The Miami Heat figure to be one of the best teams in the NBA this upcoming season, as long as they stay healthy. The starting lineup features three All-Stars, one fringe All-Star and one budding star while the bench is pretty stacked, too. There have been questions about whether the Heat might change up their starting lineup this season but, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the starters are basically set in stone.
The starting lineup that is supposedly set in stone is Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside. The thought is that maybe the Heat don't have enough outside shooting on that first unit, so moving Deng to the bench might make sense in favor of Gerald Green, but Winderman says that the Heat need his defense out there to start.
Having Deng come off the bench instead of start would put a lot of pressure on Wade to have to guard the opponents best player and considering he has had injury issues and is now 33 years old the Heat will do everything they can to keep Wade healthy.
Regardless of the defense argument, Deng can knock down perimeter shots although not as well as Green. Green is a career 37 percent shooter from beyond the arc, while Deng is a career 33 percent three point shooter. Deng, Bosh and Dragic should be able to provide plenty of outside shooting for the Heat's starters, and Deng brings more to the table than Green does which makes Green a perfect guy to bring off the bench for his scoring punch.
Winderman actually believes that Green is not even the threat to Deng's starting spot, but instead Justise Winslow is. Winslow was taken by the Heat with the 10th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and was considered a steal that late. Winslow is likely the starter of the future at small forward and Deng will hold that position until Winslow is ready to take over full time.
