Miami Heat Goran Dragic trade: Dwyane Wade still centerpiece of team

By Jake Robison | February 21, 2015

The Miami Heat showed that Dwyane Wade is still the core of the team, despite his advancing age and declining availability, as it remade its roster around him at the trade deadline. In comes point guard Goran Dragic, one of the best in the NBA, to play alongside Wade in the backcourt. Out goes Norris Cole, who showed flashes but was never consistent. And suddenly the Heat are back in contention in 2015, intent on making the best of the years that Dwyane Wade has left.

While LeBron James was the best player on the Miami Heat (and in the league) during his four years with the team, he was always merely a high-stakes rental player whom the organization knew would depart eventually. But it’s Dwyane Wade who has been with the Heat for more than a decade, the only star back in his earliest years. Pat Riley has repeatedly rebuilt the roster around him, adding whichever rental players were available. First it was Shaquille O’Neal, which brought a championship. Then it was LeBron, which brought two more.

And now it’s Goran Dragic, who would never have worked as a centerpiece but instead joins cast of second-tier all stars in Miami, completing the Miami Heat’s transformation from the perceived cockiness of the “Big Three” era into officially embracing the blue collar collaboration that it always was. And for as long as his knees last, Dwyane Wade will continue to be the emotional centerpiece of the roster.