The signing of Jones was a very smart move by Heat President Pat Riley. Last season, Jones finished third in three-point percentage, behind only Jason Kapono and Steve Nash. The injury to Jones is a blow to the Heat, but Erik Spoelstra's team may be able to weather this storm.
For one, this injury will not affect Miami's starting lineup. They can still start Shawn Marion at the three. Moreover, Marion has showcased his ability to shoot three-pointers, even with his ugly shooting mechanics. In my last post, I advocated that Chris Quinn should start. This injury provides more support for that claim. Mario Chalmers and Marcus Banks can hit threes, but Quinn can do it and be a steady, pass-first point guard. As I said, Banks is more of a scorer and Chalmers has simply not proven enough thus far.
Another option for Miami is Daequan Cook. He's in a slump thus far, but one thing I like about the kid is that his confidence never waivers. If Spoelstra has him as just a shooting guard, he can't expect to play more than 10 minutes a night behind Dwyane Wade. But Spoelstra can experiment a bit with Cook and Wade in the backcourt together. I know that it would provide more on the shoulders of Wade, but it would also give Wade some spacing on the floor with Cook by his side.
When Pat Riley signed Yakhouba Diawara, many people, including myself, thought it was a little excessive for him to sign all of these small forwards unless he was considering trading one of them. However, Diawara may play more minutes than expected this time around. Spoelstra has repeatedly praised Diawara's three-point shooting and defense, two things he has emphasized this training camp. If Diawara can translate his play from the practice court to the real court, he may end up being Marion's backup.
There is also Dorell Wright. At yesterday's practice, both Spoelstra and Wright said that the 6'9" forward should play in a handful of exhibitions, but not in today's meeting with Orlando. Has Wright been practicing his three-point shooting this entire summer? Don't count on it, because he had knee surgery this past summer. But Wright's range goes up to about 20 feet away from the rim. Wright has had his moments defensively, but he also looks lost at times.
At the end of the day, it'll be an open fight between Diawara and Wright for the backup small forward spot. It was once considered to be a lock for Jones, but this injury can be advantageous for either of these two.
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