The Miami Heat find themselves in a strange situation. They went 46-36 last season, which was better than their record the year before when they reached the NBA Finals. They finished the season with the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference, but were actually just four games out of the second seed.
So, while, in some ways, the Heat are well behind their rival Boston Celtics, who just won the NBA championship, they’re about even when all of their players are healthy. After all, the Heat have reached the conference finals three times in the past five seasons.
The Heat have done nothing special early in free agency and now seem poised to go back to the drawing board with the same team that got swept in the first round by Boston two months ago, which somehow sounds like a terrible idea but at the same time seems perfectly reasonable.
In conclusion, South Beach is a land of contrasts.
And that’s exactly how the Heat feel right now. In Barry Jackson’s latest mailbag, Miami HeraldHe says the team can manage with the current players.
“The Heat believe health and availability, rather than a serious talent deficiency, are holding Miami back, and their offseason evaluation didn’t change that conclusion, even as they acknowledged the team needs to work harder to win a title.”
Last season, only two players appeared in more than 70 games: Bam Adebayo and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. Jimmy Butler (60) played slightly more than Kevin Love (55), but only one of the two actually played in the postseason.
The Heat are happy to have Butler, but if his health and availability are holding the team back, he’s a problem. He’s missed at least 20% of the regular season for the past eight years. The argument has always been that he’s available when it matters. That was true all along until last season, and suddenly that’s not the case. Butler turns 35 this September, has a $52 million player option after next season, and wants a new contract.
While it seems like shipping Butler is something Miami “probably” needs to do to win a title, the Philadelphia 76ers, who were once the most likely team to deal Butler, instead spent their money and slots on Paul George.
So maybe Miami’s inactivity isn’t by choice. Their only option may be to play Butler to weather this situation and hope he suddenly becomes available when they need him. And so, here we go again.
