The HEAT are 7-14 on the season. Pat Riley put his eggs in the basket that he could Lure Kevin Durant to South Beach. After all, he had already one superstar away when LeBron James announced he was taking his talents to Miami, so why wouldn’t he be able to get Kevin Durant to the HEAT? He, also, depended on Whiteside becoming the superstar for the team that could lure another superstar to Miami.
We all know how that turned out. It didn’t have to be like this for the HEAT. Yes, they have Whiteside, who averages a double-double and even had 25 rebounds in one game this season, but is Whiteside the superstar that can lead the HEAT organization?
There doesn’t seem to be anyone on this organization that can step up to produce a 30+ point game when they need an offensive insurgence. At least no one has yet, and no one has demonstrated that they can. Something always happens. Tuesday night saw Dragic have to go to the bench with injury just as he hit 29 points and seemed like he would be able to bring the team back to life. The team has been sound defensively throughout the season thus far, but they have proven that their offensive struggles won’t be getting any better anytime soon. Defense doesn’t always show up either. They shot almost 43% on Tuesday night against the Knicks, yet the Knicks rallied around Carmelo Anthony’s 35-point performance to finish at 49% from the field. Of course, Melo is the Knicks superstar.
The question now becomes where does the organization go from here? They can seek a major trade, with the benefit of Chris Bosh’s salary being able to clear before the February 23rd trade deadline, but is it almost better for the HEAT to just tank the season? There were talks of the possibilities of trades for maybe Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook. However, the HEAT doesn’t have much to offer for players of this caliber, and injuries definitely will play a role in preventing management from making definitive decisions on who can be moved. Also, it would be hard pressed to see either the Pelicans or Thunder letting either of these two go, even with the kitchen sink being given up.
The other option is for the HEAT to go full on abysmal and look to the draft. The 2017 draft has been predicted to be stacked with many good players to choose from. After all, Riley once found a gem at #5 in 2003. Many times when looking at the team play, you get the feeling that they’re missing just once piece to take them to the next level. The feeling is that the goal of the organization is to rebuild the organization to contention. Parting with veteran players like Wade and Deng could mean that this is the path that Riley is choosing.
Whatever unfolds on South Beach remains to be seen, but don’t expect more from the current roster than what you’ve seen thus far. We can all make predictions about how many games the team will win this season, but there won’t be any playoff predictions for this roster; a far cry from the team that almost made it to the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals.
