It has been a difficult and potentially completed wasted 2024-25 season for the Miami Heat. The first half of the year consisted of Jimmy Butler drama, as the second half of the year is consisting of losses piling up for the new-look squad.
In what could be a bit of irony, the Heat are just 1-5 after trading Jimmy Butler. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors are surging— going the complete opposite of 5-1 since his arrival.
On Monday night, Miami was handed yet another loss by the Atlanta Hawks on the road. Atlanta was entering the game going just 4-11 over their last 15 games, but of course looked like a strong playoff team again once the Heat came into town.
Atlanta got a total team effort from most of their rotation— led by an 11 points and game-high 14 assists double-double from Trae Young.
They had six players score in the double digits, and shot an efficient 45% from the field as a team. The Hawks had a huge advantage in the total assists comparison, courtesy to the play of Young, totaling a 29-15 advantage over the Heat.
Fresh off yet another 40-point masterpiece that was wasted in Sunday’s loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, Tyler Herro struggled in Atlanta. The All-Star finished with just 11 points and 6 rebounds on 4 of 19 shooting.
Miami was led offensively by Andrew Wiggins’ 23 points on 6 of 14 from the field, along with securing three blocks. Bam Adebayo was quiet, contributing just 14 points and 5 boards. However, the silver lining of this recent stretch of difficult games has been the smart IQ and impact from Kyle Anderson.
Anderson had 14 points and 5 rebounds, including going 9 of 10 from the free throw line in his 28 bench minutes. He has been able to bring an impact with the second unit and help slow some possessions down in spurts.
Miami will get a chance to bounce back in a rematch on Wednesday. It will be the Hawks turn to travel to South Florida to play the Heat inside Kaseya Center. The team’s five-game road trip ends with a disheartening 1-4 record.
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its sad what jimmy pulled now we see what a team w/o jimmy is.a playin fn team.with a motivated jimmy possibly top 4-6 team.i appreciate now how good jimmy was when he was locked in.tys a nice story but hes gonna wear down with no help.bams a good defensive player but not an offensive juggernaut.looking forward to better years.hopefully next year ty is our second best player or even better 3rd best player
There is no doubt that a motivated Butler would have made a difference here. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. It seems he needed a new challenge to be motivated and he is playing like the old Butler in GS. What I also know is that if we are in the play-in this season, it will be the third year in a row, 2 of which were with Butler.
i always thought with playoff jimmy we had a chance to meet at a parade in july.playoff jimmy was a top 5 player in the playoffs.they refused to get a real center in jimmys prime years that may be also why hes mad at pat.
It’s sad that a team with a legitimate contract with a player for this season and next needs to pay him more money in order to motivate him to play up to his potential this season. I hate mercenaries, both in war and in sports. Oh well. It is what it is. It’s obvious that whatever line of b.s. Butler was spewing about winning, it was always about the money and stroking his inflated ego.
winning was up on his lists to.when he sees all the one way players on roster he said hell no.deficient roster jimmy prob got tired of it .i dont think he would have signed the ext here anyway
If winning a title was the most important thing to Butler, he wouldn’t have rejected a trade to Memphis, up front. Morant, Bane, Butler, Jackson, Edey, Aldama, Pippen Jr. Wells. That dog can hunt!
Shooting drills, shooting drills, shooting drills.
Granted it was a b2b, worse still an away game.
Excellent shooting would have conserved a lot of energy.
It was a b2b for Atlanta too, which had lost 3 straight. The team is not playing rhythm. There is no floor general who can slow the game down and consistently generate assists and help the other players/the team better.
I had been mentioning Josh Giddey as a possible offseason target. Apparently, he’s been tearing things up in Chicago since the all-star break. Per an article this morning in Yardbarker:
“Over his first three games back, he has averaged 25.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting a blistering 71.4% from three. On Monday night, he posted 25 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists in a 142-110 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. In doing so, he joined Michael Jordan, Jerry Sloan, Clem Haskins and Guy Rodgers as the only Bulls to record at least three consecutive 20-point double-doubles, per Bulls PR (h/t K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network).”
See full article below.
That was really hard to watch. I cant remember when I wanted a game to be finished one way or another, just to be finished. Ugly is a nice word for that.
JJJ is a shell of himselves, Rosier is a bust, Jovic is injuried, and Dunc and Burks cold.
I wonder why HH and Pelle didnt get their chances.
Because Spo is stubborn and inflexible?
Well, we all know what he is, stubborn and inflexible among other things.
Still, a great coach… sometimes the best in the world.
no no no lebrons dwades best in world
do u think spo coached lebron dwade lol.just get the f out of their way.tell me how he coached them pls
Good thing it’s only sports because things are decidedly sucky right now.
Not that there aren’t some silver linings. Our problems stem more from previous issues before the Jimmy trade than the team weakening after the trade. In fact, all three players received have performed reasonably well and have definitely shown their usefulness.
As many have stated, we were only a playin team before and that was only due to the weakness of the conference. We are barely a playin team now and may not see the first round.
But, we are still two good draft picks away.
I don’t agree with tanking a full season or multiple seasons for the purpose of acquiring draft picks and rebuilding a team (e.g. “The Process”). A mini-tank at the end of a season in order to retain a lottery pick while also acquiring a #15-#20 draft pick as a result of the Butler trade, in a good draft year, sign me TF up!!!
I think Miami is a Josh Giddey or Ja Morant and a Naz Reid or Bobby Portis away from being competitive. Note: Giddey and Reid are free agents this summer.
I have the same mindset, also can’t go wrong with a mini/ stealth tank to end the season, and expedite the rebuilding process. I would take any of those players including kd.
Once a tanker, always a tanker.
Universe see it all, mini or stealth tank too.
You pay for that sooner or later.
The Philly outrageously challenged the Gods, and look at them now.
And remember that Kawhi shot.
You get at least a generation long curse for such “process”.
Tell that to San Antonio Spurs. They tanked for David Robinson in the late 1980’s, Tim Duncan in the late 1990’s and Wemby in the early 2020’s. There are times for teams to tank (even if it’s just a little bit). This is one of those times for Miami.
for every phily theres an okc hous minn
I don’t like tanking either, but in year with a supposedly good draft, and no Jimmy, and a team that is nowhere near contender status. The best option is unintentionally tank with young players getting some experience. We have a chance at possibly 2 1st round picks, when was the last time, if ever we had 2 in the first round? Also don’t ever put us in Philly in the same sentence as Philly they had way more miscues than us, plus they’re ran by dummies. That put themselves in that situation, so that’s a curse all there own. Also f the universe, if we’re gonna pay I rather pay now then later, at least later we’ll have more assets play with, more money to get a big free agent. Doesn’t make sense trying to get to playoffs just to get swept. Also I remember that shot, but what has he done lately? Get hurt .
maybe keshod christopher stevens are as good as the first rounders next year sure like to find out.all look like nba players just need pt.tom brady just needed a drew bledsoe injury
As some have agreed (me too), is that if the Heat play hard, and give the young players minutes to see what they have before end of season decisions have to be made, it is not tanking. Play hard and try to win and you will always have my respect.
I didn’t care about Butler’s ridiculous hair styles or hair color. I didn’t care that he could be vocal. I did care that he didn’t give his best effort (the Father Time argument notwithstanding) in the games he played last season, and then talked smack against 2 other teams after we were eliminated.
giddy portis need ss.not good enough sun ja maybe
Giddy, Portis to start with. SS down the road in free agency (maybe 2026).
SM Giddey + Reid package is not putting us in contention for the Larry OBrien man come on