Do the Miami Heat need a traditional No. 1 option? | Five on the Floor

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Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. All right, welcome back to five on the floor. Here’s today’s floor plan. I’m Ethan Skolnick and follow me at Ethan J Skolick again at Five Reason Sports. I’ll be joined here shortly by EternalBast. And I am joined here by Eternal Bass. You can find him at Eternalbast on Twitter and other platforms. You can also find him on Playback, playback.tvrsn. Catch us every single game there. Uh Adele, Ben, Ray, Matt, the rest of the crew. Also, we ask you uh to check out Novig. That’s something that we’ve been promoting recently. I’ll be putting that on our social media and everywhere else. That’s another way to play the games uh without the VIG. So, if you play that other one, the one that’s based here in Hollywood, Florida, you got to pay VIG. Here, you do not. So, it’s definitely alternative that you should be checking out. Uh today’s floor plan, we’re going to take a look at um something that’s been conventional wisdom. And the conventional wisdom has been that in the NBA to win a championship, you need a true number one option. And because of that conventional wisdom, every time we talk about transactions and every time that we see transactions being put in the trade machine on social media and elsewhere, it’s about getting a number one guy. And we’ve talked about it in these terms too on this network that guys like Bam and Tyler were not really number ones. that Jimmy rose to be a number one in the postseason even if he wasn’t really one all the time in the regular season and that if you’re going to go anywhere again to get to a finals or beyond you need that guy and one of the reasons that this is a complicated argument is because you have to decide what that guy is and I it was always sort of told to me by people around the NBA that there were only about eight to 10 players in the league that really could be the number one on a champion and for years and years and years it was let’s let’s take a look at when you had Shaq, you had Kobe, you had Duncan, right? Prior to that, you had Jordan. Obviously, Jordan was the ultimate number one. Uh you had LeBron, right? Uh then in this era, you you look at uh Giannis, Durant, Curry, later Joic, Sheay, um Luca possibly, right? There there’s a very short list of names. And then of course, Dallas decided to trade that guy. Uh but that you’re never really getting to more than 10. And really, if you look at the last 25, 30 years, there’s only been so many players who’ve won championships as a number one option. Dwayne did it in ‘ 06. I was about to say I I was wondering how long you going to go before Michigan. Well, he he did he did in ‘ 06 and and he probably could have in 08 and 09. uh 09 and he should have done it 2011 11 in in 11 although he had the ultimate kind of co- number one there even though LeBron didn’t play like it but there were only so many guys that could have done this and in the league right now you can argue top of your head Giannis Joic Shay how how deep are we going Kawhai when he’s playing and at his test. I mean, obviously you got to mention why, you know, what he did in Toronto. I mean, and and well, we’re waiting to see if Anne can, right? But, but the talent is there. Um, and then there’s others who are emerging as that type of player. Is Cade that type of player? Kade Cunningham in in Detroit? We’ll see. He’s certainly on the upswing. Um, I don’t think that guys like who’ve been number ones on their teams like say a Trey Young, uh, a Zack Lavine, those are not number ones that can lead you to a championship. I think most conventional wisdom would argue that. Paul George may have been for a brief period of time. It never happened, but he was a number one that led a team to a conference finals a couple of times. Uh, Jason Tatum, I guess you have to give him credit for that, although he’s had a number two in Jaylen Brown, who ended up winning finals MVP. Yes. Do you do you have say or you just you’re just pointing? I I was gonna say Tatum obviously was responsible, right? But I do think um which flows into our topic. Um Jaylen Brown and Derek White that postseason run were super super responsible for Wild and Jaylen won Jaylen won finals MVP, but but He winers MVP, but he also won Eastern Conference Final MVP. He did. Would Would most would most Celtics fans say that Tatum was still the number one on that team though? I would have to talk to him to find out. I think they would. I think they might be wrong, but I think they would. I I I think I think that’s the way. Okay, let me ask you this. Is Jaylen Brunson a number one on a championship team? The argument is made that he’s not because nobody of his size has won since Isaiah. I don’t I don’t think so. Okay. So, the reason I’m I’m doing that at this top here, okay, as I flail my arms, the reason that I’m doing that at the top is to indicate is and say essentially indicate that there aren’t that many of those guys out there, right? Like that. So, when we always talk about the Heat have to get one of those guys, you’re not talking about 25 30 guys to choose from. You’re talking about eight 10 at the most. Um, I mean, three of the guys we’ve talked about, LeBron, Curry, and Durant, are past their prime, right? I mean, all three of them are past their prime. Not maybe not by significant amounts, but they’re past their prime. Can you can you win a championship with any of them as your number one right now? I mean, Braun’s not the number one on his team, right? I mean, offensively, um, Curry is the number one on his team. Sorry to the Jimmy Butler enthusiasts, but can you win a championship now with Steph as the number one? They did not that long ago. Um, I don’t think, right? He’s has trouble staying healthy. We know that. Can you win can you win one with Durant as your number one? I guess Houston’s going to find out, right? But is Durant even their best player right now? I think Sang is is their best player. Okay. So, right. And you’re not getting him. And and then there’s the other part of this and then we’ll pivot it back to the Heat. Who was Indiana’s number one last year? See, you’re you’re bleeding into what I was going to talk about, but go ahead. Um, now we’ll save it until you you know you you pop I’m asking who was who was Indiana’s number one last year. So, I feel like offensively, um, their engine was, you know, Tyrese, right? But who they leaned on was Pascal. Mhm. And I think um because you had such a really really great offensive system, having somebody like Tyrese to run it very efficiently and having Pascal giving you big big big buckets and also being able to kind of settle the team um was super important. And also too, like they just had a bunch of shooters and glue guys that made the hustle plays on both ends um of the floor and just being able to kind of wear teams down with their pace. Um but when it came down to it, they had multiple options that could close as far as buckets that they needed. You know, obviously Tyrese probably had some of the greatest game-winning shots we have seen in the history of the league, you know. Um, but Nehorn made a huge shot. Exactly. Again, right knee. Smith made huge shots. I mean, Miles Turn couldn’t grab a rebound in the playoffs in the finals. But I as as I’m looking at at their team though, I’m saying, okay, you took out Hallebertton this year. Turner’s gone. The bottom’s falling out. they can’t win a game, let alone contend for a championship. Um, and it does tell you that Tyrese was in a way their number one because without him it has fallen apart. I I think more so than the Turner part of it. The But I think that’s hard to to quantify because they’re so hurt. Well, not that I’m saying in the and I think he was the driver. It’s different when it’s the point guard. Like if you’re saying like if it’s somebody that’s a shooting guard wing wing type player or post player, how you define that number one is different from how somebody like this was Kyrie Irving in your view. Was Kyrie Irving a true number one? Was he was he I guess there’s a conversation we have about Harden too, right? Was was you know my feelings about Harden, but like was Kyrie a true number one at any point? Like they don’t win that championship in 2016 in Cleveland without him, right? made the biggest shot. LeBron was still LeBron though. That was still in the in that was still in the time frame of peak LeBron. So, was Kyrie I this is where again because Heat fans are always looking for that name guy because they think that guy is going to be the number one. And on the other side is we will talk about the Heat specifically and I’m curious you know if would Kyrie Irving be the Heat’s number one option right now. I mean, obviously not because he’s re he’s healing from an injury, but I’m saying if he came back from surgery as the Kyrie that he has he’s been the last two years, not not five, six years ago, would he be the Heat’s number one option? Number one scoring option. Yes. Okay. Okay. And it’s a fair conversation. I I would argue that they get more efficiency from somebody else right now. And you might actually argue it either, but you also because I know how you feel about Norm. But we’ll we’ll we’ll get to that on the other side. I just the overall point I’m trying to make here and then I want to I want to deep dive in the heat is that there aren’t that many of these guys. Indiana did it without somebody who would traditionally be called one of those guys. By the way, halfway through last year, Hallebertton was considered to be having a down year. Okay? Like he came out he came out he did not play well coming out of the Olympics. We know he didn’t play very much in the Olympics. We know that was a source of he was being like mocked in on social media about you know essentially being the water boy in the Olympics. and then he came out did not play particularly well the first two months of the season. Uh but they found a system that fit and the Heat talked a lot this preseason about modeling themselves on Indiana and I actually think they’re doing it better. Um and I I actually think they might have more overall talent which is another conversation we can get into here. So let’s get into that on the other side. I want us to talk specifically about the Heat and kind of where uh where this fits with them. Do they need a true number one? Um, does does anybody uh in this day and age um and again if you don’t have Shay or Joic or Giannis, what are we really talking about? Do you have a guy that could compete with those guys? Anyway, uh I do want to tell you about a great sponsor, the Five Reason Sports Network. If you get a car accident, reach out to our friends at 305800 PAIN. The phone number is the brand, 305800 PIN. They’re based in Dorado. They speak Spanish as well. And so if you have an issue in either language, they can communicate with you. They’ll get you to the right attorney to take care of your problem. slip and falls as well, but car accidents and again they have uh they have everybody on hand right there 24/7 to take care of you. So take the phone number with you. Don’t forget it. It’s 305800 PAIN 305800 PAIN. Our friends based in Dural. They do a great job for people making sure that they get what they deserve after something terrible happens to them. Okay, so let’s look at the Heat. All right, the Heat currently have eight. Well, they actually have nine double figure scores because Tyler came back with 24 points, but somebody’s going to drop out of that. Um, probably Fonteo. Uh, as the minutes start to drop and maybe they’ll end up with six double figure scorers. Who knows? Um, but they’ve had different guys take over at different times this season. We’ve seen obviously Norm has been the most consistent, the most impactful, fastest to his point total in the Miami Heat history. Only he would be right now if his season ended, which it hasn’t. and we’ll see if his scoring average dips with Tyler back, but he would be only the third player in Heat history to average 25. The other two were LeBron and Dwayne. U he has been lethal in isolation, which I don’t think is something that we expected. He’s second in the league behind Sheay in terms of points per position. Okay, possession. Okay, Eternal was right. I don’t think you had him second in the league behind Shay, right? You did not have him second. Thank you. Catch and shoots. If you wanted to say he’d be top 10 in catch and shoots, I think that you could claim that one, as could a lot of people, but I don’t necessarily think anybody thought he was going to be second in points per possession on isolations. Okay, so he’s been tremendous. Hawkins has been tremendous. Uh, six man of the year candidate. He’s starting to push up in a lot of the books. He’s now the favorite. Uh, again, I do think his role changes a little bit with Tyler back. We’re going to see how all that works, but he’s been terrific. They’ve been able to go to him during pockets of the game to close games. He’s been a number one option at times during the game. Not for the whole game, but at times during the game. His numbers uh in terms of postups, mid-range are terrific. Uh he’s he’s basic he’s getting to the line at a high rate. Like that is what a number one option does. I’m not saying he’s he’s not scoring 28. Uh but that’s what he does. Uh Bam Adabio has never proven to be a number one offensive option, but there are pockets of the game where they can go to him to get those points. And when he’s feeling it, whether it’s from mid-range or what I prefer, putting the ball in the deck, okay, and getting to the basket, he can get you 25, okay, at times. All right, and especially when it keeps the shot attempts up. Tyler last year was the Heat’s number one option fairly efficiently, the statistics say. Okay, didn’t lead to great success, but he’s he was their number one option last year. And then Kell Wear lately for pockets of the game just from a rebounding presence and and sort of taking over in that way has done some number one option type things. He’ll get into the game and when he’s into it and this is this was going to be our other topic today and he’s grabbing rebounds and then all of a sudden he’s he’s stepping back for threes. Okay. And I’m going no no no no. And then it goes in like he has shown signs that he he could be a number one option someday maybe. So we’re talking about a bunch of guys. Do they need to go get a guy? Cuz we’ve always said Hero and Bam were misplaced. They’re not numbers. They’re number two and number three. They needed a one. Do they need a one still or is a normal one? So, I’m glad that you we’ve gotten to this part of the conversation because how I thought about it, especially, you know, um when you and I talked before the season about this team and you know, when we looked at the schedule and everybody was all doom and gloom and you know, everything like that, you included. Um, and I was like, you know, you asked what the word for the season would be, and then I said heart. And because of the schedule, you would see what kind of heart the team had. Uh, we’ve heard they’ve been forced to hang out with each other. You can see like how much light and warmth is um in their locker room um with the way they are around each other, the way they pull for each other, the way they support each other. It doesn’t matter who’s got it going and who doesn’t. They’re always picking each other up. We’ve heard Norm talk about how he encourages Nico when Nico had his big game, how he encourages Khalil. We heard Anthony, you know, Anthony talked about um when he was interviewing Khalil um postgame on Sunday and you can hear Norm in the background say we, you know, that’s not it. Like that’s we expect more from him and you see them pushing each other. Um, and even Tyler, give credit to what credit is due. Um, even after last night, he was like, you know, it doesn’t matter if I score two points the next game. Like, everybody is focused on winning. Um, and you can just tell and I think, um, the biggest thing for this team as we ask, you know, if they need a number one, uh, is guys making consistent winning plays on both ends. I think with the offense that you what they have, which we know we shared on off the floor, uh great video breaking down um just their catch and go and everybody being a threat like they’ve talked about and how they manipulate the defense to kind of bend to their wheel and everybody being u a threat from you know catching and going on all sides of the court. Um it puts a constant pressure on the offense and also the way that they are able I mean on the defense excuse me to push the pace whether in transition or in the half court. Ethan they come into this they come in tomorrow um being a top 10 uh half court offense and defense along with transition along with defending the three even though they give up like they’re good in so many different metrics. Um, and it’s kind of similar to what you saw from, as we talk about them, Indiana in in the playoffs, right? Like I think Indiana, if I remember correctly, it was like December on, they became like one of the best defenses in the league. Yeah. Um, along with their offense. And so when when I hear Miami say like they wanted to copy Indiana, it was just like having somebody and we again I keep banging the table for this guy. DaVon Mitchell, you cannot run this offense if you had somebody that was super high turnover prone. Right. Right. Or somebody that wasn’t a great point of attack defender. They’re able to get out in transition and do all these things because DaVon doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, you know. But but but let me let me pivot you here a little bit because I you know I I I’m with you on all this stuff and obviously Dave Davon’s been great. We probably need to do full episodes on DaVon because I don’t think we’ve given him quite enough credit on the network and and he likely is going to remain a starter and he deserves to remain a starter if that’s the case. But we get back to this basic point, okay? That all that that the conventional wisdom in the NBA is that you need that guy. You need that guy. You need that guy that you can throw the ball to in a playoff situation. Okay? Whether it was Shaq drawing a double, whether it was Kobe in isolation, okay, whether it was, you know, Dwayne attacking, whether it was Braun, Giannis, whatever, you need Durant, you need that guy. And I I think the only skepticism that people are going to have of this team, and this is also the question of do you move assets to try to get this guy when there aren’t that many of these guys, okay, out there, firstly, they don’t not many of them exist, but then the ones that exist may not be available to you. Do they have are you confident that if they get in a playoff situation and for all the chemistry and all the great stuff and the heart and everything else that they’re doing and the way that they’re playing for each other and I love watching them play, but ultimately it comes down to can you get an effing bucket? Okay, in this situation just like can you get a stop? We know Bam can get them a stop. Who are the are you confident right now that the guy they can go to to get a bucket in that situation when [ __ ] slows down, which it’s going to somewhat. Okay. Indiana Dukon didn’t play at this pace the entire postseason. They they were able to in in in more games than I expected, but not all the way through. OKC did slow them down because OKC is tremendous defensively and yet Indiana still had a chance to win that thing. Sped them up even they did speed them up and they had a chance to win that thing and if Hallebertton doesn’t tear the Achilles they they were leading in that game. Okay. So they they were even leading after he went out. But are you confident that they can throw the ball to Norm Tyler Bam Wiggins Hakez? I there’s a lot of guys. Okay, that’s that’s the good thing here. There’s a lot of places they can go to get a bucket. Can this this guy go let’s I’m going to use a term band for band with Cade with Giannis with Jokic with with Shay. Do they have that guy? I think they need that guy. I think the thing with this team is the margins, right? Like them winning the hustle plays. Give yourself a chance. Like, you know, like last year their their their um Jesus, I’m going blank. Their um error was very very small last year, right? Like because they weren’t doing all the other things to win the game. Miami is doing all of the other things to win the game, right? Like we’ve seen teams um that they faced so far go on runs and then Miami snuffs it and then they go on go on a run. They’re hustling for I haven’t seen it in the postseason when it changes. So I’m going to press you on this question. I’m going to get an answer for you to put you on the record here. You ready? And I I’ll answer it too. I’m going to put you on the record here. Okay. Can they win a champ? Not winning a championship. Nobody’s beating. Okay. So can they get deep into the playoffs? I’ll help you out. Can Can they Can they get to a conference finals? Okay. Can they get to a conference final with Norm Powell as their go-to guy? I think, man, listen, dude is playing unbelievable. And we’ve seen him in different situations, whether it’s off the catch, whether it’s like he’s diving, where he’s cutting, whatever it is, he does not give a [ __ ] who’s in front of him. He is going to score. It’s like at some point, you have to respect that. I think people came into the season thinking Norm’s success was largely due to James Harden and Kawhai the last couple of seasons. I didn’t only because Norm was their best clutch player last year. But but but a lot but a lot of Clippers fans a lot of Clippers fans were kind of out on him during the postseason. He was coming back from injury and they thought in the playoffs he was too small that that they he couldn’t get but I I think he wasn’t healthy. I if you if you I went back and watched some of that. So I I get and look, the Clippers thought so. The Clippers thought so. I mean, the Clippers the Clippers decided to trade him for John Collins, who now they’re trying to trade again. Every team that gets John Collins wants to move him. They were trying to trade him again. They’re trying to trade him again. And so they could clear space for Bradley Beal, who was objectively, forget the contract, one of the worst regulars in the league this year before he got hurt. Okay? They didn’t believe in Norm Powell. So now we’re at a point where yes, we believe in Nor Powell, but do we believe in Norm Powell to the extent that if that’s their guy to go get a bucket from? Because I know you don’t believe that Tyler’s that guy, right? Is that fair? I don’t. Can they be that guy together? I think Bam’s not that guy. We know that. Not offensive. Whoa. Bam has Bam. Not offensive. I’m not I’m not going I love Bam. I think he’s worth the money. You know how I feel about Bam. He’s the best defensive player in the NBA. We are We are nine years into this. I am not going to bank on them going to him possession after possession after possession to go banan forban with Giannis. It’s not happening. Okay, let’s just He might He’ll restrict Yiannis. He’ll make it harder for Giannis, but I’m not going. We’re in year nine, man. Like, fool me the first day, not nine. Before you try to put words in my mouth or create a narrative, here’s what I will say for all of you out there that doubt Bam scoring prowess. He is not going to be a 40point all this [ __ ] here. But saying that Bam doesn’t get clutch buckets is he does. He does. He does. He does. But I’m saying there’s one thing about getting clutch buckets again. Andrew Nehard had clutch buckets last year. Okay. Bam. Bam scored 32 in Boston. I get it. He has I’m not saying he’s I’m not saying he’s incapable of doing it at times. I’m saying I’m not going to be fooled by the premise that you’re going to go to him possession. They forget about him too much. They still they still do. Okay. But I’m okay with it because the way that the offense is flowing, they forget about him too much. He doesn’t assert himself enough in those situations. He can do it. He has done it. He’s not going to do it game after game after game in a series. We know that. Can Norm. Can Tyler Bam is a Wiggins isn’t either, by the way. I’m not just talking about Bam. There’s there’s times that Wiggins, I think, they can go to him in those situations. He’s been tremendously clutch for them this season, right? I think Hakez can do. Hake has done some of it this year. I’m just saying I’m not going to bank on Bam to be that guy who again you’re you’re you know fourth quarter possession. He’s not Jimmy. Okay. And and you know my feelings about Jimmy, but he’s not he’s never going to be that in a playoff series. Can we agree on that? At least what we’re talking about is in the concept and structure of this team if you have like we just saw it the other night, right? Like no one went off for nine straight points and then Bam responded went off for like something similar. That’s what I’m saying. Like having a collaboration. Yes. Because we’ve seen that. I mean we also too we’ve seen BAM be a number one option in the finals when Jimmy didn’t have it going. Yes. Right. Like he was the only one that had it going. So like it didn’t it didn’t lead them any it didn’t lead them anywhere. But that wasn’t his fault. That wasn’t his fault. He was the he was the only guy who played well in that series honestly. And that’s what I’m saying is like when we’re talking about the makeup of the team like you and I’ve hear I’m hearing it too often like respect needs to be put on Bam and what he does in the playoffs besides just his his defense. Yeah. He’s a great player. He’s a great He’s a great player. But I’m again I’m saying Jiannis is they echo they echo no they they take what they want from me is what they take and that’s why they think I’m on both sides of every player on this roster. The whole reason why we doing this pod, right? to answer your question, I think that Miami can be uh the sum of their parts basically is what we’re talking about, right? Like having guys who have their specific roles, right? Like uh DaVon being being the driver of the offense, um Norm being the closer, Tyler being the relief buckets, Bam doing the the closing on both ends. like they they have Wiggins, Wiggins, Hawkins, and then what you get from the role guys like Larson, Drew, etc. Okay, I’m going to throw another question at you and then we’re going to close this thing up because I think it’s a good debate we should leave kind of open-ended, but this is one of the reasons because I kind of agree with you about some of this stuff even though I’m not going to acknowledge it. uh is one of the reasons why I’m not in a hurry to trade some of these guys in a consolidation trade for a slight upgrade to their number one spot. To me, the only thing that is worth it is Giannis or Ant. That’s it. I The other names that people are throwing at me, LaMelo, Zion, uh uh J Trey, any of them. No. But I’ll say this, okay? sometimes getting the right guy in the right position. I think what’s going on in Toronto right now is very similar to what’s going on in Miami. Brandon Ingram has found a home. Okay, he’s found a home and they they’ve made him their number one option and he’s thriving. Okay, that was not going to happen in New Orleans. Some of it was injuries, some of it was playing with Zion, some of it was just it didn’t seem like he got along with the coach very well. He’s doing that. Norm is doing the same thing in Miami. Can Norm Powell because we we agree that Hallebertton was the driver of their offense, but Seakum’s the one they went I know Hallebertton hit the big big shots at the end, but you and I agree on this. Seakkum was the guy that got them through those games. Yes. Oh yeah. Is Norm as good a scorer or better than Seakkum? Man, if he I will say this, all his metrics I mean literally if any of y’all doubting, you can go look it up. All of his metrics are ridiculous. Yes. Um for the month of November and if he continues playing like this all season, I don’t think it’s crazy to be like Yeah. If as long as norm like when we talk about norm number number one options and I want to touch on the air make it quick is we talk about number one options most times we’re thinking of people that like on both ends of the court right like how big of their impact right guys shouldering the load and think like when you talk about Giannis you talk about Shay you talk about Joic and even Kawhai and everything like that like you can have a great team around you LeBron and Cleveland especially LeBron and Cleveland but shouldering the mode of everything is different. Now, if Miami um continues playing so great, and I’m and I thought about this when you talked about the topic, if their bench keeps being one of the highest scoring benches in the league and especially defensively, like you’re going from DaVon to Drew, uh Pella off the bench potentially, like if they keep Kh in the starting lineup, Wiggins off the bench, like there’s different ways you can go about it. Um, but I I do think they get anything if they get anything at all from our guy Yo Yovic too. That’s the other thing. Listen, which we’re not even accounting for. Yeah, that’s another thing. Like they they are deep. They are they’re deep, but they’re also crowded at certain positions and also weaker at other positions. Thank god that you know Kashad and again I’ve said this before uh Spo said this growth is not linear. All right, there’s going to be ups and downs. You saw with how many last year you saw with I mean y’all started the season off with Kh being up down. Nico was up down. He had the highest scoring game and best career game of his you know career and then you know struggle some more. So like the team is young. The team is still young. Your oldest players on the team is Norman Pal at 32 and Andrew Wiggins. And I’m older than both of them at 34. I’m almost twice as old. Okay. We we have to close we have to close this up. Okay, I’ll just leave people with this as we go. All right, I think you can make an argument that the Heat’s current roster and what we’ve seen from some of these players so far is superior to what Indiana took to the finals last year. And and I think I’m going to leave it. I don’t want you commenting on it. We can put this on off the floor. Everybody subscribe, okay? And then sign up for Novig and prize picks and everything else we we ask you to so we can keep the content coming. I I think if you look at the totality of the rosters, okay, and the upside of some of the players and what has happened to Indiana this year, I think you can make an argument that the Heat have higher upside talent than Indiana went to the finals with last year. I’m going to leave it there. Okay, do the sideby-sides because I started to do it a little bit this morning. You have to get the best out of some of these heat guys. They have to get continued growth. But what we’ve seen from Wear over the past two weeks, what we’ve seen from Hawkins since the and Larson from the offseason, what we’ve seen from Drew, stepping back, I’m not letting you answer. We got to go. Everybody else can jump in on this in the comments off the floor. I said I had to be out in 22 minutes and it’s 32. Thanks, Eternal. Follow him at EternalBass. I’m cutting you off in the middle. I know this is why you guys come. We should play the curb your enthusiasm theme song. Okay, we got Lar We got Larry and Leon here. Have a good one everybody.

It’s been the consensus for decades, that NBA teams need a true No.1 player, even if there are only few in the league at a time. Is it still true? And can any of the Heat’s current players rise to that level, as Jimmy Butler once did when it mattered? Ethan Skolnick and Eternal Bast debate.

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26 comments
  1. Heat roster is better than Indiana….but Indiana got hot and had a great PG to make everything click….we can do the same if we playing like we did in November in may and June

  2. If we can get consistent scoring from Herro and Powell, the bench continues to play as well as they have been, and the team stays locked in defensively, I don't think you need a "#1"… to bring in a "superstar" how many people do you have to trade? Then all of a sudden your team isn't as good as it was… but you'll sell more jerseys I supposed. This new CBA is forcing teams to build from within or be super top heavy. Miami is in the sweet spot right now. Maybe, maybe you make a move to get another good role player (maybe someone to help with quality defense and rebounding). For now, Miami should be patient and really see what they have. Very early.

  3. I love how everyone forgets about the 2004 Pistons in these conversations. They definitely didn’t have a “go-to” scorer.

    Herro, Powell, & Ware can scorer easier than any of the Pistons & as much as the Pacers

  4. Management make the big bucks,acquire the talent,the Lakers and Houston did it,like it or not,so the Heat got to make it happen,as far as upgrading the roster, so the Heat can compete for a championship,instead of embracing a C+ grade team and setting for mediocrity,Go Heat.

  5. This argument is silly. SGA is a #1, but no one was saying that when he was traded to OKC. The list of #1's change every 4-5 years. LeBron, Steph, and Durant are past their prime. The only #1's right now is Tatum, SGA, and Jokic. The last 3 champs – full stop.

  6. obviously they don't need to fit into your box based on numbers someone put together.they just started playing together under a new system that's more efficient for who they have. we're fine.
    Powell is more than a number 1 than Jimmy was so far, he's a little more aggressive and with him, Tyler is also a 1 (and also crediting Tyler's trajectory), not many come back 1st game shooting almost 70% from the field 24 points (no 3's attempted) with 7 rebounds their first game?.. That was a sample of his mid range / floater game ascending into mastery… This is basketball, you have to look at the game and the team as a whole… You need a strong bench more than anything, we saw what happened last year with the Knicks… and with Powell and Herro we have a scorer and a guy who can create for himself and others at all times.
    This is a team game and we have more ascending players with an increasing role that make the Heat a strong team.

  7. you're missing that those guys weren't those guys until they were those guys.
    We have guys that are rising to the occasion to have what it takes to win, We don't need a number traditional definitive 1… We're closer to a Pacers who could do it than anyone else. Miami is showing their version of that at least right now. And don't sleep on Ware why everyone is thinking about Powell and Herro… And we still have a seasoned vet in Bam who's due to show his next jump… I think the ascending players around Bam will raise him to the next level for him, he's 3 ball is already a lot better and that doesn't hurt in this attack and dish offense… Davion is that dude.
    We have multiple guys we can go to in different times, stop trying to force something of an outdated blueprint. They are the second highest scoring team in the league we have different people we can go to at any point. Think about the Pacers and we have more than that. We can go to either of those guys obviously… annoying to hear you harp on a by product of different styles. this style is best for who they have and don't need to mess it up.

  8. It would not be worth trading for one of the guys you guys have in mind. All high usage guys that would either change our team fundamentally, or force said star to play fundamentally different than they do.

    I would use this year to find out. I don’t think we need anything that desperately.

    But the one example of what would work better for us is how Denver has Jamal Murray specifically to hit shots in crunch time, while not being the offenses engine or needing to dominate the ball. If we could find someone like that, it’d be better for us than selling the farm for Giannis or whoever.

  9. Why talk trades when the team is doing good so far if it falls apart I understand but damn cmon now but with that being said the only person I’m willing to trade rn is Niko lol

  10. Indiana proved the concept they beat OKC if Hali didn’t get hurt … secondly the 2014 spurs did not have a “guy” no one even knew who Kwai was that wasn’t the Kwai in Toronto and Tim Duncan wasn’t even averaging 20 points at that time his career

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