Miami Heat: New Year’s goals and wishes | Five on the Floor

Miami Heat: New Year’s goals and wishes | Five on the Floor

Welcome to latest episode five on the floor in the five reason Sports now thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app Google podcast Apple podcast Spotify and the Five Reasons YouTube channel make sure you hit like subscribe and turn the notifications on also check out off the floor that’s our new Discord

$2.99 cents per month you can interact with each other interact with us we’re doing more and more stuff there so if you follow us on Twitter X whatever it is you want to call it you might want to move to Discord because all the behind the scenes content it is going there so

Check it out it’s off the floor you can find the link right here on the description of the podcast or on the YouTube channel and also at the top of the five reason Sports Twitter feed also check out the great sponsors of the five reason Sports Network includes our

Friends over at better Edge use the code five RSN that’s the number five RSN get $20 to play also you can participate in our tournaments you can use that money to do so so we got NFL tournaments every weekend make sure you join the one coming up for this weekend and also NBA

Tournaments daily and monthly so check it out better edge.com use the code five RSN and now today’s episode five on the floor ride for my dogs where here the thing you can check the score Hustle Hard couple SCS wear bubble frog just like brother say you in

Trouble y check the FL plan got it all B y’all SE the block stop with one hand and P trust it’s F have the guts we here to bring the heat y’all hang it up welcome to five on the floor a daily Insider show on the Miami Heat and the

NBA featuring Ethan skullet Greg sander and Alex Toledo plus others from the five reasons Sports Network all right welcome back to five on the floor I’m Ethan skulling you can follow me at Ethan J sculling in the five years at sports I got Greg sander you can follow me at Greg sander he’s

Home I’m on the road we’re in the same region for a change and we want to make sure before we get to today’s floor plan that you check out the episode that was done last night as we’re speaking which was Miami Heat beating the Golden State Warriors on the road doing so without

Jimmy Butler without Josh Richardson without Caleb Martin without Kyle Lowry so four rotation players including three regular starters and the Heat win in Golden State they throttle Steph Curry and Klay Thompson uh pretty much dominated the game they they I was mostly uh it was mostly the guys that we

Were talking about as possibilities to play which was yic Kane uh and Hampton uh who did a great job in that game and then they got enough from hero hockin and Bam to finish the deal and so they are right now as we get into today’s

Floor plan we’re going to take a look at where they are entering the new year so we’re recording this on December 29th the heat are now 19 and 12 um they have four more games left on this road trip they have a winnable game in Utah coming

Up they have had their core three I don’t want to call them a big three yet because they don’t play together enough to be a big three they’ve had their core three of Jimmy bam and Tyler together for seven games and one of those seven games Tyler

Left early so they’ve had their core three together for six games Jimmy Butler’s on Pace to Pace Play 60 games which is even less than we projected before the season started and yet they’re now firmly fourth in the East they’re ahead of the Knicks they’re ahead of Cleveland they’re ahead of

Orlando they’re ahead of Brooklyn Atlanta and Toronto are fading Chicago is breaking things up and it looks like basically a four team Race in the Eastern Conference which is kind of what we thought and the heater below those teams but I don’t think any of those

Teams really want to see them so Greg as we look at it we’re going to compare it to their records to 31 games and as they go forward are you satisfied with where they stand I think you have to be I think that um with all the context

Surrounding how many guys have been out all of the injuries uh I know spoler recently and op pressor um glared at at a couple people and talked about how Omar yvin and and a couple other guys took up all their injured minutes last year that’s not the case this year there

I mean the minutes are the the guys that have been out have been legitimate and the fact that they are basically neck and neck with Orlando in the four or five matchup but we feel like they’re creating separation just by virtue of how they played lately they beat Orlando

They’re kind of moving into that fourth range and frankly they’re not so far from third and so like that’s where I think Heat fans wanted to be if everything went accordingly like I don’t want to say if every everything broke right but kind of because like they’re

The best if not second best three-point shooting team in the league so far I think that that’s something that we all thought had to happen that three-point shooting had to come back to life and so for me there’s a couple statistics that we’ll get into in a minute that I think

Are important to mention that I think that they that by Shane Bader has drilled this in my head and I think you’re going to know where I head with that um but other than that I think that they have met met expectations and Heat fans should feel pretty damn good about

Where they stand heading into the new year and that’s not me Sunshine pumping I mean like I think it’s legit Well here here’s where here’s where they are compared to the Past uh Four Seasons so we we took a look at this this is the Jimmy Butler

Era first year they were 23 this is through 31 games uh the first year they were 23 and8 uh we know how that finished it finished in the bubble after a long break now the 23 and8 start was a little bit weird because then they had

Kind of a bad three weeks right before the covid break and the co break actually kind of gave them some time to to Pivot uh and and also incorporate uh players that they had added sorry my daughter in the background uh the camera uh and also incorporate

Some players that they added uh during that time which was obviously uh Crowder Iguodala Solomon Hill and they had guys going out so they had to change kind of what they were doing um and they end ended up again figuring things out in the bubble uh and then they got the

Fifth seed because they didn’t really care about the fourth and ended up winning uh in the first in in the first round and then obviously advancing all the way to finals second year 14 and 17 14 and 17 and that was basically the extension right like that was the the

Last season didn’t really end they had no mo Harless right precisely precisely and then 18 and 13 the year after uh which was the year they ended up finishing with the number one seed and then last year but that but after they went 18 and 13 they had a 23 and eight

Run after that which kind of and that was after bam got hurt that Kyle Lowry did a lot of that and then 16 and 15 last season a season where they never really got right until three minutes left against Chicago in the second uh in the second playing game so they are actually

Trending the second best of the five Jimmy Butler Seasons unbeliev make this argument I and I have made this argument and now I see is I’m polling it that most Heat fans have come around to my way of thinking on this whereas they did not before because I can tell you when I

Pulled it before the season at a training camp when Eric spoler said this is the deepest team we’ve had uh recently uh 65% said no to that that this this team was not better than last year’s team and I said yes it is uh consider better and that’s even

Skeptical you were skeptical this is the one time where I was more optimistic than you and I will say uh now 89% say this team is is better than last year’s team so it it’s gone from 35% to 89% uh in terms of believing that and and I I I

Don’t think there’s any way to argue otherwise at this point like I don’t I whatever and again let’s not take what Gabe has done in LA because it’s unfair he hasn’t done anything because he’s been hurt uh he’s kind of become Kendrick nun too for them out there but

Uh Max and Gabe were not going to be providing more for you than S right or or this improved version of Kevin Love or or some of the other upgrades that other or or again and I didn’t this I didn’t project this new Duncan Robinson uh alone is already gives you

More I think th those three things give you more and that doesn’t add in improvements that other players Tyler particular uh you know bamed to a certain degree and others have made here along the way and then whatever Josh uh has provided for you and then Caleb being again once he’s gotten healthier

Uh returning more to what he was was the end of last season as opposed to the beginning of last season so I I think they are better and so I’ll start here with number one and then we’re going to go back and forth with things that we

Want to see in the new year I want to see them take this as they go in New Year I want to see them take this the regular season seriously and by that I don’t mean that they haven’t taken it seriously at all because some of these injuries have been legitimate but I

Think it is important that they drop no further than they are right now like I I I think that they they need like this four spot is fine okay yep and they need to act like that or above is the goal because you do not want to be in a position you’re

Still in the mix kind of I know Cleveland’s banged up you know but you’re still in the mix with the Knicks Orlando’s interesting okay Indiana could get hot again you don’t want to be in a position where you drop and you have to fight your way out of a playin spot in

The last few weeks of the regular season because that really should be the time to kind of get your rotation right make sure Jimmy gets the requisite rest Kyle gets the if he’s still here gets the requisite rest Etc so my big thing is take it seriously enough okay and we’ve

Seen they can win with less they did it again against Golden State but it just it’s about an attitude and I think that spoler has been if you listen to Eric lately Greg he has mentioned frequently without provocation he didn’t response to my question but I didn’t ask him about

Seating oh I think we’re in the Five Spot East I think we’re in the four spot these like he’s actually paying attention to it like from a distance he doesn’t usually do that and I think that that right and I think that he’s done at least three times that at press

Conferences I’ve been at recently and I think that’s intentional because I think he wants his team to understand it matters this year they don’t have to be the first seed but don’t be seventh you you know what they what it kind of feels like it kind of feels like there’s been

An acceptance of what parody really means for you in a regular season and it means that all this matters that much more and you actually have to hone in on on seating and um it may not mean that you necessarily need to finish um you

Know in the top three but you damn sure want to don’t want to spend the entire playoffs without a home court series like what are we doing there like let’s not make it harder on ourselves and so I think that the heat because of their their defensive principles I’m going to

Talk about those in a minute though uh and also just their overall like hustle work ethic culture yall know the deal they can just like scoop up regular season games when other teams are checked out like there used to be a time Ethan where we used to say Riley can

Coach any one to 50 wins like this this was like back uh the last time it was said was when Anthony Mason was on the team and then the next year they didn’t win 50 and then we didn’t talk about 50 win teams by Riley every year but up to

That point it felt like he could coach anyone to that and part of that was that there were moments in pockets of the regular season that they just took more seriously than everybody else I’m not saying they need to swing the pendulum that far back but they need to I I’m

With you there I think that that is an important part of this and then um the the two things that I do want to add and sneak in here just from a metrics perspective is that right now they are 14th in offensive rating and they’re 13th in defensive rating they need to

Get up into the top 10 in defensive rating for sure I’d love to see them in offensive in both you know what I mean and in net rating they’re 12th but I I’m saying defensive rating let’s get in the top 10 stop playing around here that

That that’s my big New Year’s uh Trend to watch yeah I think the defensive rating is more important than the offensive rating we know the offensive rating is going to fluctuate a little bit um in terms of you know they’re shooting I mean and we talk about the variance I

Mean we’re going to have our friend Matt Moore back on the podcast at some point h HP basketball because he talked a lot about the he the shooting last year and it was you know I I again Matt’s gonna get upset at me for quotequote misquoting him but this idea that it was

Fluky that little run that they had in the playoffs but what was really fluier was what happened in the regular season honestly if you look at the the context of the last three years and now they’ve return to that level and they’ve returned to that level without stru and

Vincent which again if you watch stru and Vincent shoot during the regular season last year which most people who who from National media did not do you knew they actually dragged their three-point percentage down during the regular season because of the volume and and the inaccuracy uh that they would go

Through through various stretches having more Duncan Robinson having Duncan play at this level and look hakz is shooting a reason percentage from three not on high volume and some of their other guys have started to turn their Kyle has been shooting when he shoots has shot a very good percentage from three Jamal

Kane yeah Kane Josh has been okay but I mean all these I mean Haywood you know went through a dip we saw him make one last night um they they are starting to uh and Kevin Love has been better as the season has gone on so all of that has

Kind of combined here that their three-point shooting has been good which has helped their offensive rating what’s hurt their offensive rating of course is having bodies in and out but now they have another guy who can create Rim pressure in hakz who’s actually doing it better than anybody else on the team and

He’s shooting over 50% from the floor I mean shooting 50 I think it’s 52 and a half percent as a which is ridiculous for a rookie um and people are not getting him out of his spots and again Duncan’s numbers have gone up so I think the offense as long as the shooting

Stays at a certain level the offense will be okay you’re right about the defense I me I to me it is um I I think at times it’s because of the different coverages they’re playing because of guys that have been in and out some of it is there’s a little it’s a

Little skewed because that stretch that bam was out particularly when they’re playing Indiana a couple of those things that the the numbers went off the charts I do think they’ve settled in some um I think after the break what I want to get into is this because I think there’s a

Key point from a rotational standpoint and then to me when we talk about things they need to figure out in the New Year it’s more of a long-term thing they need to figure out so I want to get to that in a second before I do want to

Mention a great sponsor of the five reason Sports Network it’s water Cleanup in Florida go to wcu.com it’s wcu.com based in Boer rone Michael Robert and their team they’re their one your One-Stop water and mold cleanup shop get the preventative program with them because we know that afterwards it’s challenging with

Insurance companies to get all the money that you’re supposed to get of course they’ll do the cleanup work for you them too and they’re extremely honest so if they can’t do it they’ll tell you I’ve had a couple of different people come to me and tell me that and also and many

People come to me and say no they just did a great job and so you just want to deal with honest people particularly when you’re dealing with contractors again more than 70 more than 70 festar reviews on Google check them out at Water cleanup of Florida wcu.com if you’ve got the Schmutz they

Got the guts all right so let’s get to this I let me I want to hit on one shorter term thing and then we’ll hit on the longer term thing the shorter term thing is honestly I’m just GNA be flat out Jimmy needs to play more I I just I

I think we’re at that stage and I know I I understand we’ve been through it a million times okay that it’s about the playoffs for him there’s nothing left to prove in the regular season he don’t care about this 65 game minimum rule for awards because he doesn’t want any

Awards okay I mean literally he’s gonna be the hardest Hall of Fame case to judge because he should have two or three more All-Star appearances more all NBA appearan if he just gave a damn he doesn’t um he’s GNA get in anyway I think eventually just because of what

He’s done on the big stages but he’s not going to have some of the counting numbers that some of these other guys have some of the awards that some of these other guys have he doesn’t care about it and I think that endear him to

Heat fans but I mean look he needs to play more than 60 total in my view they need to get a rhythm okay and they need to get a rhythm with their three best guys and look bam and Tyler have both been out so this is not just a Jimmy

Thing like I said it’s seven games that they’ve played together but you’ve said this repeatedly and it sounds crazy to people but it’s right we’re in year five of this I still don’t know if the three of them work together like totally I mean right like like it’s

Worked well enough to get to a couple finals and and another Conference Final you’re right but like with Dwayne look with Dwayne LeBron and Chris like you could see the progress yes Dwayne missed time during that stage but LeBron and Chris were were healthy during that

Period of time so you kind of got an understanding like it could work without Dwayne because LeBron and Chris played so much together and all the rest of it and they had a system for when Dwayne was out whether it was you know a a Mike Miller or James Jones or

Whatever this is still wonky like we talk about their numbers together like even when we talk about like the numbers with with hero and Robinson there’s no sample size with Jimmy with the two of them yeah none like everything’s so noisy like if you look at this whole run the finals

Against La no bam no Goring noisy then you talk about like the uh Bubble Run and then the bubble year after where Brian fona always says that that was the outlier year the year after the bubble and I agree with him um so that’s noisy and then you talk about all the injuries

Where you’ve had different guys out got Tyler out of a playoff run where they get to the finals that gets noisy it’s just such a bizarre fiveyear stretch and so you’d have to say it works but we don’t know that it works as whole as presently constructed and whole that’s

The thing that I think is is super interesting and I I’ll just finish up and and say this before we get out of here this is the last thing I’m looking at for this new year and it is can you so it appears as if the Miami Heat

Are actually doing it they’re bridging these two timelines they’re Bridging the younger players and they’ve got contending aspirations and older players that can get that done in the playoffs and bam Jimmy Etc right so that’s like super cool that right now it appears as if that they’re they’re they’re making

They’re balancing that and we asked if they could balance that and should they balance that was another question that we asked a lot this summer about going all in ETC right now it’s working out we’ll see one losing streak changes how everyone feels about this stuff but I

Guess I’ll ask what what um what does it really mean to do that and how do you convert that to winning in the postseason and not just make it be about oh we bridged two timelines so conceptually we did something that made a ton of sense and was a win how how do

You go from make it a a conceptual win to a tangible Victory this year that’s that’s something that I’m looking for in 2024 for the heat no it’s a great way for us to end because it’s one of the hardest things to do in the sport as a

As an organization in terms of management and it’s instructive that we just saw them play The Warriors okay because the Warriors tried this like they had I mean they literally called it two timelines like they they had a name for it okay and it was uh you know it

Was Steph Draymond clay and then it was kaminga wisman Moody uh Looney’s kind of in the middle but uh you know pool okay where they had this younger core of players they they got and wiggins’s kind of again in the middle right they got

One title out of it kind of in a weird year okay like they they got one title out of it they made a run in the playoffs Steph went nuclear you know kind of like Dwayne went nuclear way back like and they had the pieces around

Him to make it work and so they extended the Steph Championship timeline with these two timelines right but ultimately the other timeline blew up like I mean kaminga is just getting time now and now finally is playing the two young guys he’s got this year the two

Guys they drafted uh but uh but P’s gone okay uh wiseman’s gone right I mean they they and essentially they they’ve acknowledged Warriors fans have acknowledged that the whole and it’s become that it was a bust to a certain degree again they got the championship so it’s hard to argue but again the

Young guys with exception of pool didn’t really play a role in that Championship concep it’s it’s a bus because because you know you’re looking forward like okay well okay now we we had to resign Draymond but we don’t trust him uh Clay’s money is there and you don’t really want to

Pay him because he’s not consistent and he’s unrestricted he’s unrestricted and Steph I don’t think can carry anymore like I I think he can still be elite in certain situations for sure and he’ll have a month where he’s great but I don’t think he can carry for an entire season

Anymore so they’re they’re in this kind of weird space the heat are are in a better place place because they’re I I think because they’re young players they have Young Veterans on the roster like Tyler and Bam are players who’ve improved and now they’re 26 23 but they’re not part of a second

Timeline like they’re literally they’re they’re Square in the middle of it for the next five six seven years that’s different than than what Golden State had and now you have hakz who you add to that and so you’ve got a core that’s 26 23 22 right and as Jimmy ages out you have

Other p and then we see last night where okay this is why you don’t give up on yic maybe you give him up in a trade for an an elite player if it comes to that if he’s got to be part of a package but you don’t give up on him completely

Because there is legitimate I mean this is not kyak paala this is not some of their other like hell no there no there is Talent there the only question there is okay does his talent fit what they need right now like he needs the ball in his hands we’ve talked about this so

Often right they did that in the Golden State game and they were literally Brady touched on this in the postgame pod and also on playback they were literally running actions with him where he was the primary ball handler playing point guard like Brady’s like they don’t even

Let Kyle play point guard anymore in a traditional sense and they had yovic and to a lesser degree hakz doing it where he was starting the action starting the pick and roll with the intention of him creating the play that’s not really what Kyle does any more okay he’s more

Playing off of other people once he gets the ball to the front court so I I just there is a specific skill set that this kid has that is GNA be very useful down the road it just might not be consistently right now but you look at

That and you look at okay maybe they do have a player in Jamal Kane who could be a back into the rotation player and look one of the other things I want to see them look at the rest of this this RJ Hampton’s interesting to me like they

Have high upside guys there like RJ Hampton I’m sorry for Drew Smith right a terrible thing we talked about it before the season like RJ Hampton has higher upside than Drew Smith obviously he does okay he was a higher Prospect and and there’s just more there if they can fix

His shot they have something um and so I I want to see more of okay who can we talk about with this it’s not it’s not the two timelines I think you hit on it right we talked about Bridge it’s a bridge timeline that they have and how

Many others can they get on the bridge right like is Haywood heith on the bridge is Jamal Kane on the bridge is RJ Hampton on the bridge is NI yic on the bridge and then you know we obviously know that HZ is right so how many others

Can they get on the bridge and make it that it’s not all about Jimmy and yet I come back Greg we can finish here I come back to what I said at the beginning of this segment it’s not all on Jimmy but in the end it’s about

Jimmy and they have a closer here now you don’t know that bam Ty the others are going to become that hak is but he h I think he has to engage more once healthy enough with this regular season so that we know what it is going into

The playoffs so that once they get him to the finish line there’s a confidence level not from the media nobody cares about us but from his teammates Jimmy still has it when we need it we’re not gonna rely on him but he can get us over to the other side um because they’re

Going to start facing some teams where well can Tatum can Yannis can embiid okay well Jimmy’s got to be in that class with those guys as he has been the past uh during his era to be able to finish right now I’m not a 100% convinced I don’t think he’s had a great

Regular season I just haven’t seen it enough I I want to I want to see it a little more and I think it would help if we see it a little bit more with Tyler and B so that’s where we’re at all right any closing thoughts I agree and I just

Think that it’s a situation where Heat fans as we head into the new year should feel pretty damn good because it was a rough summer like let’s all just acknowledge that it was a rough summer um because of expectations not because anything necessarily changed and the Miami Heat have actually I think turned

A fan base that started the season a little bit Mal content Ethan and they’ve they’ve turned them around and made everybody excited again and so that should be a Ed that’s that’s I guess my final thought for the new year I’d say this covering it it’s uh and and just

Following it on social media and watching our numbers go up and all the rest of the stuff that’s happen people are engaged with this team right now they were not for a period of time but maybe it’s all haime a lot of it is Hae

Um but that’s a huge thing I mean to find a first round pick to contribute at this level on a consistent basis where people are excited to watch him play um and I want to see see him play with their core three with Duncan because the

One crazy thing about this team is it seems like they’re better when one of their premium players is out but that’s not what you want once you get to the playoffs so that’s not what you’re hoping oh let’s oh Tyler gets hurt again we’ll go to the finals or bab gets hurt

We’ll go to the finals or Jimmy misses t no that’s not I mean you want to see them whole finally and they really haven’t been that uh during the Jimmy era so we’ll see what happens all right for Greg i’m Ethan check us out again on

Off the floor also better Edge use code 5 RSN and go to water clean up of Florida wcu.com thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the fireing sports network after all someone needs to listen to my dad

The Miami Heat are now 19-12, and trending ahead of the past three seasons. So what’s next? What should be the goals for 2024? Ethan and Greg discuss Jimmy Butler’s health, the focus on at least a four seed, the bridged timeline strategy and more.

Sponsors: Water Cleanup of Florida, BettorEdge.com (5RSN)

Join us on our Off The Floor Discord server! Get updates/information/stats from the 5OTF crew and hang out with other Heat fans! https://t.co/izwgN0SEt6

Our Sponsors:

* Check out PrizePicks and use my code fiveonthefloor for a great deal: https://www.prizepicks.com

* Check out PrizePicks: https://www.prizepicks.com/

* Check out Steel Tie Spirits: https://steeltiespirits.com/

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for Miami Sports on Demand!

Content about the Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, Miami Hurricanes, Miami Marlins, Florida Panthers, NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, college football & more!

If you want more exclusive Miami Heat content, join our Off The Floor feed here: https://winno.app/offthefloor

If you want more exclusive Miami Dolphins content, join OnlyFins on Discord:
https://discord.gg/onlyfins

If you’re interested in sponsoring Five Reasons, contact us at fivereasonssports@gmail.com

#MiamiHeat #Heat #NBA