Now as any good Heat fan understands (or Heatians as they’re known), guessing what will happen with this year’s squad is nearly impossible. For proof, I direct your attention to last year’s NBA preview column, wherein a certain writer predicted doom and gloom, because the local team hadn’t made any perceived changes to be successful. Fast forward seven months – and guess who was playing for the NBA title? Exactly. So predicting the future is a little bit like sword fighting in the fog. You guess and hope.
Which brings us to this year’s version – and you cannot evaluate this team, without reviewing what happened in the offseason – or more precisely, what didn’t happen. Essentially, it came down to this: the Heat targeted one major player, missed getting him, and allowed two other potential roster upgrades to pass them by. The miss was former Portland star guard Damian Lillard, who expressed a strong desire to join his friends Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in Miami for a potential title run. Only problem was, Portland’s GM – a fellow named Joe Cronin – didn’t feel like being bullied, so he made it his mission to send Dame anywhere but Miami – and he did just that by shipping the aforementioned star to Milwaukee, where he’ll team with established super star Giannis Antetokounmpo, to become the immediate favorites to win the Eastern Conference. But in failing to get their man, the Heat also missed out on possibly signing former Wizards guard Bradley Beal, who would’ve provided a much-needed scoring threat. Additionally, after failing to land Lillard, the Heat was further skunked when Portland shipped point guard Jrue Holiday to archrival Boston, rubbing more salt in the wound. All the professional prognosticators predicted a season of failure (with some glee I may add) for Miami: missed opportunities, no true point guard, and team disappointment would immediately relegate them to second-class status.
Well, you can guess what happened next. After stumbling out of the gate, the team (as of this writing) won six in a row, and currently lead their division. The much-discussed Tyler Herro, the subject of a zillion trade rumors, is now making the most of his opportunity, and playing like a star (his recent ankle sprain notwithstanding); other pieces are filling their roles, from rookie swingman Jaime Jaquez, Jr., to newly reacquired Josh Richardson, to developmental player/now contributor Dru Smith, they’re all finding their roles and making a difference. Miami continues to defy expectations by doing it their way – the Heat way – so don’t expect this guy to repeat last year’s mistake, and predict a season of failure.
One plate of crow is just fine, thank you.