As Josh McRoberts continues to recover from off-season toe surgery, the Miami Heat have been experimenting with a variety of starting power forwards during the preseason. Shawne Williams, Udonis Haslem and Danny Granger have all gotten a turn.

In Miami’s 115-108 win over the Golden State Warriors Friday, Williams may have won the job, according to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.

“By losing 20 pounds over the summer and playing in this system, the Heat hopes Williams will transform from an erratic journeyman to a reliable rotation player. So far, the signs are encouraging; starting at power forward, he had 19 points and seven rebounds and hit all five of his threes. He could start there opening night if the Heat decides to ease Josh McRoberts back into the lineup after toe and back injuries.”

Williams has had an inconsistent preseason, looking borderline unplayable in the two games previous to Miami’s first preseason win. He looked slow to make decisions and his shot wasn’t falling. Against Golden State, his shot was going down–including five of five from beyond the arc.

He tends to be in the right place at the right time though, which shows he is understanding his role in Erik Spoelstra’s system. That’s encouraging and likely why he continues to earn big minutes.

If McRoberts isn’t ready to go for opening night against the Washington Wizards on Oct. 29, Williams seems to be the front runner to start. The more long-term question is who will be the primary backup power forward.

Chris Andersen figures to be the third big, which would move Chris Bosh to the 4 and Birdman would play the 5 (in essence making Bosh the backup power forward).

But if Spo wants to continue to spread the floor, he could opt to go with Williams or Granger at the 4 and leave Bosh in the middle. He’ll only be able to do this if Williams or Granger show they can contribute in the regular season. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if Williams can be more consistent.