ROSTER RENEWAL

Heat revamped, playoff hope renewed heading into series with Hawks

MIAMI — The last time the Miami Heat stepped on the court for a playoff game, the roster included seven players no longer with the team. Such is the reality of being swept out of the postseason 4-0 by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Even then, there was the buzz of the Heat eventually aligning with Kyle Lowry in free agency and working toward something better than a power rotation that was pummeled by an average rebounding deficit of 65.3 to 49.3 over those four excruciating losses.

Less than 11 months later from that final 120-103 Game 4 loss to the Bucks, the Heat are back at FTX Arena on Sunday with a considerably different playoff look, as they open their best-of-seven first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks at 1 p,m. Sunday.

And based on a regular season that produced the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, it’s not as if Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg and the rest of the Heat front office are lamenting the ones that got away.

As for those who remained, there is a sense of tangible difference.

“We’ve got a lot of new pieces,” Jimmy Butler said, “which I’m very, very happy about.”

What had grown old by the end of that Bucks series feels very new again.

“It doesn’t matter who comes in, who comes out,” captain Udonis Haslem said. “When you get to this point of the season, we’re pretty much family.”

So before the first taste of what the revised roster will produce, a look back at what has been subbed out.

Goran Dragic: Of those cast aside by the Heat in the offseason, none played more than Dragic’s 117 minutes in last season’s playoffs (with only Butler, 154 minutes, and Bam Adebayo, 136, playing more). Dragic, in fact, led the

Heat with his 16-point average in that series.

What is left of Dragic, three weeks from his 36th birthday, makes it clear why the Heat felt they had to move on. In Tuesday’s critical play-in over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dragic was entrusted with only 10 minutes by the Brooklyn Nets, with three points and no assists, playing off the bench behind Patty Mills.

Lowry has proven to be a significant upgrade. perimeter. Instead, Bjelica attempted just 11 shots in the series, utilized in only two of the four games.

Finding a system that fit, there has been somewhat of a revival in limited minutes with the Golden State Warriors, after signing a one-year veteran-minimum deal in free agency.

For the Heat, the vacated roster spot created opportunity for Omer Yurtseven.

Andre Iguodala: Having played as an efficient and annoying defensive stopper the previous season in the Heat’s run to the 2020 NBA Finals in the Disney World quarantine bubble, Iguodala very much took on the look of a 37-year-old in his 71 nominally efficient minutes for the Heat in last season’s series against the Bucks.

Back with the Warriors, where he won three NBA titles, Iguodala put together what very much looked like a farewell tour, appearing in just 31 games on his veteran-minimum contract.

The role vacated by Iguodala has allowed Caleb Martin to flourish.

Precious Achiuwa: It became apparent almost from the outset that the 2020 firstround pick did not have the confidence of the staff when it came to last season’s series against the Bucks, utilized for only 12 minutes, 16 seconds in the series, just about all in mop-up duty.

But allowed to take his game to the perimeter by the Toronto Raptors, who acquired him as part of the sign-andtrade for Lowry, Achiuwa has thrived as a floor-spacing big man, 56 of 156 on 3-pointers for the Raptors after 0 for 1 in his season with the Heat.

If Achiuwa turns out to be a hybrid power forward he could stand as one that got away, as Tucker ages out, with nothing similar at the moment in the Heat pipeline.

KZ Okpala: The only member of the departed seven from last season’s playoff roster who was brought back for at least part of this season, Okpala played 5:47 without a point, assist or rebound in two games of mop-up duty in blowout losses during last season’s playoff series against the Bucks.

He then was dealt to the Oklahoma

City Thunder on Feb. 9 for a 2026 secondround pick, released two days later, out of the league since.

The trade allowed the Heat to convert Martin to a standard contract while staying out of the luxury tax, and create a developmental roster spot to sign Haywood Highsmith.

In the end, it is difficult to argue with casting aside the swept seven for roster renewal that proved so invigorating.

The faces have changed since last year’s NBA playoffs. For the Heat, that’s a good thing.