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

Kelly Olynyk was the 13th overall pick back in 2013.

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.

#2 Goran Dragic

Goran Dragic was an All-Star last season but injuries and poor form saw him struggle in 18/19

The Slovenian could only play 36 games this year owing to a knee surgery he had back in December, and needless to say, his input to Miami's cause was little-to-none. Starting 22 of the 36 games played, Goran Dragic could only score 13.7 points per game, a big step down from his impressive averages of 20.3 ppg and 17.3 ppg over the last few seasons.

The point-guard's absence due to arthroscopic surgery on his knee left his team without a true PG for the majority of this past season. Miami delegated ball-handling duties to Wade, Johnson, Winslow and Richardson - all of whom failed to prove as effective in the long run.

Dragic's major injury that early in the season came when he was trying to get into his groove, but was quite not feeling it. The team's sub-500 record during their December schedule couldn't get any better in Goran's absence than it could when he was playing.

#3 Hassan Whiteside

Hassan Whiteside averaged a double-double this year.

Following his feud with the Heat coaching staff over playing minutes, it was clear things were set to go downhill for the 29-year-old. Hassan Whiteside played a relatively low number of minutes (23) compared to last year (25.3), while starting in just 53 of his total 72 appearances.

His rebounding average has seen a steady decline over the past few years with this year's 11.3 rpg being his lowest since 2014. Hassan could manage to drop just a sliver above 12 points a game throughout the 2018/19, though the only silver lining among his declining numbers were the two blocks per game he posted - ending up in the league's top ten this year.

This was the first season since his return in 2014 that he scored below his career average in points. From being the NBA's rebounding leader in 2017 and blocks leader back in 2016, Whiteside is apparently past his prime.