Answering Your Questions: What is Next for the Miami Heat?

Well, it’s officially the off-season for the Miami Heat, which means the focus now shifts to the roster for the 2021-2022 season. There are plenty of decisions to be made by the front office, and still plenty of time, but why not dive into it immediately.

I’ll be answering some of the questions that you guys had about this upcoming stretch, so let’s just hop right into it.

What do we need more? A big or a guard?

— Lord Voldemort (@JuniorLaguna19) May 30, 2021

This is a question that many seem to want an answer to, but I feel the answer depends on the person.

The two options seem to be a big next to Bam Adebayo or a true point guard to run the offense, and I heavily lean in the direction of the latter. My reasoning does not derive from short term memory, since many seem to immediately remember the one-sided battle in the rebounding category once again.

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But if we’re looking at this past series, the actual issue was the offense. Of course shots weren’t falling and players didn’t show up, but the true point guard element changes some things for this team’s stars. Jimmy Butler and Adebayo playing primary facilitator in this series truly caught up to them. The best players have to be able to put the ball in the basket, and yet, that didn’t occur.

A point guard takes some of that weight off of their shoulders to a certain extent. Both of them have that unselfishness locked inside them already, but it still felt like they didn’t have any other play-makers to lean on if they went away from it. The guard situation will be one of the most intriguing this off-season, since many of them may be on the move, and possibly, others coming in.

Are there any players that are for sure not going to be off this team next year

— 𝙭 – M•H•C (@HeatConvos) May 30, 2021

When discussing the players that will be on this roster next season, my answer is Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The rest remains questionable to a certain extent.

As mentioned before, plenty of contracts will be up this season and decisions will have to be made. Young guys may look to have some potential, but the trading block seems to be the place they will find themselves for a long period over the next few months.

The reasoning for that: the building mindset of this roster is to acquire win now guys. This has been a topic over the last couple months, and this off-season falls under that category even more. After getting swept in the first round, it’s pretty obvious this team will look different by the time training camp begins. Adebayo and Butler are the guys to complement, even after a terrible showing in the post-season.

If the whale is available, you do everything in your power to get him. And if it’s a guy that Butler heavily approves, you get that guy as well.

What's the biggest need for the Heat next season?

— Hidden Herro 🏀🔥🇮🇹🇺🇸 (@BamJimmySZN) May 30, 2021

After touching on the point guard vs big man debate a bit, I feel it’s necessary to go in a different direction: A half-court scorer.

Victor Oladipo was the intention to fill that role, putting pressure on the rim and creating his own shot to help Butler a bit offensively. There’s a clear need for that, and this first round series further proved that. When Butler and Adebayo can’t get rolling, there aren’t many other options offensively, leading to 36 point halves.

Forget the positions on a team that Erik Spoelstra likes to call position-less. They just simply need a bucket getter, and more importantly, a bucket getter who can create for himself. It’s a bit too early to point out specific names, but I’ll be sure to dive into that a bit more in future articles.

Realistically, what are the chances Miami decides to move on from Goran and Iggy by either opting out or opting in and trading them for other pieces?

— Sergio Haltenhof (@MrH_1012) May 30, 2021

To keep the theme, it definitely seems a bit too early to call it, but I’d say it’s very possible.

As stated earlier, they’re going to make major changes to create a contending roster, and the sign and trade market may become their best friend depending on what goes down in free agency. If the front office feels that’s the direction to go, I’d expect them to opt in and possibly use as salary fillers.

I feel the Goran Dragic side of things makes things very interesting. The personal element. The Jimmy Butler element. But well, I think that decision becomes the Kyle Lowry element. Yes, Butler loves Dragic as a teammate, but he also seems to like the idea of Lowry.

Once again, I can’t pinpoint those things at this exact time, but something I do know is that Butler will be very vocal this off-season, as a player that wants to win with this franchise.

What’s more important: stretch big or rebounding big

— Josh Olive (@joshuaolive) May 30, 2021

This is another question that can interchange depending on the person, but it just feels like the Heat would lean stretch big.

We’ve seen time and time again that this team loves to stretch the floor and size down, even if that gets them in trouble at times on the boards. We finally got to see a rebounding big next to Adebayo in the playoffs, yet the situation was when the team trailed by 30.

Also, a stretch big is not the same as what they’ve used lately. Trevor Ariza and Jae Crowder are the stretch fours that Miami’s comfortable with, but if there’s a stretch big on the market, I’d expect Miami to go after him.

Obviously Dewayne Dedmon is not a long-term plan, but I would expect him back next season. So, if they have a rebounding big to roll off the bench, that doesn’t seem like the direction to go starters wise.

Changes will be made, but I feel like that mindset will stay the same.

When will the heat move away from the undersized, one dimensional guards?

— Joel H. (@MrCPA24) May 30, 2021

This is a fair question. The issue is not that they have guards who only play on one side of the ball. It’s that they have a bunch of them. And they all play on the exact same side of it.

Like I said before, the guard play of this team could see many changes, and I feel it could be to this point of broadening the skill set of that position.

They clearly need scorers with what occurred lately, but they need guards who can score in different ways, instead of a semi-copy and paste version that we saw recently.

They’re looking to improve, and that will be the one point that we always come back to when evaluating where they go next in that specific position.

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