Miami Heat: Will lack of frontcourt depth sink the Heat’s title chances?

The Miami Heat’s title chances could be sunk by their lack of frontcourt depth. 

The Miami Heat appears poised to finish as the first or second seed in the Eastern Conference, heading into the playoffs. However, are we beginning to see cracks in the armor for a team that has consistently been one of the best teams in the league?

An argument can be made that despite the Heat’s impressive run atop the East since before the all-star break, there are concerning signs that could sink their championship chances.

Let’s start with the obvious concerning signs that perhaps might not be that concerning in the long run – nitpicking Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo.

Even though Bam has been ultra-aggressive as of late, there’s the element where we have to see it in the playoffs. Will we truly see aggressive Bam when the team needs him to come through in the postseason? That remains to be seen.

The same could be said for Kyle Lowry, who is averaging less than 10 shot attempts per game this season. The Heat will need more from him if they hope to make a deep run in the postseason.

And, finally, there is renewed concern surrounding Jimmy and his offensive efficiency. During the month of March, Jimmy is averaging just 16 points and four assists on just 38 percent shooting from the field and a putrid 12.5 percent shooting from 3-point range.

Again, the hope is that each of these players will work themselves out by the time the playoffs roll around but there are bigger issues that could end up dooming the Heat in the postseason. And that’s their depth across the frontcourt.

Behind Bam and PJ Tucker, who was red-hot for the Heat to start the season, the only reliable big that the Heat has is Markieff Morris. And even then, we’ve seen Tucker fall a big back to reality over the past few games.

Morris just returned from injury but the Heat will likely need another player to step up in the frontcourt to make an impact in a playoff series. Especially when you have loaded frontcourts to face in the postseason, such as the Philadelphia  76ers and Milwaukee Bucks.

Dewayne Dedmon has had his moments this season but has struggled mightily as of late. I’m not sure if there’s an injury concern, but Dedmon has not looked right recently. In his last eight games with the team, he’s only averaging three points per game on 37 percent shooting from the field.

Miami was interested in bolstering their frontcourt at the trade deadline but ultimately decided to stand pat. Time will tell whether that will end up being a mistake in retrospect.