Josh McRoberts Will Need To Make Up For Miami Heat Point Guards

By Richard Nurse @blackirishpr on October 11, 2014

While we all talk about awkward tension at weddings, the loss of friendships and how difficult it will be for Kevin Love to take a backseat to LeBron James, Chris Bosh shed a little light on what the Miami Heat will truly be missing:

“We don’t have that luxury of having that big guard that can see the floor and make those cross-court passes. We just have to adjust to that.” (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Being without a luxury that 28 other teams have not had the pleasure of having in 11 years sounds like nothing more than a self-centered complaint. However, when you lose one of the top “unofficial” point guards in the league — after being spoiled with his greatness for the amount of time that it takes for most to earn a bachelors degree — it could be more devastating than stripping his 27.1 point average out of the box score.

Not only are the Heat losing their floor general, but also gone are his 6.4 assists per game.

Just imagine how hard that will be to replace for a team that often struggled with ball movement with James on the court. Now picture having to do it with Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole, both of who continue to play like they belong in the D-League.

You can see why coach Erik Spoelstra continues to rotate both players as he preaches that the starting point guard position is still an open competition. Which — as Ira Winderman points out — makes the newest guy that Miami’s missing so instrumental:

“Keep an eye on Josh McRoberts as a possible facilitator to [Dwyane] Wade. McRoberts’ passing could potentially help revive Wade.” (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Little did fans know that signing the 6-foot-10 big-man out of Duke would be such a major move. They probably never even noticed that McRoberts played the role of point-forward down in Charlotte, often using his passing skills to setup teammates off of cuts and in the post.

That all sounds good, but the downside is that McRoberts may be out at the beginning of the regular season. Meaning it will take plenty of extra time to gain continuity to the new guys around him. But the ultimate plus is that his lackluster point guard crew will have less chances to screw things up by trying to be leaders.

That’s a lot of responsibility for a man who finally had a breakout season, but a fresh four-year, $23 million deal will do that to you.

Richard Nurse is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.