The Miami Heat needed shooting, and they got shooting.
Simone Fontecchio wasn’t the only Heat sharpshooter signing of the day, as slightly after free agency began, Miami locked up Tim Hardaway Jr on a one year deal.
Yes, all shooting is welcome to start out this Giannis Antetokounmpo era in Miami, but the style of Hardaway Jr is a tough one to look past.
For starters, he shot 41% from three on 7 attempts a night last season in Denver. When simplifying it down to catch and shoot threes only, he shot 42% from deep on over 5 attempts a game.
It’s clear the Heat got a sniper.
The movement shooting is the fun part
The key to this new Miami Heat offense will be spacing and motion again
If it’s “give ball to Giannis and watch” things will be bad
You need somebody who can fly off these pin-downs and curls to open things up
He does that at a high level pic.twitter.com/RHT0dIO6lQ
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) June 30, 2026
But the real intrigue is the movement shooting part of this equation. Hardaway Jr is a great relocator, and can really catch a rhythm off a pindown or curl before finding a launch pad to fire off his jumper.
On a Giannis Antetokounmpo roster, it’s not discussed enough how needed that is. Yes, simple spot-up threes will be presented when defenses send help Antetokounmpo’s way, but the only way to eliminate a stagnant Heat offense this year is movement.
Flying Hardaway Jr off a pindown on the weakside while Antetokounmpo is occupying the strong-side mid-post with all eyes on him is a formula Heat fans will be seeing a lot.
Hardaway Jr’s time with Nikola Jokic this past year could really come in handy, as playing off a superstar offensively is truly a different style of basketball.
He has both sides of the handoff unlocked
What I mean by that, like Miami did with Duncan, he can fire right at the screen or utilize that escape dribble to fire in some space
Duncan used more of the first, Max more of the second
Either way, handoffs are back in the 305 pic.twitter.com/nxw9OzZQas
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) June 30, 2026
Shoutout former Heat shooter Duncan Robinson for this segment, but hand-offs are back in Miami.
Not only Antetokounmpo, but I have a feeling Bam Adebayo is going to form a close bond with Hardaway Jr on that end of the floor. Can shoot off the hand-off right at the level of the screen, but can also use that escape dribble to force that defender going over to chase before he finds an open spot.
That last part is important. Before today, the Heat didn’t have many guys rostered that are forcing real defensive overreactions on the perimeter by going over a ball screen.
They do today.
The other part of Hardaway’s game is this
You don’t want him getting a ton of shot creation off the dribble and put him in a different role
But he can expand into that at times
Off the dribble step back rhythm threes, attacking close-outs with a float, side step middy
Hmmmm pic.twitter.com/JA6ZuSOZs3
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) June 30, 2026
You don’t want to get carried away with this part of his game, but could there be more in Hardaway Jr’s bag offensively?
We’ve seen the transition pull-up threes, the off the dribble step backs, the mid range side steps, and the occasional drive off a close-out into a floater or short jumper.
But with the Heat’s current lack of shot creation in the guard room at this moment in time, it’s not crazy to say we could see some added reps for him to somewhat play the Norman Powell role of last year with the random drives due to over-plays.
More than anything else, though, the Miami Heat added a microwave scorer and shooter. No LeBron James signing yet, but this is an important piece. To get you through the regular season especially, you need a guy that can randomly get hot, catch a rhythm, and just go on a run to turn a game.
And if you’ve watched Tim Hardaway Jr after seeing a shot or two go in, the man sees that basket 3 times the size. The Heat not only added some needed shooting, I believe they added the right shooting.
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