The Miami HEAT had a type.
As free agency wore on in mid-July with the team trying to fill out its frontcourt rotation, there was a clear mold most of the acquisitions seemed to fit – the skilled, six-foot-nine combo-forward.
So with the team participating in Las Vegas Summer League, the end of one whirlwind day of signings and acquisitions brought Derrick Williams, James Johnson and Luke Babbitt to the roster.
Months later, with Chris Bosh not with the team, those three join Josh McRoberts as the most likely candidates to start at power forward along with Hassan Whiteside. But though they all fit a mold, each brings a unique flavor to the table. Babbitt is a career 40 percent three-point shooter, Williams a talented slasher who posted career-best scoring numbers last season in New York, James Johnson has long been a notable defender who was tasked with guarding Dwyane Wade at times and McRoberts (currently rehabbing a foot injury) is one of the most talented playmakers for his size in the league.
What it could come down to isn't who is now or who may prove himself to be the most productive of the group, but who fits best with presumed starters Goran Dragic – his speed and aggressiveness – and Hassan Whiteside, who benefits from a spread floor that allows him high-percentage catches in the paint.
“For me, spacing,” Dragic said of what benefits him the most. “If you put Luke Babbitt at the four, nobody is going to help off him. It's a huge difference if you take one guy away from the paint. It's unbelievable.
“That's how I played before with Channing Frye.”
But then Dragic says that there remain many options at this early stage of proceedings since all power forward candidates can do a little bit of everything.
“I'm going to use Spo's word, 'We're like a Swiss Knife',” Dragic said. “We can do so many different things with different guys. Some games it's going to be different lineups out there. You can switch through the games, if something isn't working you can go to different stuff.”
“I feel like all the four men can shoot,” Whiteside added.
Alright, here's where we fess up to a fib. There's a fifth candidate, too. Many players, including Dragic and Whiteside, have mentioned Justise Winslow as a four man as well. And why not, given he's coming off a performance as a starting center against the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs? Winslow proved himself capable of defending just about any position last season and his skillset should give him an advantage as a small-ball power forward for years to come. Perhaps he does become the starter at the four, though for our current purposes we'll consider that a change-of-pace look.
For their parts, the aforementioned combo-forwards are all approaching things in a similar manner.
“When I came here, I felt like I had a chance to start,” Williams said.
“I'm setting my goals high. I want to bring what I can to help the team,” Babbitt said. “I bring a skill that should really help us. I started a fair amount of games in New Orleans so I'd like to build off that. But I'm just looking to come in and do whatever is asked of me.”
“I want to get the starting spot for any position,” Johnson said. “I don't care what the number says. I'm going in there with an open mind. I'm going into camp with the attitude of winning every drill. It's going to speak for itself if I get the starting role. If not I'm going to cheer for my guys and come off the bench whenever they call my name.”
Realistically, this is a competition that could take weeks to reach any sort of conclusion. And even then it will likely be a false finish considering earning a starting spot and keeping it are two entirely different matters. Spoelstra has always been willing to experiment – something that shouldn't change given how much turnover the roster has seen – but he's also not one to make uninformed decisions. When someone gets the spot it will be because, scientifically speaking, the coaching staff is testing a hypothesis that the player will produce and fit. The only proper test for that is building up a sample size in actual games.
For now, there's only so much we can know. There aren't supposed to be more answers than that this time of year, especially when it takes at least a full hand to count the number of options available. We know the HEAT sought after a certain type of player in July and we're only now seeing the process play out.
That's training camp in a nutshell, isn't it? Wait, wait and wait for things to get started, but once they do you have to wait, wait and wait some more just to find out where things are going.
