Miami Heat’s Next Superstar TRADE Target? 🔥 Breaking Down Top 100 List | Locked On Heat

Miami Heat’s Next Superstar TRADE Target? 🔥 Breaking Down Top 100 List | Locked On Heat

Who’s the best player in the NBA that the Miami Heat might conceivably try to trade for? We look at the locked on NBA network’s top 100 list and the answer might just surprise you 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. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Lockdown on Heat your first listen every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is closer than you think and right now new customers could bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the FanDuel app to get started. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Real Jam Radio and Locked on NBA Daily here with David Ramil. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. Okay, David, did you see this report from Ira saying that the Heat are in contact with Precious Achua? This is interest. This is really interesting stuff. And I got to be honest, I’m I don’t hate it. I I for whatever I can’t quit Precious Achua. I know it’s been sort of an up and down career for him. Mostly down. Yeah, I I don’t hate adding Aua to this roster, especially if you’re looking just to get a body in there as a backup big and potentially even a guy who could play alongside uh Kel Wear in Bam Matabio even if not behind them. Right. So, I I kind of like the versatility of somebody like Precious, too. What do you think? I was never quite a fan of his acquisition. uh you remember he was drafted in that really shortened off season between the Orlando bubble and the start of the following season where they had like basically a month and of course he missed part of his collegiate career due to COVID concerns and everything else and so there was no real scouting in place. There was no chance for him to really work out. It was a mess. Everybody who remembers that offseason clearly remembers how difficult it was for all these players. But even still the idea was presumably oh you know what we really like. like Bam so much that we wish we had more Bamab bios and that was the the notion behind drafting a Chua but it was clear that for everything that Precious could do well he was never going to be bam at a bio like he was just limited maybe the size and the tools were there but the ability to tie it all together into being a functional highlevel NBA player especially on defense wasn’t quite evident he he was a poor shooter certainly not as good a playmaker solid rebounder I would say okay defender despite again possessing all the physical tools necessary. You would think he would emerge as a better defender, but it just never seemed like that was his strong suit. And he’s just there’s nothing to his game that necessarily makes him a highlevel NBA player. And yet he needs somebody. He’s proven himself. He’s played NBA games. He’s played NBA playoff games. He is somebody and he’s somebody that he is familiar with. And so if you’re going to add him on a value contract, yeah, I don’t see why not. But it it kind of is interesting though because again for an NBA veteran who’s still fairly young and he’s coming off of what his fourth fifth season right now, like the idea that nobody’s called to add him to their roster or that he’s not getting a bevy of offers. I know free agency isn’t quite what it was 10 years ago, but it kind of shows you what the state of precious is around the NBA that nobody’s like, you know what, I want that on my team. He really couldn’t work his way into a consistent part of that Knicks rotation last year and and I don’t know they the Knicks kind of needed somebody like Precious and they had somebody like Precious and they didn’t even feel like playing Precious very much. So I get it like I understand that my optimism with Precious Aua is ex is 100% rooted in the fact that I liked him in college and that the Heat traded him in the Kyle Lowry deal. And I was always kind of wondered like what would have happened if he was in Miami’s developmental system for a little bit longer even though you know he didn’t to your point he wasn’t super impressive early on when he was with Miami. But uh he is somebody who has played NBA minutes and maybe that’s something that that’s something that they don’t really have at that spot right now. Uh the big question is whether or not you wave Tay Rosier in order to facilitate signing Precious Aua. We could get into that maybe in a separate episode. We’ve talked enough about the Tay Rosier thing in multiple episodes. So you guys can go look back on on that and and and kind of get the nuts and bolts on all of that. But at least thought it was worth uh mentioning that report. But look, we have a lot to get to today. Jam-packed show. 25 of 25 is continuing here in a second. But we are talking all week about the lockdown podcast network top 100 players. Uh we talked about where Heat players ranked in yesterday’s show. Bam, Tyler Herro, Norm Pal, some of the guys who we thought might have been snubbed from the play from the top 100 list. The full list is now out. You can find it on the locked on NBA channel. Uh, but we’re gonna go through it here because I wanted to do something fun with this list. And you know, Bam ranks the highest of all the Heat players at 31. We discussed whether or not that’s too high, too low, but generally speaking, yeah, it’s about right. Like that’s the kind of tier that he’s in. He’s obviously we know who Bam is. He’s not that A1 superstar that you could build a championship team around. That’s the player that the Heat are obviously missing. I think Bam has proven that he could be the number two player on a championship level team. He’s been the the second best player on two NBA Finals teams. Yes. Uh nearly three NBA Finals teams. So that we know it’s just hey, can we get that number one guy? Here’s what I would do if I was the Heat’s front office. I would take this locked on top 100 list and I would start at the top and I would go and I would ask one question. Can we get this guy? And if we think we can get this guy, if there’s even a smidge of a smidge of a chance, a 1% chance, a half percent, I would call that team and be like, what will it take just to figure it out? Okay, so that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to do that until we find somebody that we can get or maybe somebody’s, maybe multiple guys. So, let’s start at the top. Number one, according to the Locked On Network, best player in the NBA, no surprise here, is Nicola Joic. Okay. Uh, we don’t spend a lot of time on this, David. Nuggets aren’t trading him. Okay, so move. They’re not trading him. that there’s concerns that he might become disgruntled of the team. Uh had it improved over the offseason, they did. So I I think that’s still going to be uh they’re going to keep him on the roster as long as they Shay Gilis Alexander at number two. They just sign him. He’s not going anywhere. Uh we get Giannis comes in at number three. Now we’re getting interesting, right? Um so the Bucks resigned Thanasses at Tenmpo like a week ago or something. That is a pretty clear sign that Giannis plans to be with the team to start the year because it no offense to the Nasis. There is zero reason for them to sign the Nasis unless they know that Giannis is at least be on the team to start the year. I I just don’t I think this means he won’t get traded between now and opening night. Now whether or not the season goes south and maybe he gets traded by the trade deadline, but you disagree. No, no, no. I think that’s fair. But he he feels like the Zoron Dragage at this point, you know, right? That’s all he is. Okay, that’s fair. I mean, so can’t you just trade both the way that the Suns traded both to Miami back in 2005? Yeah, but I don’t think you’re doing this to be like, let’s sweeten the Giannis package with the Nasses. No, but you’re doing it to keep Giannis happy, and if Giannis is disgruntled, you’re going to move him. But you’re probably going to have to find a way to include the Nassis in the deal. Fair enough. So, uh, where does Thanasses fit in? Uh, find out on tomorrow’s Lockdown Heat. But, um, that would be the guy, right? That’s And by the way, this is the guy that everybody’s thinking, “Oh, maybe this is the guy for us, right? Like the Knicks and and all these teams that are rumored to be in on Giannis. Every the entire league is just waiting for that shoe to drop.” So, um, this is it’s the kind of guy when we’re talking about the third best player in the NBA, David, right? It’s whatever it takes, go get him. And I and I literally mean that. Whatever it takes, go get him. Because when you have a guy like Giannis, you can win the championship. And it’s the hardest part of the championship that team to get is the Giannis is that top three type of player. That’s the hardest guy to get. Everything else is easier to figure out. Doesn’t mean it’s easy to figure out, but it’s easier than getting the first Ballot Hall of Fame guy in the in the prime of his career. So, if you can get Giannis, you do everything you can do to get Giannis. But beyond that, um we can keep going on this list to see if not Giannis and who. Um let’s do it. Luca at number four just signed the extension to Lakers. Not happening. Steph number five with the Golden State Warriors. I I I will believe that Steph leaves the Warriors when I see it. Um right. Anthony Edwards does that doesn’t feel like a thing that’s happening anytime soon. Like an moving on from Minnesota. He’s recently on an extension. Victor Webbyama ditto extension. Um Spurs are built around him. No. Yeah. Little surprised that Webyama’s here at number seven, but whatever. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I didn’t write I didn’t write the list by myself, that’s for sure. Um, Jaylen Brunson at eight. Knicks are not the Knicks are building a statue for that guy. Um, Donovan Mitchell at nine. Been there, done that. Jason Tatum at 10. Yep. That’s not happening. Kevin Durant, been there, done that. He checks in at 11. I think there’s a real argument to be made that you could have gotten the 11th best guy. Maybe you should have thought a little bit harder about that. That might be a different episode. I was told he was washed and and his career was over by a large portion of fans. LeBron at 12. Also washed and uh overrated at this point in his career, apparently. I’ll take the 12th best player in the league. Yeah, that’s another name, right? I mean, we’ll see what this season is for LeBron. There’s some rumblings that this could be the last year of his career. I don’t really buy it, but you’ve started to hear some of those rumblings. Um, if this is his last year with the Lakers though, I I think if you’re the Heat, you got to be at least a little bit depending on how the season goes. I mean, unless he just hits a total wall, which I don’t think anybody really anticipates him going from it’s enough to go from perennial always top 10 guy to 12th right on the outside of the top 10, but I don’t see him going from like 12 to like 40, you know what I mean? Like that would be pretty incredible. But, um, that’s another guy, right? Um, but not necessarily a guy you’re calling about right now either. No, he he writes the script and he always has and has since 2010. If he wants to join your team, he’ll let you know that he wants to join your team and then Miami just has to find a way to make it happen. But those the the big domino has to come from him first and he has to be the one to knock it over. Uh let’s breeze through a couple more of these. Hallebertton, no. AD, no. Kade Cunningham, no. Moy, no. Kawhi Leonard at number 17. According to Sam Ach, if this gets uh pretty rough here with the Clippers, what if his contract gets voided? No, I’m with you. If Okay, hypothetically, Kawhi’s contract gets voided. He’s a free agent now. We know what the salary cap is right now. There’s not a there’s nobody’s got money except for Brooklyn. So, Brooklyn can offer him $25 million a year, and if Kawhai wants to take it, he could take it. And based off of everything we know about Kawhai, he might just take it. He might just take the most money possible. It seems to be his motivating the the main motivator in his life. But he’s got two rings, right? Exactly. Um, but what if like let’s say Kawaii was willing to come to Miami at the minimum. Say it. I don’t I don’t I don’t I don’t want to be a part of anything related to at this stage. I would say no. Even at the minimum. He’s so good at what he’s out there. Take the minimum off the cap or the minimum off of Carnival Cruise Lines in some sort of no-show deal. I don’t care. I’m saying no. I want nothing to do with the Kawaii business at this point. Yeah. K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K2 Industries, not uh being signed to build a mysterious ship for Carnival Cruise Lines. That’s not going to do it for you. I um listen, I don’t I don’t know. I I It’s a possible name, right? And yet I don’t know that there’s going to be a long list of suitors. I wonder if like the Lakers would be like, “Yeah, we can absorb it. We can take the hit. We’re the Lakers. Whatever we want.” Lakers exceptionalism. It sounds like something they would do. Um, really quick, just around the top the the the top 20 here. Devin Booker, Carl Anthony Towns, and Jaylen Williams is how locked on Booker is possible. That’s the name, right? He just signed a two-year extension that keeps him in Phoenix through 2030. But if things go south, it doesn’t mean that he can’t get traded or demand a trade. But, um, we’ll see. I think this is a big year for Devin Booker in Phoenix. I think he gives it the season and then maybe makes a determination after this to figure out okay how close I think he understands that they’re not going to win a championship this year. But if it feels like they’re further away than he anticipated then maybe Carl Anthony Towns I don’t know maybe the Knicks at some point have to make a decision on his contract but it feels like they’re pretty committed to him right now and then Jaylen Williams is not going anywhere from OKC at least not right now. Uh all right a little bit more to get to in the 25 of 25 series. We’re going to look at that next with uh a breakdown of one of the great 3 and D players of his generation. It’s coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you. Why do I have my ad read here? I’m so sorry, dude. All of a sudden, it just seemed like it closed up. Here is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, you customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. It’s so easy to use FanDuel. You’ll love using it as much as I do. However you like to bet, whether it’s player props, building a same game parlay, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds, you’ll really enjoy using FanDuel. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team, or just keeping an eye on your favorite fantasy lineup, it’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little bit more energy to your Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Well, download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. This is our 25 and 25 series looking back at the top 25 Heat players of the last 25 seasons. Each episode we’ll be taking an in-depth look at every player who made the list as voted on by us and our Lockdown Heat insider community through the lens of what made them a definitive part of the franchise’s history. Coming in at 13 was Duncan Robinson. Today at number 12, David, it’s Eddie Jones. Eddie Jones, what a player and what a strange career for him. Um, he was selected with a 10th overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. A solid scorer, really good shooter, an excellent defender. Jones thrived in LA being named a two-time all-star and complimenting Shaquille O’Neal and a young Kobe Bryant. But as Bryant continued to develop, Jones became redundant and he was eventually traded to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for former Heat player Glenn Rice. Jones would play in over 100 games for the Hornets over the course of a season and a half, having arguably the best season of his career, named as an all-star for the third and final time while also garnering votes for defensive player of the year, as well as making the alldefensive and all NBA teams. Jones would enter free agency in 2000 and would be actively courted by a number of teams including the Bulls and Magic, but Eddie would eventually choose to join the Miami Heat by way of a sign and trade being sent along with Anthony Mason Mason and Ricky Davis in exchange for Jamal Mashurn, PJ Brown, Otis Thorp, and Rodney Buford. Jones was seen as a perfect Heat player, a top defender, and a scorer in his prime, and was expected to play alongside Alonza Morning and Tim Hardaway while joined by newcomer Brian Grant, number 19 on our list, to lead a potential title contender. But unfortunately, Morning’s kidney issues uh torpedoed that season badly. And while Jones put up solid numbers, he was carrying a load that he never really seemed to fully embrace or was expected to really fill in the first place. The team reached the playoffs only to be beaten by Jones’s former team, the Hornets. Morning would play the 2001 2002 season, but the Heat would miss the playoffs with Jones missing playing in 81 games and putting up 18.1 points per game. The following year, Morning would miss the f the complete entire season and Miami struggled to win, finishing with just 2567 record and entering the lottery for a second consecutive season. Jones was dealing with numerous injuries himself and played in just 47 games that year. And then uh Morning would leave in free agency iny in 2003. And it was clear that the team needed to rebuild. But the opportunity did come along that summer after the team drafted a young guard out of Marquette and added a free agent point forward by the name of Lamar OD. Pat Riley stepped down as head coach that season, too. But Stan Van Glendy took over the team and was was one of the most exciting seasons in franchise history. Jones led the team in scoring, but it was clear that Dwayne Wade was the future of the team. Riley would execute one of the biggest trades in team history, uh, reuniting Jones with former teammate O’Neal to complete for a title in 2005 after playing one year with Shaquille O’Neal being reunited there alongside Eddie Jones and Dwayne Wade. Uh, Jones kept his starter role, but his production dipped sharply and the team fell short of making the finals in ‘ 05. It was clear that the team’s duo had evolved into Wade and O’Neal and they needed a different supporting cast. Jones was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2005 and what was then the largest trade in NBA history. Jones played a season and a half in Memphis, but it was clear that he was no longer the player he had once been. Coming off the bench for most of the 0506 season in January 20, 2007, he was waved by Memphis and he rejoined a Heat team that had just won the team’s first championship in ‘ 06, but the group was tired and uninspired. And Jones was a solid contributor, but never really felt like he had much of a career left or much really to offer a team at that stage. And so, uh, eventually he was let go that season. Of course, the Miami Heat were beaten soundly by the Chicago Bulls in ‘ 07. And Jones would sign as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks, putting a close to an NBA career that never felt like it reached quite the potential it should have. Yeah. The way you ended that is the sort of way I feel about Eddie Jones, too. and and we’ll get to our sliding doors moment in a little bit, but what I do remember about Eddie Jones and why I think he deserves a spot on this list is although he never really reached the potential of where he was even drafted and the way that the Lakers talked about him when he was first drafted as this like superb athlete and all these things and just never really felt like he was that guy. But he was a damn good player in Miami and he put in work and I don’t know he was a little Andrew Wigginsy. Oh yeah. In the That’s a great call. Yeah. Right. He’s just so like you’re ah you know Eddie Jones, he never really had a moment, right? He he now he was allstar twice with the Lakers, once with Charlotte. Um but in his f I I technically six years with Miami because he comes back and you know we have the Eddie Jones uh test named after him. But there’s really five core years with the Heat. 17 points a game, 18 17 12 almost 13 points per game. Like the production was there. it was always there. He was a good floor spacer. He was a very good defender. Um but he just never really had a moment. Uh but that said, like you you look at the the box scores and and you look at his stats and you’re like, “Wow, this guy was just super productive for some from for some of uh heat teams that could have been better, but then also heat teams that overachieved. He he was just he was part of such an unfortunate period here. Uh, and I made this conversation or I made this point with talking about Brian Grant, too. Like, he was never expected to be that guy. Alonzo was in his prime. He was an MVPish type player. He was certainly a top five, top 10 guy. And Eddie was just supposed to kind of slip in alongside Morning and Hardway. And he was supposed to be really good, a perfect, like I said, a perfect heat player because he was such a highle wing defender. And he was an upgrade over Jamal Masher in terms of his being an outside shooter and a guy that was much more of a complimentary player. but also a guy who really liked attacking the basket with his incredible athleticism. But um to your point, I never forget the story by uh Shaquille O’Neal, and I can’t remember if it was in Jeff Pearlman’s book that described it where O’Neal was watching Eddie Jones now with the Hornets, and he was uh given the chance to win a game or ice it. And of course, he missed the shot. And Shaquille O’Neal jokingly says out loud in the locker room for reporters and everybody else to hear, “There goes Eddie stepping up big again.” And uh yeah, yeah, great times. And then they would wind up being teammates again a couple years later. So um I always remember Eddie Jones being quietly productive. Yeah. Yeah, like maybe it was just by virtue of the seasons being so poor, but you would look over and you’d be like, “Wow, I didn’t even realize Eddie had 22 points and six rebounds and four assists or five assists.” For some players, it see that seems like a feature. Like for Nicola Joic, you’re like, “Wait, he’s got 20 rebounds.” I you know, that’s a feature. It’s it it speaks to that player’s level of dominance. For other players like Andrew Wiggins, like Eddie Jones, it feels more like a bug. You almost like, “Wait, you had 12 points? I didn’t really feel those 12 points. I actually don’t even count those 12 points, you know, it just Yeah. And I don’t know what the difference is, right? The points are still the points. You only have one scoreboard and those points go to that scoreboard. So, at the end of the day, I don’t know what the difference is, but it feels different. It does. The points came at at inopportune moments. Like, they didn’t swing games. Uh it wasn’t He wasn’t leading the 70 runs that could kind of catapult the team to winning. and that team was just wasn’t very good, especially that that season playing alongside Alonzo where he was just clearly not the player he once been. Uh, and Eddie started games and he was again carrying a huge load, but it wasn’t supposed to be something that he would expect to do. It’s more you’re not a starting pitcher and you’re definitely not the closing pitcher. You’re like a middle reliever. Yeah, you got to get us like the points still matter, right? Like maybe he’s not the guy on the going on the 70 run like Dwayne Wade is in the fourth quarter, but his points got you to the point where you all you needed was a 70 run as opposed to a 130 run. You know what I mean? Like but yeah, because they go to the same scoreboard. But what does it matter if like he’s a great middle reliever and you’ve got your starters are crap and your closers are crap, which is basically what that career was. Some of those that was Eddie Jones. He’s like he’d be on the trade block like in Major League Baseball. You have a great middle reliever. like, well, he’s our one best asset and we need to rebuild him with something else. So, that was unfortunately the case. The highest Eddie Jones was ranked by our um our our panel of voters was 17. The lowest was not ranked at all. I had him at 11. David, you had him at 10. Uh we’ll talk a little bit more about that, then get to some trivia, and then we’ll get to our categories after this. Trivia time. David, what do you got? Let’s see. Uh, number one, got three questions here. Let’s see if you can answer them and rack up some points. Eddie Jones hails from what Florida town? Seam ring. I don’t know. Oh, really? I thought this was pretty well known. PMPO Beach. He went to PMPO Beach, Eli. And when he signed in 2000 with the Heat or signed and traded with Miami, he wanted to play for his hometown team. So, that was a big part of why he joined Miami. Sebring was a pretty bad guess. I don’t know that there’s any Sebring. Yeah, I don’t know that they fielded an NBA player. Shout out Sebring. I actually had a friend of mine who lived there and he was a great town. Was he Eddie Jones? He was not in the NBA, but it was a great time to pick up liquor and to make it back to the house. That’s basically all you were doing. It’s like, oh, you know what? We’re going to go by there and go back to the lake after that. Um, number two, Jones is related to two current NBA players. Which two players are they? Well, I’m wondering if they’re from the same John Collins. I don’t know. That’s a good guess. No. Uh, no. Two cousins. Uh, I’ll give you a hint. One plays for the Orlando Magic. You’re a big fan of his. And another one plays for the Indiana Pacers. Yes, you got that sug. And then another one plays for the Indiana Pacers. Ah, well, Andrew Nero’s Canadian, so it’s not that. Uh, Nith. No, good guess. It’s actually Tyrese Haliburn. Oh, really? Yep. It’s pretty good company. Absolutely. All right. So, this is this is a really niche one here, but this is a story I remember pretty clearly and I think I’ve mentioned on the show before. In the year 2000, uh Eddie Jones was being actively courted by a then Heat player in an offseason charity event. Which heat player was it? And for a bonus point, which charity event was it? I don’t remember you ever talking about this. Uh in 2000, was it Zo? No, it was not. Good guess. I’m trying to think of like who want a guy like Eddie Jones on the team. Who was it? Yeah, it was Tim Hardaway. And it was a major point of contention. I even wound up finding an old SI story about it. Uh let’s see. He didn’t get the impression that all his Miami teammates were sorry to see him go. This is Jamal Mashburn at the time. Speaking to SI and now having an all-star career in Charlotte, Mashurn remembers attending Zo summer Groove, a charity event held by Heat Center Alonzo Morning last July and hearing Miami point guard Tim Hardaway lead the fans at American Airlines Arena in chanting Eddie. Eddie, an indication of how much they wanted knowing it was Zo’s charity event. No, you said so as the player who would do it, not the Sarity event. That’s a that’s a good guess. But um how much they wanted to trade for Jones. So I I would never forget that like that. Imagine you’re on the roster and knowing the only way to acquire Eddie Jones is by trading you and there’s your current teammate going, “Yeah, we want this guy instead as you’re sitting right next to him.” That kind of has to hurt a little bit. That’s got to be They should have They should have started a shell company that pretended to plant trees instead or something like that. Maybe that could Yeah, but it’s like having another guest on here. Let’s say let’s say say when we have Ran Nad Carney on here and you start telling him, you know, you really should be a you would be a great co-host here for locked down and I’m just like, what what’s going on? What what happened here? Yeah. Do you want to do you want to start doing the cold opens for us, Roman? Wait a minute. So, yeah, that was a great start to Eddie’s career there. Maybe indicative of the kind of bad karma he would enjoy over the next five seasons. All right, I went over. Very good, Wes. Good job. Um, recurring segments. First one, sliding doors moment. This is a what if moment that could have changed the way this player is remembered for better or for worse or could have changed the trajectory of his heat career. We talked about this already with uh Brian Grant. You mentioned it before. Alonzo Morning’s kidney disease. I don’t I don’t know if you have anything else that you’re thinking about here, but to me it is the big moment with Eddie Jones, too, because as you’ve already talked about, he wasn’t supposed to be the guy. He was supposed to be a guy next to Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Morning. And you do wonder like that on paper feels like a really good basketball team and we did it before. You get Brian Grant on that team too. Like we looked at that first year when Zo went down like yeah it kind of feels like that was a a down year for the Eastern Conference. Kind of feels like Miami could have made a run. It ended up being the Sixers that represented the East in that year. It was like Alan Iverson and nobody else like Yeah. Oh, the Aaron McKe slander will not stand. Sorry. Um, so I don’t like that to me is like a what if moment where if Eddie Jones is part of that and the kidney the kidney disease never derails Lonzo Morning’s career. Dwayne Wade is never a Miami Heat player. Wow. But it is a team that was that would have been built at least for a little bit of a short-term window around Zo Tim Hardaway. Brian Grant, I suppose, is in there and and obviously now Eddie Jones. Could they have contended? Like, imagine the drama of that. They go up against the Lakers, Shaq versus Zo, Eddie Jones versus his former team, Tim Hardaway versus Derrick Fischer, Brian Grant there. I mean, that that would have been so interesting. You said Dwayne never happens. Yeah, of course. Dwayne never happens. Shaq never happens. 06 never happens. But they get their first ring in 2000. Who knows what would happen then? P. Would Riley have been reinvigorated? Would he never have stepped down at that point? Was Eric Spolster’s career never happens then? Like, I mean, talk about your butterfly moment there all hinging on Zoe’s kidney. So, yeah, total um total sliding doors moment there. I I don’t know. I was thinking maybe um what if he hadn’t been traded in 2005? What if that trade with Memphis doesn’t happen and he just stays in Miami? Um, that’s interesting because it does like he was a good player and he was sort of the piece that had to go out to get multiple good players back because you look at what Miami gave up and what they got back and they kind of turned Eddie Jones into like two or three guys. Yeah. J Will, you got Jay Will, you got Antoine Walker, they ended up getting Gary Payeyton as a free agent that year. Like they got a bunch of guys and just felt like Eddie Jones was the guy that had to go. And you just wonder, okay, if that didn’t happen, could that team still have made a similar run? I don’t know. I I think that and I mean they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s the whole thing, too. It’s like he Dwayne doesn’t get hurt. Yeah. If if Dwayne doesn’t get hurt in ‘ 05, do they maybe that’s the sliding moment. What if he doesn’t crack his rib, right? Do they win ‘ 05? Does Eddie ever get traded then? And does he become like a beloved member? Like he retires calmly from his hometown team after a seven, eight year career. You know, he he had eight years in Miami following his stint with Los Angeles and Charlotte. Maybe he just retires a Heat player. But instead it there was so much urgency in ’05 after acquiring Shaq who was clearly aging and also to maximize Dwayne’s ascending stardom that you say you know what as much as we like Eddie Jones what this team needs is a passer a better passer a guy who can step up in big moments when he’s called to as a complimentary player and that’s why you get a player like Jason Williams it would have been like the first Chris Bosch had the Heat won it all and if the Heat win it in 2005 with Shaq and D. Wayade as your two superstars. Eddie Jones is like Chris Boson is the closest thing Miami have ever had to sort of that third guy. Yeah. And Eddie Jones kind of would have been that first version of that third guy. It would have been really interesting to see how he would have been. They got Posie out of the deal, too. I forgot about that. They got Posie and Jwell. So, that was that was a great deal for Miami. It was a great trade. Um, is he jersey worthy? Uh, I’m gonna go no. You know, I’m gonna say yes. Okay. Uh just because it kind of shows that you have respect for the guys that did it in those moments when they didn’t achieve much team success. So maybe it’s a weird jersey to sport and you have to be very that’s a very niche choice there. It’s like you know what? But but think about it. a young fan who wanted to really watch this team in 2000 didn’t enjoy the the heat Knicks battles of the 90s that defined that era. So that Zo Morning I’m sorry that Zo uh Hardaway pairing didn’t really resonate and might have been just been in that sweet spot before Dwayne joins the team in 2003 and you’re watching Eddie drop bombs from 25 ft. You’re watching him slash to the basket putting up 18 points per game. What? Oh, that’s not enough to talk at the emotional. The whole the whole the whole with every Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal stood on Eddie Jones’s shoulders to get to where they were. Like it’s like wearing a Yardird shirt instead of like a Zeppelin t-shirt or something. You’re just like, “What are you doing? Just wear a Zeppelin t-shirt.” Well, what? Well, that makes sense. You There’s Cream. There’s Eric Clapton individually, and then you’re wearing the Yards. Why? Well, it’s not. Oh, it’s it’s fine anyway. Whatever. It’s not a good jersey. Um All right. Fine. Does he pass his own test? The Jones Badier test. Yes, he has. We named it after him. He has to pass it. And he actually in his Heat prime 38% 40% three-point shooter. Awesome defensively. I mean, it’s so clear where he slides in. He He basically is better Haywood Highmith, better Andrew Wiggins potentially. Like he’s just another that for this. He was such a good defender. Like like he’s forgotten. Again, very quiet over the course of his career. just a guy who’s, you know, I don’t I I could think of like Mitch Richmond who actually is in the Hall of Fame who just put up a lot of points for some pretty bad teams and then w up getting a championship because he joined the Lakers team towards the tail end of his career and that was enough. But Richmond was also player of the year voting the year before he came to Miami. Really good allNBA defensive player. Yeah. Yep. Multiple time all all defense guy. He’s really good. Um, yeah, he probably starts over Wiggins. That’s not even like debatable, right? Like at his prime, he was a way better defender than Wiggins. He’s a little smallalish though, right? That would be a little smallish for the lineup. But yeah, I guess it would be enough. Again, he was he was a guard, you know, two, three, but he was just so quick, quick hands, really athletic. He drew comparisons to Michael Cooper, um, who obviously was a star in Pat Riley’s system with a gen would appreciate that. Yeah. He makes winning plays. He would be like Spo’s favorite guy and then fans would be like clamoring to trade him almost all the time. Uh last one here versus pin this player against the player who came before him and ask did we get it right? Duncan Robinson at 13, Eddie Jones at 12. Uh I do think we got this right. I think so too. Jones more productive albeit for a far worse era in heat basketball history, but still. Yeah. Uh let us know what you think in the YouTube comments. Did we get it right? What do you remember about Eddie Jones’s career? Do you think getting an Eddie Jones jersey is jersey worthy? Let us know. Um, also the locked on NBA top 100 is here, voted on by the NBA host of the Locked on Podcast Network. Our top 100 was formed by experts who cover these teams and these players every day day. Find the full list on Locked on Sports Today on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Don’t miss our reaction to where our Heat players uh landed. We covered that in the Monday morning episode. Um, and we got a ton of more content coming out of this top 100 list later on this week. But for now, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day.

Who’s the best player in the NBA that the Miami Heat could realistically trade for?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down the Locked On NBA Network’s Top 100 players list, debating whether Giannis, LeBron, or other stars could ever land in Miami.

We also discuss the Heat’s reported interest in Precious Achiuwa, and continue our 25 of 25 series, spotlighting Eddie Jones — one of the most underrated players in franchise history.

🔥 Topics in this episode:

Precious Achiuwa’s potential return to Miami

Which superstar could the Heat trade for?

Giannis rumors, LeBron’s future, and Kawhi’s question marks

Eddie Jones’s Heat legacy in the 25 of 25 countdown

Don’t forget to like 👍, comment 💬, and subscribe 🔔 for daily Miami Heat analysis!

#MiamiHeat #NBA #Giannis

0:00 Intro
1:20 Precious Achiuwa back to Miami?
6:00 Giannis trade rumors and his future with the Bucks
14:20 Eddie Jones’s career and Heat years

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