Miami Heat: Three players that disappointed this season
Miami's 2018-19 regular season run ended with a loss to the Brooklyn Nets with Dwyane Wade ending his illustrious career on a triple-double. This year will mainly be remembered as the one housing D-Wade's farewell tour and as an ode to his accomplishments as a member of the Heat.
However, the team couldn't bag a postseason berth as his parting gift, ending their campaign down at the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference standings. With all eyes fixated on Wade throughout the year, some players on the roster didn't really perform to expectations and ended up with some dispiriting numbers on both ends of the floor.
The team finished sixth last season in the East, but won five less games this year and missed the post-season too despite a last-gasp effort in the closing few weeks. Clearly, some players failed to step up while the world was busy giving D-Wade the farewell he so rightly deserved.
Without further ado, let's analyse three players who failed to play prominent roles as was expected of them.
#1 Kelly Olynyk
With this being Kelly Olynyk's second season in Miami, his minutes did not see a sharp rise but neither did his scoring numbers either. Having averaged around 12 points per game last season, his average dropped to 10 ppg this year.
Playing over 23 minutes per game, he could only manage six 20+ point performances throughout the 78 games he featured for the heat in 2018/19. He started 35 games for his team this past season, compared with 22 from last year, but saw a noticeable decline in both rebounding and passing averages too. He shot better in his first year with the franchise - be it from the mid-range or beyond the arc - but struggled to leave a lasting impact this time around.
From being only the second reserve in Heat history to score 30 last year to not being able to justify his 4-year/$50 million dollar contract at present, Olynyk has truly been underwhelming so far.