Goran Dragic has played much better of late.

He's had three straight double figure scoring games, after three straight single figure scoring games, and his assists are up from 4.1 in November to 6.6 in December.

He's had more opportunities in the open floor, but he's also become better at picking his spots to drive and shoot in the crowded halfcourt.

Still, when I was cleaning out the tape recorder, I found this recent quote from his former Suns teammate -- and current Wizards forward -- Jared Dudley that's worth a repeat here...

"I think they have to be careful of structure. He's someone, you've got to let him play, play in space. He's not a guy who can come and just run 100 plays. And that's what Miami likes to do. He's someone, he has to play in transition. He's like John Wall. He's a one-man fast break. It's tough with their team, an older team at times. But they have to cat-and-mouse of when to let him go and when not to."

Dudley noted that what's different this season, as opposed to the end of last season, is that Miami has Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside as options. (What Dudley didn't say what that, with both on the floor, the lane is even more clogged.)

"And D-Wade doesn't want to go up, running up and down the whole time. So he's got to pick-and-choose his spots. So maybe when you sub D-Wade out, you can be more aggressive, and then Bosh comes back in. But he'll figure it out."