State of the Miami Heat: Ethan’s “word” to close the series | Five on the Floor

State of the Miami Heat: Ethan’s “word” to close the series | Five on the Floor

Welcome to the latest episode of five on the floor on the five reason sports network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app on Apple podcast on Android to recommend Spotify. Also check out the five reasons YouTube channel for Messi and company three yards per carry and other content around South Florida. Also check out Off the Floor. That’s our Discord server. That’s two bucks per month. Link right here in the description. You’ll bypass the Apple Upcharge, the most heat anywhere, the most heat information and conversation. It’s off the floor. Also check out prize picks. Use that code five fiv. You play $5 and they give you $50 in lineups. It’s a really good deal. Go to their explore page and the lineups will all be there. You can play whatever you want across the sports spectrum. Again, it’s prize.com. Legal in the state of Florida. Check it out today and use the code fiv. And now today’s episode. Uhoh. Yeah, it’s Mercy. Music by Mercy again. Heat nation the coach yo I need you to call time out radio blanket open for the shot still five on the floor still ride for my dogs night on the court still survive in the wall keep your eye on the ball or get burned from the heat mic off the wall without turning the cheek from night to day no sleeping cat so allowed to mourn us the sleeping us never catch a storm alive from Miami we pour in the heat with five reasons sports from the court to the streets. [Music] Dang, we’re counting. Be patient. I’m so proud. [Applause] Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Brady Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Welcome back to Five on Floor. By the way, I want to thank our guys Sean Rochester who cleaned up that video for us a little bit so that you don’t have to wait an extra seven seconds while I stare at the sky uh as we get through it. Also, thanks to Mercy for recording it. Thanks to Greg Sander for being here. Today’s floor plan, I’m giving you my word. Well, I’m not giving you my word on anything. You can’t trust me, but I mean you I’m giving you my word. We’ve been doing these State of the Heat episodes. We had eight different people from our network, including my three regular co-hosts here. Alex, his word was satisfactory. Greg, his word was crossroads. Brady, his word was seeking. I don’t know how I remember all of this. Adele, his word was growth, I believe. Uh, I’m going to get Eternals out of the way because I didn’t understand it. It was heart. Uh, Shaun’s was purgatory, right? Geo’s. Oh man, he took a different spin on it, but I can’t remember what the word was. Oh god. I I know. And it it actually was was pretty good. He aligned with a couple of the others. Uh and Major I I’ll get to I’ll figure it out by the end of the episode or I’ll text him. And Major uh was mediocre, which I was not expecting. So, we wanted to get others in, but we’re getting close to training camp here. We got to finish this up. Also, I’ll give you the word, but make sure you check out the two episodes that Alex and I did at 305800 pain. A full offensive preview and then a full defensive preview for this team. So, you can hold us to that. Here’s I’m going to go. Greg, what do you think I’m going to say? What do you think I’m going to say for the state of the Heat? What What would be your guess of a word? Well, you’ve had the benefit of hearing everyone else out, so you’ve really gotten to um explore every avenue from all these different point of views. So, that was a smart move by you to to to clean up here. Always go last. Um, I would imagine that you’re going to go uh in some direction related to the team picking a direction and there’s something behind that and I I don’t I’m not articulate enough to pull the word uh out of thin air, but I have a feeling that it’s going to be more big picture than finite detail. That’s just if I know you, that’s probably the direction you’re going. That’s good. I agree with you. To your point. Um, I’m going to go that direction, Greg. The state of the Miami Heat entering the 2025 26 season is uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable not to be the top dog in town, which they are not right now. Florida Panthers have won two straight Stanley Cups. The Heat may have a bigger fan base, but the Panthers are getting it done right now. They’re talking about culture. I actually was at their training facility for media day today and all the things that Heat players used to be able to say and it was real. The Panthers can say and it is real in terms of guys pushing each other. Consistency of the organization. The Heat have that in their front office, but also consistency in approach, consistency in the way that you’re going about things. The way the way that Bill ZTO has picked a direction and followed it. The way that guys come in and they do not get complacent even when they win. They came come in after two Stanley Cups and they are still talking about they haven’t really accomplished anything. We’re gonna set the goal. We’re going to go for it. These are the kind of things you used to hear inside the Heat organization and again when they said it, you believed it. It’s uncomfortable also to be in a position where it does not seem like you’re ahead of the game. the Heat for years and years and years and years. The one thing that you could trust with them is that they were ahead of the NBA. They did things sooner than everybody else did. They used their advantages, same advantages the Panthers are using today. No state tax, great weather, great place to live, no all of those kind of things. They use that along with having a legacy of winning as it built to be able to attract talent. and they did it by getting ahead of the rules. Not breaking the rules necessarily, but using the rules to their advantage. That hasn’t happened in recent years. The new CBAs have made it more challenging. It’s not that the Heat don’t understand the new CBAs. They do. The league still goes to their people to consult with them to understand them, but they’ve not been able to capitalize on those rules. It always feels like they’re kind of catching up. You know, we okay, we’re going to do this. We’re going to give away a draft pick and then we’re going to kind of figure out how to get back under the tax. We don’t want to pay the repeater again. I understand that. I understand not wanting to go over the aprons. Nobody needs to tell me why that’s beneficial to stay under those things. I get it. Okay. But it always does seem like we’re talking about, well, if they do this and then they wait until December to get this player, then they can kind of squeeze it under and Andy can work his magic and all that sort of stuff. It always seems lately kind of after the fact, not that you they didn’t anticipate what they had to do, but we’re not typically saying of late, “Wow, he fooled everybody with that.” Now, it happened once this summer. Okay. The Norm Powell deal gave me some hope. I know that the Heat did not initiate that deal. The Clippers went to them. The Clippers had another motive. The motive was they really wanted Bradley Beal. They were trying to get John Collins for their front court. Bradley Beal was going to be a lot cheaper than Norm Powell was going to be. They really didn’t want to extend Norm Powell. They called the Heat. They couldn’t take what the Heat wanted to give, which originally was Highmith, not Kevin Love. But ultimately, the Heat made a very, very good deal. and they got a little bit of luck that the Clippers were in a position that they wanted to make this deal and they initiated all this, Greg. Okay. But it didn’t used to have to be waiting for that to happen. It used to be, okay, yeah, something happens in another place, but then aggressively going after it. Looking at say 1990, let’s start from the beginning. Let’s start when Ben Pat came, okay, 30 years ago, right? And Alonzo Morning in a contract dispute with George Shinn and we’re going to go get that guy. We’ve got Glenn Rice, but that is a is a cornerstone for this franchise. And the call to Mickey Harrison, are you willing to pay 100 million? Yes. Boom. Done. Okay. Get the deal done. Trade Rice. And all of a sudden, you have your anchor for really, I mean, Zoe’s still there 30 years later. And now he’s building low-income housing in Miami. And credit to him and all the things that he does down here. But he set the tone for the organization. You went out and got that guy. Okay. Then you look at the other things they tried to do. They tried to get Jawan Howard. Okay. The next year they had they tried to get Gary Payeyton the next year, right? They still put together a very very good team. Then in 2000 after waiting for a little bit, they aggressively went after Tracy McGrady, went after Grant Hill. Thank God they didn’t get him in the condition that he was in at that point with his ankle, but they end up getting Eddie Jones, they get Brian Grant, they get Anthony Mason, they put that team together. Then they get hit with bad luck with Zo. Then they get hit with bad luck with Bosch in later years and all that. But again, LeBron opportunistic. Bosch opportunistic. Drogage dispute with Ryan Mcdana at the deadline. Opportunistic. Okay. I want the state of the heat to be opportunistic again. I don’t want it to be uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable because you kind of feel like things are happening to them, not like things they’re h they’re doing things to make it happen. And again, I’m not privy to everything that goes on behind the scenes and I know they try things and sometimes things fall through and I’m not one of those that’s killed them for the dame deal when somebody didn’t want to deal with them or the Donovan Mitchell thing when Bam was requested on the other side which defeated the entire purpose and the Durant thing this summer when everybody has that story wrong because it had nothing to do with them not being willing to give up Haywood Highmith. It had to do with the fact that Phoenix had no interest in Wiggins or Rosier’s contract. So, you had to stack every single player that you had on the roster to make a deal work. Again, I give them the benefit of the doubt on this stuff more than anybody else does, okay? Which is why I’m accused of carrying water, but I still would like them to get back to being the aggressors. And I I don’t feel like that’s necessarily been the case of late. The Jimmy thing, Greg, yes, they went after him hard when he was with Minnesota. They didn’t get him from Tibs. Then they went after him again the next year. But since then, it’s hard to kind of cite the example where they’ve really taken those kind of risks. And I I know that goes counter to some of the things that I’ve said about, well, you need to go young now and you need to pivot and you need to lean on what Adam Simon’s doing and you need to keep those draft picks. You need to start to collect those picks. And I know that goes counter to all of it. So maybe I want it all. Maybe I’m as spoiled as some of these fans are. But when I go and I I cover the other teams in town, okay, there’s two extremes here. And then I’m going to let you get in. I don’t even count the Marlins. They’re I mean they’re still irrelevant until they prove otherwise. Okay. And the Canes that’s a college program. Let’s see if Mario can win in the game. I know he can win on recruiting. Let’s see if this continues for the entire year. I know you’re a Canes fan, but I look at the other two teams in town. Okay, there’s one that’s here and there’s one that’s all the way down there. Okay. And the Heat have to get back to being where the Panthers are, not sinking to where the Dolphins are. Okay. And I know you are a Dolphin fan. You don’t follow the Panthers as much as maybe I do, but when I’m at the Panthers facility now, it reminds me of what I felt like with the Heat for years and years and years and years and years. They are in control, Greg. They’re in total control. They They are manipulating it to the NHL right now. They go and get the best of They went and got Brad Marshant at the deadline last year. A guy who numbers going to be retired in Boston. Not only did they get him, they figured out a way to resign him for six years until he’s 43 years old. And they resigned Ecklad and Bennett, three guys when everybody thought they can only sign one. Okay, last year Kachchuck goes out. They use this little loophole, okay? Whatever it was, they end up being able to bring in play more players of the Dallas. They are in front of the league. The Dolphins are way behind the league. They’re going to have another rebuild. They’re going to tear the whole thing up. Steve Ross saying, “We’re going to capture the imagination of this town from the heat.” That was in 2014. He hasn’t captured anything, okay, except coaches, okay, and then fire them. But I they can his players even capture the flag if they play that game. Well, they can capture the flags after they commit the penalties maybe, but that’s it. So, you don’t want to be going towards here. You don’t want to become mediocre to irrelevant. Pat Riley made basketball matter in this town and they need to get back to a point where they matter more than anybody else. And I I think and that’s why the word I’m using is uncomfortable. And I’m you know what? Let’s do the break and I’m gonna let you you have the rest of the floor here. The word I’m using is uncomfortable because I’m not used to them being in this position. And I know they don’t these values are not very long usually, but you want to see the uptick this year, whether it’s with real pops from the young players, not like into like okay rotation players, but real pops from a couple of them and then a clear direction on what they’re going to do about Tyler, how they’re going to get another star, how they’re going to become the Panthers of the NBA, okay? Or let’s just get back to the Heat of the NBA. And you don’t want to be the Dolphins of the NBA. All right, we’re going to tell you about a sponsor of the five reasons sports network and also of five on the floor. 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For real, just download Cash App. Use our exclusive referral code on the floor in your profile. Send five bucks to a friend within 14 days and you get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That’s money. That’s Cash App. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partners. Prepaid debit cards issued by Sunbank Bank member FDIC. Instant discounts provided by Cash App and Block Inc. brand. Visit cash.apple/mpodcast for full disclosures. All right, the floor is yours. It’s spot on. I I think that so there there’s a few things. Um, I’ll start here. They are a bit of a victim of their own success in this scenario because we’ve seen them execute at a high level and forecast forward what they’re going to do and then execute that or have to um kind of execute on the fly like they did with Jimmy, but they they ended up getting him. And those things are all uh we don’t know. I guess when you say uncomfortable, there’s an element of that that extends to the fan base because there’s a lot of fans that wonder what the next direction of this team is going to be because I don’t think anyone is fooling themselves thinking that Bam and Tyler as your top two guys are going to lead you to a championship. As much as I love Bam uh and and like Tyler’s game, it’s just not realistic. So, uh it’s interesting that you choose that word at a more macro level. They spent all last year uncomfortable. They’re uncomfortable in that the fans are uneasy. And I I mean, I said it recently that I felt like fans were more um apathetic towards Riley than ever before now. Uh and it’s because they’re uncomfortable. They they and the fans are in a spot where they’re used to getting the guy and um and go and competing for championships really. So, that’s the standard that you’ve set in place. I think that there’s also potential for uncomfortable things to take place related to how you invest in this roster. Are you going to pay Tyler Hero? What’s the comfort level there? Uh, are you comfortable with um extending some of your other young players? There’s a lot of question marks on this roster. So, the only thing I would say is that amongst all of the uncomfortable uh bullet points that you can uh identify throughout this entire team, sometimes growth comes when you’re out of your comfort zone. So, we’re going to learn what a lot of these guys are. And this, you know, I don’t want to to sound ridiculous, but you kind of learn what you’re made of. You know what I mean? Like what what was the quote? Adversity introduces himself to himself. Yeah, that was I guess that’ll happen this season. Well, that that was Pat’s quote that Zoe used to repeat verbatim in every press conference. I Well, I’m glad you mentioned last season. I want to touch on that. Uh they will say that they are comfortable being uncomfortable. That that’s what you want. That that’s what they they they pride themselves on that. They make your players uncomfortable, push them to the limits and all that. I’m not saying that any of that is bad. that is that is part of their quote unquote culture that they there there is a certain level of discomfort. But I I think what what you hit on there I want to touch on the Jimmy thing from last year. Okay. And so remind me on that but I think what you hit on there is that it is uncomfortable to have the fans questioning the organization to the degree that they are at least in the social media spaces. I know it’s a loud minority. I know it’s not everybody in the arena. I get it. Uh but with with that said, it is more negative than I can recall in a long time. And and the casuals too, frankly, like the ca the casuals are the tickets are sold, but the hope is not there. I I and and not yet. Okay. Now, again, a quick start. They have a brutal early schedule. We’ve talked about it, but a quick start, you know, growth from where? Growth from Yovic. Powell looks like a good addition. Fitting with hero. Bam gets off to better start than he did last year. And there there will people will jump on, okay, that that’s what happens. But going into it, there is not the belief, okay, that they are, as Eric Sper quote that he used a couple years ago, they are not one of those teams right now. And they are that’s uncomfortable. That’s uncomfortable. That’s not And look, they are uncomfortable tanking. They won’t do it right. But fans are uncomfortable being in the middle in the lower in the middle to lower middle, which is what you are when you’re in the playin. you’re not comfortable when you’re in the plan. But I want to get back to last year because I I think that really maybe that’s what kind of set off this word for me. They were on their heels in the Jimmy situation. Okay. They thought they can handle it. They believed I went back to some of our podcasts from last year and we thought we’d get because this is what Jimmy’s agent among others was telling people, including me. You’re going to get the best version of Jimmy. You know, he he’s contract year Jimmy. All that kind of stuff. That he believed that. Okay. because Vernie was telling them that. All right. And among others and and it made sense for him to do that. It made sense for anybody to do that. We’re going to do a separate episode because Jimmy Bass reportedly is already questioning what Golden State is doing. So, good luck with that. Okay. And paying him $120 million over the next couple years to do that. But, okay. And play 45 games, which is I think what’s happening this season. But they they ended up on their heels. Okay. They did not control that situation. They are used to controlling situations under Riley’s regime. And I know he’s not running everything quite the way that he used to, but they these things didn’t get out, okay? There was stuff going on behind the scenes all the time, some of which I knew about. I’d sort of get half of it. I get it five years later, but there was things that were going on behind the scenes, but they kept that stuff controlled. They kept it in house. They didn’t let the even the agents, the agents who gave them problems, many of them over the years. Everybody talks about Clutch. There are many other agents who’ve given them problems over the years. David Faulk maybe. Ah, I mean, well, look, e, even the agent who they most belove, okay, gave them who has represented the most of their star players in their history gave them problems at times of contract, okay? And and may he rest in peace, they they ran they had issues with with agents, okay, at times, but it never became what last year became. They they were at Jimmy’s mercy to a large degree. Like, it’s it started off with we, you know, we’re we’re we’re comfortable being uncomfortable, okay? It’s like how much can you know we can we can tolerate a lot until you couldn’t until he he wasn’t showing up for planes. Okay. Until he was walking out of shootarounds because they were starting the same signing starting lineup as before the suspensions before he his people were leaking to shams and to others and you can’t control any of that. And so they looked they were not inept. Okay. They had a plan to try to figure it out and they ended up making in under the circumstances a pretty damn good deal. Okay, they made the best of it. But in that space, they got talked about in a way nationally, not just locally, maybe more so nationally than locally. We were trying to actually see their perspective. Nationally, nobody was. They got looked at as kind of bumbling, which is not what they have been characterized as. No. For 30 years. And it’s the same people. And even in the I think Bond tempmps when they did the uh ESPN like rank the organizations and where they stand right now. We’ll do an episode on that because I think they had the heat as 11th in terms of their overall positioning. Yeah. They had management was third. Third, right? Okay. And if you were to look at if you were to talk to executives around like they’d still have the heat in the top 10 in management, okay, no matter or higher, right? But some of them have access to grind. But yes, they’d have them in that space. Okay. in the top in the top tier. Okay. In the but that’s not how it came across the whole year because you had this guy who was just running a muck and you couldn’t do anything really about it except keep suspending him which really didn’t hurt him. He ended up getting his money anyway. He ended up going to play with Steph Curry. It just it was uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable to see them in that spot. And so that’s why all of it kind of comes together where I say this is a critical season for them to reestablish the credibility that they have earned over three decades so that there is trust again not just in the fan base that is old enough to remember everything that they’ve accomplished. Okay, the seven finals and all the rest of this stuff, all the that the Dolphins can’t even effing sniff, okay? They they but there the young people don’t remember they now they just they don’t remember you know so it’s like for to get the credibility of the next thing they they need to have a plan this year that works. It’s either the young players or it’s moving towards getting a star so that we we talk about them. The way the fans talk about them is the way that we talk about them, which is that these are highly competent, capable, capable people who have put together a really good thing down here that’s gotten their owner into the Hall of Fame that has gotten their coach uh a claim as, you know, one of the top three of this c of this quarter century, okay? who has people around the league wanting to steal Adam Simon as Andy Ellisburg is someone who you know again everybody admires like but collectively okay they need to figure it out this year where they give everybody confidence that they are who we believe they are and the last year it’s been harder to sell everybody on that and that’s just kind of where I’m at with it. Yeah, I think Jimmy Butler can do that to any organization. It was now proven that uh in this player empowerment era that no organization is strong enough if a player wants to make it ugly, particularly if they have the um temperament of Jimmy Butler, uh that’s just going to go the way that it goes. And so now they have to show that they’ve learned from that and can adapt and figure out what the next iteration of this team looks like led by a star that you’re likely going to have to make certain concessions to. And it is very much a two-way street where you’re communicating with these players today in a way where you’re not dictating things to them in the fashion that maybe those early 90s guys got dictated to. And so to your point, it’s always felt like they were ahead of the curve and they were um out thinking uh whatever the next wave was going to be, whether it be free agency, being able to fit three max players under your salary cap. Uh, we don’t know what the next wave looks like because that’s we don’t get paid the big bucks, Ethan. But like that’s what I think you want to see so that this uncomfortable feeling can start to turn in at least comfort in that you know that there’s a plan. Right. Right. Right. And it’s it’s funny you mentioned that because I’ll cycle back to the Panthers here as we close. The conversation today at media day and by the time you listen to this maybe a couple days after that was I asked well I asked Bill Zoto flat out GM I said did you know when you were hoisting the Stanley Cup that you were going to get Marshant Eklad and Bennett all back because people around the NHL thought they were getting one back at the most okay and he just said yes and I’m like could you elaborate and his response was well basically it was a long answer to say would you leave here and it was basic is it’s describing the the the organization and the the way that everybody has come together and what they believe in and the lack of complacency and the facilities about the big three in in that building the heat. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. You don’t I’m going to probably be at a press conference on Friday for a coach firing in Miami Gardens. Okay. And it’s like the 12th coach firing that I’ve covered in my in my old age. Okay. And you do not just let’s let’s just close with this. You want to be where the Panthers are right now, not where the Dolphins are. And you want to see yourself trending back up to where you belong because you belong not just alongside the Panthers, but above them. This is the class organization in this town. Credit to the Panthers for figuring it out. Okay. And you know, you know what? Here here’s another thing for the youngans out there. So, Bill Zto was asked today, he was asked, “What do you do to kind of prepare your your team and yourself to try to accomplish, you know, a third straight championship?” Which, by the way, Pat Rally still has three repeat uh copyrighted or whatever it is. So, he’s g up getting money out of this if the Panthers win, right? And Bill Zoto, I don’t even know if he knows that. I haven’t had opportunity to ask that, but he said, “What do you do?” He says, “I read a lot of books. I read Pat Riley’s book. That’s where this organization should be. That says everything. The story tells a million words. But you got to be back who you were before. It’s you got, you know, it’s excellence is what you do every day or whatever. Is that what is that a sha saying? Aristotle. How you do anything is how you do everything. There you go. That’s a that’s a spolster, right? That’s his new one, right? That’s the one he’s adopted. Aris Shaq used to say the Aristotle one which was excellence is what you do every day or something else. Shaq mangled it. Okay. He doesn’t practice what he preaches necessarily with all of those as well. No. No. All right. Well, everybody, we appreciate uh you listening. We’ll see. I mean, I I would like this to be a less uncomfortable season. Uh it’d be a lot more fun to cover a team that looks like they’re back on the way up and they got a plan and they’re going to get them back themselves back to where they belong, which is the best team in the market. and one of those teams in the NBA. All right, thanks everybody for following our State of the Heat series. We’ll be back with more episodes going forward. Thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the five reason sports network. After all, someone needs to listen to my dad.

After 8 others in the Five Reasons Sports Network had their say, Ethan Skolnick gives his State of the Miami Heat. Greg Sylvander joins.

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