CONTENDERS: Are Miami Heat for REAL? Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo IMPRESS in NBA’s Toughest Start

CONTENDERS: Are Miami Heat for REAL? Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo IMPRESS in NBA’s Toughest Start

Heat her 21 games into the regular season schedule. That’s Pat Riley’s benchmark to evaluate what this team really is. So, will be doing the same. Is Miami really good enough to contend this season? I guess that’s what we’ll find out. You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat, part of the Locked On podcast network, now the number one sports podcast network. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks so much for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Join the Cookie Gang and become an everydayer. That means subscribing, tuning in every day, Monday through Friday, and signing up for the Lockdown Heat text line with the link in the show notes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real GM radio. I’m here with David Romel. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. Jam-packed show for you today, and we really mean it. We are through the first 21 games of the season, about the first quarter of the season. We’ll hand out some first quarter awards here in a second, and then ask some of the biggest remaining questions after these first 21 games. But David, I want to go back to something that we talked about before the start of the season. We looked ahead at the schedule and how tough it is and we said m maybe maybe seven and 14 through the first 21 games. And that said more about the schedule than it did this Miami Heat team. Even though we did have our questions about this Heat roster, especially after Tyler Herro uh underwent some offseason surgery. Well, we said seven and 14 possibly best case scenario. Turns out they’re 14 and seven. Slightly and it isn’t one of those situations where you look at the schedule and you’re like, “Wow, that’s a tough schedule.” And then it’s not as hard. Nope. It’s been harder than we thought. The Heat have played the third hardest schedule in the league so far according to strength of schedule. They’re 14-7. They’ve done it without Tyler Herro for the first 17 games. They’re 14-7. They’ve missed Bam out of Bio Nororm Powell for several games. They’re 14-7. They’re introducing a new offensive system unlike anything this team in this franchise has ever played. They’re 14-7. You mentioned this in the cold open. David Pat Riley likes to take these first 20-ish games and use it as a benchmark. We’re through the first quarter of the season. What should he be thinking about this team right now? An interesting question. I I think you look at this team and ultimately what this franchise wants is to contend for a title. So I think assessing this roster and what they’re capable of. My thought process is you and I were optimistic about this group. I think the front office was optimistic about this group. But now that they’ve seen what the product has actually been, I think there’s reason to believe that they’re even more optimistic. This isn’t reporting or anything like that, but my feeling is that their 14-7 record shows this front office that this was a much better group than previously had anticipated because and I think it it’s all about how to and I think Eric Spolster has talked about I think even LeBron James recently spoke about it tailoring the offense and the way that this team runs their their offense based on the personnel that they’ve incorporated that that they’ve assembled here. And that being the case, they knew the pieces were there, but I don’t think anybody predicted to this level that they would be as good once you put them all together. The sum has been so much better than the the sum of its parts or whatever. Uh, whatever the expression is, they’ve been really good and and exceeded expectations. And so when Pat Riley is looking at this group, I think the idea is whether or not he has to make this group better or whether or not he can afford to stand Pat because ultimately a title is what’s going to define success for this franchise. It’s not going to be anything short. And you kind of I I was thinking about this even before we started recording. In a way, although Miami had incredible success, two runs to the finals, great playoff runs during the Jerry Butler iteration of this team, this in a way almost feels more sustainable, like it’s been built a little bit even more holistically than that previous team. Because I’ve talked about it before in 2019 when Jimmy Butler was uh brought onto this team, it was similar in the degree that nobody expected that group to be any good either. A lot of people dismissed Jimmy Butler going there. is coming to Southeast to retire, etc., etc. The the move was widely panned and Philadelphia was graded more highly by many media pundits for getting the better end of the deal than what Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler was labeled a mal content. He was a little bit older. Maybe he wouldn’t necessarily be any good in Miami. It didn’t seem like it made a lot of sense. And then he joins his team and of course they wind up having two runs to the finals as I said before. But one of the things that always struck me about that group in 2019 is that they’ve always been operating on two separate timelines. in terms of having achieved far more success a lot more quickly than even the front office expected them to. This feels a little different. This is a group that’s been put together and works better, is more balanced, not just on paper, but on the floor itself, and you’ve got a little bit of everything. And to me, I don’t think there’s any obvious weakness. So when you’re looking at this group and determining whether or not you’re actually building a contender, I think Pat Riley is looking at what this group really needs and helping them to get to that next level because I I think again having exceeded expectations and the way that this group works together, they’re not reliant on any one player the way that past group was on Jimmy Butler to have that kind of postseason explosion that he did. This is more, like I said, organically balanced. It’s more egalitarian the way they do and I think poised for more success. That’s a strong statement. Those Jimmy Butler heat never won a championship, but they were in two NBA finals. They’ve they won two Eastern Conference titles. That That’s a pretty But there was always something missing. There was always something missing. It was like, “Oh, they’re a superstar.” To your point, it never it never felt like they were all the way in on any individual year of the Jimmy Butler era, and they just sort of found their way in the NBA finals, whether it was in 2020 or 2023. The only year they were fully allin was in 2022. And I still think that that’s the best heat team, despite the fact that they didn’t make the finals, the best Jimmy Butler era heat team, right? Um you you said there’s no weakness. And I mean, this is a team that’s fourth right now in defensive rating. Offensively, they’re starting to climb up a little bit more in terms of efficiency. We know how many points that they could score with their break neck pace that they’re playing at, but there is obviously room for improvement offensively. And I think Tyler Herro is going to be helping that. OB, it already is helping that. And I know this is not what you meant, but the obvious thing that this team needs is that superstar player, right? Like it’s really cool that we’re doing this everybody eats thing right now, but if you really want to win at a high level in the NBA, you got to have a guy. Like I still don’t see the team that’s ever won at a high level without a guy. And especially recently, like even if you want to point to the Pacers last year, Hallebertton I think was a top 10 player in the league last year. And I No, no, he struggled mightily. Like they were bad last year. They struggled. Yeah, the Pacers were bad last year, but it also The Pacers team that was in the NBA finals was bad last year. They were bad during the regular season. He was bad during the regular season. the start of the regular season and then at the end they figured it out and I think by the playoffs that guy was one of the best 10 players on the planet. No. Well, if you’re looking at it through that. Yeah. But I mean again, isn’t that what Jimmy Butler was? Like in the argument, but that’s my point is who on this roster can reach that kind of level. I don’t think there’s anybody. Okay. Okay. If you’re framing it that way that I get. All right. And then where would you put Hallebertton right now? Where where would you rank Hallebertton? Health. Assuming full health he comes back the way that he was. Where would you place him just among I top 15? Fair. Yeah, that seems right. Yeah, they have nobody even sniff in top 15 right now. And so I think there’s a level of guy that they need that they don’t have. Now that’s fine, right? We can have nice things. We don’t have to break them. It it’s it’s okay. This is, you know, we’re coming out of the Jimmy Butler era and and and we’re on our way to maybe finding that guy. But um if there’s another I I think this is the proof of concept that this thing works and if you’re able to go out and get that guy and place him on this roster and by the way other stars around the league looking at what’s going on right now in Miami be like I want to play there. I’ve always wanted to play there because it’s Miami and it’s the Heat and they have a track record for success but now this actually looks fun to play in. So now they have this all this new selling point there which I think is another thing. If I’m Pat Riley I’m looking at these first 21 games. I’m like oh there’s another way that we could sell stars on coming to Miami now that we’ve never had. We’ve never had this before. The closest we’ve ever had is when LeBron James was here. That’s the that’s the most fun we’ve ever had playing basketball and now we’re having that level of fun again. If I were going to poke holes in this first 21 games in terms of the is it real? Is it not real? I think it’s real, but if I’m going to poke a hole in it, they have been the beneficiary of some three-point shooting luck. Right now, Miami is fifth in three-point shooting percentage, which I think can be stable. They’re about 38%. That there’s good three-point shooters on this team. I think that’s mostly stable. They’re also first in opponent three-point shooting percentage, meaning opponents have shot the worst percentage against the Heat than they have any other team in the league this year. That’s not sustainable. Especially when you look at the fact that they’ve given up the most open threes in the league. And if I’m Eric Spolster, that’s the thing I’m going back on being like, this is the thing I don’t want to come to roost at any point this year. We got to tighten up our three-point shooting percent defense. Now, some of that is because of the pace. That’s why they’ve given up so many threes, but even as a percentage of like the share of shots that they’re giving up, that still has to come down a little bit. And you also are going to assume that the opponents that you’re playing are going to shoot the ball better at some point. But I also think think that we’ve seen this Heat team win in a lot of different ways, so I’m not overly concerned with that. David, okay, I mean, let’s move on. Uh, NBA first quarter awards. Who has been the Heat’s best offensive player and the best defensive player so far this season? We hand out some first quarter awards after this. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1984. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. 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No, I I you could you could make a case for Haime. Yep. Uh because he’s provided that burst and and Hero unfortunately has just missed too many games, but in in his return, he’s been excellent and I think he does deserve some consideration just because of how good he’s been, but he’s just missed far too much time. it is the one like he’s clearly been the the barometer for this team and he has helped carry this group and and you know what kind of tying it back to the first question or our first segment conversation is is Powell capable this version of Norm Powell kind of fully unlocked and enabled in the way he’s never been in any previous stop in his career can he be that guy because I don’t think anybody truly expected Jimmy Butler to reach even the heights that he had when he was here in Miami based on what we’ve seen from him in Minnesota or Philadelphia and even during during his sit in Chicago, but I don’t know that Norm has ever been that guy either. And I wonder whether or not you you see him as is he that guy who could have that potential to be one of the top and as you said made the comparison with Hallebert, can he be a top 15 player on the planet? We had a conversation a week or so ago of we’ve never seen anything like this. A guy at 31 and then 32 years old having his career best seasons back toback, right? Last year for him was a career best season at that point. Now he’s surpassing that this season. I don’t know the last time we’ve seen anything like this, right? And yet I just because of that because of the lack of precedent, I guess I I shouldn’t rule anything out at in on one hand and on the other hand I just I can’t predict. Look, he’s averaging 25 points per game. It would be the most a player has averaging a heat jersey since LeBron James left. That’s what Norm Powell is doing. It sounds like a lot of points. It is a lot of points. It’s not that many points in today’s NBA. Luca Donuch is leading the league at 35 points per game. 10 more points per game than Norm Pal. The way that the the tempo of the across the league right now 20 you there’s an inflation on points now 25 points per game is what 20 points per game used to be. We have five different players averaging more than 30 points and then two more three more players averaging 29 almost 30 points per game. I mean that’s the kind of player it takes. That’s the you kind of just need that one guy. Unless it’s again like a Hallebertton who is just off the charts in in the points that he creates because of of the playmaking part of it. The Heat don’t have that guy. They have this offense because they don’t have that guy, right? If they had that elite playmaker, they wouldn’t have to run this offense. But yeah, it is I I think defensively they’re really strong. offensively if Norm Pal is your best offensive player, but also you’ve got Tyler Hiro, but also you got Haime Hake Jr. and then Bam’s got the games where he could be super aggressive like he was against the Clippers and things like this. Andrew Wiggins certainly has his nights. It’s an everybody eats a gallantarian style offense and it’s a lot of fun to watch. But um in terms of any one of these guys kind of hitting that height, I don’t really see it for anybody that I think they could all take leaps, right? and we’ll see what that does. But in terms of hitting that sort of top 10ish player zone, I have a hard time seeing that. Yeah. No, it’s uh I I do too. Uh it just it doesn’t feel sustainable because we’ve never seen anything. But that’s the whole thing with with doing something innovative is that it doesn’t feel like it’s possible till you’re the first one to do it. So, you wonder whether or not Miami could somehow rewrite a script that seems like it’s been pretty stale over the last few years, not just in terms of what this team’s capable of, but even just expectations for uh, you know, it’s almost become so cliche that, you know, it’s a superstar driven league and everything else like that. And could Miami be the first team to potentially win or compete at such a high level without said superstar? I mean, the one benefit that they do have is playing in the Eastern Conference, right? Yeah. Uh we’ll touch on that here in a second, but Norm Powell gets the award for offensive player of the quarter for the Heat. The Heat are uh 9.6 points per 100 possessions better offensively with Norm Pow on the court. That is first on the Heat. His turnovers, he keeps them low. Free throw attempts are high. It’s a careerhigh for him. Miami as a team attempts more free throws when he’s on the court because of that. Um so he’s not only scoring a bunch of points, but he’s doing it efficiently and he’s doing it while limiting turnovers and keeping free throws. He’s kind of in some ways replaced Jimmy Butler in this offense in an offense that makes sense for somebody like Norm Pal. So, um that’s I mean that’s not an exaggeration. That’s how good he’s been for this team in the regular season. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he could hit those heights in the postseason, but who knows? Defensive player of the quarter has got to be Bam. Um he’s we pretty much saw the proof of this with Bam on the court. I think he’s having a defensive player of the year for the NBA caliber type of season so far. So certainly he’s been Miami’s best defender. Uh but we really saw this when he was out and how much they struggled. You know, I I I’m kind of thinking that Bam I don’t he has been phenomenal and I know that Miami definitely missed him when he was out, but I I also feel I don’t know, maybe I’m just not paying attention as closely, but it almost feels like he just hasn’t stood out in any way defensively aside from what we’re so used to. And that’s part of the knock on like the voting process is that we’re all kind of like, oh ho h, a guy who can guard one through five, no big deal. And so you kind of have just taken for granted what it is that Bam does defensively. And I feel like maybe I’m falling into that same trap because I think you can make an argument for DaVon Mitchell and I think you can make an argument for Khalil Wear too based on what we’ve seen for him as a rebounder and shot blocker. I I I I think the the answer the correct answer is still Bamit Bayio. I’ll be 100% honest with you. But I like what DaVon provides along the perimeter and I think what what Khalil has done at the rim certainly would make this at the halfway mark. I think it’ll be a much uh more nuanced conversation than just well Bam. Bam is Bam. By but I think by the halfway mark I think you’ll see other players step up to that point where they can help carry some of the load for for Bam so he doesn’t have to do as much. If we had a perimeter defender award of the quarter and a interior defender then it would be DaVon on the perimeter and Bam. Da’Von’s been awesome. He’ll come up later but um Bam opponents are averaging 10.2% 2% uh their offensive rebound percentage drops by 10.2% with BAM on the court. That’s one of the things the Heat cannot defensive rebound without Bam. Then they become the best defensive rebounding team in the league with Bam on the court. That is a crazy difference. A 10.2% difference is the difference between the worst and the best. I don’t that’s value. That’s ending defensive possessions. Um he has switched one through five. We’ve seen him just he is uh a parent that is taking away a grounded child’s toy. That’s what he is on every offensive possession. An offense comes down, they want to get into something, and Bam just takes it away. And he just does it over and over and over again. If you watch these games and you just see what the the opposing team wants to get into, Bam takes a right step in the right direction, reads it, he’s ahead of the play, and he’s like, “Nope, you’re not going to do that.” And then they’re forced to go into something else that they didn’t want to go to in the first place. So, he’s been phenomenal. My favorite BAM stat of all. Yeah, he’s only averaging 1.3 personal fouls per game as a center being asked to do all the things that he’s doing. He’s not fouling. He’s defending everybody at an elite level and he’s not sending anybody to the free throw line. That’s how it’s done. Jiren Jackson Jr., this is how you don’t have to foul to be elite defensively. Bam is the best in the league at that specific thing. He’s better at Wimyama. He’s better than Cadet. He’s better than Jackson. He’s better than Mobly at defending at a top 1% level while never fouling. I feel like that almost shifted last year after he came off of that Olympic run and started getting a little bit more superstar recognition. And there’s nothing to actually I think support that other than just my own uh I I witness account, but it felt like he was avoiding a lot of the same things that had happened early in his career where still allowing him to be extremely physical. But even early in his career, there were games, and I’m probably jinxing him even as I’m saying this, so apologies in advance, Bam. There were games where he would rack up two, three fouls in the first quarter or so, the first half certainly, and then it’s like, oh, Bibio’s in foul trouble. I don’t think we’ve seen that from him over the last year and a half. Like it it just feels like he’s he’s not getting called as much. So I wonder how much of it is the referees. This might be just my opinion. The referee more respect. Maybe a little star whistle. Respect. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And uh versus, you know, him actually improving and avoiding any kind of foul contact because um yeah, it it doesn’t feel I think it’s both. I think it’s both and good, right? Like you need a little bit of respect from the officials. That’s that’s that’s how the stars do it. He doesn’t really get that star kind of treatment offensively, but maybe he gets it a little bit defensively. Maybe it’s 10% of it. Let’s blow through a couple more of these uh awards. Hustle award. The hustle award goes to DaVon Mitchell. And I think an honorable mention could be made for Pella Larson, potentially maybe even Drew Smith. But DaVon is just checking every box across all the hustle stats. He’s third on the team in loose balls recovered, second in charges drawn, second in deflections, and surprisingly third in screen assists behind Bam. And where this is not a team that sets a ton of screens, but Da’Von is willing to come up and hey, you need a little help, you need a little nudge, I’m going to just throw my body into somebody and I’m going to set you free. Uh he’s just across the board, he’s in the top three in every single hustle stat. Nobody else on the Heat can uh can claim that. So Dave Mitchell hustle award. Yeah, sorry. I uh we like Drew and what he’s been able to do and uh certainly has played had a great bounce back and everything else like that. He’s incredibly impactful I think in his limited opportunity, but DaVon gets more playing time and the impact is just as great and he’s just he’s absolutely turned a leaf here. Uh and good for him because I I think we we both really liked him uh over the first few years of his career and and to see him kind of find a place where he can flourish. Those are success stories that kind of get swept under the rug and not many people like from a player who who’s kind of he wasn’t bad. He just wasn’t good. He he fell short of the promise of being a top 10 pick in the draft. And and I think people kind of just said, “Oh, well, what does he really do?” And what he really does is what we’ve seen from him in Miami. He shoots the ball well. He he attacks relentlessly uh when it comes to the rim. And it comes to his defense, he’s just absolutely thriving, hounding people, fighting over screens, drawing charges, uh, you know, just I I it feels like every center who sets a screen on Davon throws that extra little hip where he gets kind of caught on that, but he’s drawn he’s done such a good job of drawing those fouls, too. And uh and I hope he gets more of those calls because it feels like every time he’s just and so he fights so vigorously over the screens that he should get that kind of recognition. Most improved goes to Kel Wear. We’ve done enough talking about him. That’s an obvious one. Best lineup, DaVon Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Norm Pal, Andrew Wiggins, and Bam Adabio. In other words, the new starting lineup. They are plus 13 per 100 possessions in the third most possessions on the team. It’s by far Miami’s highest usage uh highest uh net rating lineup. So, congratulations to Keller and the starting lineup for our last awards. All of that said, are the Heat a real threat to come out of the Eastern Conference? Our biggest questions after the first quarter of the season are next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It’s not you against the house. 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We’re excited about this new Heat offense. Will teams eventually slow down the Heat’s new offense? We’ve started to see a little bit of this with the zone. No team has played against zone more than the Miami Heat. They’re starting to crack it a little bit. We have seen teams every once in a while over the last couple of weeks slow down this Heat offense, but we’ve also seen this Heat team win in a couple of different ways. Um, what do you think about this? I think we’re going to see versions of this where where teams will figure out something. But I don’t I just think it’s going to have to depend on Miami absolutely falling apart from the three-point line. And I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think this team is just too potent. not just and and it’s easy to say that based on the 140 point explosion that we saw yesterday against the Los Angeles Clippers, but I I honestly think that this team is is a much better much more potent offense than we’ve seen in so many years from this particular group. So, I think you’re going to have off nights. A combination of teams keying in on what they do and and focusing their defense on stopping or slowing things down for Miami flattening their offense to a huge degree. And I think Miami is going to have some offshooting nights. It’s bound to happen. It’s an 82 game season and we see it all the time. But given that, I still think that Miami is going to be able to flourish offensively. I think they’re still gonna play to their their strengths and I think the incorporation of Tyler Herro and bringing him back and seeing him thrive the way he has where he doesn’t even have to be the primary guy offensively, it just provides even more balance to a team that was already really good offensively. And you’re seeing growth from other players as well. Like I I think as much as maybe playoff success may hinge on having that guy, the number one type superstar, I think the regular season success can be built on a premise of an egalitarian everyone eats type of offense. And I think it’s going to continue to thrive throughout the season. So, I’m not really all that concerned. And maybe I should be and maybe this is feels like just one big guer waiting to happen. But to me, I it almost I get the sense that Miami is going to be able to figure it out because this feels sustainable in a way that uh I wasn’t prepared for it to be. So, like I knew we I knew we would see a variation of this going into the season, but this feels like it’s just much better. Like I’m I’m encouraged by what we’ve seen so far. And me, too. And I think there’s layers that Eric Spolster is going to add to this. You don’t think Eric Bolster has something up his sleeve? Of course he does. He always does, right? And everybody’s been talking about, hey, they’re not they’re not running any pick and roll. They’re averaging 10 pick and rolls per game, which is the lowest since we’ve been tracking this stuff. And even when they do run a pick and roll, it almost feels like it’s an accident. Yeah. And but what if they do just start running more pick and roll? You know, we’ve seen it a couple times. Like there was a few games ago uh uh ago where the first play out of the of the game was a pick and roll for Andrew between Andrew Wiggins and Bamabio and the opposing team was like, “Whoa, I didn’t see that one coming.” They’re they’re surpris uh not agnostic, he’s not like orthodox about this this system. He’s not going to be like, “Hey, no screens. That’s how we live now.” He’s going to say, “No, if I think a screen’s going to help us win this game, we’re going to set a screen right now.” So, I think that Spo’s going to have a lot of things up his sleeve here and they’re they’ll continue to evolve this offense. Um, they’ll have off nights like you said, but overall, yeah, I think the Heat finish the season number one in pace. I think they finish with a higher offensive rating than they have right now, which is about the middle of the league, and I think they’ll still be one of the best five, six, seven defenses in the league when it’s all said and done. Um, are the Heat a real threat to win the East is our other big question here. And maybe this is what this is all kind of getting to. Yeah. So, before talking about the Heat part of this, just a look at the the standings um as we’re recording here. Detroit is first at 17-4. Then it’s the Knicks at 13-6. Then it’s the Heat at 14-7. Toronto 14-7. Orlando’s been making a run. They’re 13-8. Cleveland’s 13-9. Atlanta’s 13-9 and playing pretty well lately. Boston’s over there at 11-9. Phil uh Philadelphia is at 10 and nine. Chicago’s 9-1 11. So that is the playoff seeds plus the playin current seating right now. Milwaukee on the outside looking in at 9 and 13. They’re a team that could potentially jump back into that playin mix and maybe even sort of the end of the playoffs here if they can ever get things right over there. But um I look at this Eastern Conference and I think it’s even more wide open than what we thought it was going into the season. Yeah, I heard this uh Zack Low asked U Mo Dequille on his show this week and I thought it was a really interesting way to frame things in the Eastern Conference. If you had to choose between the two favorites coming into the year, the Knicks and the Cavs or the Field to win the East, would you take one of the Knicks or Cavs or the Field right now? I think I’d take the Field. It just feels like there’s more higher variance there for any team to find a way to pop because neither the Knicks nor the Cavs have looked as dominant. Uh to be honest with you, I I think the Cavs have looked okay. We know they were dominant last year. So I think that’s kind of this baked in perception that they’re going to be really good. They’re going to be okay. They’re going to figure it out. But I don’t know that that’s necessarily the case. And and the same thing with the Knicks. I wasn’t a believer going into the start of the season and uh they’ve lived down to expectations. So, you know, as good as Jaylen Brunson has been, it’s all fine. Uh I just don’t think that they’re necessarily a a true powerhouse the way we’ve seen in years past. Yeah. I like for Cleveland, obviously injuries have derailed their season. Garland is hurt again, but do you really expect or or trust them to stay healthy? That’s sort of been their thing is not being healthy. I I don’t think that the Cavs get like I don’t think they get healthy and stay healthy. And so that’s my biggest thing against and just something feels off there. I think they need to mix things up in some way, shape, or form. Maybe they do between now and the trade deadline, but if they don’t, if this is kind of the team, then yeah, I I think there are some concerns there for Cleveland. And then with the Knicks, I’m with you. They just it doesn’t feel like they’re serious. They kind of they take too many threes. They don’t get to the paint as much. Now, they figured out some things with their smaller ball lineups lately, and maybe they could figure things out. The talent is undeniable. And once OG comes back, that defense should be better than what it’s even been lately. But I trust the Knicks more than the Cavs. But if you’re asking me Knicks or Cavs versus the field, I’m taking the field because we’ve also seen teams just sort of surprisingly come out and make the NBA finals over the last few years, whether it was Dallas, you know, a couple years ago or Miami in 2023 or the Pacers last year. You look at the West, I don’t think we’re going to be surprised by who comes out of the West. It’s going to be the Thunder of the Rockets or the Nuggets. Probably the the conference that’s due to surprise you is the Eastern Conference. And if that’s the case, why not the Miami Heat, right? Yeah, I think the Heat are very good defensively. They’ll be better offensively. They have the best coach in the NBA, certainly in the conference. I I wouldn’t sit here and predict that the Heat come out of the Eastern Conference. I don’t know that I’m willing to go that far at this point, but I think they’re in like they’re in that group with Detroit and Orlando. Atlanta’s probably not quite there yet and they’ve got some Trey Young questions, but they’re kind of in that group right now, which I think we predicted maybe they can climb into that group and now I I think they’re there. Yeah, I think the knock with Detroit is going to be even similar to what we saw from Oklahoma City in recent seasons. You know, it’s like, oh, yeah, they’re too young. They figured it out. You know, uh they just don’t have that kind of experience. And you know what? uh a team is inexperienced until finally they always they are and they just they’ve got it and they’ll they might just that be they might just be that good. Uh I don’t know. I I think Detroit’s been excellent and I don’t want to take anything away from what they’ve accomplished this season, but I think there might still be a missing piece away that that team does not feel the way that the Oklahoma City Thunder they’re and they’re beatable, right? Like that’s the thing. Maybe the Heat wouldn’t be favored in any in a series against Detroit or New York or something like that. But yeah, yeah, but these teams are beatable and I don’t know that Oklahoma City right now is beatable. And I certainly don’t think that if any other team other than Oklahoma City is beating Houston and maybe no other team outside of Houston, Oklahoma City is beating Denver in a seven game series if that team is healthy, right? Like there are some elite teams in the Western Conference and there’s just not that team right now in the Eastern Conference. And so who knows what can happen. Um, the last thing that we really need to talk about is will they make a move and um, they could make a move in the middle of this month in the middle of December when they can sign somebody to a prrated minimum. But everybody knows that’s not what we’re really talking about here. David, if there is a move to be done, but between now and the trade deadline based on this start, I think that he could say, “Hey, we’re better than we thought. No need to shake it up.” Or they could say, “Hey, we’re better than we thought. Let’s make a run for this thing.” It can kind of go either way. Yeah. I I I wonder how the front office is feeling right now. And I think something it almost feels like we’re so used to it at this point that we don’t even really talk about it. The whole Terry Rosier situation does need some clarity. It would be great if the league could That’s another big question. Figure something out. Just do something one way or the other. just let the guy play because you’re going to absolve him of whatever responsibility or attachment he had to what was going on or or or ban him and and give money back to Miami or just freeze unfreeze that contract so the team can do something with it, you know, one way or the other. Just make something happen because right now you’ve got $23 million just kind of sitting there doing nothing and that’s not fair to this group. said that that the fact that they’ve achieved this this 14 and seven record that they’ve looked this good and this entertaining despite starting off the season with Terry Rosier kind of hanging over everything that’s a miracle in and of itself. So y uh as far as whether or not they’re I think that’s one of the biggest steps that has to fall before this team can even realistically approach a major move. It’s like what are we doing? What we what do we have to work with? We don’t even know what tools we have in our toolbox. I don’t know if you saw this stuff about Giannis right now, but he’s unfollowing the Bucks on Instagram and all these like deleting all of his photos. So, we’re we’re hitting that stage with Giannis. Now, who knows whether or not that I always make the joke like somebody needs to do a study on whether or not any of this stuff actually matters and if this results in trade requests, but he looks miserable in Milwaukee and the Bucks stink right now. They just lost to the Wizards last night. Yeah, that’s not going to help. No. And and so my my answer to this question is are the Heat willing to make a move between now and February. If it’s for Giannis, yes. And if it’s for anybody else, then you have to have a meeting about it. There’s no meeting about Giannis. It’s just, hey, when do we call and how much of all of our stuff are we offering right away because it’s Giannis and he’s the perfect player in this system and he’s an ideal. He’s one of the top three or four guys in the NBA and I don’t think there’s any doubt that you would make the phone call at the very least. Now, to your point, if Giannis does hit that big red button and say, “I’m ready for a change of scenery,” the first call that he the he need to make is to the front office, is to Adam Silver and to tell, “Hey, do some what can we do with this Tay Rosier contract?” Because if you screwed us first by letting us trade for him while you knew there was an ongoing investigation, you cannot screw us again by not allowing us to at least offer his salary, his expiring salary in a potential Giannis trade. because if you get in the way of us acquiring Giannis, then we’re gonna have real problems. And that would be that’s that has to be the first call this front office makes if Giannis eventually decides, you know what, before the tread deadline, I want to get out of here. So, I I would say that when it comes to making moves, cuz this this is what the fan base would really expect. I don’t I think that the team will only really realistically be making phone calls if a superstar becomes available or you start to hear buzz about a superstar. Otherwise, maybe they’ll take phone calls because that’s what they do. But there’s no re need I don’t think there’s any need to kind of push the panic button and or nor rush into acquiring any kind of role player because it just doesn’t feel it feels like any team that would be making that sort of move would be trying to do so uh in order to get some kind of assets back and Miami has learned that keeping assets is a good thing and they’ve been utilizing those pretty effectively. There’s no role player that’s on the roster right now that’s an odd fit necessarily in terms of yeah you know and that was one of our big things that we probably don’t have enough time to get to here but it’s like does Nico eventually turn it around? That is a question I we can predict it I guess but we’ve talked about it enough but yeah maybe there’s a Nico deal there but then you know there’s some with his contract and whatever but I don’t know um we’ll see if the Heat make a move. But to your point, I don’t think there’s a desperate need for this Heat to shake things up. They just did that right post Jimmy Butler. They’ve shaken up this roster quite a bit. So, I don’t think they’re in the shakeup mode right now. But if there’s a star player that’s out there that it’s a fit for this team and they think, “Hey, this is what’s worth pushing our chips into uh in for.” Yeah. And Giannis is obviously on the top of that list. That’ll do it for us today. Let us know what you think in the comments section. Should the Heat make a move? What have What are your takes from this team after the first 21 games? Do you think the Heat are a real contender to come out of the Eastern Conference? This has been Locked on Heat, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Miami Heat shatter expectations with a 14-7 start despite injuries to Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Norm Powell. Is this squad built for a legitimate Eastern Conference title run, or does it still need a top-tier superstar to contend? Wes Goldberg and David Ramil examine Pat Riley’s midseason benchmark and debate whether Miami’s new high-paced offense—now among the league’s fastest and most egalitarian—can hold up in the playoffs.

Key topics include Norm Powell’s explosive emergence as the team’s offensive engine, Bam Adebayo’s elite defensive impact, and the ramifications of Miami’s shooting luck. The conversation also spotlights Davion Mitchell’s relentless hustle, Tyler Herro’s return, and ongoing questions around the Terry Rozier contract. With trade season looming and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s situation evolving, the hosts ask: Should the Heat gamble on a blockbuster move, or trust this balanced roster to make another Finals run?

Timestamps

0:00 Heat’s 21-Game Benchmark
6:06 Heat Strengths and Superstar Question
12:23 First Quarter Team Awards
25:13 Will the Heat Make a Move?

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