Heat dump problems, get help, improve chances — but, oh, what could have been

Admit it. For a while there, you saw June. You heard the Heat trade talks, twisted the Rubik’s cube of rosters in your head and wondered if the surprise team of this NBA season could pull off the surprise trade when the dust and the deadline finally settled.

In the end, it’s a step forward the way you hope for at any trade deadline — but it’s not the great step it once looked to be. It’s something. It’s just not the big deal as once suggested.

The Heat gave up three players who weren’t helping much — Justise Winslow,

Dion Waiters and James Johnson — for one in Andre Iguodala, who might help, and two other journeymen.

Iguodala was an All-Star in 2012. He was the NBA Finals’ Most Valuable Player in 2015. He was a three-time champion with Golden State.

He’s also 36.

And hasn’t played this year. And is a defensive stopper, which is important and a role the Heat could use considering some of their defensive efforts. But it’s not like Iguodala or the two other Memphis players thrown in the deal, Solomon Hill and Jae Crowder, make you reconsider overtaking Milwaukee in the East.

“I don’t get it,’’ respected ESPN analyst Bobby Marks said of Memphis taking on Winslow, Waiters and Johnson, who was quickly traded to Minnesota.

You get what the Heat did. You nod your head at this move. You were ready to jump with joy when Oklahoma City’s Danilo Gallinari was discussed to be involved, too. His shooting, and Iguodala’s defense, represented big change — and a bigger ceiling to this season.

Dave Hyde