With the pain of missing the playoffs by the slimmest of margins ingrained in their memory, the HEAT entered the 2017-18 season seeking redemption.
And while a top 10 defense and a breakout campaign from Josh Richardson played a huge role in Miami achieving that goal (more on him later), you can’t start assessing the season without mentioning the importance of Goran Dragiu0107.
Despite the HEAT’s overall balance offensively (nine guys averaged double-figures in scoring, which was the most in the NBA), the Slovenian was Miami’s unequivocal leader all year long. In fact, he earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors twice (Nov.