Miami Heat

53-29, lost in conference finals

Overview: Most of the names on the Heat roster are the same ones that were there last season. The objective for the season is also the same. Don’t be fooled, though: The Heat insist this isn’t the same team. The Heat won 53 games last season, getting the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and making Game 7 of the conference finals. And even though almost all the principals from that team — Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Kyle Lowry among them — are back, Miami’s mandate over the summer was to find ways to get better. “I would say, to a man, everybody took that to heart and then came back much, much different,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “None of that guarantees anything, but our team is different. Each year is different.” In some ways, yes, the

Heat already seem different. Butler looks stronger. Lowry looks slimmer. Adebayo worked to expand his shooting range. Herro just got a $130 million, four-year extension that kicks in at the start of next season. Max Strus and Duncan Robinson, in Spoelstra’s words, remain “ignitable shooters.”

Quote: “Every year we go into it with the mindset that we’re trying to win a championship,” Herro said. “We think we have enough.”