The Miami Heat have garnered considerable praise for their acquisition of former Clippers guard Norman Powell.
NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas isn't exactly a fan. He diminished Powell's star-caliber season, attributing his offensive production to Kawhi Leonard's absence. Arenas argued that Powell only recorded his career-high numbers because there was an opening in the starting lineup, which won't happen with the Heat.
"What y'all forgetting is the reason he was averaging that much is because one whole star was gone, so he was the go-to guy by himself," Arenas said on his Gil's Arena web show. "James Harden was the assist guy; he was second in scoring. He's out there, but I'm giving you the ball. You're going to Miami, where there are already guys who want to shoot the ball. So now he's fighting for the ball."
Arenas's concern is valid questioning Powell's ability to repeat his production on a complete team. However, aside from Tyler Herro, the Heat don't really have any starters that are overly aggressive on the offensive end. Bam Adebayo has been criticized as a passive scorer, and Andrew Wiggins and Kel'el Ware shouldn't get in the way of Powell producing.
The veteran guard averaged 21.8 points on 48.4 percent shooting last season, while knocking down 41.8 percent of his shots from 3-point range. The Heat will utilize his high-level scoring, especially from the arc. They had the seventh-worst scoring offense last season, a trend that must change to re-establish themselves as conference contenders.
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