Miami Heat are done for this season. Begin the vacation now. Throw in the towel.

[DoctorP]

Forget the finals, this team is not passing the first round.

Ariza and Iggy are nice pieces off the bench but Spo is featuring them.

Bam is a great player but he is not a max player and hasn't found the right way to take over games yet.

DRobinson, good player but will be too expensive to resign, especially with Bam at max.

No frontcourt players.

Iffy coaching and front office moves. Personnel moves, letting Crowder go was a big mistake.

Herro playing like shit, misused, turnover prone. Precious A. is an undersized big.

Dragic has seen too many injuries. Looks slow and injured.

Nunn is okay.

Oladipo is injured. Olynyk traded for basically a salary dump.

---

This team has hit a ceiling and are much worse than last year.

[dbugz]

they aren't that good to begin with.

their finals appearance is a fluke. playing in a scrimmage season means nothing

[Axe]

I remember some retards used to claim earlier that the newly revamped nets team will have a hard time dealing with them if they ever face off in the postseason.

Well let's see if they have the audacity or guts to brag about that now.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

And they actually think they have a chance at Kawhi this offseason? I don't want him touching them with a 20 foot pole.

[highwhey]

trade u back crowder for herro.

[Lebron23]

they aren't that good to begin with.

their finals appearance is a fluke. playing in a scrimmage season means nothing

They were hitting their outside shots in the bubble

[Xiao Yao You]

more trolling time for RR3

[DoctorP]

trade u back crowder for herro.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/2XskdWz9y363OIIeLPq/giphy.gif

[light]

And they actually think they have a chance at Kawhi this offseason? I don't want him touching them with a 20 foot pole.

It's better than being a Clipper. He's never going to win anything on the Clippers, he must know that. He's probably already planning his exit.

[Real Men Wear Green]

After having them give up so much for George it would be dirty if Leonard to just leave after two years. They would be dead for 6+ years.

[HoopsNY]

I'm still wondering why some people were so high on Herro. He's a chucker and lacks every fundamental in the book.

[HylianNightmare]

They couldn't stay healthy early on and haven't looked dominant at all this year

[iamgine]

It's funny but they're just much worse at outside shot and rebounding this season. I guess losing Jae Crowder & Meyers Leonard really hurts.

[jayfan]

Losing Crowder definitely hurt. He was the glue guy on a chemistry team. Tucker would have helped if they had acquired him at the deadline. Couldn't pull it off.


.

[dankok8]

The Heat were never THAT good. Solid team IMO but in an average year loses in the 2nd round when healthy.

[Xiao Yao You]

It's funny but they're just much worse at outside shot and rebounding this season. I guess losing Jae Crowder & Meyers Leonard really hurts.

Not sure how you get worse at shooting without Jae. He's extremely streaky at best. Jazz missed his toughness but not the 8 3 attempts a game

[Tobio-Star]

Not sure how you get worse at shooting without Jae. He's extremely streaky at best. Jazz missed his toughness but not the 8 3 attempts a game

Very overrated indeed. He shoots like he is Duncan Robinson when he's pretty much KCP level if not worse

[beasted]

Miami put too much stock into what they had. Pat Riley is a great GM and basketball mind, but he's loyal to a fault at times. Here's his failures over the last year and a half:

1) Signing Iggy to an extension. I'm fine with the trade for him, but was always totally against extending him. They would have had max cap space last off-season without his bloated deal.

2) Resigning Myers Leonard was pointless. Spo couldn't trust him at all in the playoffs. Why did Riley think bringing him back was a good idea?

3) Didn't address team needs in free agency. I'm fine letting Crowder walk if you needed cap flexibility, but outside of losing the best 4 they had they knew they needed defense and scoring from the 4 spot. They got raped by the Lakers. Why not go full blitz on a Millsap 1 yr (2nd yr team option) deal? There were other 4s and 5s they could have also targeted via trade.

4) Way too much faith in internal growth from young players. With the shortened off-season, no summer league, no preseason, and less time to practice and breakdown film between games with a condensed schedule it was GUARANTEED that every sophomore in the NBA would not really improve, and that's held true from the "elites" like Zion & Morant to the "goods" like Herro, Robinson and Nunn.

[DoctorP]

Miami put too much stock into what they had. Pat Riley is a great GM and basketball mind, but he's loyal to a fault at times. Here's his failures over the last year and a half:

1) Signing Iggy to an extension. I'm fine with the trade for him, but was always totally against extending him. They would have had max cap space last off-season without his bloated deal.

2) Resigning Myers Leonard was pointless. Spo couldn't trust him at all in the playoffs. Why did Riley think bringing him back was a good idea?

3) Didn't address team needs in free agency. I'm fine letting Crowder walk if you needed cap flexibility, but outside of losing the best 4 they had they knew they needed defense and scoring from the 4 spot. They got raped by the Lakers. Why not go full blitz on a Millsap 1 yr (2nd yr team option) deal? There were other 4s and 5s they could have also targeted via trade.

4) Way too much faith in internal growth from young players. With the shortened off-season, no summer league, no preseason, and less time to practice and breakdown film between games with a condensed schedule it was GUARANTEED that every sophomore in the NBA would not really improve, and that's held true from the "elites" like Zion & Morant to the "goods" like Herro, Robinson and Nunn.

Quality post. I think you have the situation pretty much rationalized to an acute hypothesis. Cheers.

[Kiddlovesnets]

Don’t be so pessimistic, the playoffs will be a very different game, the Heat has enough playoffs experience to get ready for it once it begins.

[iamgine]

Not sure how you get worse at shooting without Jae. He's extremely streaky at best. Jazz missed his toughness but not the 8 3 attempts a game

In that case he must've had a good streak in Miami. That might be how.

[DoctorP]

In that case he must've had a good streak in Miami. That might be how.

He probably had a career best streak but Miami also misses his toughness, leadership and hustle.

[beasted]

He probably had a career best streak but Miami also misses his toughness, leadership and hustle.

Yeah, it's not that Crowder was some elite role player, it's that Iggy, Precious, KZ, and Harkless are way worse.

[DoctorP]

Yeah, it's not that Crowder was some elite role player, it's that Iggy, Precious, KZ, and Harkless are way worse.

Exactly. Plus you have the shortened offseason which has mentally and physically worn players down. You already have Murray with the torn ACL and LeBron and AD injured... it's a battle.

[Nike D'Antoni]

Just what happened from last year. What changed?

They took Lakers to six games, with Adebayo - Dragic injured. Crowder a big loss? What did they lose?

[kentatm]

Just what happened from last year. What changed?

They took Lakers to six games, with Adebayo - Dragic injured. Crowder a big loss? What did they lose?

They lost Crowder to free agency and traded Olynyk for a busted Oladipo. Both of those moves hurt them b/c of the lost outside shooting. Oladipo getting hurt again made those two moves even worse than they already were and pretty much was the nail in the coffin for this year's team.

[kentatm]

Not sure how you get worse at shooting without Jae. He's extremely streaky at best. Jazz missed his toughness but not the 8 3 attempts a game

Streaky or not he still shot 45% from 3 for them and Oladipo was a much worse shooter from 3.

[Axe]

Just what happened from last year. What changed?

They took Lakers to six games, with Adebayo - Dragic injured. Crowder a big loss? What did they lose?
:(

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/nba/players/full/2489663.png&w=350&h=254

[Axe]

Btw, i'm predicting an iguodala retirement looming ahead. If not this year, then maybe next year.