Playoff run all about national exposure for Heat players
Strong play could lay groundwork for off-season deals
MIAMI
— For all the drama of last season’s secondhalf revival, the push this past January for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, the February jolt of Dwyane Wade’s return, these next four weeks arguably stand as the most significant stretch over the past two seasons for the Miami Heat.
Because it is during a playoff race and the postseason that players define themselves.
At no point have the Heat been in greater need of definition when it comes to the future.
It was less than two years ago when the Heat stood within one victory over the Toronto Raptors of advancing to the 2016 Eastern Conference finals.
Then Hassan Whiteside was granted the lion’s share of the Heat’s salary-cap space, Tyler Johnson had his unpalatable offer sheet from the Brooklyn Nets matched, Wade signed with the Chicago Bulls, Luol Deng and Joe Johnson departed, and the roster was reset.
In the wake of that May 16, 2016, Game 7 loss at Air Canada Centre, the notion was the Heat were collecting chips that eventually could be put into play.
If the Whiteside chemistry with the Heat didn’t work, he always could be dealt.
If Tyler Johnson didn’t make his salary math compute, there still would be two seasons to get out from under the impending higher numbers.
And no sooner were James Johnson, Dion Waiters and Kelly Olynyk signed this past July, then it was noted that those were the very type of mid-tier contracts the Heat previously did not have available to put into play.
Which brings us back to this moment, this playoff race, these impending playoffs.
Because this is when you take measure, in the most meaningful moments, whether it is possibly climbing to No. 6 in the Eastern Conference or eventual upset results along the playoff path.
This is the other side of the current equation for the Heat. No, not part of Erik Spoelstra’s thinking or the coaching staff ’s thinking. Nor should it be.
But if James Johnson can create playoff impressions, then the remainder of that four-year, $60 million contract could yet emerge as a personnel chip.
If Kelly Olynyk can replicate the postseason magic he offered last season for the Boston Celtics, then perhaps some team will look at him as more than the role player he is cast as in the Heat power rotation.
If Tyler Johnson recovers fully from this most recent ankle sprain and shows starting-guard capability under the brightest lights, then it could get teams to consider dealing sooner rather than later, before his trade number against the cap goes from $5.9 million to $19.2 million on July 1.
And if Whiteside can offer in this season’s first round what he did in the 2016 first round against the Charlotte Hornets, then trade value could be resurrected, as evidenced by those who showed up at his free-agency doorstep on July 1, 2016.
Had the 2016 offseason delivered Kevin Durant or the 2017 offseason furnished Gordon Hayward, with the Heat getting into the room with both during free agency, future offseasons would have been about adding complementary pieces.
Instead, the Heat wound up collecting those pieces first, as if at a carnival booth attempting to trade up for a larger prize.
That option to do so with Waiters was lost with his January season-ending ankle surgery.
But now, for the first time since that 2016 playoff run, the Heat again get to go on display, exhibit their wares in advance of the next time the NBA goes to market.
For two years, the Heat have embraced what they have collected. Now the hope could be that the league does, as well.
iwinderman@sunsentinel .com, Twitter @iraheatbeat, facebook.com/ ira.winderman