In the wake of the Miami Heat’s down season, Goran Dragic is expected to be available ahead of the trade deadline.
If you want him, though, you’ll need to do better than Nikola Vucevic and a first-round pick. Just ask the Orlando Magic, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
The most substantive trade proposal generating buzz among the various team officials, scouts and agents assembled this week at the Hershey Centre: Orlando, according to league sources, recently tried to engage Miami on a Goran Dragic deal in which the Magic were said to be offering center Nikola Vucevic and a future first-round pick.
?The Heat, of course, already have a well-compensated starting center in Hassan Whiteside and, sources say, had no interest in Orlando’s pitch. The South Beachers continue to leave the impression that they’re resistant to surrendering Dragic before the Feb. 23 trade deadline.
Turning bigs into guards is difficult these days, period. It’s categorically impossible when the other team already has a high-end, non-shooting tower like Whiteside.
Though the Heat could use more first-round picks as they gear up for what should be a thorough rebuilding process, Vucevic and Whiteside don’t work alongside each other. Neither shoots threes, even though Vucevic has journeyed beyond the arc more than a few times, nor does any one of them have business defending power forwards, which would be a must should they ever player together.
If the Magic are able to find a third team for Vucevic that’s willing to send picks or prospects the Heat’s way, there might be something to this offer. But Dragic’s trade value has never been higher, and the Heat own the Eastern Conference’s second-worst record with him, so they might not be in any rush to move him when he’s not impacting their draft-day positioning.
