Could the Miami Heat Have Made the ECF? Do They Need To Add Size? | Miami HEAT Podcast

Could the Miami Heat Have Made the ECF? Do They Need To Add Size? | Miami HEAT Podcast

final four teams are left standing in the NBA Playoffs so what can the Miami Heat learn from them the Pacers advance to take on the Celtics but could that have been Miami instead does the heat lack the size to be a top team and how can the heat take advantage of League wide parody we answered this and much more on 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 every day you are 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 all youen heat.com here with David rill both of us credential heat media members excited about today’s show it’s brought to you by prize picks the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon NBA and use the code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 we’ve got a what if scenario that I want to ask you about later on David but let’s start with Sunday’s game sevens the Pacers go into MSG have one of the great game seven shooting performances of all time now they are advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals to play the Celtics on the west coast the Timberwolves go into Denver they knock off the Nuggets they’re going to advance to the Western Conference Finals to play the Mavericks I thought we could tie all of this stuff back to the heat in a few different ways but is there something that the heat can learn from the final four teams that jumps out to you if there’s one thing that kind of stood out to me is is the difference in size across these rosters you look specifically at Minnesota and the fact that they were able to roll out their 37f footer lineup you know between Carl Anthony towns and AZ Reed who had a phenomenal game and I know we had talked last year of him about him being a free agent in Miami might potentially look out of course he wasn’t really financially available from Miami but just consider what that front line would have been like with him playing alongside bamama AO and then of course you’ve got Rudy goar like I mean I know Rudy is always gonna get some criticism he’s I think he’s gone it’s swung almost to the exact opposite end now where I don’t think he’s almost underrated in terms of what he can bring defensively I still prefer bam overall in terms of what he brings defensively but Rudy’s a hell of a player and that you can’t take that away from him and cat had a tremendous playoffs and a tremendous series absolutely absolutely like he was great I had crucial dunk down to stretch but you look at Miami and you look at their roster right now is currently comprised and as I mentioned to you before we started recording they’ve got four centers under contract and yet really they don’t have any this is kind of paraphrasing you know Pat Riley from a couple years ago saying there are problems and there are none well there are centers and there are none and Miami has none right now because you’ve got Orlando Robins who’s basically unplayable at this point in his career Thomas Bryant who seem can’t seem to figure out anything on defense you got Kevin Love who’s playing backup center and probably shouldn’t and he’s been more more valuable than you might expect and he probably shouldn’t even be playing this role for Miami or maybe even for any other team and Bam atabay of course still somewhat undersized still managing to hold his own as a center but probably needing to slide down to the four in order to compete with some of these bigger teams and so you look at what Miami needs in order to replicate the success of some of these teams currently left in the playoffs you’ve got a two-man rotation with Derek Lively uh in Dallas you got now I’m glad you brought up Dallas because that was sort of the thing that took them over the top right you’ve got Luca banging the table asking his front office get me a 7ot rim rolling Center that’s what I need like enough with the Maxi cavers and the Dwight PALS like get me a guy who could dunk the ball get me some size get me a Target and they said great then they they make that trade on draft night they go get Derrick Lively they make the the trade deadline deal to add uh uh Gafford and then on top of that they said the Grant Williams thing isn’t working this this was kind of a bust for us we’re going to swap him out for a better version of Grant Williams and went out and got PJ Washington who has had an incredible series for Dallas to have you been impressed by PJ cuz I know you were down on PJ when we were talking I I I think he is a great fit for Dallas I don’t think he would have been as good a fit for Miami because Dallas has legit seven-footers where if you have like a PJ Washington and a bam you’re still undersized in that front court right and so uh but I I’ve been like PJ Washington being a like 16 game player player to use the Draymond Green terminology did not have that on my bingo card did not see that coming right uh yeah he’s been awesome so they to your point playoff success like this is his first taste of the playoff he’s never been in the playoffs maybe maybe maybe early maybe early with one of those 500 Charlotte teams but he’s never he’s never like won a playoff series and that’s for sure so you’ve got you’ve got Minnesota making their all-in move on size a couple years ago you’ve got Dallas going big you’ve got Indiana they already had Miles Turner they add Pascal seak to that front line so they’re kind of going big on size too uh and then even and like the Celtics they make their big thing going out and getting Kristof porzingis this last summer even though he wasn’t a major factor in their playoff run not that they needed them so the size thing is an interesting conversation I I think that’s certainly part of it and I I think if the the heater looking around the rest of the league and saying okay what’s our path to the finals realistically look like it’s going to involve probably needing some more size in some way shape or form now that might not look like trading a first round pick for Daniel Gafford or a type like that or going out and making a huge swing to add a Rudy goar somebody that’s going to have to play next to Bam in that front Court like for you know to to open and close games but adding somebody who is a legitimate to your point David a real Center who can get rotation minutes staring or not but just having that optionality I think would be really huge for Miami next season that’s exactly the point talk about you know you hear SPO long enough and he just he likes the options available on his roster and up to this point it’s been about having guys that can defend one through four maybe and then kind of seeing what you can do at the five and of course the constant switching defense and everything else and then they’ve used Caleb Martin and all sorts of different roles that he’s probably not exactly qualified for you know I’ve long said that this team we mistake versatility for a lack of speciality and that to me this was not as versatile team as as Eric spoler talked about it was just a team that lacked in Specialties so you know I’ve asked him before about the depth and of this team and and not just this iteration but even pass iterations and even when he was talking about players like Kelly o Len and guys like that you just want that kind of Versatility the optionality to do different things to have guys that can bring the ball up and and create options from the perimeter and and defensively to be able to guard and protect the paint you know Hassan Whiteside was the last maybe true Center that they had on froster and I hate saying that and yet he was limited in his own regard so it’s it’s not just about having a specific rim protector unless you have the right team built around that rim protector and I don’t know that Miami has the roster currently constructed for that but you just need guys that can do different things and create different options so that you’re not limited you’re not just constantly switching and exhausted by the end of the games and trying to muster some sort of offense because you’re you’re you’re sacrificing so much energy on the defens BAM and so that yeah so that bam could stay healthy by the end like he talked about how exhausted he was by game two of the NBA finals last year he was like I his body is breaking down because he’s constantly have to bang with these seven Footers who are just bigger and stronger than him or picking up guards in the perimeter switching one through five is what he does better than any doing it all on one time right yes so so yeah I bam if he’s the franchise Cornerstone he’s the guy that you have to build everything around and I do think if bam is your Cornerstone the best way to build around him is with shooting and uh switching def Defenders and that’s not necessarily a big lumbering SF footer but to have that as an option even coming off the bench or to start the first 5 minutes or something the problem is that if you’re built around bam and Jimmy Butler there’s not enough floor spacing and you really can’t survive with three non-shooters in today’s NBA regardless of how big you are and so and I know that there’s oh well Bam’s starting to involve the incorporate the three-point shot and Jimmy experimented with a little bit like all right like call me when Defenders actually start closing out on those guys like it’s kind of it’s nice when they they should keep doing it I’m not but keep doing it keep doing it but it’s going to take a while until defenses actually treat bam like a corner three-point shooter like they’re not going to do that for probably a few years if we’re being honest and so if if at all and and so you need like a and so now this player becomes a lot harder to find and that’s the problem with the roster construction is when you have two guys who have to be in your starting and closing lineup and Jimmy and Bam who are not floor spacers at all then the other three guys have to be and we’ve actually seen Eric spoler lean into that more and more over the last couple years I got a question about the mail a mailbag I did on all you can heat last week about is this the year we finally see SPO go away from small ball and I’m like I think SPO would love to go away from small ball but he he he knows the issue that I’m talking about here is that you need Shooters around bam and Jimmy and the better Shooters tend to be smaller players and it’s really hard to go get guys like Carl Anthony towns who are s feet tall and legitimate floor spacers that opponents close out on you know so it’s going to be hard to do that I think even of Miami’s limited options I I obviously you can’t expect Kevin Love to change too much but am I wrong in thinking that Thomas Bryant might evolve still even at this point of his career like he’s still much younger than a lot of people expect he’s an older veteran yeah he’s 26 he can still change his game and he has at least the three-point spacing ability although we didn’t really see much of that this past season can he evolve to the point where he can be a playable center next to Bam and I know that’s been a question aside from that if you’re looking at a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers maybe they’re looking in the wrong direction with Donovan Mitchell maybe they should be trying to get a guy like Jared Allen could he be playable alongside bam bio these are questions I’m sure that will have more answers for as a postseason Stein reporting that Jared Allen is expected to be uh traded or they’re going to explore trading him kind of no matter what and Clint capella is another name that’s out there neither of those guys are Shooters though and if you’re going to pay them $20 million a year which is what they’re making can you afford to bring them off the bench I so that to me I would almost say I think it’s fun to kind of go after the big names and like wow Clint capella Jared down like these guys who we’re familiar with but to me it’s just maybe say find a way to trim your payroll a little bit unlock the the ability to use the mid-level exception even the smaller one the five $6 million one and maybe just use it on or go find a minimum like guy or something but again I guess they’ve tried that with Thomas Bryant they’ve tried it with the minimum guys maybe a little bit of a chunkier like mid-level salary makes a little bit more sense like a Jonas Valen Tunis or something like that who you don’t need to start him he doesn’t have to close games for you but he can at least be an actual player for you in certain situations I don’t know I don’t I I don’t know I don’t know that I don’t know that that name exists right now and I don’t know that even in the draft like yeah I think the draft you might find some options but even still what names are available and I know we’ll get later into this uh this week but even those guys they’re not ready to just go in right away like Derek Lively again as a RI Rim roller is a great fit in Dallas and he provided a hell of a spark earlier in the season when I don’t think a lot of people expected it to be that impactful no and a lot of that has to do with Luka donic and Kyrie Irving and like Miami doesn’t have either of those guys on the roster not even somebody who can approximate that so you’re still kind of stuck at square one and trying to find the right fit and look even if you’re look at I I love Jared Allen I love what he brings to the table and he might work in Miami but what works in Minnesota between Rudy goar and Carl Anthony towns is because you’ve got Carl Anthony towns who’s a great scorer from the perimeter bam is not that so you can’t play bam and Allen together unless bam evolves his game completely and becomes a three-point shooting threat next season I don’t think we’re going to be quite there yet what else can we learn from these final four teams plus are the way these playoffs playing out a good sign for the Heat next season we’ll talk about that next here on lock on heat today’s episode is brought to you by Yahoo finance when it comes to your financial future you think you’ve done it all you’ve saved you’ve researched you’ve invested all that you can but now you need to take those Investments to the next level by using what every Financial CR uses that’s Yahoo finance for more than 25 years Yahoo finance has been the brand behind every great investor whether you’re a seasoned investor just looking for that extra guidance Yahoo finance gives you all the tools and data you need in one place they’re the number one Finance destination providing a holistic look at the financial news cycle including breaking news original editorial perspectives analyst ratings independent researcher research excuse me customizable 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to be talking uh to Chris Manning from lock on Cavs about a potential Donovan Mitchell trade we’re also going to start our blue notebook series which we’re really excited about breaking down different draft prospects and we’re going to be starting with uh which draft prospects might be the best fit with bam atab bio like we were just talking about before David but a couple other things that I want to hit on uh in terms of not only like the size and I do think it’s a great point and I’m glad we we talked about that but also you look at health and how important it is for all the teams that got here the Pacers are were healthier than the Knicks right like the Timberwolves are supremely healthy and the big reason why the Timberwolves did not challenged Denver probably more last season there a lot of reasons but they were beat up in that series against uh the timber wolves last or against the Nuggets last year they’re healthy this time and you see what kind of happened there um Dallas is very healthy you know the the Celtics outside of christops porzingis have been healthy all year and are very healthy and honestly didn’t really need christops to make it this far in the in to the Eastern Conference Finals right the heat obviously were not healthy all year so I I do think health is a big part of it now part of that is just getting lucky there’s certainly an element of that but s part of it too is just how your roster is constructed and constructed and how young it is and big it is like bigger younger players tend to not get hurt as much as smaller older players and Miami is primarily a small Andor older roster so I do think that there’s some things that they have to change there Pat Ry spent a big part of his end of season press conference talking about changes that they could make to get healthier but besides that you also look at what these teams are you’ve got a star from that this next generation or this this or even current generation I guess is is they would argue it between Anthony Edwards Terry Halbert Jason Tatum LCA donic right these are the guys there is no LeBron there is no Kevin Durant there is no Steph Curry left like these guys hav’t been out for a long time but this is the generation and it feels like right now like bam maabo is part of that generation he is but Jimmy Butler is not below yes and and he is a tier Bel and but that’s the thing right he is a tier below these guys and so you do want to maybe find a way to push you have like somebody like Kyrie Irving who is part of the Jimmy Butler generation but he’s he kind of he hitched his wagon to somebody of the new generation like LCA donic and so you could do it you can have both but it feels like you definitely need that New Generation guy because these are the guys who are ascending and these players are only going to get better while the Miami Heat are not necessarily in that position right now it was supposed to be Tyler hero it was supposed to be Tyler he was was never really supposed to be Tyler hero but I think some people expected it to be Tyler hero but if we’re being honest it was never you look at Tyler hero he was never going to be Anthony Edwards man like that was never going to happen no no no that was I mean I think Edwards and we’ve talked about it before the the physicality and things that the way he’s evolved is a hell of a shooter like I mean yeah he struggled in game seven for the most part but over the course of the playoffs and defensively what he can do man I mean it’s these are things that Ty hero was never going to accomplish Jason Tatum is 6’8 with a with a standing reach who can he can jump over or or or hit a shot almost over almost anybody even Luka donic physically is bigger and stronger than Tyler hero is do you think they hate misjudge Tyler’s ability to evolve defensively because I don’t even know that Tyler’s bad defensively I think he’s just overmatched And he as much effort as he gives do you think they expected him to develop into at least a plus Defender and he just hasn’t been able to reach that because of whatever physical limitations he has I mean I know I don’t think that I don’t think that the the expectation from Miami were ever as high as maybe Heat fans had or thought they were this guy was picked at the end of the lottery basically in the middle of the first round like this is not somebody Anthony andwood was the number one pick you you have certain expectations with every draft slot I don’t know that you look at Ty Hero’s physical limitations I’m with you I think he’s he’s a bad Defender but not because of a lack of effort it’s just inherent physical traits that he has and so I think that those things have never changed right you know he’s always had he’s always been smaller he’s always had the negative wingspan he’s always like these are always things that so I don’t think that he’d ever expected him they I think they expected him to hey give more effort maybe jump some passing lanes and do these things and by the way he does those things I don’t think that they’re unhappy with that and that’s why by the way he closes a lot of games is because they know that he’s maximizing the limitations that he has I don’t know if they ever expected him to maybe be a little bit better to find ways to get out of these traps a little bit more I do think that the the the first round playoff series against Boston was a little sobering for everybody but I don’t know that the expectation was ever for him to be this and that’s why by the way they kept trying to trade him for a player who could be this right that’s exactly right so that’s part of it the other thing here that we want to talk about is we’re on our way to having a six different champion in the NBA in six years we haven’t seen this level of parody in Forever in the NBA when was the last time because it it’s been a very never right this is one of one and is that a good thing for Miami do you think cuz the heat work the dominant team in the Eastern Conference for The Last 5 Years so you can also say well may you could also see this level of parity and being like well is Miami’s time over and was that what this season was did this season the way that it kind of fizzled out Mark the closing of something or is the parody a good thing because make a couple of the right tweaks make a couple good decisions catch the right health and and a little bit of luck and they could be right back in it because things are just so wide open I I was waffling on this because I’m not quite sure you can’t really tell whether or not Miami can take advantage of it without an accurate sample size and I mean they have been hair to four successful over the last five years of Jimmy Butler sent in Miami but not successful enough to win a title but on the whole I think when you look at Miami’s approach their versatility the things that they can do the way that they drag they have their own unique style and I think that helps they’ve just been lacking that one player that can take them over the hump if they had that at any point over the last five years we could be talking about a team that might have at least won one title over that span and I think when you look at the parody around the league or whatever it is that you want to call it I think Miami could benefit from that because they can adapt because they know how to have their own unique style and still enforce that and and make that kind of imprint on the game in terms of how they the the physicality and the way they play and if we’re seeing anything in these playoffs is an increased level of physicality that Miami Embraces so I think they’d be not necessarily flourishing but I think could take advantage of this Parry that we’re talking about and I think at the same time you know they they they know who they are they’re they’re so firm in their commitment and their belief in what makes them better that I think it kind of lends itself to this idea that you know what it could be anybody and it has been anybody over the last six years now seven and with this upcoming finals so I think Miami can take advantage of this I I think Miami is kind of built for this yeah to the overall question about whether or not Miami could be in this spot sure I mean if they had been healthy and everything else like that but even just with the overall approach into the roster build and everything else like that like they could have won they could have won they could have been able to take advantage of the Eastern Conference had they been able to get B Boston had they met them later on in the playoff race maybe even now instead of Indiana I I want to touch on that here in a second but before we get to that like kind of just the the whole part of like look at Dallas they were in the Western Conference Finals two years ago they had the season from a hell last year tanked last year yeah right I mean not I mean they had to at the end but yeah I mean they they but it didn’t work out and it was as disappointing a season as you could ask as you could have even more disappointing than whatever this was from the Miami Heat it was way more disappointing for a Dallas fan last year coming off of a Western Conference Finals you’ve got LCA donic top five player in the NBA and somehow you just that’s your season you missed the playoffs all together and you got big questions about whether or not the Kyrie rivering thing worked out and all these things but with six months they make the right changes they add a Gafford they draft Lively they go and trade for PJ Washington they add guys like Dante exom Derrick Jones junor uh they they tweak all the the roster around their their tent pole stars and they’re right back into the Western Conference finals and I if I’m Miami that’s the team I’m looking at it’s they they missed they had a gap year a very disappointing year they kind of shot themselves in the foot a little bit in that year it wasn’t just luck that that submarine that season but there’s a way to kind of fix it quickly and get back to where you were and I do think that that might be an opportunity for the heat but it’s going to but it’s going to take wholesale changes it’s going to take real it does change the way that you saw from Dallas it’s a recognition of this doesn’t work anymore even though it worked before it no longer does work for us what’s going to work for us now what do we need now does Miami need to take a step back in terms of like whatever success they achieved next season and kind of Punt next year and order to kind of retool and not rebuild necessarily but do what Dallas did in terms of make those kind of larger wholesale changes in order to build this roster so that’s much more complimentary of each other and can achieve longer term I you need to take a step back I think you could do what Dallas did and just accomplish it all in a summer or not in a summer but you know an offseason into a trade deadline between yeah but they were able to make that acquisition for Kyrie last year and that that was their punt year right if you look at last season then they rebuil or retooled I don’t think that they thought that I think when they traded for Kyrie they were trying to make a push for the playoffs right it just didn’t really work out yeah but I don’t know and now they have their two stars right they’ve got Luca and Kyrie but you could argue Miami has their two stars with Jimmy and Bam it’s just about putting the right pieces around those guys right and they Dallas was able to accomplish it between July in February and I do think that the heat could have that kind of stretch where it’s okay but it’s going to take real tough decisions guys that you like letting them walk away making trades that you otherwise maybe not would wouldn’t have made that are a little bit difficult and even like mortgaging the future a little bit because that’s what Dallas did they traded future first- round picks for PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford and those trades were not slam dunk you know critically acclaimed trades at the time but it helped maximize the right now and it feels like the Heat have not necessarily done that uh fully just yet are the way these playoffs played out a good sign for the heat uh did the heat let a great opportunity get away this season we’ll talk about that next year on locked on heat today’s episode brought to fight FanDuel it’s winner take all time in the NBA and NHL ccats and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own you think the pancers could knock off the the Rangers there yeah of course I think they can just of course that’s it right I’m not predicting like of course they can yeah absolutely I thought they would handle the Bruins a little bit more handily but you know what they got the job done that’s all that matters right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s a $150 to get on BET on spreads money lines player props and so much more go visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count FanDuel America’s number one sports book thanks for making locked on heat your first listen every day make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and on your favorite podcast app if you’re watching us on YouTube YouTube hit the like button on the video subscribe if you have not subscribed ring the bell to get notified when new episodes go up you’re listening on the podcast app five star ratings and reviews always appreciate around here we’re talking about the parody part of this and whether the heat can get back into it and I I can’t help but think I’m watching these these playoffs and the Pacers man most improbable Conference Finals participant in how long it feels like a last year I guess what do you mean I guess I gu I people but still even the expectations for Miami I the Heat or feared right like they and they have a track record it’s right not the Indiana Pacers man like a team that played no defense all season long right banged up going into the playoffs got healthy mid playoffs and made this run and I’m telling you that Andrew nard 3 at the end of game three is the most consequential shot of the playoffs because if he doesn’t make that ridiculous bumbling fumbling shot the Knicks go up 3 and they probably win that Series in five or six games and instead you’ve got what happened here and so a lot more grit and tenacity that I think a lot of people gave him credit for and certainly they didn’t show it earlier in the season they didn’t show that for most the regular season but you know what they’ve been able to capitalize into your point they they got some good shots they’ve been healthy and here they are now and uh and a big part of it is they were the team that got the six seed this race for the six seed it feels like that was forever ago that the Miami Heat were playing basketball and and trying to get into the playoffs but the race for the six seed was a very real thing with a couple of weeks left in the season and the heat drop a few games at the end of the year against these Pacers which was the most important game Sunday April 7th we all remember it they lose in Indiana by two points that was a huge loss for this team they have a loss against Dallas late in the year losses against Golden State in Philadelphia late in the season if you win a couple of those games you beat the Pacers in that game they’re the team the he would be the team with the number six seed playing a Giannis lless bucks in the first round a banged up bu Bucks team in the first round yeah you’re playing a banged up Knicks team in the second round yeah not to do the what if thing but what if you know it it feels like this could have been the heat now I and now you’re playing the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals now I don’t I would not have given the heat a very good chance against the Celtics because they were going to just still be banged up right Jimmy or if he’s not in the playing tournament Kelly UB doesn’t land on his knee he’s healthy for the first round but it just it felt like somebody was always getting hurt at some point for this team so who knows how this thing actually plays out but it it feels like this could have it it speaks to how open I guess the Eastern Conference is I don’t know well you hear Eric spoler talk about it and it’s an interesting premise like he mentioned this I I think it was in summation of the first round series versus Boston that you know Miami has typic gotten better as the playoffs move on that they learn more they tweak things they kind of grow despite whatever Health in with the Pacers this year that’s a that’s a real thing we’ve seen it with the Timberwolves so the idea is that had they let’s say been in the six seed they would have been okay or just good enough to beat the Bucks probably given their injuries and everything else like that and they would have advanced to a Nick team who’s I mean again with Miami’s physicality the idea I think is that New York probably would have crumbled a lot sooner like I mean given Miami’s overall physicality and maybe it would have worked against the Heat but even in that matchup I think Miami would have still been able to impose their will a little bit more clearly and that team would have probably broken down to injury like OG ande would have been the X Factor but we saw how many games he missed and I think it would have been Miami would have probably won that series had they been able to continue to evolve over the course of the playoffs and then maybe face this Boston Celtics team at full strength if Miami had been at full strength and given Chris porzingis is going to miss a couple games in this series could Miami have been able to replicate last year’s success and Advance all the way to the NBA finals it seems much more likely but they put themselves in a bad position they did and that’s the everything they did yeah that’s the point is you toy around with the regular season too much and you get bit in the ass and that’s what happened with the heat and they lose those really important games late in the year and instead of even having this opportunity to take advantage of injuries and make this run instead you’re the team that has to play two more games your best player gets hurt in in that playing tournament week and then you have to play the best team in the conference in the opening round and that’s that’s the point and that’s why this whole idea of the Heat have you know it’s so funny they they do they do the exact same thing a year ago take advantage of some injuries make that hu make that run to the finals and the Heat have solved they proved that the regular season doesn’t matter and that’s sort of the narrative coming out of that by the way the heat would always tell you that they didn’t prove anything about the regular season and it was it was a wholly ridiculous concept that I rejected from the moment it started as a storyline and then they do the exact same thing this year aren’t able to take advantage of those same injury type type of things and situational things and they lose in the first round they’re like well now everybody’s like well that’s why you take the regular season seriously and it’s like I’ve been here dude and so have the heat the regular season matters you have to position yourself to a point you don’t have to necessarily get the number one seed you it doesn’t matter if you win 67 games that that’s the part but it’s don’t play the extra games put yourself in a position to take advantage and I do think that the heat they’re not a like they’ve never been a dynasty per se but this this era of the Heat or like the Pittsburgh Steelers a little bit or the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL like these teams are just always in it they’re never really the favorite but they’re just always in the playoffs and you put yourself in the playoffs in a position to say you know what we caught some breaks we made some three-pointers we got an Andrew neard three uh ridiculous gamewinner at the end of game three we caught some breaks we caught some injury luck next thing you know you’re in the Conference finals next thing you know you’re in the NBA finals and I do think that this team has mostly been that and that’s why they’ve had that success they just failed in doing that this year and putting them themselves in that position this year and I think for next year it’s just about putting yourself in position again like that no I I can’t disagree I I’m just even as we’re having this conversation you look at what happened over the regular season and I know a lot of people listening to the show or watching it are going to be like debating about how important it is to make trades and that’s that’s the the the most basic common denomination response is like you know what this roster didn’t work blow it up make trades acquire set Superstar Etc I don’t know that there’s a path to that I mean I I don’t discount what Miami can do because they’ve always been able to surprise us as media even surprise a fan Etc but I don’t know that those kind of large changes are necessarily going to take place this summer but just in terms of staying healthy and everything else like that you wonder what they could have done differently in order to just improve their chances a little bit more I don’t know it’s just a it’s a it was a strange season and it just didn’t work out for Miami and I know that’s kind of for a lot of fans it’s probably all in the rearview mirror it’s all about what happens next but you kind of have to take a step back to look at what didn’t work and what did work and whether or not Miami could still have been a playoff Contender had they been healthy so the issue is how do you stay healthy how do you have players be available for for more games so that they could play at a higher level and it might be eventually you might get to that point that we’ve made where you have to improve the roster so that you’re not working as hard so that you could stay healthy so that you’re able to actually go out there and play games all these things are interconnected somehow so there’s no one easy answer exactly it’s not just acquiring Donovan Mitchell because if Donovan Mitchell gets you know if they trade for Donovan somehow and he misses 40 games guess what you’re back to square zero you know it’s not even square one you’re back to exactly where you were this past season so that’s not exactly the answer either so it’s all about well injuries could ruin anybody’s season right I mean it ruin two Milwaukee Buck seasons in a row it’s injuries are a real thing but you got to you got to at least position yourself to when you’re healthy be able to right make your own luck and when you are healthy be able to compete with the top teams in the league which the heat haven’t been able to do I mean they got wiped off the floor by Denver in the finals last year and and they got wiped off the floor by Boston this year I know they were out a lot of their top players but it just feels like you kind of have to do both things to your point everything’s connected here but you got to find a way to stay healthy and I do think a big part of that is changing the roster because if you have a bunch of players who tend to get hurt all the time that doesn’t really change you know you sometimes it is just and maybe it looks like just moving deck chairs if it’s not the Superstar trade but sometimes moving deck chairs does just change the funu of the space and you have a little bit of better luck right and that it might just be that all a sudden you get more lighting it looks more spacious it’s like huh if I move that chairry to the corner all of a sudden it looks like I have a much bigger living room Etc yeah so that’s exactly what it could be for my thanks changes I love F waser changes that might be the theme of this season if it’s not Donald Mitchell by the way maybe this is a show a topic for a different show it certainly is but increasing Buzz that he might just stay in Cleveland so that’s not great thanks for making lock down heat your first listen every day hit that subscribe button on YouTube follow us on your podcast app

Do the Miami Heat need to add size to compete for an NBA championship next season? What else can they learn from the last four teams standing?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss what the Heat need to add this offseason, and if Miami could have been the Indiana Pacers of these playoffs.

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