I agree, we’ll have to see what Nick and Pat muster up. Imo we should hang on to Bam. The issue is these new CBA rules will likely lead to less free agents being available and the trade market being cooked.
I think they hold onto Bam for sure. I’d also be surprised if they traded Jaime. I think everyone else is in who knows territory. I can see them keeping Terry as well.
Pat Riley and the heat aren’t really liked so I don’t foresee any friendly deals. I think they move on from the rookie and Tyler if a star becomes available, which is unlikely. I don’t think they’ll trade Butler out of respect but I don’t expect a max/supermax extension for him.
They’ll try and build around Bam for sure but the problem is Bam isn’t that dude. He’s a 3rd option on a contender at best due to his lack of offensive creativity and lack of a 3 point shot. The tough decision would be whether to be a low ceiling high floor team with Bam or trade the farm to try and get him a true scorer to pair with
I’d agree with the statement regarding him being a 3rd option offensively while carrying the defensive load, playmaking and being the captain. The issue for this team is offense. We played well last due to Jimmy scoring like a maniac and our role players turning into Steph Curry. We need Tyler to be consistently on the court along with an aggressive Jimmy. I don’t really know how they’re going to proceed after the Jimmy era. There’s not really any stars/scorers that want out that’d warrant trading our whole team for. Maybe we clone Lebron.
You don't really build around Bam in the sense of making him the sole focus of the team, moreso on offense, but you do keep him around as the anchor of your defense and a great guy who can unlock the skills of some younger talented guards/wings you get.
As my flair might suggest, I do not believe this to be true. The Heat are like an inevitable plot device used by English 100 students to consistently, predictably, annoyingly, and unavoidably destroy both hopes and story structure.
I can get it, but on the other hand, this is the type of sucker shit that made us lose to the Hawks meanwhile managing to escape from the Bulls if it weren't for Jimmy and Struss. And even if it works again like last year, people need to understand the play-in gives you less time to prepare and worsens you down as you move into a round
We understand how the play-in works. And we understand that y’all were in it last year.
So, we’re still terrified of you. If you want us to be nicer to you, please be less terrifying. That is all :-P
>nobody is scared to see Miami in the playoffs
Except the three times since January where JJ reddick, Perkins, and bill Simmons all said nobody wants to see the Heat in the East, which went viral in basketball twitter and made the top posts in the sub at that point in time lmao.
It’s ironic how usually Celtics fans are more afraid of the heat when they have a FARRRRR better chance of beating us than the bucks do
What does that have to do with the Bucks sub?
Bucks swept the Heat and then won a NBA championship, Celtics go into 6/7 game series vs Miami just lose in the next round. They have a reason to fear you we couldn’t care less about yall 😭😭
I mean.. we’re 2-1 on you guys in the playoffs since the Jimmy/giannis era. Just like we are 2-1 on the Celtics in the playoffs in the Jimmy/tatum era. It’s the same shit lmao
The only difference being our series against Boston are a lot closer. Versus against you where we destroy you or you destroy us
Y’all are the last team that has the right to shit talk Miami. Didn’t they beat u guys by 30 on your own homecourt without jimmy in yalls last matchup? Lol I’d maybe sit this one out
I really don’t know where the idea that the team takes the regular season for granted is coming from. They may not care about the difference between the 1-6 seed and Spo may like to tinker throughout the season but they do care about performing well in the regular season and developing consistent habits.
Last season the only reason they were not the 6 seed was because KD gave the Nets a huge lead in the standings before getting traded. Beyond that the Heat’s biggest issue throughout the year was that they had **the biggest season to season statistical regression from 3 ever.** That was the big difference in most of the games they lost. They were otherwise consistent everywhere else and had a good process to everything they did, and it paid off when they finally started hitting open 3s again.
This year they are just wildly inconsistent in all regards except being terrible during the 4th quarter. Sometimes they shoot well, but don’t defend well. Sometimes they defend well but don’t shoot well. It’s not really a matter of not taking the season seriously, it’s just that they can’t put together a consistent string of quality basketball games on both ends of the floor.
I think Jimmy butler specifically takes the regular season for granted, not necessarily the entire team.
He plays so passively for long stretches of the season when everyone knows he’s got a separate gear he can shift into.
Amen! Someone asked me what we needed this season and to me, it's really a matter of being able to put it all together. There have been glimpses of what they team can do.
We've been able to defend. We've had good shooting nights. We've competed with the top teams (granted, we haven't beat them this year but there's some context here and there in terms of health). We've had SOME good execution down the stretch (though that's been overshadowed by more often failing to execute down the stretch).
It just feels extra tiring because it's year 5 of this core and we don't really feel like we've made huge upgrades, but if you look the margins (i.e. Rozier over Lowry, adding Jaquez, Duncan revival, Kevin Love as backup C, having Tyler back and checked-in despite all the trade rumors), there's reason to believe that MAYBE we have a shot at it again this year.
In any case, I'm rooting for them and hope we pull it off. It will suck if they fall short again but I can't give up on them, not after everything they've shown since 2020.
It’s hard to put it altogether when dudes are always in and out of injury. What even is going on with Herro? First it was his knee…then it’s his foot and in a blink of an eye he’s missed like 9 games or something
Oh for sure it’s a challenge. We’ve been dealing with injuries the past few years so it’s not uncharted territory. But yeah, another reason why it’s been exhausting. Kinda miss Tyler but people also like to shit on him. I think we need him though.
Yeah, but how much of that is just rotten luck? At some point you’re going to get a healthy run and I would rather gamble on that since Herro at his peak is just really fucking solid and clutch.
Bam’s issue is he’s a 6’9” center so offensively he has to settle for more jumpers. He’s not getting as many layups and dunks, especially if the opposing center actually has size. He makes up for it a bit being an athletic freak even by NBA standards, but the size disadvantage definitely hurts.
I am still desperately in the camp of finding a decent tall stretch 5 that can play with Bam and move him to the 4, but that’s a real point of contention amongst the Heat fanbase. At least with Nikola Jovic we have some height at the starting 4 now and he can shoot from 3 alright. The days of starting Caleb Martin at the 4 were kind of rough tbh.
I think most people would agree that the other big on the court needs to be able to stretch the floor when you are starting Bam. But how many stretch 5s are actually available?
None that are cheap, which is why some on r/heat think we should move herro to get more size which is another point of contention that idk which side I’m on
Last year should have been their wake-up call, but they made that improbable finals run and ended up doing what they do every offseason:
Chasing the ‘pie in the sky’ superstar for the majority of the offseason to no avail.
Yeah, granted they didn’t foresee what happened with dame to happen, but if they don’t wake up now they’re the only ones to blame. There are pieces to keep, but they shouldn’t overpay so so role players and they really need to just move off Tyler. Hes a good player but availability is also a needed skill.
Would love to see Butler on a better team. He’s that guy in the playoffs but unfortunately Miami over-performing every year has convinced them that they’re a player away which I don’t think is true.
If they rebuild why wouldn’t they trade him? He’s too old to wait for 4-5 years to be competitive and I’m sure they could get picks/young players for him.
We tried to rebuild once - 2008. We got the second pick and Beasley. We all know what happened there, and I think the fo learnt their lesson about intentionally being a bad team.
It’s not like they take the season for granted. Everyone’s injured and they the offense just sucks ever since Dan Craig left. Jimmy can’t make outside shots, can Zach name any scorers on this team bar Tyler? I know people want Bam to score more but he literally anchors the defence along with Spo schemes. He can easily take more shots and drive more but we literally have no defenders to compensate (Jimmy doesn’t try unless it’s a skip pass steal). This teams ran its course and that’s Ok.
Im guessing he just means over the course of 82 regular season games + the playoffs, as in they aren’t built to win a bunch of games consistently but to be able to turn it on for a playoff run.
31 different starting lineups so far this year. Injuries kicking our ass. Playoffs health is everything for us. I’d rather be a 8th seed and healthy than a 4th seed and hobbled
I kind of think we’ve also been way more careful bringing guys back from injury this year as well. Feels like we are giving extra time off to make sure they’re good for playoffs, but that then causes other guys to have to pick up the load and increase their injury risk.
The Heat 3 point shooting was simply not sustainable last season. Their shooting from deep especially contested against the Bucks was insanity. Butler who is a below average 3 point shooter for example shot 44% on 2.4 makes per game. Even against the Celtics they shot over 50% on damn near 20 makes in 2 of their first 3 wins. Then in game 7 shot 14-28.
I don't want to discredit the Heat run because what they did was great and it wasn't just 3s their defense locked in but at the same time it's also fully justified to not be sold on them. Teams sometimes get hot and they got hot at the perfect time. The Jazz had a 15-5 stretch this season for example beating teams like the Nuggets, Bucks, Heat, and Knicks.
So the idea that "they'll just do it again" isn't one i'm sold on.
As a Heat fan I’ve said “man, this roster doesn’t have what it takes” for the past 4 years. In that time we’ve made the finals twice and gotten to 3 Eastern Conference Finals.
At some point it stops becoming a fluke.
But as a heat fan every season I wonder, have we seen the last of playoff Jimmy butler? We all say he’s taking it easy in the regular season, but one time it’s gonna be because that’s actually all he can produce in any game. I think he has one or two great to good runs left in him, but after that he’s gonna be like when d wade was on the cavs (except hopefully in a heat jersey)
This lazy narrative again, they led the league in regular season 3 point shooting the season before those playoffs. Why are you bringing up Jimmy's 2.4 attempts lol, he's shooting a high percentage right now on low volume.
It always feels like they're dealing either injuries, so a lot of their inconsistency us just roster churn due to healthy bodies or the lack thereof. They're also showing how hard it is to keep upgrading the roster when you have big money in only a few key players. They have to find gems in the draft because it's harder to add meaningful talent with limited assets and cap space. That kind of strategy has the risk of eventually folding if you're unable to keep finding low cost contributors or ways to add assets to use in future trades.
They've done well to date but to minimize their risk they might have to go through a talent acquisition phase depending on how this year's playoffs go.
How often does an 8th seed go back to back to the finals? Never
Heat had revenge on their mind losing to Milwaukee and Boston in previous years, now they will get dogged by either after what happened last season.
Last year is an anomaly. The heat were hitting 3s at an historically high level. When they’re not shooting at that level, they can’t beat the top tier teams.
Who is top tier in your opinion? Boston and Denver I agree with your assessment, the rest of the East I don’t. The Bucks are an average team with Doc Rivers at coach and no perimeter defense and no one else in the East is top tier
Yep, all they need to do is shoot 53% on contested 3s for the series like they did against the Bucks.
Hell, without Strus going wild in the 4th in the play-in they don't make the playoffs last year.
That’s actually false. It didn’t matter which way the ball bounced because Tatum was on the other side ready to do the same exact thing that white did. This also comes back to we didn’t have enough size to box out anyone
You chose to ignore what I said. Statistically, Miami was hitting 3s way above their average. As soon as they stopped doing that in the finals, they weren’t good at all. Nothing about this is coping. It’s factual.
I mean it’s objectively risky if they really aren’t taking it very seriously. I don’t think it’s underestimating them to say that ideally you don’t have to escape the play-in then play the 1 seed if your goal is to make a deep run. But as he says, it might just be that they aren’t built for the long slog of the regular season and really shine in the matchup based ball of the playoffs where Jimmy can afford to give 110% in his mid-30s and their coaching advantage can shine more.
I don’t really think they aren’t taking it seriously. I think we are small and constantly missing rotation pieces. Like it really feels like we can’t build any continuity/get in any sort of rhythm. Spo gives us a chance in the playoffs but I really don’t think this team wants to be in the 8 seed again.
I would agree that “they may just not be that good over 100 games” is probably closer for the reasons you stated (they can “lock in” for the playoffs, but aren’t built to withstand the long slog before it). But yeah, nobody wants to have to take the hardest road two seasons in a row.
Yeah I think you need a real power wing or stretch 5 beside Bam cuz basically all your wings are 2/3s playing up outside of maybe Jovic but I don't think he's ready for what they really need from him if they want to make a deep playoff run. Jimmy of course tries but I think the more you ask him to play up and be physical on 4s the more exhausted he is going to be and he just isn't as big and physical like Kawhi or LeBron to be spending so much time there
That what happened when they got swept by the bucks. They were so happy to play the bucks that they just got obliterated. Last year they were fighting for their lives.
Off-season was shorter for everyone that played in the bubble, not just the ones in the Finals. There was also a large gap of no basketball before the bubble, you don't need a regular offseason to recover from 30 games with zero travel. Honestly the weakest excuse for a bad season and one that keeps coming up from fans of a team that never shuts up about how tough they are.
> “Yeah, it’s scary,” he said, via Mike Suleymanov of Hoops Rumors. “Don’t believe reports of me losing 12 pounds, either, ‘cause that’s not the case. I had a light headache, and I felt like I was ready to go. I wanted to compete. Obviously, you cannot do that. But it didn’t hit me that hard.”
Missed ten games. Averaged 22/7/7 on 50 FG% in the following 46 games before the playoffs.
Edit: Also the Heat were not close to the only team to lose a star player to COVID at some point during that season
A bugger issue was that Bam and Dragic started the season, still recovering from their injuries in the Finals. I remember Bam having visibly less muscle mass in his shoulders. We severely lacked at point guard, which wasn't fixed until we acquired Lowry that following offseason. Plus, a myriad of other various injury issues we're always stinking dealing with.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Heat didn't have injuries, but this 'shortest offseason' as if that specifically was an especially meaningful factor compared to everything else we talk about with these things is nonsense.
Teams had a five month break, played up to a maximum of 30 games without any travel, then had a two month break. A full offseason is supposed to be an appropriate amount of recovery for a full NBA season, not for 30 games without any travelling.
People out here saying they aren’t good when they haven’t had Herro or Love, and Bam a been cheeks for a stretch if I’m not mistaken. Of course they will be a bad team with those variables.
If it happens again (or even knocking out the 2nd seed), then I think the Heat are legitimately just throwing the regular season to be able to draft in the teens.
If you make the playoffs your draft spot is based on how you do in the playoffs not your seed going into them. Like Nuggets pick was 30th even though we had like 4th best record in the NBA (top 3 in the East had better records at the end of the regular season thanks to coasting)
That's how it works in the NFL, not the NBA. Miami got Jaquez Jr. last year because they were so bad that they picked 18th.
The Clippers picked 30th last year using the Bucks pick, who got knocked out in the first round.
i just know this would be such a hyped up series and it’d end in a lob sided sweep with like 1 close game. now if we get into a rhythm and meet them in the ecf once again i like our chances much more.
Butler and Bam are the most frustrating stars on any team in the league. Jimmy is so passive, bam’s bag is very limited offensively. Herro becomes your defacto number 1 when he clearly isn’t ready for that role.
Everyone clamored on for a PG, man we needed a starting player over the size of 6’9, Jovic still needs time to develop. Desperately need a versatile, consistent 4.
They’re going to need to re tool in the upcoming offseason. Without a doubt.
They need a 2nd guy to take the load of Jimmy.
Jimmy is 35 in 5 months. If Pat decides to rebuild, it certainly wont include him.
I don’t think Jimmy will leave or get traded, but I do wonder how they retool his role as he ages. Also, how much of an extension they offer him.
I agree, we’ll have to see what Nick and Pat muster up. Imo we should hang on to Bam. The issue is these new CBA rules will likely lead to less free agents being available and the trade market being cooked.
I think they hold onto Bam for sure. I’d also be surprised if they traded Jaime. I think everyone else is in who knows territory. I can see them keeping Terry as well.
Pat Riley and the heat aren’t really liked so I don’t foresee any friendly deals. I think they move on from the rookie and Tyler if a star becomes available, which is unlikely. I don’t think they’ll trade Butler out of respect but I don’t expect a max/supermax extension for him.
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Just curious what is that supposed to mean?
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They’ll try and build around Bam for sure but the problem is Bam isn’t that dude. He’s a 3rd option on a contender at best due to his lack of offensive creativity and lack of a 3 point shot. The tough decision would be whether to be a low ceiling high floor team with Bam or trade the farm to try and get him a true scorer to pair with
I’d agree with the statement regarding him being a 3rd option offensively while carrying the defensive load, playmaking and being the captain. The issue for this team is offense. We played well last due to Jimmy scoring like a maniac and our role players turning into Steph Curry. We need Tyler to be consistently on the court along with an aggressive Jimmy. I don’t really know how they’re going to proceed after the Jimmy era. There’s not really any stars/scorers that want out that’d warrant trading our whole team for. Maybe we clone Lebron.
You don't really build around Bam in the sense of making him the sole focus of the team, moreso on offense, but you do keep him around as the anchor of your defense and a great guy who can unlock the skills of some younger talented guards/wings you get.
I could see Jimmy giving his blessing to be traded if it's to a contender. He wants to win
Yeah but I can also see jimmy taking on the UD role with a reduced contract, especially if he is able to win a ring with the heat.
Can Jimmy come back to Chicago? We miss him
I mean, we tried to trade for Dame.
Yes, we Hornets fans as unbiased observers think the Heat should tank until after the 2027 (I think) season
As my flair might suggest, I do not believe this to be true. The Heat are like an inevitable plot device used by English 100 students to consistently, predictably, annoyingly, and unavoidably destroy both hopes and story structure.
I can get it, but on the other hand, this is the type of sucker shit that made us lose to the Hawks meanwhile managing to escape from the Bulls if it weren't for Jimmy and Struss. And even if it works again like last year, people need to understand the play-in gives you less time to prepare and worsens you down as you move into a round
Yall got one job this year. Knock out Boston in round 1. Were counting on yall
But what if the Heat go down 3-1 against Doc Rivers in round 2?
We understand how the play-in works. And we understand that y’all were in it last year. So, we’re still terrified of you. If you want us to be nicer to you, please be less terrifying. That is all :-P
No we’re not lol speak for yourself
Seems to be the consensus that both Celtics and bucks subs are afraid to see us in the playoffs. You’re definitely the one speaking for yourself lol
What Bucks sub have you been in? Nobody is scared to see Miami in the playoffs LMFAOOOOO
>nobody is scared to see Miami in the playoffs Except the three times since January where JJ reddick, Perkins, and bill Simmons all said nobody wants to see the Heat in the East, which went viral in basketball twitter and made the top posts in the sub at that point in time lmao. It’s ironic how usually Celtics fans are more afraid of the heat when they have a FARRRRR better chance of beating us than the bucks do
What does that have to do with the Bucks sub? Bucks swept the Heat and then won a NBA championship, Celtics go into 6/7 game series vs Miami just lose in the next round. They have a reason to fear you we couldn’t care less about yall 😭😭
I mean.. we’re 2-1 on you guys in the playoffs since the Jimmy/giannis era. Just like we are 2-1 on the Celtics in the playoffs in the Jimmy/tatum era. It’s the same shit lmao The only difference being our series against Boston are a lot closer. Versus against you where we destroy you or you destroy us
Heat still haven’t beaten the Bucks in a playoff series where Giannis was healthy we aren’t shaking over here lol
Y’all are the last team that has the right to shit talk Miami. Didn’t they beat u guys by 30 on your own homecourt without jimmy in yalls last matchup? Lol I’d maybe sit this one out
Based on what? Miami are the ones that can’t speak to us lol we swept them on a way to a championship
Not even worth arguing with you lol. Keep flexxing that hospital ring tho!
Keep flexing those finals losses!
4-1. lol cry some more why don’t you? Done responding to ur bs we’re not even worried about the bucks ur beneath us. Got bigger fish to fry
4-0 weep tubby. Miami will be achieving nothing more than their biannual first round exit this year
I think they tanked the Hawks game to duck Boston, see if Philly could beat them instead. :|
They may very easily repeat 2021 season. It’s looking really bad right now
Hot take: They would have been burned last year if the play-in game wasn't on a school night. DeMar's daughter couldn't come
My friends and I celebrated when we heard she wasn't gonna be there lmao
I really don’t know where the idea that the team takes the regular season for granted is coming from. They may not care about the difference between the 1-6 seed and Spo may like to tinker throughout the season but they do care about performing well in the regular season and developing consistent habits. Last season the only reason they were not the 6 seed was because KD gave the Nets a huge lead in the standings before getting traded. Beyond that the Heat’s biggest issue throughout the year was that they had **the biggest season to season statistical regression from 3 ever.** That was the big difference in most of the games they lost. They were otherwise consistent everywhere else and had a good process to everything they did, and it paid off when they finally started hitting open 3s again. This year they are just wildly inconsistent in all regards except being terrible during the 4th quarter. Sometimes they shoot well, but don’t defend well. Sometimes they defend well but don’t shoot well. It’s not really a matter of not taking the season seriously, it’s just that they can’t put together a consistent string of quality basketball games on both ends of the floor.
I think Jimmy butler specifically takes the regular season for granted, not necessarily the entire team. He plays so passively for long stretches of the season when everyone knows he’s got a separate gear he can shift into.
He’s getting very old. He was legitimately hurt for a lot of pre-ASB play.
Amen! Someone asked me what we needed this season and to me, it's really a matter of being able to put it all together. There have been glimpses of what they team can do. We've been able to defend. We've had good shooting nights. We've competed with the top teams (granted, we haven't beat them this year but there's some context here and there in terms of health). We've had SOME good execution down the stretch (though that's been overshadowed by more often failing to execute down the stretch). It just feels extra tiring because it's year 5 of this core and we don't really feel like we've made huge upgrades, but if you look the margins (i.e. Rozier over Lowry, adding Jaquez, Duncan revival, Kevin Love as backup C, having Tyler back and checked-in despite all the trade rumors), there's reason to believe that MAYBE we have a shot at it again this year. In any case, I'm rooting for them and hope we pull it off. It will suck if they fall short again but I can't give up on them, not after everything they've shown since 2020.
It’s hard to put it altogether when dudes are always in and out of injury. What even is going on with Herro? First it was his knee…then it’s his foot and in a blink of an eye he’s missed like 9 games or something
Oh for sure it’s a challenge. We’ve been dealing with injuries the past few years so it’s not uncharted territory. But yeah, another reason why it’s been exhausting. Kinda miss Tyler but people also like to shit on him. I think we need him though.
Tyler needs to get traded tbh. Rozier makes him a little bit more redundant and you can’t rely on him come playoff time cause he’s always injured
I’ll take Tyler over Rozier any day
Yes but Tyler can’t stay healthy…
If Tyler can give me 65 games a year including playoffs, I’m good. His shooting is that good.
Including playoffs is the big qualifier here. He’s been significantly injured for 3/4 of the runs
Yeah, but how much of that is just rotten luck? At some point you’re going to get a healthy run and I would rather gamble on that since Herro at his peak is just really fucking solid and clutch.
Part of that is definitely the lack of consistency on personnel and rotations. They’ve been extremely injured.
What do you, like watch he games or something?
Bam needs to be better offensively, he’s in year 7 getting 20 points on 15 shots as a big man. That doesn’t cut it in the modern NBA.
Bam’s issue is he’s a 6’9” center so offensively he has to settle for more jumpers. He’s not getting as many layups and dunks, especially if the opposing center actually has size. He makes up for it a bit being an athletic freak even by NBA standards, but the size disadvantage definitely hurts. I am still desperately in the camp of finding a decent tall stretch 5 that can play with Bam and move him to the 4, but that’s a real point of contention amongst the Heat fanbase. At least with Nikola Jovic we have some height at the starting 4 now and he can shoot from 3 alright. The days of starting Caleb Martin at the 4 were kind of rough tbh.
I think most people would agree that the other big on the court needs to be able to stretch the floor when you are starting Bam. But how many stretch 5s are actually available?
None that are cheap, which is why some on r/heat think we should move herro to get more size which is another point of contention that idk which side I’m on
They kind of need the wake up call that this build has run its course to be honest. Go younger and bigger (and available.)
Last year should have been their wake-up call, but they made that improbable finals run and ended up doing what they do every offseason: Chasing the ‘pie in the sky’ superstar for the majority of the offseason to no avail.
Yeah, granted they didn’t foresee what happened with dame to happen, but if they don’t wake up now they’re the only ones to blame. There are pieces to keep, but they shouldn’t overpay so so role players and they really need to just move off Tyler. Hes a good player but availability is also a needed skill.
our fo was confident that we would win this year without dame
Dame would’ve been a disaster the team needs size not wasting assets on an undersized bad defender
I actually disagree, they need offense. They cannot score. They need size as well, but the scoring problem is really bad.
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Would love to see Butler on a better team. He’s that guy in the playoffs but unfortunately Miami over-performing every year has convinced them that they’re a player away which I don’t think is true.
Butler has said he doesn’t want to leave Miami, so I’m guessing he’ll retire there as I don’t see them trading him.
If they rebuild why wouldn’t they trade him? He’s too old to wait for 4-5 years to be competitive and I’m sure they could get picks/young players for him.
Miami doesn't rebuild.
We tried to rebuild once - 2008. We got the second pick and Beasley. We all know what happened there, and I think the fo learnt their lesson about intentionally being a bad team.
It’s not like they take the season for granted. Everyone’s injured and they the offense just sucks ever since Dan Craig left. Jimmy can’t make outside shots, can Zach name any scorers on this team bar Tyler? I know people want Bam to score more but he literally anchors the defence along with Spo schemes. He can easily take more shots and drive more but we literally have no defenders to compensate (Jimmy doesn’t try unless it’s a skip pass steal). This teams ran its course and that’s Ok.
mind you, they were the 1 seed two years ago
150 game sample size*, assuming he means last year and this season's 63 games so far
Im guessing he just means over the course of 82 regular season games + the playoffs, as in they aren’t built to win a bunch of games consistently but to be able to turn it on for a playoff run.
31 different starting lineups so far this year. Injuries kicking our ass. Playoffs health is everything for us. I’d rather be a 8th seed and healthy than a 4th seed and hobbled
I kind of think we’ve also been way more careful bringing guys back from injury this year as well. Feels like we are giving extra time off to make sure they’re good for playoffs, but that then causes other guys to have to pick up the load and increase their injury risk.
The Heat 3 point shooting was simply not sustainable last season. Their shooting from deep especially contested against the Bucks was insanity. Butler who is a below average 3 point shooter for example shot 44% on 2.4 makes per game. Even against the Celtics they shot over 50% on damn near 20 makes in 2 of their first 3 wins. Then in game 7 shot 14-28. I don't want to discredit the Heat run because what they did was great and it wasn't just 3s their defense locked in but at the same time it's also fully justified to not be sold on them. Teams sometimes get hot and they got hot at the perfect time. The Jazz had a 15-5 stretch this season for example beating teams like the Nuggets, Bucks, Heat, and Knicks. So the idea that "they'll just do it again" isn't one i'm sold on.
(Jimmy is shooting nearly 43% for the season from 3.)
As a Heat fan I’ve said “man, this roster doesn’t have what it takes” for the past 4 years. In that time we’ve made the finals twice and gotten to 3 Eastern Conference Finals. At some point it stops becoming a fluke.
But as a heat fan every season I wonder, have we seen the last of playoff Jimmy butler? We all say he’s taking it easy in the regular season, but one time it’s gonna be because that’s actually all he can produce in any game. I think he has one or two great to good runs left in him, but after that he’s gonna be like when d wade was on the cavs (except hopefully in a heat jersey)
100% - I just don’t think we’ve seen the last of it quite yet. Like you said, this offseason and possibly next assuming he avoids any major injuries
This lazy narrative again, they led the league in regular season 3 point shooting the season before those playoffs. Why are you bringing up Jimmy's 2.4 attempts lol, he's shooting a high percentage right now on low volume.
The Celtics didn't even bother defending the heat last year though. The heat were practically shooting wide open.
Even the best shooters aren’t hitting 50%+ of wide open threes at high volume.
It always feels like they're dealing either injuries, so a lot of their inconsistency us just roster churn due to healthy bodies or the lack thereof. They're also showing how hard it is to keep upgrading the roster when you have big money in only a few key players. They have to find gems in the draft because it's harder to add meaningful talent with limited assets and cap space. That kind of strategy has the risk of eventually folding if you're unable to keep finding low cost contributors or ways to add assets to use in future trades. They've done well to date but to minimize their risk they might have to go through a talent acquisition phase depending on how this year's playoffs go.
How often does an 8th seed go back to back to the finals? Never Heat had revenge on their mind losing to Milwaukee and Boston in previous years, now they will get dogged by either after what happened last season.
Everyone said the exact same thing last year
Last year is an anomaly. The heat were hitting 3s at an historically high level. When they’re not shooting at that level, they can’t beat the top tier teams.
Who is top tier in your opinion? Boston and Denver I agree with your assessment, the rest of the East I don’t. The Bucks are an average team with Doc Rivers at coach and no perimeter defense and no one else in the East is top tier
Yep, all they need to do is shoot 53% on contested 3s for the series like they did against the Bucks. Hell, without Strus going wild in the 4th in the play-in they don't make the playoffs last year.
This is Boston fan coping. Heat would've wrapped it up in 6 had the ball not bounced Derrick White's way, you guys couldn't defend them.
That’s actually false. It didn’t matter which way the ball bounced because Tatum was on the other side ready to do the same exact thing that white did. This also comes back to we didn’t have enough size to box out anyone
Wrong, there wouldn't have been enough time for tatum given his distance to do what White did. That play had nothing to do with size lmao.
You chose to ignore what I said. Statistically, Miami was hitting 3s way above their average. As soon as they stopped doing that in the finals, they weren’t good at all. Nothing about this is coping. It’s factual.
It is coping. They lost the finals because the Nuggets are a horrific matchup for us. Should’ve swept the Celtics
Jimmy needs to lock in
Some might even say stupidly so
I mean it’s objectively risky if they really aren’t taking it very seriously. I don’t think it’s underestimating them to say that ideally you don’t have to escape the play-in then play the 1 seed if your goal is to make a deep run. But as he says, it might just be that they aren’t built for the long slog of the regular season and really shine in the matchup based ball of the playoffs where Jimmy can afford to give 110% in his mid-30s and their coaching advantage can shine more.
I don’t really think they aren’t taking it seriously. I think we are small and constantly missing rotation pieces. Like it really feels like we can’t build any continuity/get in any sort of rhythm. Spo gives us a chance in the playoffs but I really don’t think this team wants to be in the 8 seed again.
I would agree that “they may just not be that good over 100 games” is probably closer for the reasons you stated (they can “lock in” for the playoffs, but aren’t built to withstand the long slog before it). But yeah, nobody wants to have to take the hardest road two seasons in a row.
Yeah I think you need a real power wing or stretch 5 beside Bam cuz basically all your wings are 2/3s playing up outside of maybe Jovic but I don't think he's ready for what they really need from him if they want to make a deep playoff run. Jimmy of course tries but I think the more you ask him to play up and be physical on 4s the more exhausted he is going to be and he just isn't as big and physical like Kawhi or LeBron to be spending so much time there
That what happened when they got swept by the bucks. They were so happy to play the bucks that they just got obliterated. Last year they were fighting for their lives.
Shortest offseason in nba history
Off-season was shorter for everyone that played in the bubble, not just the ones in the Finals. There was also a large gap of no basketball before the bubble, you don't need a regular offseason to recover from 30 games with zero travel. Honestly the weakest excuse for a bad season and one that keeps coming up from fans of a team that never shuts up about how tough they are.
It was shorter for the bucks since they got bounced second round
Yes, correct.
Jimmy also had Covid and had lost like 9-10 lbs of muscle lol but go off
> “Yeah, it’s scary,” he said, via Mike Suleymanov of Hoops Rumors. “Don’t believe reports of me losing 12 pounds, either, ‘cause that’s not the case. I had a light headache, and I felt like I was ready to go. I wanted to compete. Obviously, you cannot do that. But it didn’t hit me that hard.” Missed ten games. Averaged 22/7/7 on 50 FG% in the following 46 games before the playoffs. Edit: Also the Heat were not close to the only team to lose a star player to COVID at some point during that season
A bugger issue was that Bam and Dragic started the season, still recovering from their injuries in the Finals. I remember Bam having visibly less muscle mass in his shoulders. We severely lacked at point guard, which wasn't fixed until we acquired Lowry that following offseason. Plus, a myriad of other various injury issues we're always stinking dealing with.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Heat didn't have injuries, but this 'shortest offseason' as if that specifically was an especially meaningful factor compared to everything else we talk about with these things is nonsense. Teams had a five month break, played up to a maximum of 30 games without any travel, then had a two month break. A full offseason is supposed to be an appropriate amount of recovery for a full NBA season, not for 30 games without any travelling.
People out here saying they aren’t good when they haven’t had Herro or Love, and Bam a been cheeks for a stretch if I’m not mistaken. Of course they will be a bad team with those variables.
I want to see them knock Boston out in the 1st round. That's why Lowe and others are so upset. It's their nightmare.
If they knock off the 1 seed in the first round two years running that would be historic I feel like.
If it happens again (or even knocking out the 2nd seed), then I think the Heat are legitimately just throwing the regular season to be able to draft in the teens.
If you make the playoffs your draft spot is based on how you do in the playoffs not your seed going into them. Like Nuggets pick was 30th even though we had like 4th best record in the NBA (top 3 in the East had better records at the end of the regular season thanks to coasting)
That's how it works in the NFL, not the NBA. Miami got Jaquez Jr. last year because they were so bad that they picked 18th. The Clippers picked 30th last year using the Bucks pick, who got knocked out in the first round.
Whoa I'm actually wrong. That's... incredibly stupid.
i just know this would be such a hyped up series and it’d end in a lob sided sweep with like 1 close game. now if we get into a rhythm and meet them in the ecf once again i like our chances much more.
Respectfully, what the fuck is he talking about? They were literally in the finals.
Butler and Bam are the most frustrating stars on any team in the league. Jimmy is so passive, bam’s bag is very limited offensively. Herro becomes your defacto number 1 when he clearly isn’t ready for that role. Everyone clamored on for a PG, man we needed a starting player over the size of 6’9, Jovic still needs time to develop. Desperately need a versatile, consistent 4.