Miami Heat ‘Free-agent Focus’: Larry Hughes

(When the lockout ends, the Miami Heat will be limited to no more than the mid-level exception to spend in free agency, which should fall somewhere in the $5.5 million range. That’s if it exists at all in a new collective-bargaining agreement. Otherwise, there might only be the veteran minimum to spend, which would be roughly $1 million for 2011-12. This is the 13th in a series of evaluations of potential free-agent targets.) 2010-11 salary: $0. The case for: No matter how you slice it, the Heat will have to round out the bottom of the roster with minimum-salary veteran types. And an argument can be made that Hughes, even after a year out of the league, has the potential to provide more on the perimeter than Jamaal Magloire or Juwan Howard provided in the post last season. The case against: There is a reason the likes of Hughes (and Allen Iverson and Bonzi Wells) were out of the league last season. If teams that desperately could have used help took a pass, then should the c...