How Jimmy Butler Has the Miami Heat Playing Like the Hottest Team in the NBA

How Jimmy Butler Has the Miami Heat Playing Like the Hottest Team in the NBA

On today’s show the heat are playing their best basketball of the season but where do they rank among the other hot teams in the league and does this change how we feel about Boston being the team to beat in the East plus some stats that show why Jimmy Butler should embrace

Being a three-point shooter and an interesting buyout option that the heat can explore all of that and more on today’s locked on heat you are locked on heat your daily Miami Heat podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right welcome to locked on heat your

Daily podcast on the Miami Heat I’m West Goldberg editor at allou can heat.com however you’re tuning in on YouTube Odyssey or your favorite podcast app thanks so much for making lock on heat your first listen every day today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new

Customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks if your bet wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started got a great show for you today we’re going solo no co-host David RL out today he’ll be back for tomorrow’s show I’m going to get to

Whether Jimmy Butler really should try to be more of a three-point shooter and if he should try to get into the Three-Point Contest uh not really but we will be talking about his three-point shooting later on but I want to start with looking at the last 10 games for

The Heat and comparing this stretch with the other top teams over that stretch in the league over at nba.com you can filter all the stats for the last 10 games and it’s something that I like to do from time to time just to get more of a

Snapshot uh as to what the league looked like looks like not just for the Miami Heat but where they are versus their competition in the Eastern Conference we all know that the Heat have been winning a ton of games lately 11 in the last 13

All these things um a big win over the jazz on Saturday that I want to touch on here in a little bit but uh Boston is rolling with uh the League’s longest win streak right now they’ve won now uh 11 games in a row the Milwaukee Bucks are

Starting to figure things out under Doc Rivers so when you’re able to sort of filter these stats out net rating offensive rating defensive rating some of the individual player stats some of the deeper dive stuff like you’re able to kind of get a better snapshot as to

Not just how Miami is performing but how they’re performing against their competition because obviously that’s how this works and when the heat are playing as well as they have we talk about that but then you kind of you have to zoom out and say okay well if they’re playing

This well does this change how I think about chances in the Eastern Conference all right so we’re going to touch on all these things and then I’m going to give you basically a top five uh teams in the league not just the East but the teams in the league uh over these basically

Last 10 games uh when teams are starting to kind of get things to click and ramp up for what things should look like in the playoffs so um the heat let’s start with them over these last 10 games they are fourth in net rating uh outscoring their opponents by 9.2 points every one

100 possessions they’re 8-2 during that stretch so I know that they’ve been winning a little bit more even before that but 10 games is a nice round number I think it’s a good snapshot so we’re just going to take the 10 gam so they’re eight and2 in that stretch outscoring

Their opponents by 9.2 points per one 100 possessions that’s behind that fourth net rating behind Boston who’s a just crazy plus 20.7 net rating uh Minnesota is plus 11.2 and Milwaukee is a plus 10 so the heat just a hair behind the Milwaukee Bucks um they heat are

Eighth in offensive rating uh scoring 116 points every 100 possessions they’re third in defensive rating allowing just 106.8 points every 100 possessions um look you look over that schedule also strength of schedule matters the Heat have statement wins over the Bucks the Pelicans the Kings all those games on

The road you compare that to some of the other teams the Celtics they have got statement wins over this 10 game streak uh over the heat Warriors Mavericks and Knicks the Bucks have a statement win over the the Nuggets another one over the Timberwolves uh and the Timberwolves

Who I’m mentioning here because they’re playing really well they have a statement win over the Bucks and the Clippers the Timberwolves and the Bucks played each other twice during that 10- game stretch they split that Series so they got statement wins over each other but also losses to each other for

Whatever that’s worth um individual Jimmy Butler playing awesome when you go to the biggest reason why Miami is starting to click it’s because Jimmy Butler’s playing like an all-nba player he’s 18th in scoring over that stretch at almost 24 points per game 23.8 to be exact he’s shooting 54.3% overall 53% on

Thre seven rebounds and 7.3 assists um we can go into some of these other guys but Jimmy Butler playing like this two-way basketball the steals over two steals a game um defensively just what he’s doing on a man-to-man basis just overall offensively getting to the basket all those things that he’s doing

I love the side pick and roll stuff that he’s got going with bam out of Bio Bam’s also been playing awesome I actually think his defense ey testwise has ticked up a notch over this last stretch and I think that’s partly because he doesn’t have to to do so much offensively right

Because Jimmy Butler is carrying the mantle for this team on the offensive end so when he is that number one guy when he is your all NBA player and I say this all the time but like like I I love the next ManUp stuff with Miami I love

Like the undrafted guys and everybody’s just how does Eric spoler keep finding these guys all that stuff’s great all that stuff is great but at the end of the day you need your best players to play like your best players and when Jimmy Butler is sort of coasting through

The regular season you know and like he’s he’s said things recently like how you know playoff Jimmy all these things he did a whole interview with Chris Haynes at Bleacher Report talking about how playoff Jimmy is a real thing how he talks about okay you know you get to

This post All-Star break and that’s when the playoff stuff really starts to happen and this is sort of the part of the Season that he lives for and I love that I love that we have like this other gear that Jimmy Butler can get to but

That all like when you when we talk about that other gear you also have to talk about the other side of that coin which is he kind of coasts through the first few months of the season and when he does that it puts a lot of pressure

On guys like bam and Tyler hero when he’s healthy and all these other sort of role players to step up and try to play bigger than their roles and I think again going big picture I think it helps Miami because it does force these guys to just get better right like you’re

Throwing these guys Into the Fire hey ha hakz I know you’re a rookie but you’re going to have to run offense for us in crunch time in like December and January sorry like but I’m Jimmy Butler’s just not doing it right now he’s waiting until the playoffs so um but so all that

Stuff’s good but it also make makes it really difficult to put some wins together and that’s why Miami has sort of hovered around 500 basically during the the pre-all-star break stretch during the Jimmy Butler tenure uh but then when Jimmy Butler kind of cranks it up a notch after the All-Star break you

Just see how everything just falls into the place right bam matab bio could just be the second scorer and be awesome defensively be a top five player defensively in the league uh it helps Duncan Robinson just be a shooter tell hero can play off the ball a little bit

More you’re not asking Caleb Martin and haime hakz and all these other guys who do quite as much and everything just sort of falls into place the puzzle starts to make a little bit more sense so he’s playing like that now and that’s why Miami has played their best stretch

Of basketball of the season I think sometimes we overthink this stuff okay is it zone is it just like okay can you get more out of these role players what are we going to do with the 13th spot on the roster like we love to talk about

All these things but at the end of the day you just need your best player to play like your best player and that makes the biggest difference in the world more than just like okay like are we getting sign Delan right on the buyout Market even though he’s been a

Good addition for Miami it’s Jimmy Butler playing like this that’s been the biggest difference for the heat uh so he’s a big reason why Miami’s 8-2 over the last 10 games and why that net rating is what it is all right so I want to get into a few more things here but

Let’s just get right into the power rankings look I love how the heat have been playing but you can’t look at what they have done over these last 10 games and say that they’re better than Boston right now you just can’t now that let me

Be clear and I I’ll get to this in a little bit but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think the Heat can’t beat the Boston Celtics in a playoff series I’m just saying body of work what’s in front of us like the Celtics have won 10 games

In a row they have a net rating of over 20 points they’re outscoring teams by 20 points per 100 possessions and that’s not all that different than what they’ve done all season long right and they’ve been playing even better over this last stretch a big part of that is Jason

Tatum uh Tatum’s averaging like 20 what do I 27 and a half points on 50% shooting eight and a half rebounds and six and a half assists Jaylen Brown is playing really well golden State uh on Sunday just like this weird defensive strategy of putting Draymond Green on

Jaylen brown but having him sag off of Jaylen Brown daring Jaylen Brown to shoot I’m like I don’t like Jaylen Brown’s not Steph Curry from three-point range I’m not saying that but when you leave him wide open the dude can make shots I think we’ve he’s proven that um

And he did and that was like one of the most lopsided games I’ve ever seen it was kind of a um a gimmicky defensive strategy by Golden State and it backfired and they lost that game basically in the first quarter when it was like 42 to 22 at some point and and

That was it but uh that’s what the Boston Celtics are doing they’re just beating the doors off of people they’ve got those statement wins over the heat the Warriors the Mavericks and the Knicks over this stretch Jason Tatum playing like that no I don’t think Jason

Tatum is an MVP candidate I think we need to put that away uh that’s total like classic Boston media Mafia hype kind of stuff right oh what best player on the best team like why are we not talking about him because he’s not as good as Luka donic he’s not as good as

Nika yic he’s not been as good as Shay like he’s just not been as good as those guys even Anthony Edwards over the stretch third in the league scoring at almost 29 points per game Yannis has been playing better than Jason Tatum I don’t know that you could tell me hey

Would you like is Jason Tatum just better than those guys this year there’s no way it test stat-wise like there’s there’s no argument to be made Jason Tatum’s having an awesome year he’s going to be on the all NBA team probably second team I would guess but and that’s

Great and the Celtics are an awesome team overall but we don’t we we can also just be hey the Celtics are an awesome team best starting five in the league they seem like World beaters right now but we don’t also have to give Jason Tatum the MVP we don’t have to do that

At the same time so let’s relax on the Jason Tatum MVP stuff he doesn’t have to be part of this conversation we know who the guys are it’s not Tatum this year even though he’s having a great year and he’s playing even better lately um I’ve

Got the nuggets at number two in my power rankings they’ve won six games in a row they’re net rating over that stretch they’re outscoring teams by 14.6 points every one under possessions theyve got statement wins over the Warriors the Kings the Heat and the Lakers uh I loved how the heat played

Them on Thursday night I thought they played them close I thought that the nuggets on the second night of a back toback didn’t have their best game but also the heat were missing a bunch of dudes and to me I look at that game and

I say hey if these are the two teams that are left in June you know I I think most people would probably take the nuggets in that series I wouldn’t have a problem with them doing it but I like the heat I like the heat chances more in a series in

June this time around if there was a rematch then their chances even last year because I just think the heat are a better team and they know how to play Denver a little bit better now um I’ve got Minnesota all right you know what I’m going I’m going Miami at number three I

Had Minnesota originally before before I started this thing uh just because like the net rating and all that stuff like all their stats it just it’s more Timberwolves but they’ve got good wins over the Bucks and the Clippers I think that Clippers win last week was huge for

Minnesota uh kind of getting over the hump can Rudy gobear play in like against a five out offense like the Clippers against kawhai and and and James Harden and all these things but um I just trust the heat a little bit more I’ve got the Milwaukee Bucks at number

Five I feel pretty good about it their schedule has been softer than Miami and Boston and some of these other teams but they do have a big win over the nuggets a couple weeks ago softer schedule but the defense seems to be clicking under Doc Rivers a little bit I want to see

Them against bigger competition tougher competition see if that defense is legit honorable mention to the Oklahoma City Thunder can’t do a top five power rankings without mentioning them they got a big win over Phoenix on Sunday SGA is even a he’s going from averaging 31 points per game to 32 points per game

Over these last 10 games he’s playing Amazing Jaylen Williams is a a star in the making cholr has been awesome the Thunder are terrifying so that’s my top five I got the Celtics the nuggets the heat the timber wol W and the Milwaukee Bucks that’s my power rankings over the

Last 10 games and man that says a lot based on where the Miami Heat were for most of this season when they are playing like this it is proof of concept that you don’t want to play them in the Eastern Conference would I give them a chance against the Boston Celtics in EAS

Uh in Eastern Conference playoff series based on this look seeds four through eight or basically two games apart right now in the east standings I think I think Miami is going to end up with the fourth or the fifth seed that’s kind of where I’m at Jaylen Bruns got hurt for

The Knicks they’re saying it’s minor but we’ll see what happens I think the heat are going to end up with the fourth or fifth seed which means that they’re probably going to meet the Boston Celtics in the second roundo if I’m the Celtics I don’t want

To see Miami I’m looking at the bracket and I’m like how long can we avoid that team in the playoffs I think most people would pick Boston I think they would I think there’s going to be a lot of people picking Miami if that’s the playoff series in the second round I

Think the Heat have proved that they can go toe-to-toe with the Boston Celtics they got blown out a few weeks weeks ago I understand that but they played them close in their next matchup after that uh the Celtics are 3-0 over the heat all season they don’t play again during the

Regular season but man the playoffs are just different and if Miami’s playing like this you can’t count them out what does Jimmy Butler shooting threes do for Miami’s offense and should he be shooting even more we’re going to talk about that next here on locked on

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YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel Jimmy Butler went three for three on Saturday’s win over the Jazz Eric spoler after the game joked about Jimmy being in the Three-Point Contest um a nice kind of light-hearted Eric spol after a bunch of wins can’t blame him Jimmy

Butler has been shooting a ton of threes lately those ones in Saturday’s game were big hit a couple from the corner I think the first one was like a tough step back jumper where he had to kind of shove the defender out of the way step back into a three-pointer in that

Crowded corner and that’s a tough shot to make a lot of these are kind of tough to make lately he’s making the tough ones he’s also making a lot of wide open ones I joke that Jimmy Butler shoots threes like you know a guy go playing

Blackjack and he only goes in with or or like Texas hold him and he only goes in with like pocket aces but he’s making some tougher ones lately so that’s been less of the case over these last couple games Jimmy Butler is 16 of 28 from three-point range over

These last 14 games over 56% from three-point range that’s crazy uh and there’s stats to back up the fact that Jimmy Butler needs to shoot more threes so inherently the Heat have some difficulty building out their their offense especially in the half court and their roster in general when

Your two best players are Jimmy Butler and B metab bio who are awesome top 15 players but they’re not three-point Shooters and in today’s NBA it’s really hard to build a functional halfcourt offense when you’re two top players who need the ball the most arguably aren’t really shooting threes and we have

Talked on this show a lot it’s been a talking point among Heat fans like Bam’s got to shoot more threes Bam’s got to shoot more Threes And yet when we talk about bam shooting more threes and how he has to stretch his game part of that is that he’s younger than Jimmy right

And that there’s ostensibly a ceiling that he has yet to reach where with Jimmy we kind of know what he is because of his age but I think it also lets Jimmy Butler off the hook a little bit because he’s shown that he can make those threes and

There was a point in his career Chicago Minnesota Philadelphia that he shot threes like he was never taking seven a game but he was shooting them like at a normal amount two or three a game and I think that’s fine and when he gets playing like this when he’s shooting two

Or three a game like he has over these last couple of months uh or or this last month rather that that makes a big difference to Miami’s offense all of a sudden team’s got to close out to him a little bit more gives him a little bit

More room when they start closing out on those threes to beat those close outs get those bubys uh get downhill and get to the basket uh it it spaces the floor not only for Jimmy Butler but for bab bio in the paint uh it creates openings for other guys when Jimmy Butler’s got

That three-point shot going and like I said those other guys got a close out and he’s attacking those Closeouts it creates like those flare opportunities for guys like Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson to play off of them and get more threes it just like I don’t have to

Explain why three-point shooting is good in the NBA I think we should all know that like it it just generates more off offense it gets the gears running um but beyond just like the eye test stuff and and obviously the last games where Miami’s been playing well like I’m not

Saying that the heat are winning because Jimmy Butler is taking those threes but it’s not hurting right Jimmy Butler playing aggressive is the main thing like I talked about in the first segment but part of that aggressiveness is the shooting of the threes and he’s not he

Doesn’t have to shoot a ton of them but I like that he shoots them when they’re there and that he shoots them at the end of the shot clock and he’s a little bit more comfortable and he’s a little bit less passive a little bit less okay like

It’s it’s the last 5 seconds on the clock let just go get a shot let me ISO let me just go get a shot let me play like a superstar right and I think the heat are better when he’s doing that beyond that stuff the stats back it up

Jimmy Butler when since he’s joined the Miami Heat in 2019 these are regular season and playoff games the heat are 36 and 24 when he makes two or more threes in a game that is a 50- win pace which is basically better than every season

But one that one year that Miami got the number one seed Kyle L’s first year in Miami every year but one the heat of not reached 50 50 win Pace seasons in every Jimmy Butler season except one of them but when he’s shooting two when he makes

Two or more threes in a game they win games at a 50 win pace so that to me is notable it’s even more when he makes three or more threes in a game the heat are 11 and four when Jimmy takes or or makes three or more threes in a game

That’s a 60- win pace so basically when Jimmy baller since he’s been on the heat and if he’s making three or more threes in a game the Heat have been a 60- win Team Elite they have been an Elite basketball team it’s a little thing I

Don’t really love the stats of when he does this the Heat or that kind of stats but I do think these ones matter I because we all see it right when when he’s playing like this the heat are playing better and they win more games and coincidentally they do play like

This in the playoffs which is part of the playoff Jimmy Butler magic right it’s all right I go from going in the basket uh you know just kicking out the shooters being a little bit more passive relying on the free throw line and those kinds of things to all right I’m going

To use the whole menu I’m going to use the whole the whole court now why shouldn’t he be playing better and when he’s playing better why shouldn’t Miami be playing better so all of this stuff makes sense I would love Jimmy Butler to just shoot more threes that’s the part

Of this that I don’t understand is it’s not hard to shoot threes it’s not harder on the body to shoot threes if anything you would think when you’re coasting you would be shooting more threes right like we have seen LeBron James for instance extend the prime of his career by

Including the three-point line into his game more often like this is now he’s shooting like five six seven three-pointers a game he’s he’s the Lakers best three-point shooter arguably this season which is a whole other problem for them but whatever like he has evolved into a legitimate

Three-point shooter who takes him at a high volume I think Jimmy Butler can extend his prime if he were to embrace that three-point game that stuff is easier on your body go to the basket lesson I know he said this after the Utah Jazz game why wouldn’t you asked in

Some way shape or form like why aren’t you shooting more Threes And he says look I’ll shoot the threes when it’s this time of the year but I love to just get downhill and see who gets knocked down first first and I love that look I love when Jimmy Butler is playing like

That and he is at his best when he’s getting to the paint getting the And1 foul calls getting the other team in foul trouble getting the heat into the bonus all these things but like over the course of a regular season you would think he would be taking even more threes because it’s

Just easier to do that than to Barrel into those guys in December and January and even in February so I would like to see Jimmy Butler in the future in the regular season take more threes because I think it would it would be easier on

His body it could extend his Prime and I think it would still loosen things up if he became a guy that teams had to close out on and guard at the at the three-point line that just makes things easier for bam and everybody else too so

And I think I think we’ll eventually see it I think we’re just going to have to see it the way that LeBron had to do it I think Jimmy Butler at some point is going to have to do it and I think it can and if that extends his prime

Obviously that’s only going to be better for the Miami Heat all right last segment coming up should the heat look to the buyout Market to add one more veteran for the playoffs we talk about an interesting option after this here on lock on heat today’s episode of Locked on heat

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Miami Heat play Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons a home game at C Center David and I will be back on Tuesday night with a recap of that game we’re actually going to have one more episode before that as well for Tuesday morning uh so we’ll have that ready to

Go for you first thing Tuesday morning for you commute to work thanks so much for making lockdown heat your first listen every day like us on YouTube if you’re watching on YouTube right now hit the that little like button leave a comment let us know where you’re

Listening from what you think about the Miami Heats winning stretch did I rank them too low did I put them too high what do you think about Miami versus Boston potentially in an Eastern Conference playoff series should Jimmy Butler be shooting more threes let us know in the comments what you think uh

We’re going to get to a couple of Twitter questions that we got from over the weekend this one uh comes in response to a tweet that my co-host David rill tweeted from our lock on heat account during Saturday’s win uh so here’s what David tweeted from the account maybe we should start talking

About playoff Caleb too because he’s been great today 18 points including a huge three late in the fourth quarter five rebounds four assists and three blocks our friend Taskmaster retweeted it and added Caleb follows the Jimmy Butler calendar and that got me thinking like okay is there a such thing as a

Poff Caleb I thought it was a good thing for David to to point out um I don’t know what the threshold has to be in terms of like what kind of like rank player you have to be in order to have also like the playoff moniker attached

To your name in this time or are you just a guy who’s playing well you know I don’t know that Caleb Martin is doing the Jimmy Butler Jimmy Butler is pretty open about hey I kind of pce myself through the regular season and then I kind of I I just kick things

Into gear in the in the ramp up to the playoffs post Allstar break let’s ramp up to the playoffs let’s get playing well and let’s go into the playoffs and I love it I love it I think it works for Miami I think that much has been

Proven you know Caleb kind of had a under I thought he played well during the regular season last year but wasn’t shooting as well as you’d like and then he just shot better in the playoffs I don’t know that you plan for that it’s like okay I’m just going to not shoot

Great in the regular season and then in the playoffs I’m just start making those threes that I wasn’t making that to me was the biggest difference in last year’s um regular season in playoffs this year let’s not forget like Caleb Martin got off to a slow start with some

Injuries dealing with like a hamstring and a quad injury and stuff like that and has kind of you could tell like it’s it’s been a reoccurring thing for him there’s times where he just looks like he has it there’s other games there’s a couple games in a row here from there it

Just doesn’t look like he has it like physically um but I thought he had it on Saturday against the Jazz I thought he was awesome and it was it was playoff Caleb like that’s what if we call if we think playoff Caleb is in like what he did in the Eastern Conference finals

Last year that was awesome um I don’t know that we can expect him to just like turn it on and be that but here’s the thing with Caleb Martin um Beyond just sort of like the nicknames and stuff he’s playing better lately and that’s been a huge reason also why Miami has

Been playing better lately he gives them when he plays like this a guy that Eric spuler is going to trust to close games because we already know mostly like okay he’s going to go with Jimmy he’s going to go with bam if Tyler hero is healthy

He’s usually in that game in the game late uh there’s just guys he trusts and Caleb Martin is one of those guys but only when he’s got it physically and so when he’s healthy and that three-point shot is falling he becomes absolutely Bonafide legitimate no doubt about it a

Guy who you’re going to close with and so SPO has been starting nikovic at Power Forward lately but he’s been closing a lot with Caleb Mortin and I think that’s noteworthy I think that’s going to be the trend going forward if these guys keep playing like this now

We’ll see when Tyler hero gets back if nicovic is going to keep his start in the SP uh his spot excuse me in the starting lineup um it’s weird Eric sper will be like all right you’re starting you’re playing a bunch of minutes and then when we’re healthy you’re just like

Out of the rotation we’ll see I don’t really know what the plan is for Nico I think he’s earned rotation minutes but I also think it’s hard to get rotation minutes when this team is really healthy this team is really deep and I don’t know where Eric spoler goes and if you

Believe that Caleb Martin’s your best guy to close with then you can open with him we’ve seen him open with Caleb Martin at Power Forward does he go go back to that rotation which might Force Nico out of the rotation who knows but kale Martin playing like this big deal

Make sure he’s fresh though I would be looking at his minutes monitor his minutes make sure that he’s fresh for the playoffs because that’s the biggest thing uh for him right now let’s go to Umar who wrote in uh he well actually sent me a screenshot of a Shams tweet

That the Spurs are buying out Marcus Morris and that Marcus Morris is looking to join a contender for the playoffs uh and Umar right in uh on top of that should the Heat sign him the heat needs size shooting defense and a dog to use umar’s uh verbiage there but look Marcus

Morris interesting name we’ve all we’ve obviously been down the more Keef Morris um path before he didn’t really play for Miami a couple years ago after getting hit in the back by deic was basically out for the rest of the season but the Morris twins they’re big both of

Them 68 like 220 they’re physical they’re aggressive they’re kind of mean but and Marcus Morris for the has been the better one the better twin uh for for their careers has like the you know 10 seasons of averaging at least double- digit points it’s fallen off lately the

Shooting percentages have not been where you’d want them to be like he’s shooting 44% this year 42% last year 43% the year before that the guy’s really inefficient takes way too many shots that you want like literally two years ago for the Clippers shot almost 13 attempts per

Game I know that they’ve had injuries and stuff but even last here 10 field goal attempts per game like he’s sort of a volume shooter defensively he’s not what he was like in his prime Marcus Morris at this stage of his career is 34 years old um so I don’t

Know that that’s the answer and if you’re looking at him as a guy who you might be able to plug in play as you’re starting power forward or even like a rotation backup power forward like bringing him in I don’t know that that’s enough of an upgrade over a guy like

Nikovic Caleb Martin Haywood heith that it’d be worth sort of rocking the boat and what Miami’s got going now not only that but they he have 15 guys under contract now after having signed Donan Wright on the buyout Market who was a slam dunk home run buyout Edition so

You’d have to wave somebody and you can’t wave Drew Smith because of the CBA like after he was ruled out for the season with the knee injury you’re not allowed to wave him I thought that they might try to trade him before the deadline to open up another roster spot

They weren’t able to make that trade Drew Smith remains on the roster so they’ve got 15 guys under contract well who you cutting like you’re not going to cut Delan Wright he’s been a good addition like you’re not like could you cut Thomas Bryant maybe um I don’t know

Like you’re cutting Thomas Bryant and eating that salary cap money and then getting picking up Marcus Mor Morris on a vet minimum deal where all right now you got to pay that extra luxury tax like is Marcus morrris that much of an upgrade over Thomas Bryant like maybe

More versatility there but again I don’t know how much he’s going to even play if you were to hypothetically sign Marcus Morris so look I I think it’s an interesting name it’s not something it’s not a it’s not a a direction I would go in and if Marcus Morris is looking to

Contribute to a playoff team like there’s no guaranteed minutes here so are you going to really recruit your problem right college coaches always talk about this I’m not going to go and recruit my problems that would be similar to this like not calling Marcus Morris a problem necessarily but if this

Is a guy who wants playing time it’s kind of the same thing with PJ Tucker if these guys want playing time and the heat don’t have that playing time to offer then why would you bring that player into your locker room and then risk that player getting upset because

That playing time that they’re looking for isn’t there the same way it wasn’t there the last place that they played so Marcus Morris interesting name would not go that that Direction with the heat and by the way I don’t expect them to go that direction just because or any

Direction I think this is the team these are the 15 guys on the roster I think that’s what it’s going to be thanks for making lockdown heat your first listen every day hit that subscribe button on YouTube follow us on your favorite podcast app we’ll be back tomorrow

Morning with David ril with another episode and then Tuesday night with our reactions of Miami’s game over the DJ Pistons thanks for listening oh

The Miami Heat are playing their best basketball of the season, but where do they rank among the other hot teams in the league and does this change how we feel about Boston being the team to beat in the East?

Wes Goldberg ranks the top five teams in the league over the last 10 games. Plus, some stats that show why Jimmy Butler should embrace being a 3-point shooter and an interesting buyout option the Heat could explore.

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