NFL
By: Kevin Lucas
For a team that has played in 2 of the last 5 NBA Finals, it sure does seem like the Miami Heat get left out of the Eastern Conference contender conversations far too often. Yes, the East has gotten better with Paul George heading to Philly and the Knicks trading for Mikal Bridges but don’t count the Heat out so soon.
Regardless of what seed they enter into the playoffs with, the Heat have shown that their style of play wins meaningful games in the postseason. In 5 seasons together Erik Spoelstra, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo have accumulated 38 playoff wins together. Meaning they’ve accomplished pretty much everything in the playoffs except complete the ultimate goal which is hoisting what would be the franchise’s 4th Larry O’Brien trophy. The two main things that have held them back from winning it all have been their lack of offensive firepower and height. In late January of this year the Heat addressed that first issue by trading Kyle Lowry for a professional bucket-getter in Terry Rozier. Rozier then went on to play 31 games for his favorite childhood squad before his season abruptly ended due to a serious neck injury. Sadly, the main theme of the Heat’s 2023-24 season was injuries as was the main message reiterated in Pat Riley’s end-of-season press conference.
The reason that the Heat have not been super active in trade talks (outside of Lauri Markkanen and DeMar DeRozan) is because we haven’t seen what this team truly looks like fully healthy. On top of Rozier’s injury, Miami dealt with multiple guys missing games due to injuries from Jaime Jaquez to Duncan Robinson to Bam Adebayo, who’s proven to be a true Ironman in this league. Their season essentially ended when Jimmy Butler hurt his knee in the play-in game versus the 76ers in Philly where they lost 104-105. They then went on to beat the Bulls at home to capture the 8th seed and advance to take on the 1-seed and eventual champion Boston Celtics. Boston proceeded to gentleman’s sweep Miami 4 games to 1 without Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson. Injuries are a part of the game so there is no excuses here just stating facts.
In the midst of their quiet offseason the Heat and Bam Adebayo agreed on a 3-year max deal worth $166 million that will keep him in Miami through the 2028-2029 season. Bam has solidified himself as a true winner in this league and arguably the best defensive player in the entire NBA. Some other loud noise this offseason was the franchise’s decision to not extend Jimmy Butler who will be 35 at the start of next season and has a player option in ’25-’26. Butler allegedly is looking for a max extension to stay with the Heat but because he didn’t get it, look for him to have maybe the best year of his career in this upcoming ’24-’25 season.
Due to free agency the Heat lost both Caleb Martin and Delon Wright to Philly and Milwaukee respectively, but they managed to replenish those losses by bringing in Alec Burks and re-signing Haywood Highsmith. The main factor for them will be the growth of either Jaime Jaquez Jr. or Nikola Jović. If 1 of those guys can take a serious leap then the Heat will be right back in the thick of things. They drafted Kel’el Ware with the 15th pick in this years’ draft who is a gigantic defensive center out of the University of Indiana, however it’ll take him some time to crack the rotation but he will be a major factor down the line.
Notice how there hasn’t been a single mention of Tyler Herro up until this point ? He is heading into Year 6 and it’s time for him to finally put it all together and be the guy that the Heat front office believe he can be while also being the reliable scorer that his teammates need out of him. He has beaten every trade scenario ever so it’s no more excuses for him. At this point in time he has to be a guy that Jimmy and Bam can expect to take some of the offensive load off of their shoulders.
With Bam Adebayo getting that Olympic experience with the best in the world yet again, a motivated Erik Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler being hungrier than ever, the Miami Heat are going to surprise the Eastern Conference once more.
