Better days ahead for the Miami teams?

While the sports world has been buzzing and all eyes on Los Angeles with the Clippers, Lakers, Rams, and Chargers all being relevant, maybe it’s time to start looking at the other coast.

The Miami Dolphins and the Miami Heat may  not too far behind, after offseasons that have them set up to compete for titles in coming years.

You just need to be patient.

Both teams have built solid foundations going forward.

Let’s look at the Dolphins, first. Finally, they have made some moves to build a solid foundation, from hiring new head coach Brian Flores to grabbed a low risk high reward quarterback in Josh Rosen, to accumulating a dozen selections in the 2020 draft, while possibly adding two others due to compensatory picks for Cam Wake and Ja’Wuan James. The Dolphins are projected to have over $100 million in cap space in 2020, with tons of youth on both sides of the ball already.

They just drafted four guys who can start on opening day (Christian Wilkins, Michael Deiter, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Isaiah Prince). And on defense, they have promising young players at every level (Davon Godchaux, Jerome Baker, Xavien Howard, Minkah Fitzpatrick).

On offense, Laremy Tunsil is one of the game’s best young left tackles. There are two good young running backs in Kenyan Drake and Kallen Ballage who complement each other well. The tight end, Mike Gesicki, could have a breakout season in Chad O’Shea’s offense because it will create mismatches for him. And then there’s DeVante Parker, who still has a chance to show something, if he can stay healthy.

Now we turn our eyes to the Miami Heat who in many ways have had the best offseason in the NBA acquiring Jimmy Butler and getting rid of the Hassan Whiteside contract. The first round pick, Tyler Herro, has been impressive, as much as anyone in summer league and certainly better than Heat fans expected. Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson appear ready to contribute. KZ Okpala, who we have yet to see, certainly is interesting: he’s 6-foot-9 and can shoot and handle. Justise Winslow, Derrick Jones Jr, and Bam Adebayo are still here, even after the Butler deal. And so is Goran Dragic, who can be moved to position the Heat for another star. They have relieved salary cap for the coming years specifically 2021 and found a player with star potential in Herro.

We can’t say we didn’t see this coming given Pat Riley’s track record over the last 25 years and he always had a master plan needless to say in a wide open NBA and especially a wide open Eastern Conference.

Miami has good young players and will add another superstar to the team in the coming years and will win a championship by 2022.

Yes, we said it.

And we can say this:

Both the Dolphins and Heat have solid foundation going forward and you can expect the foundations to pay off in a lot of wins and some championships. For the first time, since the Dolphins have been a bit slow, both teams have a clear direction going forward from top to bottom. The future is bright in Miami. Even if it didn’t seem that way until recently.

Jaccare Givens can be found at @KingJock24