These Are the Questions We Want ANSWERED at Miami Heat Media Day | Locked On Heat Podcast

These Are the Questions We Want ANSWERED at Miami Heat Media Day | Locked On Heat Podcast

Dwayne Wade or LeBron James? Which one is the top Heat player of the last 25 years? We debate that and preview the upcoming media day on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Uh, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. However you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks so much for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use acrop across the app. Download the FanDuel app today. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Lockdown NBA Daily and Real Jam Radio. And I’m here with David Romel. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day, including on media days. We’re going to get to our finale of our 25 of 25 series in a second, but first, David, media day is on Monday. I can’t believe it’s here already. Uh, it’s wild. Um, we’re going to be there. We’re going to be there at Casaya Center. We’ll have our table. We’re going to be talking to players and coaches. We’re going to have a bunch of exclusive interviews that we’re going to have up on the feed. So, make sure that you hit that subscribe button right now. Uh, so that you don’t miss them. They’re going to be coming out really no schedule at all. Is when I finish producing them, they’re going to be hitting the feed. So, just make sure that you’re tuning in so you don’t miss anything. Also, I guess, um, we’ll be having our reactions as well to what we hear at media day. Um, this is, I think, one of the most highly anticipated media days that I can remember for the Miami Heat, David, because it is very much the start of a new era. We’re going to talk about the questions that we want answered, and boy, do we have a lot of them, David. Yeah, absolutely. And, and that’s a great point. It is the beginning of a new era. No, Jimmy Butler. And now entering the next phase of whatever iteration this is of the Miami Heat. It could just be the hold over. It could be a stop gap in between eras we’ve seen from 2016 to 2019 until uh Jimmy Butler joined the team and then of course the departure of Dwayne Wade in 2016 or it could be the years in between the big three era and the end of the Shaquille O’Neal era. I mean we’ve seen this before. Usually errors are defined by championship success or at least championship contention, having a superstar on the team to kind of define this group. Right now, the team lacking that superstar, but still an interesting group. A lot of potential there and we’re not quite sure what we’re going to see from this team because of course Tyler Hero going to be out for the start of the season, but will Bam at a bio step up? Uh will Norman Powell learn how to fit in? so many different things that we’re expecting and a lot of questions that we’ll be asking players and coaches on Monday. What is different about this start of this new bridge or era or whatever we end up calling it versus when Shaq left or when LeBron left is that this team is stocked with young talent, real talent, first round talent, sevenfooters, really athletic tweener combo type of forwards, um interesting scorers. Like there’s a lot of talent and young talent on this roster that it’s starting now to feel like a rebuilding team in a way which seems strange to say with a guy like Bam Adabio on the roster who’s such an accomplished player in this league but and even Tyler Hero who’s a sixman of the year award winner right like these are accomplished players but um Wiggins is a champion right like these these these guys have resumes but for the most part there’s this young talent kind of brewing that I think makes for sort of this interesting uh thing that we might be on the cusp of here. So here’s what I did. I I have a list of questions that I want asked uh and answered on media day. Um you know how this works, David. We might get a chance to ask these questions. We might not. Media day is a little bit of a scramble. Eric Spolster will talk to everybody. A handful of players will talk to everybody in the media room. You and I will have a chance to talk with probably Spo in the media room. maybe a couple of players in the media room, but then you and I have to dash over to our table where we’re going to have our exclusive sit down one-on- ones with other players. And that really is a mad scramble. But so when I say these are the questions that we want answered, we mean what I mean by this is we will ask these questions if we can, but we’re not making any promises because the entire thing is a little bit of a hurricane. That said, you and I both prepared some questions that we want to have asked. I broke them down. I don’t know how you did it, but I broke mine down by person I wanted to ask these to. I don’t know if you did something similar, but I want to start general questions. I was thinking mostly of of questions I would ask both in in the beginning of the Well, let’s start with Spo then because that’s where I wanted to begin. Um, okay, maybe this one’s obvious. What’s the starting lineup particularly when Tyler Hero is out to start the season? And I want to know what it is after Hero comes back, but that obviously is a little bit harder to answer for him. Um, but what does he how does he view the Tyler Hero injury and the impact on this roster? And how does he plan to adjust the starting lineup, if at all, other than just a promoting somebody? Are there domino effects, ripple effects across the starting lineup because of Hero’s injury? In other words, David, what’s the starting lineup going to be on opening night? I wonder how Eric Sper is leaning. It’s a great question, one that we’re all curious about, but we might as well ask him, what’s our purpose in the universe? Because we know he’s not going to give us name. I mean, we know that, right? Eric wouldn’t give us what the starting lineup is in between games like with minutes leading up to tip off. He’s not going to tell us what the starting lineup is. It’s a heavily guarded state secret. They will not reveal that. And to his point though, he’s not sure. I I think he’s got an inkling of where this might go, but he’s looking for certain players to step up, how players are going to mesh, what they’re going to be able to do in conjunction with one another, and then make a determination at that some point. Is there something kind of preset already in his mind? I would say yes and no. I think he’s clearly looking at Bamio. I would say Norm Powell. I would say I wonder if he that that might be a better way to frame it. Do you have anybody like in Sharpie in your starting lineup? How many positions do you think are up for grabs in that starting lineup? Understanding that Bam is definitely in it. I think Wiggins is in Sharpie. I’m with you. I think Norm Powell, especially even before Tyler Herro got hurt, I wasn’t really buying this. Nor Pal might come off the bench stuff. Yeah. But especially after Tyler Hero got hurt. like Norm Pal is starting, but how many of these other spots are are up for grabs? That’s interesting. What else did you have? Well, I something similar. Uh what’s the path to unlocking what this team can do offensively while your top scorer recovers from surgery? Because we’ve talked about it, we’ve debated it. What are we looking for from this group? And with Tyler missing the first few weeks of the season, how do you recover from that? How do you still maintain an injury knowing, well, hey, you know what? It might change in six to eight weeks upon his return, whatever. you know, maybe eight to 10 weeks, maybe 10 to 12 weeks. Again, whenever Tyler returns, you know, you’re going to be adding something to that, but at least you want to be able to lay a foundation down during the start of training camp and going into the preseason. And what version of that offense do we see early on because I think that’s where the question is. We know what they’re going to do defensively. They’re going to try and do as much as they can’t. They’re going to switch. They’re going to be able to do some things here. I think we’re gonna see more drop obviously with Khalil Wear, but uh we’re also gonna see something offensively that I think we have to have seen differently than what we’ve seen over the last few years. No, Jimmy. The offense has to change. What What are you just straight up? What’s the What do you want to accomplish on offense this year? Is it more threes? Is it more shots on goal? He’s going to say all of it, but you know, it’s Spo does have a reputation of not giving anything away. He did kind of glean a little bit what he was trying to accomplish at media day and in training camp last year in terms of trying to get a little bit more five out. Talk specifically about watching the teams that won the championship. He means the Boston Celtics and what they did and what that means and what lessons that they could learn from that. So I think he might have something interesting to say. So a little bit of a peak behind the journalism curtain here. One of my biggest pet peeves in either a media scrum setting or or just like that, you know, massive interview type of press conference setting is when reporters have a preamble to their question for context that the person they’re asking obviously knows, right? So, for instance, like Tyler Hero, you scored 30 points tonight. Uh, what was going in your head? Which is a terrible question anyway, but that is a that is true. It’s like Tyler knows he scored 30 points. You could just say, “Hey, big game for you. What was going through your head?” You don’t have to give me the con. He knows the context. He’s very aware. So, for instance, Eric Spolstra, your team ranked uh in the bottom 10 in offensive rating in the last three seasons. Yeah. What’s your plan to not do that this year? That said, that is exactly what I want to ask Eric Spra. Um, but specifically, here’s the context that I want to include. teams that reached the finals, not even one in the finals, to make the finals the last two seasons, those teams have not ranked lower than eighth in offensive rating. It’s not enough to be 15th. It’s not enough to be 12th. It’s not enough to be in the top 10. You got to be eighth or better. What’s the plan to improve the offense to that degree? And I know Tyler’s going to be out for the start of the season. I don’t care when Tyler comes back for the games that matter. What’s your plan by the end of the season to have a top eight type of offense that specifically? I would love to know that and and whether or not and Eric Sper will never say that he is he willing to sacrifice some defense to get better on offense. We understand he will never admit that but would he know what I mean? Like I would love to ask that and get an honest answer. This one I have for Bam. Um oh sorry well this one I have about Bam. How do you view your responsibilities on the court for a team and do you think you need to be a number one scoring option even if you have to sacrifice a bit of what you do on the defensive end? Great question. Something similar here. Fans have expected more from Bameio despite all the ways he impacts winning. While you typically don’t like putting a ceiling on what a player is capable of, and I had to phrase it this way. I know it’s kind of fitting into what you’re saying as far as a preamble. I want to know what are your expectations for Bam because you almost have to caught him a little bit. You almost have to say, “Look, I know what Bam can do. I love Bam. Bam is great, but let’s be real here, Spo. What do you expect from him? Because that’s the whole thing. Like, I want to hear Eric Spolster give his thoughts, but I’m curious. That’s a great question, and I wonder what how Bam would respond to it if you were to ask a question like that. Because, um, for him, he’s going to say, uh, just compete. Uh, do what I can. I don’t think so. I think that’s what Spo says. I think Spo, we know what Bam’s all about. He’s respected in this locker room and across the league. We know that he’s our leader and we go blah blah blah blah blah. Could be. Bam would say I think I think Bam might say something like I’m looking forward to maybe stepping up offensively as a number one scoring option knowing what my role is on a nighttoight basis and the subtext there is obvious. I think that um really quick um I got um how many more questions do you have? Maybe we take a break and come back on the other side of it. But no, I think we just get one more each because we don’t want to give you quick. Uh just what do you expect from Terry Rosier? Like what is Terry Rosier on this team? Fair enough. And then uh for Nico, I just want to ask contract year. What are your goals? Did you feel like you took a leap in Serbia? Um what did you learn from Nikico Yic during that run? I I’m very interested to talk to Nico and we are uh prepared to talk to Nico. He is on our list of guys that we plan to talk to. So hopefully we will get a chance to ask him that.

Media day marks the dawn of a fresh chapter for the MIAMI HEAT.

Without Jimmy Butler, how will the team’s identity evolve? Wes Goldberg and David Ramil preview the upcoming event at Kaseya Center, discussing potential lineup changes due to Tyler Herro’s injury and Bam Adebayo’s expanding role. The hosts analyze the HEAT’s offensive strategy, exploring ways to boost their bottom-10 ranking and compete for championships. With a roster brimming with young, first-round talent, is this the beginning of another golden age for Miami basketball? Tune in for exclusive insights on the HEAT’s path forward and burning questions for Coach Spoelstra and the players.

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