Are the Miami Heat Waiting on Donovan Mitchell?

Are the Miami Heat Waiting on Donovan Mitchell?

it’s been a wild 24 hours for NBA free agency and teams around the league have improved their rosters so where do the heat rank in the Eastern Conference plus is there a star left for Miami to pursue and who’s the best available free agent still out there or is this simply a gap year between different eras of Heat basketball we break it all down today’s episode of Locked on [Music] heat you are locked on heat your daily Miami Heat podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday all right welcome to locked on heat your everyday podcast on the Miami 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 raill both of us are credential heat media members and today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as the playoffs wind down the Sports Stop sporting like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everybody every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started it’s day two of free agency in the NBA the heat loss Delon right to Milwaukee Bucks he signs a minimum contract over there Paul George since we last spoke officially signed with the 76ers the Sixers also resigned Kelly UB they added Eric Gordon Andre Drummond and now we’re looking at an Eastern Conference where the 76ers got better the Celtics are coming off of a championship and are keeping their guys the Knicks got better by trading for Mel Bridges bringing back oan and noi even though they did lose Isaiah hartstein who signed with the thunder on Monday the Bucks are coming back and even if they’re not very improved it’s another year of Daman ler Giannis Doc Rivers I would assume they’ll be a little bit better than whatever last year’s disaster was and 24 hours into free agency the heat haven’t done anything other than resign Kevin Love and their draft picks and and that’s sort of what we’re looking at here and based on the moves that have been made and it does seem like the major things are mostly off the table even though there are a few names still out there that we’re going to talk about later on in today’s show David but I’m just going to ask you where did the heat rank in the East based on what has happened so far not too far from where they’ve ranked over the last couple Seasons to be honest you like despite having won the Eastern Conference a couple seasons ago and advancing all the way to the NBA finals I think their rank has not changed really like you could look at where they are from the roster perspective or where you might project their finish to be but right now like you look at the teams in the Eastern Conference I’ve got them eighth overall and that might be somewhat optimistic I’m not quite sure exactly what’s happening with Toronto they’re probably going to be better than what they’ve been Chicago again that’s a huge question mark they’re probably going to be worse than Miami I think that’s fair but let’s start it I mean as far as as my rankings concerned I’ve got Boston first still at Eastern conference I’ve got Philadelphia second because I think the roster much improved got the Knicks third Milwaukee fourth then Indiana Orlando Cleveland and Miami I basically have the same thing I basically have the same thing I have Boston and then New York and then Philadelphia but we can quibble about whether or not the Knicks the Sixers to me that’s a top tier it’s Boston that’s Knicks and the Sixers and that’s the three best teams in the Eastern Conference and I feel pretty good about that yeah and those might be three of the four five best teams in the entire NBA by the way like the East just got really difficult to get through it was that wall through Boston that you had to break through like the road to the east went through Boston it goes through the Knicks and it goes through Philadelphia as well too up at I95 in the northeastern part of this country like that’s the wall that the Heat have to break through is through those three teams but even beyond that I think Milwaukee will be better right I think the Indiana Pacers are going to be are going to be able to build on that Conference Finals uh appearance last year I don’t know if that they’ll make it back to the EC but they will be good the Cavs we’ll we’ll see what happens with Donovan Mitchell but to me the Miami Heat are in the same tier as the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic and I think a lot of Heat fans would be like are you kidding me the Orlando Magic little brother little brother won the division last year little brother added cavius Caldwell Pope and palaban Caro fron Vagner those guys are only getting better that team was really well coached it had one of the most elite defenses in the League last year an identity and something to build on that’s a good team Cleveland with for all their struggles still finished with a better record than Miami yeah still has at least for now Donovan Mitchell Darius Garland Evan moley and Jared Allen and I know all those four guys didn’t fit all that well together but there’s not a whole lot of teams that can put that much talent on the court at the same time in the league and the Cavaliers have just that top end Talent with Kenny Atkinson there I think he’s going to be able to make that work a little bit more than JB bicker staff did defitely I will say this I think the heat it depends on whether or not the the you get an engaged and healthy Jimmy Butler can the team stay healthy I know that there’s been more Barry Jackson stuff out there today about hey they like their team and they think they can be a contender when healthy the problem with that statement is that the heat are never healthy and being healthy would be it’s not bad luck it’s that would be the exception at like five or six years into this thing it would be the exception not the rule but I think they’re right there with a chance to maybe climb into that second tier if you can get that level of Jimmy Butler I’m not sure that we can count on that like I I I it’s very difficult to project exactly what’s going to happen this year I I think we’ve all during this off season as tumultuous as it was from the way that the season ended Jimmy Butler’s injury Pat Riley’s and the season press conference and everything that we’ve kind of tried to read between the lines I don’t think anybody expected it to play out quite like this like there was the expectation that a move would be made that you could trade Tyler heru for something that perhaps Jimmy Butler and I think that was the most obvious Domino the fall in terms of what had to happen in order from Miami to move forward it was well I don’t know if this relationship with Jimmy is sustainable but apparently Jimmy was willing despite everything that we’ve heard from Bernie Lee his agent from Jimmy from from sources all around the idea was Jimmy wanted his contract first and foremost if he is intending to buy into this season and use this as an opportunity I don’t know I don’t know what his end goal is though that’s what I it’s difficult for me because not only we’re not we’re just we’re doing a 180 here in terms of where we were a a week or two weeks ago when it was a very unclear future and even though it’s clear now in terms of Jimmy’s presence on the team like the idea of why Jimmy is returning to the team isn’t as clear to me like it’s one thing to say he wants his money and that’s his priority that’s pretty clear he wasn’t going to get that from Miami Pat didn’t want to entertain that conversation and then a lot of people agreed that Pat probably shouldn’t entertained that conversation because Jimmy hadn’t really done what he was supposed to in terms of last year being available and everything else like that but now he’s back is he using this as an opportunity to push Miami or or to prove to the rest of the league I’ve still got it I’m still a superstar I’m gonna live up to the goal I had still comes down to money I I think he I think it comes down to money and having the money where he wants to be I’m wondering if the heat just called his bluff and it was out there pretty openly that the heat were going to be willing to listen to to trade offers for Jimmy Butler whether it was from the Sixers or The Warriors the Rockets or whatever and I think Jimmy Butler kind of was like oh they called my bluff and I actually don’t want to move I don’t want to go to another organization I’ve got a pretty sweet gig here with the heat where I’m the I’m the star player and I’m treated as such and I don’t know that I’m going to get that star treatment if I go somewhere else where there’s another star and kind of a whole other thing going on over there and the other part of this too is he was going to be limited to how much money you can make if you signed an extension because of the over 48 rule if he just has one more Good Year opts out of his player option next summer and then enters free agency as an unrestricted free agent he could be he could sign a contract that takes him to his age 40 season to a for for a four-year match if he wants it right like that’s there’s just more money and more years available to him not necessarily and he doesn’t have to do the whole four years but I’m just making the point like there’s more money more years available to him as an unrestricted free agent as opposed to signing an extension uh at his age in the NBA with some of the CBA limitations so I still think it’s pretty Financial but also a lifestyle thing where it was like you know what I really didn’t want to get traded I tried I tried to Strongarm the organization they called my bluff and it worked and now I got to come back and basically what amounts to contract year so given that I don’t know how Jimmy has operated in the past in terms of a contract year like I mean there was the last last time it was a contract year for him was his one season in Philadelphia he was pretty damn good but that was a very talented team and he was just kind of trying to fit in and then he only really spent less than a full season with a group I mean is he going to look at this year and be motivated to carry this team and be the superstar that we’ve seen from him in the past is that his end goal here I think so because if you just listened to Pat Riley at the end of the season he said two things you need to be engaged when you’re out there and you need to be healthy and you need to play more games and you lied to me last summer when you said you’d be more available you weren’t and I think that’s the expectation so if Jimmy Butler wants to get paid by the Miami Heat he’s got to do the things that the guy in charge of the Miami Heat wants him to do right I think Pat Riley pretty much laid it out there hey if you want to get paid if you want us to provide this long-term commitment to you then we need to show some you need to show us a uh uh something a little bit more and I to me I hate being so like simple with the analysis here but it comes down to just scoring for me for Jimmy Butler not being so passive right yeah and I I think one of the things when you look at last year when Jimmy Butler uh scored 26 or more points in a game last year the heat were really good the heat were uh basically 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n they were nine and two when he scored 28 or more points than a game last year it’s pretty decisive it’s pretty decisive I mean it’s a 60 win Pace but it was also only 11 games that he did it nine and two is 11 games you for 28 points I feel like that bar isn’t that high for an all-nba caliber player when you’ve got guys averaging 28 points per game pretty routinely in the NBA especially you know especially the change in the officiating too like I think you like that’s going to be that’s going to be real sticky point like I don’t know how much of it is going to be remain a point of emphases next season but given what we saw from the All-Star break on like that kind of physicality was allowed to a huge degree in the playoffs in finals I don’t know that Jimmy’s gonna be able to pad those scoring stats with trips to the free throw line the way he has in years past but even if he doesn’t like you’re a superstar figure it out you know and it’s not as if he’s Trey young who’s slight and relies on the head fake like the head throwing back and the the flopping and all that stuff like Jimmy B is strong and he doesn’t need the fouls to score like he could still just strong AR strong arm his way to the basket he is strong enough to bowl over a guy and still score and it might not be the and one but it’s still two points and you should be doing that more I don’t know like to me I just that’s not even an excuse maybe there’s an adjustment period and I to your point that’s definitely a fair point to make but after after half a season of it and an offseason to figure this out that’s not an excuse to me and I’m not saying he has to go out there and score 28 or 30 a game but he can’t score 20 a game he can’t be 46 in the league in scoring that’s ridiculous best case scenario though for the heat let’s say we get the optimized Jimmy Butler improvements where they could be from bam Tyler Terry rosier’s acclamation Etc this roster basically the same as it was last year exception yeah the addition of the rookies and things of that sort best case scenario for this team I could see them being fourth escape the playing tournament right escape the playing tournament that to me is the best case scenario uh I don’t think that this team is a championship Contender the way that it’s built um I think that’s pretty clear they would need a lot to get there not good enough to win yeah good enough to get there not good enough to win it and good enough to get where to the finals to the Conference Finals or the NBA Finals I think both I think this team is good enough to maybe in if the brackets break right get to a Conference Finals I but if they’re playing either of Boston New York or Philadelphia and those teams are healthy right then no they they’re not good enough to beat those teams but that’s just my opinion you’ve always been higher on the heat chances than I have one thing I will say before we move off of this it feels like the East has a pretty clear top eight with the teams we’ve already talked about and listed yeah and a pretty clear bottom whatever the rest of it is you’ve got Chic seven thank you Chicago Atlanta Toronto Charlotte Washington Detroit and Brooklyn all of those teams either took a step back or didn’t take a major step forward and it feels like those teams are destined for the lottery so the heat I think are pretty firmly in the at at the very least the playin mix their goal is to be out of the play and make the postseason and I think if you get a strong Year from Jimmy Butler and and better luck healthwise from the rest of the roster then that’s definitely a possibility but uh what does that ultimately mean I don’t know I think there’s something to be said about making the playoffs and maybe winning around and just kind of doing that uh and getting some development internally and all those things but um let’s keep this going is there a player who can help the heat move up a tier and change those chances if they don’t make a move what does it mean for the team next summer we’ll talk all about we’ll talk about all of that next year on lock on heat today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel I love sports and I love them so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs have wound down and we get fewer games all the sports just they’re not sportsing the way I want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want because all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I’m in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking us up all customers all customers with a boost or a bonus every day that’s right daily there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most of your summer that’s fanduel.com lockon FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball we’ll be right back thanks for making lockdown heat your first listen every day Miami Heat talk every day 5 days a week even through the off season if you’re new to us on YouTube hit that subscribe button you can also follow us on your favorite podcast app you were mentioning the FanDuel stuff uh before Miami Heat have gone since the offseason started from 3 to1 3.5 to1 odds to 4 to1 odds so basically from plus 3500 to plus 4,000 to win the championship so their odds have gotten worse as the odds for the Sixers and the Knicks have gotten better uh the Celtic’s obviously still the favorite uh to repeat here so there’s that um can move up a tier we’re only 24 hours into free agency I still think that there’s other things to happen right there’s a long time between now and the start of next year next season like things change right the nobody saw the Drew holiday thing happening in October last year boom it happens and that helps the Celtics go win a championship so there’s still a lot of time left here one of the dominoes that have yet to fall and as we’re talking you know Paul George has signed Klay Thompson has gone to the Dallas Mavericks like a lot of these names have been off the board but the one that we have not gotten a resolution on right now is Donovan Mitchell who has been Miami’s top Target all along and so I think it’s at least worth revisiting him right now because he has not yet signed an extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers the word out of Cleveland over the last two months was we’re really optimistic that we’re going to sign Mitchell to to a new contract extension that he’s going to commit to us long term we got Kenny ainson he signed off on that he loves all the moves that we’re going to be making all these things and yet crickets on the Donovan Mitchell front and I do wonder if that means something might be going on here Kobe Alman was asked about Donovan Mitchell today uh here’s what he had to say we were just out in uh La for his his Camp his Elite camp with Adidas um that was in a great space um you know I don’t want to talk specifics until we we can um we feel good about Donovan he’s in a great space mentally uh he’s healthy um he was he out there with with those young high school players um who been in a really good space um really enjoyed the fact that him and Kenny could sit down and talk about the future talk about the team um you know he uh he’s still under contract right now so we can talk about him as a Cavalier um and so you know he’s invested he’s really invested in in in what we’re doing and um you know hopefully soon we’ll have more of a decisive answer on that for you but um he’s been great he’s been super involved and uh and super collaborative and um very very much Pro Cleveland so that’s the Cavaliers general manager saying a lot of words without saying anything David yeah yeah the Pat Riley special right I mean it’s uh it’s a lot of double talk there because he didn’t sound it’s not the kind of enthusiasm that somebody’s got it secured like right maybe maybe he understands like maybe he’s like very superstitious right like we’ve seen this before you don’t want to jinx it you don’t want to say you don’t want to act too cocky because at the 11th Hour something could change but that guy does not look like he is 100% sold on the idea of Donovan signing the extension and remaining a Cavalier for the next couple of seasons like despite what words he was saying and the way he delivered those I would not that’s not to say that Donovan might not actually remain with the team but the way he was talking about Donovan it’s like yeah Pro Cleveland like what does that even mean like I’ve never heard any player described about being pro the team that they go they’re they’re Pro that player like he’s Pro Donovan more than anything else and what is he gonna be anti- Cleveland like what does that even mean it doesn’t I’ve hated Cleveland Forever This Might what I’ve said over the last two years so I don’t know it’s a very uh you’re right very unusual answer it’s a lot of Heming and hawing and and not saying anything and for again an organization that had signaled for the last two months through back backend leaks and all these things we’re really optimistic that Donan and what have I said here on this show multiple times yeah those leaks are coming from the Cavaliers they’re not coming from Donovan Mitchell and until I hear anything from Donovan Mitchell I’m not taking any of that stuff seriously and we have yet to hear from Donovan Mitchell on this including this weird Kobe Alman Heming and haong thing we have yet to hear anything from Donovan Mitchell and actions speak louder than words and we have zero action happening right now from Donovan Mitchell plenty of players have signed contract extension so far Donovan Mitchell’s waiting on something my question is what is that something does he want to see a move happen from the Cavaliers because the Kenny Atkinson thing was supposed to be the thing that got him there and that whole process was a little funky it kind of felt like they were really far down the path with James bgo which I would imagine would have been somebody that Mitchell had signed off on had because they went so far down that path for reportedly Dan Gilbert to kind of come in at the last minute and say I actually want Kenny ainson this is the guy you’re going to hire and so I I do wonder if Mitchell’s looking around and saying like well okay cool we got a new coach but what else you know Paul George just went to the 76ers right everything that we’re talking about that the heat need to think about donin Mitchell is sitting there with Cleveland we got to the second round of the playoffs we barely made it through the Orlando Magic in the first round and the rest of the and the Knicks are getting better and the Sixers are getting better what are we going to do and do you do you think that maybe something he’s he’s he’s waiting on has has to be like I I if it’s just a matter of like firmly committing to Cleveland the same way like let’s say and I know this might be bringing up some post-traumatic stress disorder here but you know Damen Liller like he was a guy who went through all these different changes in Portland like he was committed and he always said you know what whatever that roster is going to be I’ve got my input I’m a major part of this organization I believe in this team whether it’s you know Robin Lopez and LaMarcus Aldridge or you know CJ McCollum or whatever comes next I I commit to this team and that’s why I signed the extension I don’t see that necessarily from Donovan he’s at a different point where he his career and his legacy is not at the same stage he’s already played for two teams I don’t know that he’s necessarily opposed to playing for a third team and if he wants to be viewed and we’ve heard this consistently for a long time he wants to be part of a Major Market that can promote him and highlight him as the superstar that he has been over the last couple of seasons of his career and if that’s the case I don’t know that he’s going to get that respect in Cleveland it you have to be a very unusually great player to be viewed as a superstar playing perhaps like LeBron perhaps the best player in NBA history exactly other than that I don’t know how many people are like yeah Mark Price that guy was really damn good you know underrated though yeah absolutely uh so no no to your point and he he wants to win at a high level too I mean you could be thought of as a superstar of superstars in a small Market Giannis in Milwaukee it Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City it can it can happen but you have to win at a really high level and Donovan Mitchell has yet to win at that high level um even though he does have a ton of playoff experience and I do and I wonder to your point David like if he’s looking around he says I really want to win at a high level and this roster right now with the Cavaliers isn’t the roster I need to win at that high level so I can become that Superstar and if I can’t do it here can I do it elsewhere and if you’re the Miami Heat as as long as Donovan Mitchell has gone unsigned on that extension you keep tabs on Donovan Mitchell there’s hope there’s everything there and I do wonder if maybe the heat conspiracy conspiracy West coming back let’s do it putting the conspiracy hat on did the heat learn from their mistake last year allowing the Damen Lillard noise to get so loud to the point where it became unworkable between their front office and Portland’s front office did they learn from that experience and said Don Mitchell if you want to come to Miami keep it quiet and we maybe we do all the de in behind the scenes make this the least public thing that you could possibly do so that you don’t put Dan Gilbert and Kobe Alman in a tough position where it makes our job even harder I do Wonder just as a conspiracy if that’s something that that that could happen I’m not I have zero reporting on this I want to be very clear yeah do not aggregate me uh I’m just it’s just a conspiracy hat that’s all I’m saying it’s it’s just a it’s an interesting question because I I don’t even know that there’s a clear path to Donovan forcing his way there obviously the The Playbook laid out by Lillard and his agent last year didn’t work and so you have path is I’m not signing the extension right but then that opens the door up for lots of teams to bid on Donan Mitchell not just Miami and we’ve talked about it before we opened that up when the possibility first came up and terms of like what teams are likely to pursue a guy like Donovan Mitchell where would he fit New York seems like that’s no longer an option given everything that they’ve done there so I B’s not an option they traded for Deon Murray uh the Houston Rockets are a team that had been rumored to be interested in Davin Mitchell perhaps that’s still an option um the Lakers seem to be kind of going the other way and saying we got our two stars with LeBron and Anthony Davis we want to put role players around those guys they did strike out on Klay Thompson but it doesn’t really feel like they have what it takes to get Donovan Mitchell or into that business but to your point like the same thing is he’s still up for an extension if you but and you could tell teams behind closed doors I’m not going to sign an extension with you and you could sort of direct your way to Miami and while everybody might know what’s happening behind the scenes the whole point is not making it so public the way that Damen Lillard and his agent made it public where it just Cronin yeah like Joe Cronin has public egg on his face that’s the only thing these teams the the number one job for these general managers is to keep the job and part of keeping your job is not getting embarrassed publicly like if Kobe Alman has to trade Donovan Mitchell to I don’t think he necessarily cares where he trades him to as long as he just doesn’t look embarrassed in the process you know is Miami making a huge mistake and waiting to play let this play out because I think I’ve seen the argument uh and and my answer to that is no like I know everybody again has suffering from some traumatic response to last summer where everybody felt like it was a done deal was this close we’ve been hearing reporting about it getting done Etc and it seemed like it was a foregone conclusion that Lillard would wind up with Miami Miami would get their whale Etc it didn’t work work out that way is is Miami making a mistake by following a similar trajectory and timeline and saying you know what we have a firm belief that Donovan Mitchell is gonna Force his way out of Cleveland I’ll be it much more quietly than Dame Lillard and his agent did and that eventually he’s going to get traded and if so we like our chances of being involved in acquiring Mitchell and and to that point I I know a lot of people are frustrated with Miami’s pursuit of a whale that maybe they should get other lesser players and and my response to that is I don’t think those other lesser players are available I I just think that everybody sees getting I don’t know like a ruy hachimura or another high quality role player right and I don’t think those are guys are out there like you can’t empty the Powder Keg for Alex Caruso as great a role player as he might be is he significantly better than what Miami currently has on their roster and is he going to get them into title contention let’s say well the problem is too it’s you’re you’re so limited in resources and you already used one to trade that you traded one first round pick for Terry Rosier who I think is a high level role player I think that’s a qual that he’s qualified as that you only have two more first round picks left because you just used the 15th pick in the draft on KH wear and I guess you could move khil wear but that’s a little bit of like the the the car off the lot kind of thing where it doesn’t have as much value anymore so you you’re limited now to two first round picks and some of the rookies and or the younger guys and and a p hero contract or Duncan Robinson contract like to your point are you going to go all in on another high-end role player or are you going to wait this out and see if that stars available or are you just saying we don’t really have the stuff to trade for any of these guys anyway maau Bridges is going for five first round picks we’ve got uh Denny AIA going for two first round picks like this this is what this is the new NBA world that we’re living in we just don’t have the stuff to make this happen and we’re just sort of resigned of this being the team unless we get a really lucky break and we’re able to get Donovan Mitchell on the cheap the way we were able to get Jimmy Butler on the cheap that said one more point on Donovan Mitchell plus maybe there are a couple lesser names bigger names than Alex kuso but maybe a couple lesser names that the heat should kick the tires on we’ll talk about that next here un locked on heat thanks for making locked on heat your first listen every day make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube let us know in the comments section whether you think Mitchell is a viable option this summer and if he is worth waiting on also follow us on your favorite podcast app to answer your question before is Donovan Mitchell worth waiting on he is he’s worth waiting on but I think only because I don’t know that the Heat have any other options I think we’re heading towards a run it back year and if something in the NBA ecosystem were to break a certain way that the heat were able to make a big sort of landmark Superstar trade the way that a Donovan Mitchell trade would be then you go ahead and you go ahead and pursue that but for now this is just sort of the team it’s not even as if it’s last year where they had all these open roster spots and all these things that they had to fill and potentially could go get a Christian wood or a Kelly Hub or these guys I none of that stuff’s really on the board for Miami this is sort of what about the flip side of of opening up cap space right everybody expects Miami to be able to create this magical cap space like Trey Tyler here away for picks trade Terry Rosier away for picks trade everybody away for picks just so you can have the flexibility to be able to acquire a player when they become free agents I I again I just don’t know that that’s the right move I I Miami their their typical approach is to not take a step back so drastically and I don’t think that they are want to do that I don’t know what you could get in terms of like the value for Tyler here either what would Tyler if he’s viewed as your best tradable asset right or at least the one that you most likely want to trade what are you g to get for Tyler hero in an open trade market you’re not going to get the Mel Bridges package in return that’s for sure so I don’t know if you’re looking to trade on and you’re exactly right and then to go back to your original question like if you’re looking to trade them to create salary cap space and get draft picks back easier said than done who what the Detroit Pistons who I think make a lot of sense for Tyler hero because they need shooting all the reports indicate that they actually want to uh use that cap space to gain picks take your bad salary right like that’s sort of what they’re doing here right and they’re not going to want to take Tyler hero and give away picks and by the way the Pistons quietly don’t have that many future picks available to them already so for them to want to and I have no idea by the way what they traded them for like they don’t I don’t know the roster doesn’t really reflect the team that traded a bunch of future for anyway does not not the point they’re probably in the business of trying to add picks not give them away even for a player who makes sense for them like Tyler hero who’s not ultimately going to the needle enough for them um I think a team like Brooklyn did make sense for Tyler hero had they had Mel Bridges but they’re rebuilding they don’t want Tyler hero now they’re not going to trade those future picks for Tyler herro um a team like Utah with cap space maybe but they already have Keon George I don’t it doesn’t really feel like the Tyler Hero player is the one that makes sense for them to port with draft picks for so it’s easy to just say hey dump tahiro into the team’s cap space and get draft Capital back and actually finding that deal is really difficult and so if you’re the heat you might just say well we’re not going to just trade tah hero for nothing we’re not going to John Collins him and trade him for a couple of fake second rounders just to just to open up cap space and by the way if you open up if you trade Tyler Hero’s $29 million you don’t create $29 million of cap space because the heat are so over the luxury tax right now you would be actually creating zero cap space if you traded Tyler hero you would just be saving like you would be creating more space between you and the second tax apron but with no real way to improve the team so what’s the point of creating that space between you and the second apron it doesn’t make much sense for Miami to do that right now I think that they should exp if they do need to try to find that flexibility they should explore it but I don’t think it’s as easy as just doing it and so it’s not something that I think the heat are waiting to do or not doing or waiting on the Donovan Mitchell thing before they explore the Tyler hero thing I think that they had a deal on the table for maau Bridges and it wasn’t good enough obviously because the Knicks offered five first- round picks I think Larry marinan another name that’s out there I would aggressively explore that if I were Miami and I still don’t think that they would have the stuff to get that deal Done Right we’ve already heard that a team like the Warriors is going to be pretty aggressive that the Spurs could be aggressive in getting Larry Markin in think what you will of those fits and what that matters both those teams have more stuff that they could put on the table arguably certainly the Spurs do with all the future picks that they have and the Warriors if they were willing to include like a Jonathan Kingo or something like that that stuff just makes more sense for Utah than Tyler hero and a first round pick and those all those teams have more first- round picks than Miami does even Golden State so you know I I think that they’d be aggressive in trying to get Larry Markin in they might have even called Danny Angel already and made an offer for Larry marinan who sounds like he’s pretty available but I don’t know they’re going to be able to get that deal done you know right what about Brandon Ingram he’s been out there just wanted to throw that name out there what’s uh what’s the team current currently link to Ingram the most now because I wonder Sacramento and they’re in a similar spot they don’t have a lot in terms of what they can trade yeah unless they’re willing to come off of the Keegan Murray guy that and I don’t know if they are or not and I personal opinion I hate Brandon Ingram in Sacramento I think that’s a really lousy fit your three best Star your three top guys or guys who don’t play defense does not sound awesome to me but whatever I guess that’s maybe the strategy there is to outscore your opponent but that’s sort of the name that’s out there I’ll answer the my own question I’m I’m not a big fan of Brandon Ingram on the Miami Heat they’ve got enough guys who live in the mid-range yep and he’s gonna be getting paid a lot more than Tyler herro or at least that’s right because if you sign if you yeah he’s making 36 now on an expiring but if you trade for him presumably you’d have to sign him to an extension where I’m he can he’s kind of he’s he doesn’t have as much power as a Donovan Mitchell but he has some power in this right it’s it’s a little similar maybe to the ogan anobi Pascal seaka situation where it’s like you’re really going to trade anything for me if I’m not going to resign with you like that that’s still some some leverage that he has yeah so no I I don’t think that’s a possibility for Miami it just is it’s never it’s it feels a lot like moving deck chairs at least from a onplay on court play sort of thing and then there’s also the negative aspect of taking on his contract like even even though we addressed it yesterday again there were still people saying oh but Chicago’s willing to attach a first round pick to Zack LaVine it’s like yeah but again I don’t know that Zack LaVine is such a huge upgrade over Tyler herro and you don’t want to pay him twice what Tyler is getting paid like you’re not getting twice the production from Zack LaVine that you’re getting from Tyler and so you’re I don’t see any any reason why Miami would say yeah we want to pay somebody twice as much money for similar levels of production and even if you compare it now to what’s going on in the Eastern Conference if you’re big three I guess were bam adab bio Jimmy Butler at 35 years old and Zack LaVine with his injury history is that better than the big three the Sixers just put together with maxi embid and Paul George no is it better than what the Celtics have in their starting five they just resigned uh Derek white to an extension absolutely not yeah so is are you going to really put all your dominoes in that basket is is my question and uh I would say probably not and that kind of leads me to my next Point here I know we’re going along but I think this is all related and I want to get to it I’m calling it a gap Year and that might be an aggressive term because it’s not as if the he headed towards the lottery and and just sort of giving up on the season and I’m actually the prospect of Jimmy Butler being engaged and these young guys taking a step forward and getting a little bit more Health luck I think the heat could be a good team next year I would not pick them to be in the finals or win the championship but not be in the playing tournament and win around in the playoffs that’s something that I think is is where this team is headed with all the with and maybe win a couple of rounds with some breaks but I I I it’s so it’s not a gap year necessarily but it is just sort of a runit back season and I think you don’t make a Zack LaVine or a Brandon Ingram trade right now partly because of all the things we said but the other big part of it too is that it doesn’t commit yourself long term to one of those guys where if you look at what the heat are headed towards and why I’m calling it one year if Jimmy Butler opts out of his contract next summer has a great year contract year he’s going to go make that money but he opts out the heat can basically do what the Clippers just did with Paul George and just say hey it’s been real but we’re going to let you walk because we’re valuing our financial flexibility and we know that in today’s world in today’s CBA we only get two Max contracts and we just feel like if Jimmy they can make the decision next summer that if Jimmy Butler at 35 going on to 36 isn’t one of the two Max contracts that they want to give out away understanding that bam atab bio is obviously the other one where they just signed to an extension then they could just walk away from Jimmy Butler and create immediately next year $30 million of cap space real cap space right to use in free agency now next year depending on what happens with Donovan Mitchell he could be a free agent if he doesn’t sign an extension Lowry marinin if he doesn’t sign an extension can also be a free agent Brandon Ingram if he doesn’t sign an extension can be a free agent Julius Randall Miles Turner Brook Lopez D’Angelo Russell Fred Van vet all these guys could be free agents not an awesome class but those are the guys that are out there but you can also do the thing where you just sign players to one your deals maintain that flexibility and then in 2026 you’re looking at potential free agents like jool embid Luca donic Kevin Durant dearen Fox Steph Curry who I think after this summer who knows what happens with him long term Trey young like these players can be free agents two summers from now and I think if you’re the heat you’re looking at this and saying we don’t want to commit hhog into going uh into this next season if that means taking on long-term money because we have an option 12 months from now into do getting the thing that we haven’t had over the last several years which is real Financial flexibility and that’s why I come I’m calling this a little bit like a gap year even though I understand that that’s not the right ter yeah I was just gonna say I don’t think Gap year is right but I think the way I’ve been kind of feeling about it is it’s more of a last dance and I think that’s kind of a okay I like it last dance we could do the last dance thing that’s fine because no it really is I think again the writing on the wall last year was supposed to be the last stance and I think they kind of indicated that but it just it ended so abruptly or to you a point you’ve made many times before it never even really started between the the failure to consummate a deal for Damen Lillard to having Kyle Lowry kind of hovering in terms of his $3 million and not really displaying much on the court to the injuries that kept the season from really getting off to a decent start to the injuries that impacted them into the play playing tournament and in the playoffs it’s it was was just a season that never really was and so I think the heat front office I don’t think they have to do much convincing themselves in order to say you know what we we just didn’t get an opportunity to show what this retooled roster can do and they might actually believe and and I I kind of believe alongside that that if they get a healthy Jimmy Butler or healthyish and engaged Jimmy Butler and they get Nik yovic and haime hakz and they get bamama bio motivated and perhaps even making a change in position they get some of these other retooled players like a khil whale Etc and and they make these kind of adjustments on the roster that things can break right for him and and they’re pushing all their chips in because it’s the same chips they’ve had but maybe just kind of spit on him and put a little spit on them polish him up a little bit put him back into the center of the table and hope for the best and I think that’s kind of where they’re at right now it’s it’s because there’s no real other opportunity to do anything else but next season then when Jimmy Ops out you can say you know what we’re going to clear all the goddamn books and then you can start to make those kind of wide sweeping changes and that kind of will lead into a much more obvious Gap season to your point um and to your point also like there there was never really that opportunity to make this last year the Last Dance because you didn’t have the contract outs Jimmy V was still under contract there was no way to create that real cap space so if you look at the way these like the last dance happens for financial reasons for for the most part and the Heat have an opportunity now to make that pivot without doing any work right as long as Jimmy Butler does opt out now he can always opt into his contract next year because it’s a player option and kind of keep it keep the heat stuck to it so we’re all rooting for a really great year for Jimmy Butler for a lot of reasons right for a lot of reasons because they too like if he has this great season and he opts out and they go out and sign somebody and then they still have Jimmy Butler’s bird rights and they could just say you know what we got three stars now and we didn’t have to you know and we could pay them and and there’s a lot more options open up if Jimmy Butler has a great season so um not to mention also would be a lot more fun of a season one more thing on this before we get off of it if Jimmy Butler Ops out they have $30 million in cap space if this team is bad this year in other words if they’re not at the in the top eight if they miss the play in tournament all together and are have a top 14 pick in the draft in the lottery their pick right now that 2025 first owed to Oklahoma City is top 14 protected so they would keep the pick in a very loaded draft class in 2025 and having a lottery pick you never know just asking Atlanta Hawks you can end up with a much better pick than you thought you did in the lottery would they entertain an option to train Jimmy Midway through the season then if that’s the case like let’s say again knock on wood let’s say there’s an injury to a key player and right it depend on how like the first couple of months would go yeah right let’s say you’re you’re obviously Lottery bound uh through the first few months of the season the trade deadline comes around and you know Jimmy’s planning on opting out or likely to he’s viewed as an expiring contract because he’s kind of made it known or his agent would make it known that he’s planning on resigning a deal this summer is he viewed as an expiring contract that you could try to acquire kind of similar to what Pascal sakam was right this past year like he he opted out as well if I’m not mistaken and then he became a free agent he resigned with the Indiana Pacers is is that an option for Miami and Jimmy Butler to pursue it’s got to be right I mean you just you just gave an example of that happening so it it would obviously to your point depend on how the first couple of months of the year played out but if this just looks like the year from hell again 2.0 like the way last year last season played out then you can have that conversation with Jim Butler you wouldn’t force him out the door you would just say hey we all know where this is going yeah do you would you rather be here for the long haul or or can we get something for you here because we all kind of know where this is headed and if you’re Toronto sign somewhere else Toronto want Bas they had to deal with OG and under so it wasn’t just pakum and Miami doesn’t have those concerns though so like with seum yeah they were able to work with them to kind of figure out his landing spot too and and you would do it the right way in that way and you’d say all right where do you want to go and we’ll try to figure that out the problem is you generally don’t get as much for Star players in the middle of the year as you do in the offseason but then again losing J Butler for nothing and getting something for him I mean that’s that’s I guess the reality that you would be faced with in that scenario so um um all right I think that generally speaking the heat are going to wait on the Don Mitchell thing that’s if we have a to-do list here going forward keeping tabs on Donovan Mitchell and I also think that the heat are smartly doing the free agent part of this I know it’s frustrating that the heat haven’t signed anybody yet looking at how the money is being doled out right now in offseason there are going to be good players who don’t have other opportunities other than to sign somewhere for the minimum cuz there’s just not that much money out there and teams are very wary of using their midlevel exception because of the the hard cap stuff that it triggers and all these things so I think the smart teams are actually sort of might be waiting to use their minimum contracts understanding that they going to be good players that have to settle for veteran minimums and I think that’s might maybe what the heat are doing here no updates on Caleb Martin or Hayward heith either so nope we’ll see what happens on them too that’ll do it for us today thanks for making lockdown heat your first listen every day like comment subscribe on YouTube and follow us on your podcast app

For the second year in a row it seems like the rest of the East is getting better and the Miami Heat are standing pat. Are we really looking at running it back for another season, or are the Heat waiting on Donovan Mitchell’s decision?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss an inactive two days of free agency, what stars are still available and what changes next summer.

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