Good morning, friends.
Before we start, I just want to say thank you for reading throughout the 2024-25 season. None of this would be possible without you, so all of us here at HHH thank you endlessly. The season may be over, but there will be plenty of offseason content ahead, especially from yours truly.
Now, let’s get into it!
This season sucked. Let’s not sugarcoat it.
The Miami Heat suffered their two worst postseason losses in franchise history on their home court, losing by 37 in Game 3 and 55 in Game 4, five points away from an NBA record for worst point differential in a playoff game.
They were mercifully swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who outscored the Heat by 122 points, an NBA record. Miami finished with its worst regular season record since 2014-15, lost out on a lottery pick and lost sight of the #HEATCulture™ that was the backbone of the franchise for 30 years. Never wear those jerseys again, please.
Now that it’s (finally!) over, how would you honestly grade the 2024-25 Miami Heat season?
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Hanifan’s Take: There weren’t many positives to take away from this season. A few I listed in the offseason blog were Herro’s career year, finding a legitimate frontcourt partner next to Adebayo (who developed quicker than anyone thought) and Davion Mitchell’s emergence post-Jimmy trade.
To some extent, I was scratching the bottom of the barrel for anything. It was an incredibly disappointing season and it only highlighted how directionless they appear to be. Change is needed. I won’t promise anything because I’m not in the front office. I’m just a writer who’s still compartmentalizing everything that’s happened over the last calendar year. I’ve probably forgotten more basketball than Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra know; I never once said I was or am smart. I try to tell the truth like the rest of you.
There were (some) positives. But there was a whole lot more drama and rudderless play. I’m not sure if it was an abject failure (am I being too optimistic?!), but it’s definitely not far from it. And they can’t follow up with an offseason that’s anything close to what it’s been the last few summers. It may take a while, but let’s have a clear direction and tangible change to get us back to sustainable contention–whether that means taking a few steps back and collecting assets or the inverse.
Hanifan’s Grade: D
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(Note: This poll will close on May 13 at 11:59 p.m. EST!)
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- Poll: How would you grade the 2024-25 Miami Heat season?
- The 2025 offseason has arrived — now what?
- Heat make history in all the wrong ways after getting axed in Game 4 by Cavaliers
- Heat lose to Cavs in blowout, 138-83. Eliminated from NBA Playoffs
- NBA PLAYOFFS 1ST ROUND GAMETHREAD: Cleveland Cavaliers @ Miami HEAT GAME 4
- GAME PREVIEW: Heat will attempt to avoid just third series sweep in franchise history versus Cavs
- Tyler Herro: Heat would be in a ‘completely different situation’ with Jimmy Butler
I’d like to use the courtroom plea of guilty with cause. The season was doomed from the start with the Butler debacle. That lingered up to and beyond the trade. However, the performance against Cleveland was inexcusable. Losing is one thing, but I had to shut 1 game off in the 3rd quarter and 1 at halftime.
As I, and now others have stated, everything and every player should be on the table this offseason. But I don’t think there will be any changes in the management team, except for maybe assistant coaches. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be, just I don’t think there will be.
Bam Adebayo: “There’s going to be a lot of changes this summer. Just from my point of view, understanding how the guy with the silver hair (Pat Riley) works. Just be prepared for that.”
yeah your all talk bam w/o jimmy a phony max riley player.your effort son is pitiful at times.theres more there than your giving us.
Humiliating loss should lead Heat to question everything (YardBarker)
“The Heat embarrassed themselves on Monday, losing to the Cavs, 138-83, in one of the worst blowout losses in NBA playoff history. It was the sort of defeat that should make the organization question everything.
Miami couldn’t be bothered to try in the lopsided loss, trailing 43-17 at the end of the first. At halftime, the Heat were down by 39, 72-33, prompting Inside The NBA’s Ernie Johnson to blast the team, saying the first two quarters
While the Cavaliers (64-18) certainly deserve appreciation for handling their business and looking like the best in the conference, no team has any business being manhandled the way the Heat (37-45) were over the final two games. Miami became the first team to lose consecutive playoff games by 30 points after losing Game 3 by 37, 124-87. To make matters worse, both games were at home.
The way the Heat’s season ended, team president Pat Riley could have tough decisions to make this offseason. Anything should be on the table.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra has been in his role for 17 seasons, dating back to 2008-09. After suffering back-to-back humiliating losses, it’s fair to wonder if there’s a disconnect between the players and staff.
If Miami doesn’t have a viable path back to contention, center Bam Adebayo could net the team a substantial return in a trade. Guard Tyler Herro had a career-best season in 2024-25 and might be more attractive on the market than when the Heat tried to make him the crown jewel in trade proposals with the Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard in 2023.
While it’s too soon to say how much change will occur in South Beach, it’s coming. Teams don’t lose by 50 in their final game and have things stay the same.
The Heat’s Monday loss was arguably the most mortifying in franchise history. Depending on the offseason, it could also be the most consequential.”
Can I vote “incomplete?” Even when we had Jimmy, he was clearly half-assing it based on what we see him now doing in GS. Then we ran our locker room through a medieval vice for two months. Then we expected them to gel with essentially half of a new team, and we ran straight into the teeth of the biggest buzz-saw to hit South Florida since Hurricane Andrew, in the form of Max Strus.
Incomplete. We had three different seasons during the course of this season, and none of them made any sense.
Rather than grading the team/players, maybe we should be grading Riley, Spoelstra and Arison.
I Give Spo a solid DI give Riley an F-I give Arison an F for keeping Riley past his expiration date
Something has to change because this dog definitely “can’t hunt.”
a gm and about 12 players needed.bam ware only 2 guys id keep as starters get new coach to get these guys functioning together optimally keep.dav as a backup.rest of the bunch your not hunting antman steph and wembys with.we need 3 new starters and the bench needs to be athletic.until this happens we are now the washington bullets carolina panthers .guys like jovic PELLE JJJ cannot compete in todays nba just cant jump high enough run fast enough.if u want to be mediocre keep them pat
incompetent wrong incomp
until the cleve series a c- after cleve series fplus.coaching doesnt matter spos a fraud pats over the hill.just get better players get ud and wade in front office.u think wade likes utah lol,wade and ud still have connections with current nba players.spider reminds me so much of wade that expression on his face is so dwadeish.
F !
Worst season in a decade. Making the playoffs only made the losing worse, by giving away a lottery pick.
Traded away a disgruntled star, for two bums who have locked up cap room for at least 2 years.
Add in the most lopsided playoff series in the history of the NBA and I don’t see how it’s anything other than a F.
If they had won 10 games, at least you could at you’d have the lottery pick to look forward to. Now we have an embarrassing roster, limited draft capital, no cap room.