NBA: Heat-Offseason: Stagnation equals progress?

Not much happened at the Miami Heat in summer 2018, Head Coach Erik Spoelstra starts the new season with the same squad as last year. Nevertheless, with the help of the many young talents, a step forward should be made – and the big litter is not yet off the table.

The Miami Heat had an extremely quiet summer. While the rest of the NBA world plunged into wild trades and the relentless fight for free agents, the Heat … Nothing.

Almost nothing, to be exact. After all, team president Pat Riley was stringing in a contract extension with Wayne Ellington. The 30-year-old signed for one year and $6.3 million, the franchise also agreed with Backup-Guard Briante Weber (1 year/ $1.5 million) and Derrick Jones Jr., whose two-way contract was converted into a two-year deal for $3.1 million.

It was not until mid-September that Miami made the headlines with probably the most important off-season news: Dwyane Wade announced by Instagram post that he will be hanging on for another year. Wade gets $2.4 million from the Heat for his last dance on the big NBA stage.

Also fan favourite Udonis Haslem keeps the heat (1 year/2.4 million), the veteran enters his 16th season in the NBA. There were no draft picks available for the Heat this year, but Miami has no significant losses to complain about.

So there was no trace of the really big firecracker in the south of Florida – but what is not, can still become, as is well known. The heat is still said to be of great interest in the race for Jimmy Butler, many insiders even consider Miami to be the favourite for the 29-year-old. Maybe the Heat will join the offseason spectacle after all, even if a bit late.

The reason for the inactivity of Heat is quickly found: There is simply no financial room for manoeuvre. When the Heat paid out their money to players like Dion Waiters, James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and Josh Richardson in the summer of 2017, the franchise sacrificed its flexibility for years to come.

Only in 2020, when the highly endowed contracts of Goran Dragic (still 2 years/37 million) and Whiteside (2 years/52 million) expire, will the heat be able to breathe a sigh of relief again and have room under the Salary Cap. Until then, however, the options are limited.

For this reason, rumours circulated for weeks that the Heat would explore trade opportunities for Whiteside or Dragic. In the end, however, there was no deal, which is probably due to the unwillingness of Heat to give up one of her young talents.

With Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and above all Bam Adebayo, Miami has several promising prospects in its team who can be expected to take a big step forward in the future. And Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra certainly don’t want to have to watch this step with the competition.

In practical terms, the Heat are going into the new season with the same squad that took them to a disappointing sixth place in the Eastern Conference in 2017/18 after 44 wins. In the playoffs, a 4-1 first-round bankruptcy against the Sixers finally waited.

In many areas, the heat in the past season was at best average, which the Net rating of 0.5 and thus the 17th place in this category almost perfectly symbolizes. Miami was particularly offensive in the rarest of cases.

In terms of True Shooting Percentage Days (55.1 percent, 16th place), Assist-to-Turnover Ratio (17.3, 16th place) or Offensive Ratings (104.5, 20th place), the heat ended up at most in midfield of the NBA. If the young players do not develop as desired, Miami could face the same problems in 2017/18 due to the lack of personnel changes. However, Dion Waiters, who is still injured, will come back in the course of the season and could help in these areas.

However, the Heat still lack a real franchise player and leader in the team. Dragic is now 32 years old, he missed the final step from All-Star to franchise player. And if Miami Whiteside saw him in that role, they wouldn’t have tried to get rid of him.

In this respect, the Heat are now placing their hopes on the numerous young talents, one of whom will ideally become a sought-after franchise star. Richardson, Adebayo and Winslow probably have the greatest potential for this, with all three still a long way to go – if they should ever reach this goal.

Winslow is already going into his fourth season in the Association and has not yet fulfilled the expectations placed in him. The Heat 2017/18 are hoping for a huge leap from him, while Adebayo is expected to develop further bit by bit.

The 14th pick of the draft 2017 showed promising approaches in its rookie season, and the 20-year-old still has a lot of potential for improvement. Especially with his length and athleticism Adebayo stands out from the grey NBA mass, which makes him a versatile weapon.

Apropos versatile: Spoelstra has several players available who can be used on several positions. In today’s NBA this flexibility is of great advantage, different matchups can be exploited in different ways. In addition, the head coach will certainly try to get Whiteside back on track if he stays in Miami – the facilities to a dominant center are there after all.

A disappointing season was followed by an overall disappointing summer. On the one hand, the Heat were unable to get rid of Whiteside. At the same time, the tricky salary cap situation did not allow any large – and not even small – jumps.

So the team has not improved compared to last year. No, not yet. Because the still possible trade for Jimmy Butler still floats above the franchise. Then the team could certainly attack the top places in the east. Without the trade, however, the short and long term success of the Heat depends largely on the development of the young players.

The grade: 4