The Miami Heat Need This to Happen to Remain Contenders
The Heat ended last season with a very disappointing playoff performance in their series against the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics, losing the series in five games without their star forward, Jimmy Butler. After losing Butler to a sprained MCL in their Play-In Tournament game, no one truly gave Miami a shot to beat the Celtics, but it was disappointing for the organization nonetheless. The Heat were left with a fork in the road as their roster is a mixed bag of veteran talent and young prospects. Flash forward four months to the current day, and thus far, the Heat have had a pretty quiet offseason. Now the question looms: What do the Miami Heat do now?
The Miami Heat are undoubtedly at a crossroads when it comes to what they should do as an organization. The Heat have many young, talented players on their roster now, including Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic, and Jaime Jaquez Jr., all of whom are under the age of 25. However, they also have a 34 year-old Jimmy Butler on their squad, who definitely is not interested in being a part of a rebuilding team. It seems that the Heat are using this season as a decision maker as to which direction they intend to take. I truly see the trade deadline as the most important date for the Heat this season. Depending on how the team is performing in February, Pat Riley will likely need to make a decision to either go all in and become buyers to get players to complement the duo of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler or become sellers and commit to a rebuild. Sitting stagnant will no longer be an option, with Butler’s contract expiring at the end of the 2024-25 season.
The two main acquisitions made by the front office over the offseason were signing veteran guard Alec Burks and drafting center Kel'el Ware from Indiana University. Ware should certainly be a good fit beside Adebayo, as he will bring height and spacing to the center position, which will allow Bam to run the four. Ware is 7’0 and shot 42.5% from beyond the arc in his final season as a Hoosier. I feel that the key to this Miami Heat team’s success will be staying healthy. After trading for Terry Rozier during the last regular season, the Miami Heat’s top four players in, Butler, Rozier, Adebayo, and Herro, only played ten games together. If those four are able to remain in good health for the most part and can build some chemistry together, then they should certainly be in contention for the trade deadline in February. If that does end up being the case, then Pat Riley will have to make some very interesting decisions.
