The Miami Heat’s roster work is just beginning after the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, and the next move could be a simple one: go get shooting.
That’s where Boston Celtics guard Anfernee Simons comes in. He’ll be a free agent, and the Heat could potentially land him using part of the mid-level exception. For a team that just sent out several of its best players to bring in the former two-time MVP, that kind of fit jumps off the page.
Simons has built his reputation as a high-volume marksman. Over the last six years, he’s hit 38% of his 7.1 three-point attempts per game, which puts him among the NBA’s best shooters who launch it that often. Even with that track record, he still feels like a player Miami could snag at a price that makes sense.
The need is obvious. If the Heat can’t bring back Norm Powell, the backcourt gets thin fast.
That leaves them short on guards who can score, and Simons would instantly help solve that problem. In Miami, he could slide into a major role and provide real punch as a scorer.
He could even end up as a 15-point-per-game option behind Bam Adebayo and Giannis, which would make him one of the team’s top three scorers. That’s the kind of outcome that comes with both upside and a little discomfort.
Of course, Adebayo can always drop 83 points in a game to help make up the difference. All jokes aside, the Heat understood the trade-off when they went after Giannis: the roster would be thinner in other places, and now the challenge is filling in the gaps.
That’s the part Miami has to nail. The franchise has a long track record of turning spare parts into useful rotation pieces and getting random players to have career seasons. If they want to be a real contender next season, they’ll need more of that magic.
It’s still tough to picture them matching up with the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals as things stand. But this can also be viewed as the first year of a four- or five-year window.
Even with that longer timeline, the Heat aren’t going to sit back and treat this like a reset year. They’ll keep pushing to build the best roster they can, and signing Simons in free agency should be right near the top of the list.
In Other News...
Celtics Just Made A Quiet Offseason Call On Two Young Picks
Amid a quieter stretch of offseason business, Boston has made one of those small but meaningful roster decisions that can shape the back end of the teams future. The Celtics did not extend qualifying offers to Max Shulga or John Tonje, a move that leaves both young guards headed into the summer without the usual team-controlled pathway.
Shulga and Tonje were late second-round picks from a year ago, and both spent time moving between Bostons standard roster and two-way territory as they tried to carve out a place. For a front office that has been sorting through several qualifying-offer calls around the league, the decision on those two keeps the Celtics own picture a little cleaner, even if it also opens the door for other possibilities in free agency. [Read more 🡒]
NBA Bombshell Just Put An Unthinkable Star In Boston's Orbit
LeBron James decision to tell the Lakers he will play elsewhere next season sent the league into immediate speculation mode, and Boston inevitably got pulled into the conversation. With James headed toward unrestricted free agency, the usual heavyweight suitors are already being discussed, but the Celtics have at least been mentioned as a team that could theoretically enter the mix if they wanted to shake up the entire landscape.
For Boston, the appeal would be obvious even before the bigger legacy questions come into play. The Celtics could put a real contract offer on the table, and the basketball fit would be just as tempting, with James able to ease into a secondary role next to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown while still supplying playmaking, passing and rim pressure. Whether that idea ever moves beyond the realm of possibility is the part worth watching, because the door only opens if Boston decides this is more than a wild summer thought. [Read more 🡒]
Jaylen Browns Father Just Took Celtics Frustration Public
Marselles Brown has been willing to say publicly what Celtics fans have heard swirling around Jaylen Brown all summer: the noise around his son has started to feel bigger than basketball. During an appearance on Sway In The Morning, he defended Jaylen against criticism from ESPN voices Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins, pushing back on the idea that the Celtics star somehow deserves the backlash that followed Bostons playoff exit and the reaction to his comments afterward.
The timing matters because Brown is coming off a career-best season, yet the conversation around him keeps getting dragged into accountability debates and trade chatter. Marselles Brown argued the criticism has crossed a line, turning a basketball argument into something more personal, and it only adds another layer to a Celtics offseason that has already been defined by speculation about how the team views one of its most important players. [Read more 🡒]