2025 Miami Heat Regular Season Thread

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I saw last night from some insider, the possibility (a rumor) of Giannis going to the Knicks.
Such reality had me stressed in fear, so the question is, would some of you trade a Ware, or a Bam, if an opportunity arrives, to counter such rumored NYK move and improve the team on paper while avoiding the obvious, or roll with the one bird in hand better than 2 in the bushes intuition?

I mean if we’re talking financials, of course bringing a top 5 player in the game for the same monetary price of the player(s) going out makes sense, when talking dollars exclusively, witch many of us Heat fans tend to do, but of course you also have to consider what’s going out as a package, and the incentives.

There is more than one way to skin a cow. There is more than one way to conduct trades with different players and endless possibilities.

All I know is, this year I’m looking forward to see the Miami Heat transcend into a contender with what we have so far, and leave and trust the personnel and financial business to those involved.

Our offer for Giannis will be Herro maybe Terry for salary plus a mix of the young guys and whatever picks we can come up with

lol sure.

Care to elaborate or you just prefer to trade Ware or Bam over Tyler?

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Read on Twitter

[fishfuego.]

Our offer for Giannis will be Herro maybe Terry for salary plus a mix of the young guys and whatever picks we can come up with

lol sure.

Care to elaborate or you just prefer to trade Ware or Bam over Tyler?

Initially I thought you were joking with that trade, honestly lol

But in seriousness, the trade is a steal for the Heat, but that GM in Milwaukee is getting roasted.

If I was Milwaukee, I want Ware and possibly Bam in return, plus some picks.

[Crazy-Canuck]

According to bontemps, there's been very little interest in AD around the league.

Buy low buy low buy low

[Shewasfly]

I saw last night from some insider, the possibility (a rumor) of Giannis going to the Knicks.
Such reality had me stressed in fear, so the question is, would some of you trade a Ware, or a Bam, if an opportunity arrives, to counter such rumored NYK move and improve the team on paper while avoiding the obvious, or roll with the one bird in hand better than 2 in the bushes intuition?

I mean if we’re talking financials, of course bringing a top 5 player in the game for the same monetary price of the player(s) going out makes sense, when talking dollars exclusively, witch many of us Heat fans tend to do, but of course you also have to consider what’s going out as a package, and the incentives.

There is more than one way to skin a cow. There is more than one way to conduct trades with different players and endless possibilities.

All I know is, this year I’m looking forward to see the Miami Heat transcend into a contender with what we have so far, and leave and trust the personnel and financial business to those involved.

If NYK is able to basically swap out KAT for Giannis that would be infuriating. But it makes more sense than us thinking we can get him for Tyler and scraps. If it was to be centered around Tyler it'd have to start at Tyler + Ware + picks. I'd imagine we'd have to include JJJ in it too tbh. So we'd be running a lineup of Davion-Powell-Wiggins-Bam-Giannis.

I think we'd still need to upgrade either the 1 or 3 to make that a championship contender. Do any of the available headcases players (Ja, Dirty Loli, etc.) make that a winner? Would what we have left be enough to get any of them? I'd assume it'd be a combo of Wiggins and change to get it done (which is a very favorable stretch of the imagination for us, but just suppose). Then it'd be:

Ja or Trae Young
Powell
Larsson
Bam
Giannis

Is that enough? And is it even any better defensively on the perimeter than people are already crying about now? Idk. I'd rather keep what we have to get a real star (assuming we don't have enough to get Giannis without Bam) or ride with it until we can draft a future star. I also think if we're going after Giannis the poor fit with Bam cannot be overlooked from a lineup perspective as well. If Bam keeps up his ability to score outside, it becomes less huge of question mark, but there's no guarantee on that yet. We need a full season or two of this from Bam for us to finally say he has added this to his game.

[Shewasfly]

According to bontemps, there's been very little interest in AD around the league.

Buy low buy low buy low

Low for us is a trade centered around Andrew Wiggins...

It would probably be something like Wiggins and Jovic and a pick. If Dallas is desperate enough, I can see it. Though I certainly would have preferred we did this for Durant instead during the summer.

[greg4012]

Prime kg and Duncan couldn't cover 3 turnstiles up front. In the regular season, yes. But zero chance any team with more than 1 turnstile starter does anything in the playoffs. History has shown this every year the NBA has ever existed.

Mad respect for bam, but zero chance he can cover 2 bad defenders in the playoffs, let alone three. We just saw herro get targeted relentlessly and there was nothing anyone could do. Now, give the offense 2 more guys to target.

We are seeing it now in goldenstate and that's with jimmy and dray in the backline. Both Jimmy and steph have come out and said they are begging for some elite 2 way play on the perimeter, a guy who guards.

We are seeing the suns this year. Get rid of Beal/kd and add in a big wing in brooks, and magically they look good. The recipe has never changed in the playoffs.

But, if you think miami will be the first team to buck this trend, it'll be hella impressive.

2 is the line. And it works if at least one can hold water.

In 2020, Miami went to the finals with Goran Dragic and Duncan Robinson in the starting lineup all playoffs. During that playoff run, Herro was 2nd on the team in minutes played, Duncan was 5th, and Goran was 6th (due to missing most of the finals).

Norm probably edges out Goran as a defender overall imo.

I dream of the day where Miami has a lineup full of 2-way players. But, it's not as hard line as you make it out to be. Especially when you have the best defender in the world on your team.

Ill give you Duncan. But, Goran is a better defender than powell. Powell is just atrocious off ball. Hes in that herro tier. That 2020 team also had some good tough defenders though which is something this team lacks outside of bam.

Maybe im just looking too far ahead when it's just game 17 coming up.

Def looking ahead, but I enjoy assessing it.

From what I've seen from Powell in Miami, I disagree that Goran was a better defender (and I love Goran). Tools is part of it. Powell has a 6'11 wingspan and weighs 215 pounds and is just a better lateral mover. Goran had a solid 6'7 wingspan but I don't think he ever pushed 200 pounds.

We can argue eye test all day, but we can also look to some numbers for sake of comparison.

Powell is a solid onball defender and that counts for A LOT. He developed a reputation for ballwatching and losing his man when offball, but I haven't seen that pop up in Miami's scheme and under Miami's coaching much (scheme matters a ton in this highly nuanced discussion).

Powell is leading the team in deflections to date and has a higher steal percentage currently than any of Goran's in Miami.

In all of Goran's seasons with Miami, he never recorded a positive DBPM (he was -1.6 in the 2020 season referenced and -0.8 in the playoffs). Powell is at +0.8 DBPM so far this season and has never had a DBPM as low as Goran's -1.6.

Powell is currently 6th on the team in DRTG (a tricky stat to fully make sense of an individual basis) at 110.7. That DRTG is better than Miami's overall DRTG of 111.2 and is better than the DRTG of 27 teams in the NBA.

There's nothing to suggest that Powell in Miami (or for his career) is an inferior defender to 2020 Dragic. Everything suggests the opposite.

Scheme and coaching matter a ton into how a player plays off-ball defense.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Better fit?

Bam and Jimmy during the Jimmy era or current Bam (who is a better 3 point shooter on higher volume than Bosh ever was) and Giannis?

[Shewasfly]

2 is the line. And it works if at least one can hold water.

In 2020, Miami went to the finals with Goran Dragic and Duncan Robinson in the starting lineup all playoffs. During that playoff run, Herro was 2nd on the team in minutes played, Duncan was 5th, and Goran was 6th (due to missing most of the finals).

Norm probably edges out Goran as a defender overall imo.

I dream of the day where Miami has a lineup full of 2-way players. But, it's not as hard line as you make it out to be. Especially when you have the best defender in the world on your team.

Ill give you Duncan. But, Goran is a better defender than powell. Powell is just atrocious off ball. Hes in that herro tier. That 2020 team also had some good tough defenders though which is something this team lacks outside of bam.

Maybe im just looking too far ahead when it's just game 17 coming up.

Def looking ahead, but I enjoy assessing it.

From what I've seen from Powell in Miami, I disagree that Goran was a better defender (and I love Goran). Tools is part of it. Powell has a 6'11 wingspan and weighs 215 pounds and is just a better lateral mover. Goran had a solid 6'7 wingspan but I don't think he ever pushed 200 pounds.

We can argue eye test all day, but we can also look to some numbers for sake of comparison.

Powell is a strong onball defender and that counts for A LOT. He developed a reputation for ballwatching and losing his man when offball, but I haven't seen that pop up in Miami's scheme and under Miami's coaching much (scheme matters a ton in this highly nuanced discussion).

Powell is leading the team in deflections to date and has a higher steal percentage currently than any of Goran's in Miami.

In all of Goran's seasons with Miami, he never recorded a positive DBPM (he was -1.6 in the 2020 season referenced and -0.8 in the playoffs). Powell is at +0.8 DBPM so far this season and has never had a DBPM as low as Goran's -1.6.

Powell is currently 6th on the team in DRTG (a tricky stat to fully make sense of an individual basis) at 110.7. That DRTG is better than Miami's overall DRTG of 111.2 and is better than the DRTG of 27 teams in the NBA.

There's nothing to suggest that Powell in Miami (or for his career) is an inferior defender to 2020 Dragic. Everything suggests the opposite.

Scheme and coaching matter a ton into how a player plays off-ball defense.

Yeah, I have also thought Powell's defensive ability has been understated. Fans aren't going to like to hear it but: he's a vet and we're in the regular season playing in a very taxing offense where we're asking him to be our primary scorer. You're not going to get all out effort on defense every night. He has the physical tools and bbiq to where I think he would be just fine in the playoffs in a Spo defense.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Norm has me losing my mind every now and then with his off ball defense on shooters but outside of that I don’t have any complaints. They tried to target him yesterday and didn’t have much luck. Having Wades wingspan definitely helps.

[Enso]

Seems like there’s gonna be a lot of movement this season

[greg4012]

The Bam Ware pairing will continue to be a point of interest for most of us.

As has been discussed, the reasonable expectation is that they won't log more than like 10 mpg on the floor together (see breakdown below). But, we need this to become something real and impactful for it to all make sense as a foundational part of this build.

C: Ware (25 mpg); Bam (23 mpg)
PF: Bam (8-10 mpg); all other forwards (38-40 mpg)

So, how is the pairing faring on the court together so far this season? The tracking numbers say NOT GREAT. According to NBA lineup data, they have logged 69 minutes on the floor together and have a net rating of -6.5 with a DRTG of 118.7. Ouch.

BUT, when you dig a little deeper you can see that these numbers are largely skewed by a clear split in Ware's play between the first 8 games of the season and the last 9 or so.

Ware first 8 games of the season:

109.3 ORTG (worst on team)
120.4 DRTG (worst on team)
-11.1 net rating (worst on team)

2-man lineup with Bam (48 minutes): 104.6 ORTG; 133.3 DRTG; -28.7 net rating


Ware last 9 games played:

119.2 ORTG (5th on team)
109.4 DRTG (5th on team)
+9.8 net rating (3rd on team)

2-man lineup with Bam (21 minutes): 129.8 ORTG; 85.1 DRTG; +44.7 net rating


We got something cooking here.

[fishfuego.]

I saw last night from some insider, the possibility (a rumor) of Giannis going to the Knicks.
Such reality had me stressed in fear, so the question is, would some of you trade a Ware, or a Bam, if an opportunity arrives, to counter such rumored NYK move and improve the team on paper while avoiding the obvious, or roll with the one bird in hand better than 2 in the bushes intuition?

I mean if we’re talking financials, of course bringing a top 5 player in the game for the same monetary price of the player(s) going out makes sense, when talking dollars exclusively, witch many of us Heat fans tend to do, but of course you also have to consider what’s going out as a package, and the incentives.

There is more than one way to skin a cow. There is more than one way to conduct trades with different players and endless possibilities.

All I know is, this year I’m looking forward to see the Miami Heat transcend into a contender with what we have so far, and leave and trust the personnel and financial business to those involved.

If NYK is able to basically swap out KAT for Giannis that would be infuriating. But it makes more sense than us thinking we can get him for Tyler and scraps. If it was to be centered around Tyler it'd have to start at Tyler + Ware + picks. I'd imagine we'd have to include JJJ in it too tbh. So we'd be running a lineup of Davion-Powell-Wiggins-Bam-Giannis.

I think we'd still need to upgrade either the 1 or 3 to make that a championship contender. Do any of the available headcases players (Ja, Dirty Loli, etc.) make that a winner? Would what we have left be enough to get any of them? I'd assume it'd be a combo of Wiggins and change to get it done (which is a very favorable stretch of the imagination for us, but just suppose). Then it'd be:

Ja or Trae Young
Powell
Larsson
Bam
Giannis

Is that enough? And is it even any better defensively on the perimeter than people are already crying about now? Idk. I'd rather keep what we have to get a real star or ride with it until we can draft a future star. I also think if we're going after Giannis the poor fit with Bam cannot be overlooked from a lineup perspective as well. If Bam keeps up his ability to score outside, it becomes less huge of question mark, but there's no guarantee on that yet. We need a full season or two of this from Bam for us to finally say he has added this to his game.

Well, the potential and age of Ware cancels the talent of Kat imo, but it is what needs to be offered in return that may not be beneficial to the Heat. So, I also don’t think the Knicks can get away with just offering Kat. I can see even Brunson being requested by the Bucks.

One thing is for sure, the Heat is bringing a new set of problems ( and fear) to many teams, especially in the East.
I was reading comments from other fans of teams we played and beat, and at the top of such topics were “I wish we had that size” lol.

Bam and Ware cancels Giannis, so I’m not worry about Milwaukee, it is the Knicks adding him to play aside Brunson that’s troubling to me. If ever that happens of course.

[fishfuego.]

According to bontemps, there's been very little interest in AD around the league.

Buy low buy low buy low

Low for us is a trade centered around Andrew Wiggins...

It would probably be something like Wiggins and Jovic and a pick. If Dallas is desperate enough, I can see it. Though I certainly would have preferred we did this for Durant instead during the summer.

This scenario here would be just perfect.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Seems like there’s gonna be a lot of movement this season

AD
Lamelo
Trae
Ja
Lavine/Sabonis/Derozan

Then obviously the giannis possibility.

I’m sure some random ones will shake out between now and the deadline as well

[fishfuego.]

The Bam Ware pairing will continue to be a point of interest for most of us.

As has been discussed, the reasonable expectation is that they won't log more than like 10 mpg on the floor together (see breakdown below). But, we need this to become something real and impactful for it to all make sense as a foundational part of this build.

C: Ware (25 mpg); Bam (23 mpg)
PF: Bam (8-10 mpg); all other forwards (38-40 mpg)

So, how is the pairing faring on the court together so far this season? The tracking numbers say NOT GREAT. According to NBA lineup data, they have logged 69 minutes on the floor together and have a net rating of -6.5 with a DRTG of 118.7. Ouch.

BUT, when you dig a little deeper you can see that these numbers are largely skewed by a clear split in Ware's play between the first 8 games of the season and the last 9 or so.

Ware first 8 games of the season:

109.3 ORTG (worst on team)
120.4 DRTG (worst on team)
-11.1 net rating (worst on team)

2-man lineup with Bam (48 minutes): 104.6 ORTG; 133.3 DRTG; -28.7 net rating


Ware last 9 games played:

119.2 ORTG (5th on team)
109.4 DRTG (5th on team)
+9.8 net rating (3rd on team)

2-man lineup with Bam (21 minutes): 129.8 ORTG; 85.1 DRTG; +44.7 net rating


We got something cooking here.

Very interesting.

[caliban]

Massive. The right numbers to look at and follow. Thanks for posting greg.

Should isolate for w and without Wiggins aswell as the season progresses.

[Bishop45]

Read on Twitter

What's your pick, if you had your choice?

[Bishop45]

Watch on YouTube

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Read on Twitter

What's your pick, if you had your choice?

I’d take Trae, high level scorer and top of the league level playmaker with a deep playoff run under his belt leading the way where he took 2 games off of the eventual champion Bucks.

I think Ja is the best but he’d rather act like a thug

Lamelo might be too gone mentally but his size and talent are elite

I’d trust Spo to get the best out of all of them if we eventually landed one of them