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Rod Strickland

Let's face it. Miami's run with Tim Hardaway is over. It's time to look in a different direction. For a team, that is attempting to acquire talent at a low price, there is no more obvious option than Rod Strickland. At 6-3, Strickland has the talent and game to make the Miami HEAT offense flow. His game is simple, Drive the lane and create for his teammates.

For all of the fans who believe that Miami will falter without Tim Hardaway, then let's see how Strickland matches up with Timmy:

CAREER STATS
TIM HARDAWAY v.s. ROD STRICKLAND
Career Stats MIN PTS FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% AST REB STL TO
36.6 18.6 43.5 1408-3960 35.6 2472-3162 78.2 8.6 3.4 1.73 2.99
32.4 14.5 45.8 175-616 28.4 3118-4343 71.8 7.9 4.0 1.62 2.83
Now, I'm not saying that Rod Strickland will be Magic Johnson (who in my opinion is the best basketball player to ever play the game), but the numbers at least say that he is capable of running an NBA offense. When comparing the numbers of Strickland and Hardaway, the first thing to jump out is PPG, where Hardaway holds a +4.1 advantage. This number is slightly deceving, because of Timmy's +3344 edge in 3PA. The overabundance of 3pters shot has grown old in the Miami arsenal, the HEAT needa a face-lift and Rod Strickland seems to be a change of pace from Timmy's all-or-nothing approach.

Rod Strickland is available as an unrestricted free agent. Therefore, he can be signed at no expense to the salary cap for up to 4.5 mil. His numerous run-ins with the law and the question of his desire to win make him less attractive. However, Miami cannot be content with their current roster where an undersized Eddie House and an inexperienced Anthony Carter are the only options at PG. He is available at such a low price that if he were to prove disruptive, Miami could let him go without having to absorb a salary cap hit.

According to bskball.com, Rod Strickland has let it be known if Miami were to offer him $2.5 million over 2 seasons he would agree to join the Heat. For a team that is trying to avoid the luxury tax, this would seem to be the most logical choice.

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