Just five years removed from the glory days of “The Heatles,” the Miami Heat are stuck in no man’s land. LeBron’s departure combined with the D-Wade’s aging and Bosh’s health complications caused the Heat to quickly fall from the top of the NBA mountain. They’ve only made the playoffs two of the four previous seasons. They’re currently 26-33, in 10th in the East.
What’s more worrisome than slightly underwhelming records is the fact that the roster is at a point where there’s not enough of a young core to develop into a contender, and there’s absolutely no cap space to sign any free agents. The Heat are caught in the limbo of being a mediocre team, with little to no signs that things are going to improve soon.
The Veterans
Dwyane Wade is a legend, but he’s retiring in a few months, and it’s probably for the best. He’s no longer the player he’ll be remembered for. There have been a few vintage “Flash” moments. This year, however, he ranks only 10th in Win Shares among Heat players this season, even though he’s sixth in minutes played.
James Johnson has been one of the Heat’s most reliable
Goran Dragic was an All-Star last year. This year, he’s been injured since early December, and in his 14 games this season, he’s shooting the lowest field goal percentage since his rookie year.
Hassan Whiteside once led the league in blocks, and another time in rebounds. Now, he seems
The Young Guys
The younger core isn’t enough to make a playoff run, even if they were to snatch that eighth seed. Bam Adebayo seems like a solid player on both ends of the floor, however, he’s still young. Even when he develops, his ceiling is probably somewhere around the level of a borderline top-10 center in the league at the most.
Justise Winslow has shown promise in his first four seasons but has always suffered from injuries. At this point, it’s uncertain whether he can ever develop into something special. He found some success filling in at PG while Dragic was out. N
Finally, Josh Richardson was one of the most underrated players in the league last year. He probably should’ve been considered for an All-Defensive team. However, he’s not enough to turn the franchise around. Even though he’s improved his scoring considerably, his shooting is down across all ranges overall. His stats look solid, and he’s improved every year. He’s just another case of not being good enough to lead a team to success.
Poorly Managed
Thanks to some questionable decisions by GM Pat Riley, Miami is a fortune over the cap limit, and things don’t look good for the future. The Chris Bosh situation doesn’t help, but even without him, there are some extremely ludicrous contracts. Ryan Anderson, Hassan Whiteside, and Goran Dragic are taking up about $60 million in cap space this season and the next.
They won’t be under the salary cap until the 2020-21 season, at which point they’ll still be paying a 35-year-old James Johnson over $16 million and Kelly Olynyk $12 million. It’s very tough to build a good team when so much of the cap space is taken up by average-to-low quality players.
What can Heat fans hope for?
Even if the Heat somehow sneak into the playoffs, this season is all but wasted. It won’t really be possible for next season, but hopefully, Pat Riley does his best to clear salary cap as soon as possible. One of the big advantages
If Riley offloads some of the average players with extraordinary contracts and creates room for free agents to join a half decent core of young guys, the Heat could be back on track to being a force in the East. However, that’s probably not for another few years.