{"id":648711,"date":"2026-03-09T10:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/648711\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T10:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:33:15","slug":"have-miami-heat-erik-spoelstra-found-another-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/648711\/","title":{"rendered":"Have Miami Heat, Erik Spoelstra found another level?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Despite your claim that tanking teams will impact the playoff picture, the fact is the Heat hold their destiny in their own hands, by how well they play against the good teams remaining on their schedule. After an abysmal record against teams over .500 in the last several years, they will have to prove they\u2019ve actually elevated as a team with recent wins against Houston and Charlotte. They need to win some of their remaining games against Philadelphia, Orlando, Charlotte, Boston, L.A. Lakers, San Antonio, Cleveland, Toronto, or they can forget about getting out of the play-in. So just take care of your own business is the motto. \u2013 Morgan, New Orleans.<\/p>\n

A: Agree. Because what is the point of making the playoffs if you can\u2019t make noise in the playoffs? Now? Now after these victories over the Rockets, surging Hornets and Pistons<\/a>, there is a feel of legitimacy, of being something better than stuck in the play-in mud. Challenges remain, with the schedule you cite. But this team over the past 10 games has shown an ability to meet the moment. Meet a few more moments and perhaps thoughts of a competitive playoff series. But because of the down times, there still has to be more than just these three recent wins. The Heat have upped the ante with these recent statements. But an NBA season is about more than triplicate.<\/p>\n

Q: Ira, when Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins return to the lineup Erik\u00a0 Spoelstra has got to find a way to keep Kel\u2019el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. ,and Pelle Larsson in the rotation. \u2013 Barry, Deerfield Beach.<\/p>\n

A: He will. The toughest calls will be beyond that, when it comes to the likes of Kasparas Jakucionis and Dru Smith. But also a good problem to have<\/a>. The real question will be the starting lineup and what happens when Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins return. That could put Davion Mitchell in the second unit. But, for now, they\u2019re just riding the wave, and riding it as a team, not individuals.<\/p>\n

Q: I\u2019m not sure the Tyler Herro fans or bashers have it right. In a salary-cap league every dollar matters vs. production. For every great scoring game Herro has, he misses enough time or drops a high-turnover, low-shot-percentage game. There is no question he can be an elite scorer at times, but he is a bad value. Combine him with Nikola Jovic, Terry Rozier and now Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell, we are not a contract-efficient team. Why did the team not offload these players for picks this past trade deadline?\u00a0 \u2013 Jim, Mooresville, N.C.<\/p>\n

A: Again, been on record here that they should have explored the possibilities of cashing out Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins at the trade deadline, if only because both potentially could walk in the offseason (Powell is extension eligible, while Wiggins has a player option). As for Tyler Herro, it all comes down to price point \u2013 and a waiting game. First see if he can stay healthy and available next season. Then see if a compromise number can be found. As it is, the only other option would be to sell low. Remember, Tyler has another season on his contract, so it is more of a 2027 concern than a 2026 issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Despite your claim that tanking teams will impact the playoff picture, the fact is the Heat hold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[3879,7,144,165,295,189,3880,3881,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-648711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-ask-ira","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-heat","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-miami","13":"tag-miami-heat","14":"tag-miami-heat-blog","15":"tag-miamiheat","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116198768929106018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}