Are the 76ers Targeting Jimmy Butler Over Paul George? | Miami HEAT Podcast

Are the 76ers Targeting Jimmy Butler Over Paul George? | Miami HEAT Podcast

when you think of the Miami Heat you think defense top 10 defense every year heat culture etc etc but is Miami’s defense really as good as it appears and if not what can they do to fix it we break it all down as well as The Latest Buzz regarding Jimmy Butler’s future on today’s episode of lock on [Music] heat you are locked on heat your daily Miami Heat podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your your team every day welcome to locked on heat your everyday podcast on the myam heat whether you’re tuning in on YouTube Odyssey or your favorite podcast app thanks for making locked on heat your first listen every day Monday to Friday I’m West Goldberg editor at allou can heat.com here with David rill both of us are credentialed heat media members and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply before we talk about why I think the Heat’s defense last season was overrated and what they need to do to fix it uh which was the original concept of today’s show David we got right before we started recording breaking news from sham Sania that the Philadelphia 76ers interest in pursuing Paul George has significantly waned in recent days and the franchise is expected to be aggressive elsewhere with its salary cap flexibility and draft Capital leading into next week’s NBA draft that’s according to a sham Shania tweet minutes before we started recording so we needed to talk about this because David I saw this tweet and I immediately thought Jimmy Butler the 76ers this is their way of moving in letting them letting everybody know we’re no longer looking at Paul George maybe they got some sort of indication that Paul George and the Clippers are going to come to an understanding on a long-term agreement there they said well if we can’t get Paul George as a free agent outright then we got to start looking at the trade market Keith Pompei had reported previously that the six that the 76ers would be interested and maybe trading jimm for Jimmy Butler and offering him a Max extension if Miami isn’t maybe it’s Brandon Ingram maybe these other names but Jimmy Butler was always to me the obvious Plan B for Philadelphia if they couldn’t get Paul George it looks like they’re backing off of Paul George and this tweet to me is a 76ers signal that they are moving in on Jimmy Butler that’s at least how I took it am I overreacting what did you think about this no unfortunately I felt pretty similarly we’ve already heard from Keith I think it was a month ago he l out pretty clearly in terms of what Philadelphia’s priorities were it was going to be Paul George because he was the easiest path to adding a superstar to Joel embiid and Tyrese Maxi sign him into free agency cap space that’s it a done deal you don’t have to give up any of your existing assets or anything else like that but having fallen short of that if Shams is correct in his reporting then it seems like the next priority for them is to acquire a player of Jimmy Butler stature which fits in very nicely there but would have to facilitate a trade between Philadelphia in Miami so nothing has happened yet and at the same time it seems like things are being set up this is kind of like you’re setting up the room you’re not sure how many people are going to show up yet but you’ve got to be able to have just enough chips and dip and soda and everything else you gotta have all the chairs ready because you never know what kind of a party it could be it could get a really it could become a really bad one very quickly assuming that in chira’s tweet that they want to get things moving or at least significantly progressed by the time the NBA draft rolls forward next week so it could be a very hectic few days yeah I’m glad you mentioned the NBA draft there because Shams in this tweet clearly says they’re ready to use their draft Capital going into next week’s NBA draft so the Sixers have up to three first round picks that they can trade in a deal starting on draft night so the weird part about all this is that the Heat and Jimmy Butler can’t officially start negotiating a contract until July 6 now we already got breaking news like stuff’s already happening like you got the Shams tweet right after the Shams tweet W is reporting uh uh the Bulls and the Thunder traded Alex Caruso for Josh giddy so stuff’s already happening across the league like we know this um I don’t does this mean that the Sixers are trying to get Jimmy Butler on draft night or soon after draft night I it feels like they want to probably get something done sooner rather than later because when the moratorium is lifted after the first week of July they’re going to need to know whether or not they’re using that $70 million on cap space on free agents or if they’ve gotten the star that they’re trying to get and if Paul George isn’t going to be it then it’s got to be Jimmy Butler because as good as Brandon Ingram is and maybe that is sort of plan see but he’s nowhere near Jimmy Butler right no I I I think that’s exactly you’ve got to have some kind of clarity moving into the draft you got to have an idea of if you’re going to be using those picks if you’re G or whatever Suitor might be less inclined and in this case Miami might be less inclined to make that trade knowing that they’re not going to be able to use that draft capital or they’re going to want that draft Capital as soon as possible look we all know that the the timeline the the dates are kind of flexible within NBA circles anyway in this case I don’t think either team would call foul I don’t think anybody would say oh they’ve been clearly tampering or anything like this because it behooves both franchises to get some deal done you know maybe technically Miami and and Jimmy Butler’s agent wouldn’t necessarily be able to negotiate anything sooner than that July deadline but we know that there’s been conversations and and B Bernie Lee Jimmy’s agent has been pretty public in saying he wants to Max this is the deal and Pat Riley addressed it even in his end in press conference he knew that it was something they were trying to push off if they can’t push it off because they’ve been let him know we want this extension and and Pat feels like his back is against the wall we could see the trade happening sooner rather than later maybe there’s no negotiations that need to take place right we know what’s where to your point we know exactly where everybody stands Jimmy Butler wants all the money and he wants it now Pat Riley doesn’t even want to have that conversation until next summer he wants Jimmy Butler to prove that he could stay on the court for more than 64 games in a regular season he doesn’t miss 20 games in a regular season and then he actually shows up and he’s and he’s engaged for a majority of their games in the regular season so they don’t have to be in the planing tournament again we already these two sides could not be further apart at least publicly and if that public stance is also reflects the real stance of where these two sides are then maybe there’s no negotiation to be had and maybe this is almost it seems strong to call this like a get out of jail free card for Miami because you still be losing your best player and Jimmy Butler like that’s not I just don’t know the other phrase but this might be an excuse or a way out in other words if they don’t want to pay Jimmy Butler and they don’t want to deal with the ramifications of not paying Jimmy Butler this summer and they want to know as opposed to last year hey this is where we’re at like last year we didn’t know what the heat could do because the the Damen lard thing was hanging in the air and they missed out on a bunch of potential free agents and maybe some other trades and other moves that could have been done I think the heat are going to want to know sooner rather than later what they’re doing this this summer and they don’t want anything hovering over them and if there are no negotiations to be had then it does make a little bit sense to if you’re G to if you’re going to trade Jimmy Butler to do it now as opposed to go into training camp and and risk him being upset with not having a new contract yeah I I mean nothing’s going to change over the next what two weeks before that moratorium is lifted in regards to Jimmy’s deadline like they’re not going to suddenly decide in the next two weeks you know what guys he is a St let’s let’s go ahead and pay him the 60 million whether or not he shows up every day or not is a moot point they already know that this is their concern had address it over a month ago now like well you know deep into the playoffs already that’s what we heard from him specifically that they didn’t want to come to this point they’re fully aware on both sides if Jimmy wants the money and Pat is unwilling to give that kind of money to a player who’s been not unreliable but unavailable and and I think that’s an important note of Distinction there then we’ve seen Riley he does not he is the cornered animal that does not want to be backed up against the wall and he will react accordingly and so I think this is exactly where he’s at right now where he he’s already made that decision he goes look I I’m not gonna be forced by Jimmy or Bernie Lee regardless of the last five years of success I’m not GNA be forced into paying a player more money than they could potentially deserve at least on their opinion maybe we’re reading too much into it but I mean I think this is how it’s all been laid out for quite some time now they they were frustrated with Jimmy Butler at the end of the season they were frustrated with his lack of availability over different points during the course of the regular season they had an early exit from the playoffs earlier certainly that they would have liked and they’ve had a lot of time in their hands and those kinds of things tend to Fester like it’s not going to smooth over because you’ve got another three months before actual basketball is being played and didn’t help watching the Celtics yes win the championship either right if I was going to read this in another way that wasn’t so dramatic I guess it would be this is the Sixers signaling to the rest of the league and other potential stars who we have not heard from that we’re we’ve got a lot of cap space and we’d be willing we’re open for business exactly so maybe that is the more generous reading of this tweet but again we know where Daryl Mory is going to look and he’s going to look in Jimmy Butler’s Direction and if if this is not a if that wasn’t a bluff everything you said about Pat Riley if that wasn’t a bluff then if it wasn’t just sort of public posturing maybe is a better phrase for that then there’s an opportunity here for the Heat and for the 76ers to get something done and kind of move in a New Direction sooner rather than later the 76ers have the 16th pick in the draft it’s the pick right after Miami at the 15th pick they could trade that in two future first round picks and that’s it the heat would be out of the luxury tax they could bring back a Paul Reed if they wanted that would be I would imagine up to Miami whether or not they wanted him or not that’s inconsequential to me but you would get three first round picks that that you would then get to use in another trade somewhere else and by the way that’s not nothing three first round picks two of them in this draft is a lot it’s twice as many draft Capital as you have currently that unlocks a whole other tier of potential trades now if you’re the heat that’s that’s a whole other kind of player that you have access to that you might have not had access to before if you’re willing to include all six of your first round picks in a potential deal right plus all the young assets in Tyler hero H hakz nikovic like whatever other whatever you think about Miami’s other stuff you still have it and you’re out of the luxury tax compl completely you have a ton of cap relief and all these things this is not me arguing that the heat should do it or that this is what’s going to happen this is just what it looks like if this is the option that’s available to Miami if they were to do something on Jimmy Butler sooner rather than later and then you enter free agency with that kind of cap flexibility and that kind of draft Capital to use other moves of the next two months but I guess we’ll find out more with what’s going on with the heat with Jimmy Butler and with the 76ers in the coming days weeks I don’t want caught unaware like I mean and we know that’s what’s going to happen with Miami like whatever Scuttle we might hear behind the scenes and anything else like that like nothing’s gonna be finalized until we see that one dreaded tweet from Adrian Wazi it’s not gonna be Shams it’s gonna be Adrian rasi and he’s the one gonna be announcing what Miami has finally done and we’re GNA be all like what the hell just happened we’re gonna be caught unawares because that’s just the way how Miami operates very quietly and secretly with that said I guess all we could do is wait for that W bomb for now would the heat be better off focusing on their defense as opposed to their offense this summer we’ll talk about that next year un lock on heat today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seats and their lowest price guaranteed game time takes all the guest work out of buying tickets whether it’s for Major League Baseball the NHL finals comedy shows concerts whatever you’re looking for game time has you covered with their Flash deals it’s an exclusive inapp deal on select seats ahead of the game or event you got they all in pricing so you know exactly what you’re paying for no hidden fees that are going to crop up later on you know exactly what the total is at checkout and they’ve got their lowest price 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in the hood and I do have some troubling numbers that indicate that maybe that number five defensive rating not as good as heat actually were I just have a simple question for you David yeah did you ever feel like the heat had an elite defense last season not at all I’m glad you started off that way because that was my biggest takeaway when you’re looking at the defense I never felt comfortable that Miami was going to get a stop maybe over the aggregate of an 82 Game season some of those statistics that show Miami has a quote unquote top 10 defense worked out in Miami’s favor but I think it was more result of the slow pace the fact that they kept opponents down like they just they never had that specific closer not to say that bam a bio and Jimmy Butler when he was fully engag AG Etc or all the other players that kind of stepped up over the course of the Season players that have historically not been known for their great defensive Acumen somehow wind up congealing into this great defensive Force but I didn’t know that you had that one player I was like okay you’re gonna get that you’ve got that stop you you felt comfortable that the shot clock was winding down that somebody on Miami side of things was going to stop an opponent from scoring and and create something in favor of Miami I never felt that way at any point in time I I don’t know that I felt that even the last season but maybe it’s been a couple years since I felt really comfortable that Miami was as much of a powerful defense as the stats seem to indicate I’m with you I never really felt like the defense was great and you know we got the the stats all the time like heat held opponents under 100 points seven to the last nine game whatever it was I was like well the pace was one of the slowest Paces in the league like if we’re going to use like old school numbers like that you know what the heat also were scoring on under 100 points in a lot of those games too those were just it was 1990s basketball for a lot of those games that to me doesn’t mean anything I want a points per 100 of possessions points per possession on those basis is yes Miami was still fifth in defensive rating but I also remember tracking this all season long and that was an uphill climb to finish the fifth this was not a team that came out of the gates with an elite defense and stayed that way all season the way that a team like Orlando or Minnesota did there was a long portion of the Season where Miami was like 12th 13th 14th and defensive rating and they eventually got better and they did it against really bad competition and that’s sort of what I want to get to here when you pop open the hood that fifth defensive rating that number looks fake as soon as you open that hood man like those it does not look good so the basic uh the basic stat that I have is well Miami built up their strong defense against poor offenses right so Miami their overall defensive rating I already said it it’s fifth 11 12.7 points uh given up per 100 possessions Minnesota was first Orlando was second and the championship Celtics were third you would have I I I compareed that overall defensive rating against teams defensive ratings against the top 10 offenses in the league Miami went from fifth in defensive rating overall to 19th in defensive rating against top 10 offenses and you might say well that’s probably consistent for all the top offenses all the top defenses they probably are not as good when playing better offenses not true Minnesota still first in top in defensive rating against top 10 offenses Orlando still second in defensive rating against top 10 offenses Boston dropped from third to eighth but still in the top 10 and obviously good enough the heat went from fifth top five in defensive rating to one of the worst 11 defenses in the league against top 10 offenses and that’s consistent when you think about Miami’s major struggle last year they were 5- 20 against the top 10 teams in the NBA and it’s a lot because I think their defense was smok and mirrors I think that that that Fifth and defensive rating is a fake number to me they also for one more stat here and then I’ll get out of the numbers stuff they got really lucky when it came to opponent three-point shooting teams made 35.3% of their threes against the Heat it’s the fifth worst Mark in the league against the specific opponent that is a number that a lot of teams internal will look at hey are we actually good on defense or are we getting lucky with uh teams missing a bunch of Threes against us obviously you could give some credit to Miami closing out blah blah blah that the effort and stuff like that but generally speaking in a make or Miss League that number is going is is a big part of the variance so there’s a lot of reasons why that that number five in defensive rating overall number to me is fake and it’s why if you’re the Heat going into this offseason you can’t look at that and say hey we were fifth in defensive rating we got to figure out the offense no no no you’re not good on you’re not nearly as good on defense as you think you are especially against the teams that you’re going to have to beat to get to the championship we’ve heard Eric spoler say it a million times we like the style of Play We like playing in the mud what happens when you play in the mud everybody gets dirty and that includes sorry that includes opponents and so when you’re looking at that I think that’s how it’s affected everything that Miami has been able to do their their offense has been slow there our their process has been a deliberate one and it drags things down for everybody which has worked because it it makes up for a lot of your own Personnel lacking you know whatever errors they might have in Personnel whatever they might be lacking in that sense and you can kind of get something else you can kind of keep you can manage the game a lot more effectively that way you don’t let a a superior offense just run away with it although we saw that a number of occasions at some point you can only do so much to contain a really powerful offense in the mud a team like IND or even unfortunately like the Boston Celtics you know you can’t do enough to try and slow them down because they’re going to find a way to shoot their way out of it or play with a an increase Pace Etc so if and look we talked about this last week if Miami winds up focusing on ways of improving their offense or if they’re forced to because they have to make major Personnel changes over the next couple weeks or months or whatever that style is going to be different you can’t afford to just rely on oh we’re going to drag things into the mud anymore you need to be able to be more effective all around if they’re off offense changes conversely their defense is going to have to improve also because if you’re not playing in the mud to find find a way to score then you’re going to wind up having to figure out other ways of having a much more effective defensive unit and I don’t know that Miami is currently capable of it with the the roster that they have the the way I keep explaining it and this was even before I dove into the numbers was Miami had a good enough defense to keep them in games but they didn’t have a good enough defense to win them games and when your offense is so bad then you need something to win new games and my biggest problem with the heat last year was they weren’t Elite at anything this was a team that was either okay pretty good or really bad at everything you know but they were not Elite at any one thing and you even saw with the Timberwolves and the magic those are defenses that won them games both teams below average offensive ratings for the year right but they neither team had to be in the playing tournament the Timberwolves were in the Western Conference Finals those teams were all not markedly better than the heat during the regular season and didn’t have to deal with the playing tournament and made playoff runs you know obviously Minnesota’s longer than Orlando’s the heat didn’t have that level of defense and I just think that we sometimes just figure the Miami Heat you said this in the open the Miami Heat defense like it’s it’s just one and the same right well we can’t just take it for granted that this team is just always going to be good enough defensively especially when they are so bad offensively you need you need to win theall ball game on one side of the court and they didn’t and it was and that to me was the most frustrating part with the heat and is why they struggled so bad with good teams right and that was the biggest problem with me yeah and everybody keeps looking at the offense because it was the most obvious problem they had when they just couldn’t seem to muster any offense as you said they were one of the teams that were scoring under 100 points too on a regular basis not in a good way you know maybe they won a few games where they scored less than 100 but you don’t ever want to just drag it out that way and we saw those games where Miami’s like even game two against the Boston Celtics when their offense was clicking and it was firing and yes they shot exceedingly well from three-point range but that was the kind of exciting style of play that Miami’s Personnel might be more inclined to playing without Jimmy Butler Etc and if that’s the case well they’re GNA give up a lot of points so you can’t just count on being able to score 120 points or otherwise you wind up becoming the Indiana Pacers at least prior to their postseason run where they improved defensively but over the course of the regular season they were te that scored a lot of points they gave up just as many too and so you’re going to have to tweak things a little bit so that you can be better on both sides of the ball and and it depends on what personnel you you wind up bringing in and I think that’s something important to address and I’m sure we will in the next SE for the record and you already said it the offense was also a problem we’re not sitting here being like defense is the only problem no the offense was a humongous problem right my point and we’re going to talk about this next is you might have an easier time fixing the defense than fixing the offense we’ll talk about that next unlocked on heat Today’s Show is brought to you by priz pick America’s number one fantasy sports app with more than five billion members it’s the most fun and exciting way to get in on the action while you watch your favorite sports and players you just pick more or less on two or more player stats for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash you could turn $10 into 1,000 in a single game watching your favorite sports this summer you can make a prize pick lineup in as little as 6 second it’s that easy you just need to pick more or less on two to six player stats and you’re locked in if you’re looking for promotions prize picks has you covered every week from lowering select 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NBA get a first deposit match of up to $100 that’s price pick pick more pick less it’s that easy we’ll be right back thanks for making lock on heat your first listen every day make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube let us know what you think about the Heat’s defense do the heat need to address it this offseason or should they just focus solely on the offense also follow us on your favorite podcast app here’s the point I’m making and it’s basically the one I made before but if you weren’t Elite at anything then I think this off season you should be focused on being Elite at something so how much how much can Miami’s offense realistically improve I think is a fair question you got to get better I’m not saying you can’t like you can just let it be what it is you got to figure out way to get better offensively maybe that’s just player Health maybe that’s what the front office comes down to and maybe maybe it’s that simple internal development all this stuff but you and I both agree that they probably need to make some sort of changes on the roster to to make a meaningful they might have to anyway regarding Jimmy Butler so right I guess so you’re gonna have to do some major tweak if you have to wind up training Jimmy um unless they can get like a Trey young or a Donovan Mitchell type I don’t know that there’s a player out there that significantly raises Miami’s floor on offense that that’s realistically available and if that player isn’t there then I think that plan B should be doing whatever you can but focusing on the defensive side of the ball so that you can at least be elite on that end because if you’re not if being Elite on offense isn’t realistic then I wouldn’t want to spend an entire offseason getting to average on offense and also still being being an average defense right cuz now you’re not really much better than what you were last year even if your offense is a little bit better maybe your defense is a little bit worse or maybe it’s the same but I just argued like I don’t think if they leave the defense the way it was this year and play the exact same defense they’ll be less they’ll be worse than fifth in defensive rating next year the variance on that three-point shots will be different they’ll play better opponents all these things teams will figure them out so there’s an argument to be made here that if you need to be elite at something going in next year that you’ll have an easier time going from a defense that’s pretty good to good to pretty good to Elite that’s a lot easier from than going from bottom 10 and offense to legitimately El lead on offense you know what I mean yeah no absolutely I mean even even if you’re looking at making those tweaks on offense let’s say let’s say Trey young is an option somehow well you might put up a lot more points you might get easier baskets maybe it’s not the the 24 second grind of every possession but guess what he’s going to give up a lot defensively so you it’s going to be a problem you can’t just make tweaks on one side of the ball you ideally want to be able to address both but it’s not that easy either like you’re looking at making an improvement to your team you can’t just focus on one side of the ball if you want to get two-way players that’s great but you’re gonna have to have and this is something we’ve talked about a lot looking at Miami’s off season you have to have balance you have to have players that are great offensively and then you have to have players that are great defensively to complement and you can’t just have a mediocre sandwich of basic crap out there which is what last season unfortunately was and health and concerns it’s what made the Celtics so special and led them led to their championship team all their best players are two-way players right none of their be all their best offensive players are their best defensive players yeah you got your pton Pritchards and your Sam Howers and stuff like that how many minutes did they play yeah yeah they were yeah they were very uh minimal role players if you’re the heat I think that’s what you need to focus on is I mean and to be fair the Celtics that whole thing is made possible because their two best players are two-way Wings Tatum and Jaylen Brown who they drafted but and then they were able to surround them with other talent but for the heat your two best players at least for now if Jimmy Butler still on the roster and B matab bio are two-way players and I think you could surround them with other two-way types of talents I don’t know maybe I would be leaning more into if the Boston Celtics build is unrealistic for you look at what Minnesota did look at what Orlando did just double down triple down on defense and say you know what our defense is going to fuel our offense in a real way not just those lucky nights where we’re playing the Charlotte Hornets and they just throw the ball to us over and over again like we’re actually going to force turnovers against good teams and win games that way I think that’s a viable op strategy and approach for the Heats off season now what does that look like what kind of like who I think first of all you got to look at who the liability is on defense too right does that mean that you have to part with guys like Tyler herro and Duncan Robinson and maybe even Terry rier depending on what we think about him defensively like that’s the other part about these Elite defenses like Minnesota and Orlando they didn’t have weak spots that you could just poke at defensively all their players were good Defenders and for the heat you can’t sit here incredibly say all of our players are good Defenders we saw the Celtics and good teams mismatch hunt over and over against Tyler herro and dung Robinson over and over again and as important as they are to the offense and the spacing and everything like that if you were going to lean all the way into a defensive Elite a defensive identity you might have to get rid of one or two of those guys or bring one of them up the bench or something like that so now you’re looking at trades you’re looking at the draft you’re looking at free agency it would still constitute a pretty dramatic roster rebuild if you were going to do that is what I’m saying it’s going to to be elite defensively it’s going to require some tough decisions no I think uh it’s 100% the right way of looking at it I’m also seeing it in kind of a twoo too pronged approach here if you’re bringing back the same roster let’s say they somehow magically work everything out with me and you do wind up mostly running it back and I think that’s also a realistic option even though a lot of fans don’t want to accept it if that’s the case and you’re going to have to make some tweaks some basic tweaks to kind of accommodate for those players that you have in the roster let’s say you couldn’t find a deal worth exploring for Tyler herro or one worth exploring for Terry Rosier or Duncan the players that you mentioned who I think are probably Miami’s greatest weak points defensively I I think that’s fair right those are the players that are are Miami’s biggest problems Caleb is not a great defender at least not last year when he was hurt but I think you’re going to get more y’s work from him Haywood heisi we know he’s a great defender H hakz was somewhat problematic on defense overall but I think yeah yeah really concerned about him he can’t all be Victor webman Yas defensively so let’s say you’re wind up keeping this roster mostly in Tech you’re still gonna have to find some way to tweak either scheme or Personnel just enough to accept and and handle the the deficiencies that you kind of already got baked in like we already know we’re going to have some players that aren’t going to necessarily be good defensively how can we make minor improvements to the roster that can kind of make up for some of those deficiencies and I think that’s a big question mark now the second point then and the second AOG of approach here is oh just blow up the whole roster if you wind up having to make major moves with either Jimmy Etc then you’re going to have to wind up finding again more complimentary players that can play defense at a higher level to make sure that you’re not just hoping to drag games into the mud and find a way where you can come out on top yeah and look if you’re going to be building around bam adabo I I think a lot of people would say well you got bam he’s supposed to be this Defensive Player of the Year finalist you should be okay defensively my if if I’m building around bam I’m trying to make his job easier not harder yes I’m not saying like oh yeah bam you just handle it all on defense work do work at the NBA level he’s he’s maybe the ultimate FL raiser defensively right he could play in any scheme any system and he’s he’s great against every offense right no matter what and he could guard all five positions but he needs help he can’t do it all himself and I would be trying the job of a front office is when you get the stars make their jobs easier right you have an identity of your team that’s what they do make their jobs let them make it easier for them to be Stars right and it just feels like over the last couple years that he’d haven’t done that for Jimmy or for bam that they haven’t made their jobs easier in fact they’ve probably made their jobs harder in a lot of ways and they haven’t you know Jimmy Butler with his availability issues hasn’t helped anybody either but for bam specifically I would be really trying to figure out a way to make his job easier and maybe that’s going and getting another seven-footer so that bam doesn’t have to bang bodies against jool and be and Nicola yic maybe that’s finding a point of attack Defender that can funnel those players to Bam in better positions instead of bam having to swing use his athleticism to to move over you know along the Baseline and cover up that to me is what I would be looking for is another guy with size if if this is what the strategy was if we’re going to be okay we’re going to be the one of the best two defenses in the league that’s our goal next year go get a guy with size that helps bam move over to power forward get back into your switching scheme because they got they had to get out of it last year because they didn’t have the Personnel because tyah hero and Duncan Robinson those guys can’t switch and G get a legitimate point of attack Defender right Alex Caruso is off the board now who else is out there right is there somebody in the draft is there somebody in free agency is there somebody that you can acquire via trade it’s not going to be easy but we saw the Knicks do this for instance over these last two years where they said look we got our offensive uh uh engine here in Jaylen Brunson we’re going to let him do all these things everybody else on the team has to be a good Defender and so they traded RJ Barrett they traded Emanuel quickly they got all they got rid of all these guys that everybody else on the roster has to be good a good Defender and those are tough decisions to make they love quickly they loved RJ Barrett right but they didn’t fit the new build the new identity of the team that came with Jaylen Brunson and so if you’re the Heat and you’re thinking about what our new identity is going to be what the next phase of this whole thing looks like it might require some of those tough decisions absolutely I I think given who’s available either in the draft or in a potential trade do you think it’s more likely they Shore up their perimeter defense their defense or their interior defense and try to acquire that shot blocker that could play alongside bamama bio because I’m not sure I mean I know we there was some reports earlier today about Brook Lopez and whether or not Milwaukee might you don’t have concerns about his age he was still good last year he’s probably got another year year and a half of being a highlevel Defender but yeah I mean it would give up is that a move that you’d make yeah is that a move that you’d make if you’re somehow able to keep Jimmy Butler on the roster and sign him to his extension yeah that’s that’s that’s a good point of clarification right if if Jimmy Butler’s not on the team then you have to start looking at guys in in bam atab bio’s age window which Brook Lopez certainly is not to your point so yeah that’s more of like if you’ve got Jimmy you’ve got bam try to find a way to get Brook Lopez and whatever so I don’t know that the Milwaukee Bucks would be willing to trade Brook Lopez but maybe it’s a sort of hey they screwed up and trading Drew holiday away so maybe they screw up and trade Brook Lopez away to somebody else and then Miami gets him from that team would be something but I would be looking at him I would be looking at Miles Turner um who I don’t know what the Pacers think about him but he’s in the last year of his contract so you always kind of look at those guys uh but to to answer your original question probably a better chance of going and getting that perimeter Defender just because it feels like there’s more of those guys than the seven foot shot blockers who can also space the floor enough so that they could play next to Bam but um you know who knows I think you got to look at both of them though I really do and maybe it’s not a guy who starts with bam right it’s just an option it’s a guy at $5 million a year or the the veteran minimum or something like that who’s at least just you know not an undersized Center the way that bam atab bio and Kevin Love is and maybe that player just comes off the bench and plays 10 minutes A Night 10 to 15 minutes a night but at least it gives them a different look it creates some versatility because again I’ve said this all along but as much as I thought the Heats defense was overrated I thought their versatility was overrated too spoler talked about how versatile the team was I didn’t think they were versatile even a little bit last year they were not a veral team whatsoever to me they were an extremely limited team and that’s why SPO ran out of options at the end so that’s just one diim they onedimensional and all the dimensions were all the same yeah Len there’s a there’s so much here like I some so many fans have um looked at our offseason discussion topics and been like oh it’s they they see it so simplistically but so many different things have to fall in just the right way and there’s no clear path for Miami like like even when you’re looking at the draft people have accused us of looking at this simplistically I’ve never been accused of thinking anything simple I overthink everything no it just you know yeah I think some people have said that about us certainly at the same time you know the the idea and and I think it’s kind of reflective of how fans tend to think in general is like oh you just you know snap your fingers and make these improvements that’s not realistic there’s so much that has to play out and you have to figure it out and you don’t you can’t even take these steps in into accordance and like kind of figure it out how to play it out like step one step two step three because these steps could be happening simultaneously at the same time right you may not even be able to project what step 18 is and you still have to plan for step one and you can’t wait until step 18 happens and go oh damn we should have just taken that in step one you know so you kind of have to figure it all out at the same time and project what could happen well from a front office position you’re absolutely right and from a front office’s perspective you I think you just need to have a plan right understanding you’re never going to be able to predict what’s going to happen but you need to know what path you’re on what road you’re on and so at least when you know what road you’re on you can make the decision of we’re going to stop at this gas station we’re going to stop at this restaurant because we know what road we’re on but if you don’t know what road you’re on you’re just like well I don’t know should we take this exit should we take the scenic route over here like should we go backwards I don’t know did we make a mistake even going in this direction where’s the map I don’t even know and so for the heat what do you want to be is my biggest question do you want to be elite defensively do you want to be good defensively and good offensively do you think that Jimmy Butler is your star going forward or don’t or do you not are you going to give him the extension or are you not going to give them the extension are you going to run it back for a year or are you not going to run it back for a year you need this front office has not and will not signal their intent until something happens but it just feels like they need to pick a lane and they haven’t picked one yet right that’s my I guess that’s my biggest concern with it I think I think we’re going to see some clarification I think I think Jimmy is the first major Domino to fall and at that point in time you’re you’re forced to like whether it’s because of Philadelphia not being able or Waning their interest waning in Paul George or whatever I don’t think it has as much to do with that with what you just said that Miami has to figure out we’re not gonna pay this much money to a player who’s getting older and who may not play at 100% as consistently as as we’d like them to and so that being the case they’re going to be proactive in their decision-making as much as a blow it’ll as it’ll be for this team they’re going to have to start they have to start there they have to and we’ve made this point before it’s like you cannot project you cannot make any other future plans time to bring out the Whiteboard again right yeah that’s the first step you have to figure it out exactly what you want to do and and Jimmy is the first step in that process sign him to the max extension or trade him I don’t think there’s a middle ground here cuz you can’t have him in a lame duck ear that that’s just more nebulous no ction Miami Heat basketball it’s punting on something it is it’s it would it would not breaking news it won’t go well if you do that so either give him the give him the extension and say For Better or Worse it’s still the Jimmy Butler era we trust him to be more available going forward we trust bam to be the guy that he is and we’re going to tweak everything around those two guys to get us to where we need to be or trade the man and start moving in a New Direction I don’t think anything in the middle is feasible here so that’s that’s just sort of where I at um all right that’ll do it for us today thanks so much for making lock down heat your first listen every day like comment subscribe on YouTube follow us on your podcast out

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Philadelphia 76ers are backing off Paul George and could be looking elsewhere for a new star. Are they moving in on Jimmy Butler, and should the Miami Heat be open to dealing him to Philly?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss the 76ers’ motives before explaining why the Heat’s defense wasn’t as good as it seems last season.

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