The Miami Heat did not have a smooth end heading into the All-Star break. In fact, they entered three games below .500 for the first time all season at 25-28 and closed on a season-long four-game losing streak.
Not to mention, it included two catastrophic fourth-quarter performances against the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder, getting outscored 63-17 and becoming the only NBA team to score less than 10 points more than once (three times) this season.
Heck, the team is still getting new to a trio of new players in Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson, who each made their debuts on Feb. 10. Heat guard and first-time All-Star Tyler Herro made an appearance on Sirius XM NBA Radio this weekend and made the point that while the team has plenty of young juice now and for the future, they’re still not contenders in the Eastern Conference.
“If we’re calling a spade a spade, we’re not contenders right now,” Herro said. “But I think with the team we’re trying to put together, we have a lot of young guys that can really help us win. Kel’el Ware’s coming into his own, [Nikola Jovic], [Jaime Jaquez Jr.]. I think we have a lot of young guys starting to really where their role can be with the new roster we have.”
As a result of the Heat’s four-game losing streak, they are tied with the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference; they are also a 0.5 game back of the Orlando Magic and three games behind a surging Detroit Pistons squad, headed by another first-time All-Star in Cade Cunningham.
There is still a world where the Heat can avoid the play-in, but they would have to play their best basketball of the season. Miami, who has the sixth-easiest schedule the rest of the way, has had difficulty separating itself from .500. Should it make the play-in, it would mark the third-straight year where it finished outside the top-6. Though the Heat were able to still make the postseason in both years.
Herro isn’t wrong that they’re not contenders right now. With or without Butler, that’s been the case for two seasons.
They’re bridging the post-Butler build. We won’t know what the end result looks like until it’s here, but they have a decent foundation between Herro, Bam Adebayo and Ware–even though the Heat still lack the true “1A” star (previously held by Butler) needed to get over the hump.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
Yes, you are right, Herro.
We are in a long preseason for the ’26/27 NBA season. Let the quiet rebuild mode continue.
Spo, please don’t sacrifice on size and 3 points shooting is all I ask.
Interesting article in FANSIDED regarding 2025 Draft projections. Note that author projects two lottery picks for Miami.
https://sircharlesincharge.com/nba-mock-draft-76ers-new-superstar-top-3-heat-boldly-reload
The Miami Heat will not be viewed as the Miami Heat anymore
What will the final stretch of the 2024-25 NBA season look like?
By Michael Saenz (FANSIDED)
“Over the years, even when they haven’t had the best record in the regular season, the Miami Heat have generally been a team you don’t want to see in a playoff series. And it’s not even just the fact that they made an unlikely NBA Finals run as an 8th seed. The luster of the Heat goes way beyond just that. On most nights, the Heat is consistently one of the hardest-working teams in the league. Backed by the best head coach (Erik Spoelstra), the Heat were always viewed as a dangerous threat that it was always better to just avoid.
Lately, over the past two years, the Heat have begun to lose that respect. And now that Jimmy Butler is no longer on the team, I don’t believe Miami is going to get that label as a dangerous threat anymore. Heck, even Spo has not had a great season this year. I’m not going to question him as a head coach but something does seem off with the Heat of late. A Heat team with Tyler Herro as their best player doesn’t instill fear as much as Jimmy as their best player does. There’s no question about that.
Over the final stretch of the regular season, the Heat are going to get that rude awakening. They’re not going to be respected as they were before – and it’s not just the trade of Jimmy. The fact is that this team has fallen off. This organization has fallen off. It happens to the best of them. I’d even argue that the game may have passed the Heat by and they’ve failed to pivot. We’ve seen that in the way Pat Riley has conducted business over the last few years and even a bit in Spo’s coaching.
If the Heat want to reemerge as a relevant contender in the Eastern Conference again, big changes likely have to be on the way. I’m not even sure it’s just about landing another star player to build around. Over the past five years, Jimmy’s presence on the roster helped compensate for other issues around the organization. It will be interesting to see how the Heat approaches the offseason which is likely going to clear a path toward a new era for the organization.”
d wade was the miami heat.that is heat culture d wade.butler extended the culture for a few years.currently the culture is mediocre.no shot at jewelry unless ty is 2nd option.get one sun i give up with pat.
Now everyone is saying what some of our posters have been saying since last year when we started to slip. But, the other side of the equation is also true. We are just two players away and have some, although not total, maneuverability now. We can be right back in the thick of it by this time next year if we use our draft well and use the cap space from shedding two bloated contracts. But, the logjam of mediocre players we have has to also be honestly assessed and some players need to be released to make room.