What’s in a name?: ‘Run it back’ for the Heat is the best of their limited options
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The first question after Wednesday’ s NBA draft is what the Miami Heat’s chances to repeat as Eastern Conference champs are if they keep the roster intact and simply, in the playground verbiage of Pat Riley, “run it back.”
They’re worsened. Let’s be clear.
The next question on the edge of NBA free agency is who the Heat could get if they pulled off a major deal and grabbed the kind of big-money talent on the market this offseason.
Dooptions like Fred Van Vleet or Danilo Gallinari do it for you? (Don’t even start on a trade for 32- year-old Russell West brook.
Put the ball-hogging Westbrook on a share the-ball team like the Heat and the chem lab would explode.)
The final question that fascinates the aural senses is about the lineup the Heat will put on the floor at times fromtheir past three drafts:
Bam.
Herro.
Precious.
The Heat, you see, don’t just draft good players. They draft great names. It’s the Pygmalion Theory in play: If you growup being called “Herro,” would you have a greater tendency to be
one?
This isn’t to say the Heat’s secret sauce in drafting PreciousAchiuwa onWednesdaywas his name. But do you know what happened when they drifted away fromthis exotic-name equation?
Michael Beasley. That’s what happened.
TheHeat, of course, should be twomonths into the feelgood of coming within two games of an NBAtitle rather than on the threshold of starting the next season. But everything normal left us a while ago, and the added question to what theHeat could do this offseason is howabnormal this coming season is out of the protective bubble.
Look around South Florida for clues. The Miami Marlins lost more than half their roster for a stretch toCOVID-19. The Miami Hurricanes just shifted two games due to a virus outbreak. The Miami Dolphins have lost a pattering of players, though the
NFLjust ordered all teams into amax-protection mentality.
The virus numbers are going up right into the start of theNBA, too. All of which suggests no one knows howthis season will come off— just that it somehowwill.
In such an environment, “keeping the continuity,’’ as Riley said, will have benefit. Itwon’t have as muchas, say, Brooklyn addingKevin Durant, Kyrie Irving (and possibly James Harden?). Milwaukee, too, added significant talent around Giannis Antetokounmpo.
So while theHeatwon the East last year, while there’s no reason to think they’ll be less talented this year, let’s also remember theywere the fifth seed entering the playoffs. Maybe the seedingmeant less considering the starts and stops in the season.
But this isn’t The Big Three returning for the Heat after a failed finals trip. This is a group that maxed out last season and nowhas to collect itself to attempt that again. Can it? Without a change?
Riley’s issue isn’t swinging for a big name. He never shies fromthat. It’s howthe big names aren’t that game-changing big if Giannis sticks around Milwaukee this year (as it looks like he will).
Atrade forWashington’sBradley Bealwould be interesting, depending on the cost. The free-agent list in sevenmonths offers other possibilities: Giannis, KawhiLeonard, Paul George, Lebron James ...
All of which means the Heat’s best options involve waiting for next summer’s free-agent class and run back last year’s team with the Precious addition. He fits what the team needs. Size. Rebounding. Shot blocking. Athleticism. Can he play?
“This guy can play,’’ Riley said. “What’s his upside? We’ll find out.”
We alsomight see the NBA’sAll-NameTeamon the court together: Bam, Herro, Precious, Udonis (Haslem) and Duncan (Robinson). Yeah, I know. Haslem doesn’t play. But this year might be strange enough that even he gets on the court.