Should Heat trade Butler, Bam?

LOOKING at the way the Miami Heat has been playing lately, there could be reason to believe that team president Pat Riley is thinking of trading its two best players — Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

Let’s just marvel at what coach Erik Spoelstra and a team of 10-day hardship contracts and undrafted players were able to accomplish in the past 10 games where they went 7-3.

During that period of supposed turmoil completely without Adebayo and majority without Butler, the Heat were able to cling onto the Top 4 spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

And by virtue of its evisceration of the league-leading Phoenix Suns on Sunday, Miami moved to the third spot following the Milwaukee Bucks’ loss to the Charlotte Hornets on the same day.

Without Adebayo, an Olympian and a one-time all-star, and Butler, a five-time all-star and an All-NBA Third Team member last year, the Heat had to rely on Max Straus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Omer Yurtseven, and even Heat-lifer/part-time assistant coach Udonis Haslem, also an undrafted player, himself.

Who are these guys?

Straus has been sort of a Duncan Robinson clone (minus the $15-million per year paycheck) this season, as he’s been bombing away from long distance. He’s been so lights out that he started the last two games with the Heat and Robinson became his primary substitute.

Vincent, who starred for the Nigerian national team in the Tokyo Olympics this summer, could be the second coming of Fred VanVleet, which is perfect considering that the Raptors guard learned his chops from none other than incumbent

Heat starting point guard Kyle Lowry.

Martin, one of two Heat players in a regular two-way contract, is making a serious case of being signed to a longterm deal with his Swiss Army knife abilities on both offense and defense.

And then there’s Yurtseven, the 7’0” find from Georgetown University (after transferring from NC State) who once scored 91 points in a U-18 game in Turkey.

The undrafted center was pressed into the starting role following injuries to Adebayo and backup center Dewayne Deadmon. Instead of wilting under pressure, the Istanbul native proved that Miami has found another diamond in the rough as he’s pulled down at least 11 rebounds the past 10 games, including 16 boards the past four.

The only rookie to have accomplished the latter feat was no other than The Diesel, Shaquille O’Neal, in 1992 with the Orlando Magic.

When Covid-19 health and safety protocols decimated the team, what did Riley and company do? They handpicked players they could develop in the short-term, sprinkled some Heat Culture fairy dust on them, and inserted them into Spoe’s plug-and-play system.

Thus, came out of the woodwork Kyle Guy, the 24-year-old former Virginia Cavalier shooter, who averaged 9.8 points, 2.6 assists, 1.6 rebounds in 20.3 minutes while shooting 51.4 percent from the field, 45 percent from three-point range and 80 percent from the foul line in five games with the Heat.

Those impressive stats coming out of the free agent pool even minus Summer Camp forced the hand of Miami top brass to re-sign him to a second 10-day contract (sorry two-time champ Mario Chalmers).

Ditto for former Heat Chris Silva who also got the nod for a second hardship two-way contract after he was primarily used as Yurtseven’s backup. In five games with the Heat, the undersized center from the University of South Carolina averaged 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in 12.3 minutes of action while shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 88.9 percent from the foul line.

It’s also worthy to note, that the Heat’s current hot streak and resiliency in the midst of improbable odds wouldn’t have been possible without the play of ultimate glue guy P.J. Tucker and this year’s leading NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate (and also most improved) Tyler Herro.

As always, Tucker is doing all the dirty work for Miami, guarding the opposing team’s best player, setting bone-crushing picks, draining a corner triple, and even playmaking from the midpost on occasion (especially when Lowry was tossed in the game against Portland).

Herro, meanwhile, is over his sophomore slump and is currently averaging 20.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. At least, no one’s gonna mistake him for Machine Gun Kelly anymore.

So, it begs the question: Is the Heat better off without Butler and Adebayo? The answer is an unequivocal no! Miami shouldn’t mess around and tinker with what they have and you’d never know when midnight finally strikes on Straus, Vincent, Martin and Yurtseven.

Beside when the playoffs finally rolls in, the games become grind and that’s when Spoelstra needs Buckets and Bam.