The Eastern Conference will be much, much better this season.
Plenty of teams around the Heat improved, namely the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks. But Miami also improved by making the biggest trade of the summer, acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo away from the Milwaukee Bucks. There is expected to be 11 teams competing for eight spots. Miami is squarely among that pack, but how will they separate themselves into a surefire contender?
Here is a shortlist of what must go right.
They must stay healthy:
Staples has a “that was easy,” button.
Can someone cue the “no duh” button?
It may seem simple, but stars all around the NBA are getting injured, specifically as it pertains to the Achilles. The NBA is pushing back on the notion that the pace of play and 82-game schedule directly correlate to those injuries, but the bug still exists. We aren’t long removed from Tyrese Haliburton, Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard rupturing their Achilles. And new Miami Heat superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was sidelined with a calf injury (a red flag for Achilles injuries) for nearly 50 games last season.
The Miami Heat have battled numerous injuries to Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler, among others, over the last two seasons. It’s an issue the rest of the NBA is dealing with, too. Health will dictate the last man standing; competing for a title is just as much about “who’s healthiest” versus who’s the best team on the court.
Get to April and May healthy, and the Antetokounmpo-Adebayo-Spoelstra triumvirate can make anything possible. That is easier said than done, though.
Improvement offensively, in both the halfcourt and transition:
The Miami Heat did slip over the last six weeks defensively. But they were a fairly mediocre offense despite finishing second in points per game, as they were No. 12 in offensive efficiency, No. 18 in effective field goal percentage and No. 17 in true shooting percentage.
Miami’s halfcourt efficiency (99.2) wasn’t bad, ranking just outside the top-10. Those numbers were a byproduct of a fast start and a strong finish, ranking inside the top-10 in halfcourt efficiency post-All-Star break. Still, a full 82-game slate of elite-level production in the halfcourt, given the team’s lack of volume 3-point shooting, will be a small needle to thread. But the best halfcourt offenses generally do well in the postseason, when it’s more physical and offenses become more predictable over a seven-game series.
The Heat’s transition output is a bigger issue. They have ranked in the bottom half of transition offense in three of the last four seasons, including last year, where they placed No. 18, per Cleaning The Glass. The Heat were also only above the Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards in transition points per possession despite leading the NBA in transition points scored per game.
On some nights, their best offense will be their defense. There is plenty of room to grow — Antetokounmpo gives Erik Spoelstra a wrecking ball few teams can slow down. To be a more consistent, competitive offense, Miami must grow in these two areas.
The mystery leap?:
Everyone knows about Giannis Antetokounmpo. Everyone knows about Bam Adebayo. Those are two top-25 players capable of winning this team plenty of basketball games regardless of their surroundings.
The calculus becomes more complicated regarding a championship pursuit. The Heat have depth, but they are relying a lot on in-house growth. To close the gap between them and New York, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, at least one player is going to have to take a serious leap.
Who is that player? Pelle Larsson grew with extra opportunity in his sophomore NBA season; Davion Mitchell was the perfect ancillary guard. Could Nikola Jovic rebound after a catastrophic season? Could Ryan Conwell break out as a second-round rookie if he’s able to consistently knock down shots? Is Mryon Gardner talented and impactful enough to be a consistent rotation player?
Perhaps it will come collectively. Antetokounmpo raises the relative floor, but the Heat’s depth will elevate their respective ceiling, both in the regular season and playoffs.
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This idea of hoping that a player takes a leap if improvement is a pretty iffy prospect. The top teams aren’t usually dependent on those kind of factors. We’d be better off getting whoever we can that can help lengthen and strengthen our line-up, either this year or next.
jjj had proof of sustained good play here .jovic has had no proof of sustained good play his 4 years here one good play followed by bad play it seems.last year was really really bad but pat paid him so he must force him on us.he cant drive it only hope he finds his j.
He paid him so now he is going to make him earn it.
only reason hes playing lebron he hasnt earned it.imo keshad and the gardner are better nba prospects.east of the atlantic thats not the case.nba game is not suited for the shnazola
Gardner might, KJ not.
They might not be dependent to start the season but every team in the conference championships have a guy balling that they didn’t expect or a late season addition or guy coming back from injury.
San Antonio was 30-1 to win the west last summer, then made the Finals as the favorite with Wemby in year 3, Castle year 2 and rookie Harper. Would guess every contender has a story like that, if not as dramatic. Knicks were playing Landry Shamet in the Finals who had non guaranteed training camp contract.
Mitchell and Larsson both have a lot going for them in the potential leap. Mitchell is in year 6, Larsson year 3. They both had among the best lineup rating stats on the team, if the team was average overall but had the net rating of a contender in their minutes that’s a way to forecast a leap. Mitchell was a scorer before becoming Off Night at Baylor and flashed that scoring ability in the play in vs CHA. IMO he doesn’t even need to take a big leap on offense this year. A PG on a Giannis team needs to defend, move the ball while limiting turnovers, and shoot open threes and he already does the first two at a high level.
East is deep but a team with the best player in the conference is a contender. People were calling Milwaukee a dark horse contender last season, a team that had far less talent than this Heat team. Giannis in for Ware (last year 116.8 defensive rating on vs 113.6 off, 72.3% DRB% on vs 77% off) is as dramatic an upgrade in a rotation as possible. In the trade for Giannis they traded the worst defensive players on the team last year, kept the player with a high ceiling in Larsson, and are returning a starting 1 and 3 that fit perfectly on a Giannis team in Mitchell and Wiggins. Finding 3PT shooting whether from new signings or internal improvement is the big swing factor IMO.
ware was totally misused here .in and out 5 mins a game 25 mins a game 12 mins spobot took all the juice out of him imo.he needs a coach to give him 30 mins a game .
He played the 7th most minutes on the team and his defense was costing them leads almost every game. You can tell who in national media watches Heat games by how they talk about Ware. He’s a young player trying to get his second contract and rooting for him and everyone in that aspect, but simply removing those minutes this year will improve the defense, and they aren’t just doing that but going from Ware being the second big to Giannis, a DPOY winner. And yet people at The Ringer have them lower than last year at #11 in the East.
Keep it positive.
statboy trashing ware all the time tired of it hes a potential wemby jr.let the man play dont pull him out of the game every 5 minutes.hes been ruined by top 15
We’ll find out now that you won’t have Spo to blame. What ever will you do? Probably blame Herro 😛
There’s always Joe Biden.
hes to blame for usa spos to blame for ware
No
Fake News! Pass the Kool-Aid…to someone else.
It’s not trashing Ware to point out the lack of defense and rebounding with him on the court. Ware as Wemby is a ridiculous comparison and always has been. They’re both >7′ tall and that’s the similarity. Their games aren’t alike, Wemby has the ball skills of a guard on offense with historic impact stats on defense. Ware is more of a traditional big who can shoot and has stretch potential but has the opposite effect from Wemby on defense. And it’s unfair to any young player to compare them to the leading MVP candidate. The Bam and Giannis frontcourt should be being compared to Wemby next year.
I also believe Ware has a lot of potential and needs minutes to improve his skill and gain confidence. Centers take longer than any other position to develop. Spo didn’t have the patience to develop a young, raw (legit) center while simultaneously pursuing the pipedream of making it to the finals again with a mediocre roster.
Maybe Milwaukee will be a better environment for him to excel. Time will tell. I plan to follow the Bucks this season. I’m interested in seeing how the 4 players Miami traded and Miami’s 13th pick work out for them. They should be exciting, even if they arent in playoff contention. They should also improve substantially by the end of their first season together.
Their roster is a mess, mostly guards and looks more like a collection of trade assets, I see them competing for 13th in the east with Brooklyn and Chicago. Jenkins would get COY votes it they are anywhere near the play in IMO.
If they don’t make the playoffs this year, they will be like Miami last year. They have assets to trade, which I’m sure they will do. Don’t forget, this is rock bottom for a young team. They can only go up from here.
They’re in a different spot from Miami because they traded the only player they were positive with on court in Giannis at +4.1. Without him they were -10.3, only better than the Wizards, and they weren’t trying to tank until later in the season. So the question for them to be competitive/avoid being one of the worst teams next year is how are they going to make up even partially for losing the +14 point swing from Giannis, and there’s no guarantee they will do that. Half the team is also playing on expiring contracts which is another challenge.
We shall see. I think that, at the least, they will be a fun, young team to watch.
Exactly! Like Miami would have been if they had a fire sale and accumulated assets. Both teams should be exciting to watch this season for different reasons. I plan to watch both.
jjj or wiggy who u taking reguardless of age i like im a highway star .
Starter Wiggins. 6th man, rebounding, playmaking, attacking the rim, running game, age, Jaquez.
pick one for your team
east is way deeper than west never use to be like this since big 3 days.bout time east rocks never want to live out west.football at 10 am.mnf 6 pm f that.heat games at 4 pm.sm miamis beautiful we can go to a heat game together.id feel cool going with u
No thanks. I worked my whole life to make it to San Diego. I ain’t leaving.
San Diego, California consistently ranks as the city with the absolute best climate in America, thanks to its highly predictable Mediterranean weather featuring mild winters, temperate summers, and low humidity.
10 Most Hot & Humid U.S. Cities
Miami, Florida: Combining a tropical climate with a massive number of sweltering summer days, Miami sees over 100 days a year with extreme heat indexes due to the intense Atlantic and Caribbean moisture.
P.S. I’m retired, so those starting times work great for me, especially when Miami is playing in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. I usually record the games and watch them at my convenience (usually beginning about an hour after the game starts) while the rest of the game is still being recorded. Good thing about that is I can fast forward through the commercials and focus on the game. If I time it just right, I can catch the end of the game live.
gr8 sm
Do you have NBA league pass in US?
Since you are living on the west coast, you probably need to pay something to some cable company to watch those games, aren’t you?
Isn’t it better to have NBA league pass for 100 dollars or so a year? You shouldn’t bother with recording, watching games with an hour delay should allow you to jump over timeouts, free throws, etc.. And you can watch other games too.
We have NBA League & Team Pass. I get Team Pass for under $100. Next season I plan to pay a little more to get League Pass so I can watch the Bucks games and keep track of other teams as well. I still plan to continue recording so I don’t need to waste my time watching commercials or listening to talking heads.
no earhtquakes.no st taxes.red state.no $5 a gallon for gas.football no 10am start nfl sundays no clay courts in cali.millions upon millions of people. the heat are located in miami
No hurricanes No gators. No moccasins. No pythons. No swamp. No Trump. Blue state. I live in the hills in a small community of 3,500 people, not millions. I follow the Ravens too.They are located in Baltimore.
best football players from so fl including lamar.hurricanes my team f the gators.everglades are beautiful u ought to take a drive around there.im a trump guy btw.only thing missing here no mountains muchos hottys though and weather to
Fewer and fewer Trump guys around…by the day. How do you like his new rug.
Thats explains a lot.
I’ve made this suggestion before with few comments.
There is a 38.6 career 3 point specialist (excellent) with a 111.7 career defensive rating (good) available for the veteran’s minimum. If he is signed to a one year $3,876,529 vet minimum contract, Miami would only be charged $2,449,421 against their salary cap and the league office would reimburse the Heat the difference ($1,429,108).76% of his shots are from 3 point range.His 3 point percentage in his last season was 42.5% (excellent)He has always been a net positive when he is on the floorHe is playoff testedHis defensive rating during his last season was114.2 (average)He played 17.6 mpg and averaged 7.3 ppg during his last season.He is well liked, plays hard and is familiar with Miami’s system and coaches.As a 35 year old, he would fit right in with Hardaway.His name is Alec Burks
I would like to see Miami bring him in during the preseason camp and see how he fits in with the current roster. If he doesn’t, no harm no foul. If he does, he is exactly what the team needs, a 3 point specialist off the bench. In addition, the small salary would still leave over $7M to bring in a additional player (or two).
Any thoughts?
29 other teams say no.does he even want to play again.turn the page i say theres better options out there,if we strike out on all the familiar names avail burks will still be out there
I didn’t realize you followed the crowd.
id rather have him than fonzi.gotta have some vanillas on the team ,thats the riley rule.
I thought Miami was looking for 3 point shooters to take the pressure off Bam and Giannis. Burks is the perfect low cost/maintenance player. Much better alternative than Keshad.
the mad dunker crazy athlete who never got a fair shot we will never know lebron.burks is ok i liked him more than uncan.the others avail are all better.looks like no suspension for kawhi maybea fine for billionaire owner.toronto is now a top 4 team i believe with nyk phily miami bostons lost to many good players last few years.det has no #2 option they could have used norm.ind could be a sleeper team.watching bto on my concert channel thats a top 10 hfl rock band.how bout u lebron u dig bto
the real great voice of bto was not bachman but turner
Who are the other 9? Who didn’t make the cut?
top 5 zeppelin sabbath deep purple hendrix who
AC/DC instead of Deep Purple.
i was introduced to deep purple in my stoner days first that plays a factor.
I’m still in mine. “Old stoners never die, we just fade away.”
ill be at deep purple kansas tomorrow night hard rock.no ritchie blackmore they still sound good.kansas great band under the radar band.rock on
Cool. Have a good time. Things go better with weed
when i got married my colombian wife says me or weed.it killed me to give it up but i still wear my hair long in the back never cutting that.hard rock hotel 5 minutes from house.
bams gonna have to work on his 3,greek shoots like russ westbrook.but the best driver in nba hes unguardable.bam cant clog the lane up.he should be taking 1000 3s every day along with niko
hes prob better than fonzi but we got enough 3 pt guys one trick ponys.need ballers guys like dd beal lavigne westbrook klay clearly all better than burks.wait to see what shakes out we can get burks 1 minute before tipoff first game
Maybe…maybe not. I didn’t say to sign him. I just suggested he be invited to preseason camp. Who knows, he may be the perfect complimentary player when Bam and Giannis need to find someone on the perimeter with a reliable 3 point shot.
got timmy jr and port of miami.id prefer burks over fonzi
I am in total agreement
quit licking sm ars u can say that with every post of sm.hes the lebron of hhh.agree with my posts do something thats off main st.
You’re wacked out. I say it when I mean it and definitely don’t say the same thing every time to his posts. You don’t like it? Tough shit. Don’t read it.
Thanks RC. Great minds think alike.
i agree with everything u say but i dont have to post it cause your lebron its a given
He was pretty consistent when he was here, a good teammate and played hard. Limited of course, and there are better options still out there, but in a pinch.
Better pray that Conwell turns into another Max Strus
Strus, who is paid $16.7 million a year, played 62 total games in the past 2 seasons combined. Cavs are apparently trying to trade him to avoid looming “second-apron” luxury tax penalties. No takers.
big ragu better do some research before lebron gets him.id take strus over burks or fonzi
Strus making $16.7M, Fonzi $2.45M, Burks $0. Heat only has about $10M to spend for 2 or 3 players. Cleveland wants to remain under the second apron in order to give them roster building flexibility, therefore, a 1:1 trade won’t work.