the Butler era have shown just how lacking in a reliable scorer they are.
But instead, they ought to be aiming to get younger, recoup draft capital, and add complementary players who can succeed Butler and fit Tyler Herro’s schedule and might take over in the event that Butler’s output starts to decline. With DeRozan, that isn’t the situation.
The Heat have now lost a lot of trades that went wrong. They may be tempted to go all in and chase whoever becomes available just for kicks since they haven’t been able to sign multiple stars over the last three years or so. Rather, they ought to exercise patience and go after someone who truly suits them.
