***Our Annual - Predict The Heat 2025-2026 Regular Season***

[RexBoyWonder]

So....It's that time again. Time for hopes and dreams to get slapped by reality, time for 3ammy3uck3ts to serenade Bam, for DOM to dream about Cameron Boozer or some other 16YO nobody knows, and for us all to hate on Terry.

Last year we were pretty...Optimistic let's say - our Average predicted wins umber was 47.875. We ended up with 37, quite a stiff dose of reality it was.

So far we added a promising rookie PG, we'll have no Jimmy drama (and no Jimmy), lost Duncan but added our Italian whale in Simone Fontecchio.

The all East seems to be in turmoil - so how good do you think we are? What do you actually want to see this year?

Last season Prediction thread :
viewtopic.php?t=2408932

How wisdom of the crowd effect works :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_the_crowd


So let's get after it - All answers should address the Regular Season :


1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season?

2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be?

3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?

4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)?

5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player?

6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year?

7) Who will be the biggest disappointment?

8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)?

9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both)

10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over?

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player.

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season.

13) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s.

14) What will you consider a success/failure this year?

15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year?

16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions?

17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be?

18) Bonus playoffpost mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end?

[contract]

Most of the board chickened out of making prediction last season. I can't imagine that many are going to start making predictions this early.

As for the poll question ... most of the east is either tanking or in shambles. All we have to do is try to win our games and we'll make the playoffs again.

[eddieheatfan]

not making any predictions until the roster is fully finalized. its possible that we end up with a limping lillard that nobody wants right now but knowing riley they may take a gamble since they took it with greg oden and others as crazy as it sounds, they could try to pair him with derozan ...who knows but the ducan departure is far from over. imagine cabron coming back along with the derozan and a limping dame? it will be called the geriatric 3 lol

[joeshred]

i wont answer til i see the summer squad

[RexBoyWonder]

not making any predictions until the roster is fully finalized. its possible that we end up with a limping lillard that nobody wants right now but knowing riley they may take a gamble since they took it with greg oden and others as crazy as it sounds, they could try to pair him with derozan ...who knows but the ducan departure is far from over. imagine cabron coming back along with the derozan and a limping dame? it will be called the geriatric 3 lol

That's cool, My bet is we're done making meaningful moves.

But the thread will open until first game of the season, so watching summer league before answering makes some sense, at least when it comes to evaluating the young players.

[SerialChiller]

[Hoops3355]

1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season? 48

2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be? Yes. 5 seed

3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?
Herro – 26
Wiggs – 22.5
Bam – 20
Jovic – 17
Ware – 12
4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)?
DRU SMITH?
5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player?
Jovic
6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year?
Ware with his added size and another year of conditioning does for his overall game.
7) Who will be the biggest disappointment?
Terry Roizer. That neck is cooked.

8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)?
There’s no one who looks to be available that I think really moves the needle for us. The two trades I think we end up doing is moving off Terry and netting a decent player at the trade deadline. Teams will be heavy sellers at the deadline this year with all the CBA stuff going on. See HH getting moved given his age and place in the team and cap implications moving forward.

9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both)
DMitchell averaging 8+ assists a game. I think he’s gonna see a nice production increase with another season in our offense and if he can continue to hit that 3 ball at 35%+ his game opens up immensely.

10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over?
Early Season – Extreme hate against the rotation
Mid Season – a period of hope
End Season – WE GOT THIS

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player.
Herro has a great shot of breaking the Heat’s 3p attempts this season with D. Rob gone and the offense free flowing.

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season.
KP being good at a high ends up in Davion Mitchell getting benched.

13) ) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s.
The trend of haterade will lull as well demand a full on rebuild. Until Jesus Shuttleworth, the one who was promised returns, we will be united in FO distrust

14) What will you consider a success/failure this year?
Playoffs with MEANINGFUL improvement to our offense because it’s been multiple seasons bad.

15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year?
If we can turn Terry’s contract into positive impact player.

16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions?
West – OKC
East – Cavs

17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be?
Plan to blow it up in 2028 unless Jovic or Ware make a real jump

18) Bonus playoff post mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end?
 1st Round Exit unless a major trade happens.

[al bondiga]

39 wins...herro 25ppg...bam 18ppg...ware17ppg...jovic 15ppg
playin ...no Play off

[wade44]

45 wins…

I think we’ll be better than expected with the Norm addition. Give Wiggins a chance to have a full offseason with the team and get healthy and his mind right I think he’ll be okay. The weak east we can beat virtually any team apart from the Cavs and maybe Orlando/Bucks

[HeatFanLifer]

1. 40 wins
2. 9th seed playing to first round
3. Irrelevant cuz this team aint gonna be relevant
4. see point 3.

[contract]

1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season? 45 wins

2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be? Yes ... 5th seed

3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be? Herro 25 ppg, Powell 20 ppg, Adebayo 17 ppg, Wiggins 16 ppg, Rozier 15 ppg

4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)? Powell

5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player? Jovic by default

6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year? Rozier ... because wtf was last year?

7) Who will be the biggest disappointment? Me for still giving a crap.

8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)? I don't know. Probably something stupid.

9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? Rapaz will trade himself to the Raptors board because the Heat board failed to get him enough help.

10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over? Same as always. He's washed, stupid, can't coach ...

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player. Tyler will take every single shot in at least one game. Or at least it will feel that way.

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season. The Heat unveil Lebron's statue ... and it looks exactly like Wade's.

13) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s. I will once again lose my **** at some point during our disappointing season. I'm already there.

14) What will you consider a success/failure this year? Same as every other year. Success = reaching the ECF. Failure = not reaching the ECF.

15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year? Nick Arison apparently.

16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions? Knicks & Thunder ... Thunder win.

17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be? No fair adding new questions! My vision for the Heat going forward is Tyler Herro leading the team in shot attempts for another 10 years and signing three more extensions.

18) Bonus playoffpost mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end? First round

[eddieheatfan]

1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season? 43 wins

2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be? Yes ... 7th seed

3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be? Herro 25 ppg, Powell 20 ppg, Adebayo 17 ppg, Wiggins 16 ppg, Rozier 15 ppg

4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)? Powell

5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player? Jovic by default

6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year? Rozier ... because wtf was last year?

7) Who will be the biggest disappointment? Me for still giving a crap.

8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)? I don't know. Probably something stupid.

9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? Rapaz will trade himself to the Raptors board because the Heat board failed to get him enough help.

10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over? Same as always. He's washed, stupid, can't coach ...

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player. Tyler will take every single shot in at least one game. Or at least it will feel that way.

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season. The Heat unveil Lebron's statue ... and it looks exactly like Wade's.

13) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s. I will once again lose my **** at some point during our disappointing season. I'm already there.

14) What will you consider a success/failure this year? Same as every other year. Success = reaching the ECF. Failure = not reaching the ECF.

15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year? Nick Arison apparently.

16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions? Knicks & Thunder ... Thunder win.

17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be? No fair adding new questions! My vision for the Heat going forward is Tyler Herro leading the team in shot attempts for another 10 years and signing three more extensions.

18) Bonus playoffpost mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end? First round

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season. The Heat unveil Lebron's statue ... and it looks exactly like Wade's.

[Kobewade11]

Too early but i’ll leave a placeholder here to update closer to pre-season

[gom]

>>1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season?

43-39

>>2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be? Yes. 5 seed

Sixth seed: Cleveland, Orlando, New York, Detroit, and Milwaukee will be ahead of us. 76ers, Celtics, Hawks, and Raptors round out the list.

>>3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?
Herro – 22
Wiggs – 20
Bam – 18
Powell - 15
Ware – 13

>>4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)?
Powell

>>5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player?
Ware

>>6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year?
Ware.

>>7) Who will be the biggest disappointment?
So many possibilities. I guess Herro, since so much relies on him becoming a scoring phenomenon. I predicted 22 ppg, but for him to achieve success in his role, he needs 27+.

>>8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)?
I see Wiggins as the odd man out, which is a bummer, because I think he could be successful in Miami. He has solid defense and good offensive skills. For this team to work, however, Herro and Bam need to get the ball more and featured. Everyone else needs to make a sacrifice, but Wiggins also needs the ball, so that's not going to happen... there is only one ball.

>>9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both)
Rozier returns draft capital in the trade moving him, and Heat still get out of the tax. Trade deadline should be fun.

>>10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over?
"If he just listened to me more, we wouldn't win so many games." j/k, what will be really said: "why did it take spo so long to figure out that we just need two tall guys up front and everything else is gravy? I knew that many seasons ago. Why does he get paid so much?

>>11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player.
Madsden gets hot and sinks 5 3-pointers in the third quarter, bringing the Heat to within 3. He then hits the bench until garbage time in the 4th and still makes a 3 to finish with 18 points. We lose the game to the Kings by 15 points, so it probably didn't matter, but still...

>>12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season.
Miami wins the Eastern Conference Finals in Orlando, which sparks intense feelings of rivalry on the part of Magic fans and a ho-hum reaction from Heat fans who thought the Magic were more like an annoying roommate than a rival.

>13) ) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s.
Izzy as an ai agent. It is actually better than real izzy was at using gifs.

>>14) What will you consider a success/failure this year?
Miami must make the eastern conference finals again to be successful. It's actually time to win another championship. Mediocre **** is tedious.

>>15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year?
Miami must be willing to gamble. We have been conservative and rebuilt our assets. Good. Now let's get down.

>>16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions?
West – OKC
East – Boston (they are like herpes)

>>17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be?
We are going to need a lot of psychedelic-laced Kool-Aid to see nirvana. Up the dose maybe?

>>18) Bonus playoff post mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end?
We will struggle to get to the second round, but if we do, we will probably be good enough to fight for a championship. Our players have experience at least.

[Caneman786]

1. How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season?

____40 wins

2. Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be?

____Yes, we will be the 8th seed.

3. Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?

____Tyler Herro (25 PPG), Bam Adebayo (20 PPG), Norman Powell (20 PPG), Andrew Wiggins (18 PPG), Terry Rozier (15 PPG)

4. Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)?

____Norman Powell

5. Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player?

____Kel'el Ware

6. Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year?

____Terry Rozier

7. Who will be the biggest disappointment?

____Nikola Jovic

8. What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)?

____Trade away Andrew Wiggins?

9. What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both)

____Terry Rozier bounceback year

10. What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over?

____Mixed bag, as always. I'm not familiar with this board.

11. Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player.

____Our team will be one of the best free throw shooting teams in the league (by free throw percentage), maybe #1.

12. Predict the weirdest moment of the season.

____Random ten-game win streak.

13. Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s.

____Not aware of a single poster

14. What will you consider a success/failure this year?

____Success - Trade away Andrew Wiggins, secure a first-round pick. Failure - Not being in a good position to sign free agents.

15. What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year?

____If Andrew Wiggins can play well enough to get value.

16. What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions?

____Eastern champions - Cleveland Cavaliers
____Western champions - Los Angeles Clippers
____NBA Champions - LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

17. If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be?

____Make cap space to sign a big free agent. Secure some first round picks. Get the good role players and sign them on good deals to prepare.

18. Bonus playoff post mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and / OR how will our season end?

____1st round loss to the one-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in 6 games.

[Caneman786]

>>3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?
Herro – 22
Wiggs – 20
Bam – 18
Powell - 15
Ware – 13

Why are you high on Wiggins and Low on Powell?

[gom]

>>3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?
Herro – 22
Wiggs – 20
Bam – 18
Powell - 15
Ware – 13

Why are you high on Wiggins and Low on Powell?

Playing time and limitation of one ball. I don't really think Powell, Herro, and Mitchell are going to share the court a lot. Also, I think Wiggins will revert to his career average, 18.5 ppg, but he should have more playing time. Powell has never been a high volume scorer. He will be a good player, but I don't see a ton of points from this team.

[SA37]

I might need to amend this if Miami makes a big trade or someone gets injured, but:

1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season?

46-36

2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be?

yes, Miami will be the 6th seed

3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?

Herro 23-24ppg Powell 19-20ppg Bam 17-18ppg Wiggins 16-17ppg Mitchell 11-12

4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)?

Norman Powell

5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player?

Davion Mitchell

6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year?

Pelle Larsson

7) Who will be the biggest disappointment?

Ware, Jovic, and Jaquez, in that order

I think neither Ware nor Jovic will show the improvement some seem to expect. I think Jaquez will lose his minutes to Larsson and Fontecchio

8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)?

If Kuminga signs the 2-year, ~$45M deal, maybe Miami revisits this and trades Wiggins back to GS.



9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both)

Positive: Miami finishes in the top half of the league in offense

Negative: Miami does not finish as a top-10 defense

10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over?

He didn't play the youngns enough

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player.

Miami finishes in the top-15 on offense and out of the top-10 on defense

Miami makes more 3s as a team without Duncan Robinson

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season.

Ware, Jovic, and Jaquez all sit in favor of Fontecchio, Larsson, and Dru Smith

13) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s.

I guess more of the passive-aggressive fighting between certain posters

14) What will you consider a success/failure this year?



Success: If Miami can actually make the playoffs without having to go through the play-in and if they're able to turn Wiggins/Rozier/Jaquez into long-term value

Failure: Not finishing in the top-6 with both the Celtics and Pacers depleted and a weakened Milwaukee team. Not making a trade that includes one or more of Wiggins/Rozier/Jaquez for assets or a player with a future in Miami


15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year?

Miami's ability to put the ball in the basket and for Adebayo to stay healthy

16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions?

This really depends on seeding, especially in the West. I am guess the conferences finish:

East: Cavs - Knicks - Magic - Bucks - Hawks - Heat // Pistons - 76ers - Pacers - Bulls

West: OKC - Rockets - Clippers - Nuggets - Lakers - Warriors // Wolves - Grizz - Mavs - Spurs

EC Champ: NY Knicks

WC Champ: OKC

NBA Champ: OKC

17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be?

Miami's in an solid position going forward. The team lacks an all-star talent amongst its young guys, but it has 4 potential all-stars (Herro, Bam, Powell, and Wiggins) on the roster and lots of financial flexibility going forward. A lot will depend on how Miami allocates that money, especially since Herro, Jovic, Wiggins, and Powell will all be looking for contracts and if Miami can use Wiggins/Jaquez/Rozier to improve the roster. Given how weak the East is, Miami could potentially make deep playoff runs over the next 2-3 seasons if the sum is greater than the individual pieces.

18) Bonus playoffpost mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end?

Given what I laid out above, I think Miami makes it to the 2nd round, but loses to the Knicks.

[SerialChiller]

1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season? 42

2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be? 7th

3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be? Herro 24, Powell 19, Bam 18, Wiggins 17

4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)? Powell

5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player? Jovic

6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year? Larsson

7) Who will be the biggest disappointment? Spo, at least for those thinking he just had a down year

8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)? None we got under the tax

9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both) Maybe Rozier actually has a big game at some point, or Jovic throws down an actual dunk

10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over? Still the best coach in the league blah blah blah

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player. Herro gets a triple double with Pts/Ast/TOs

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season. Spo says "F*** it" and throws out a Mitchell/Larsson/Herro/Powell/JJJ all guard smallball death lineup or something crazy

13) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s. Harlem makes another "stealthy" return with his 4th new account

14) What will you consider a success/failure this year? I already consider this year a failure, but I guess success might be winning a playoff game or 2 this time. Or maybe at least developing the young guys somewhat more if Spo would just let them play instead of giving Rozier 40 minutes etc. Really we should be doing that and trying to get a high lotto pick tbh hence it's already a failure.

15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year? The treadmill roster

16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions? East: Knicks?...nah I can't bring myself to say them so Cavs. West: Thunder, Champs: Thunder

17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be? Just pick a direction already. Enough with the treadmill. Blow it up, play the young guys and get some actual high lotto picks. Or go all in around Bam and Herro, but sadly I think we've seen enough to know that won't work by now though, and we've lost Jimmy while missing on all the whales so I'd vote option 1.

18) Bonus playoffpost mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end? Lose in the 1st round 4-1 maaaybe 4-2 depending on the matchup

[eddieheatfan]

So let's get after it - All answers should address the Regular Season :


1) How many wins will the Heat have in the 2025-2026 season?
34 wins -despite norman powell this team is going to suck butt

[b]2) Will we make the playoffs this year? If yes - what seed will we be?[/b]
play-in, this year will be a loss season

[b][b]3) Who will be our top 5 leading scorers, and what will their PPG be?[/b][/b]
herro,powell,bambi, pella, little joker
4) Who will be our best overall new addition (new to the regular rotation)?
noran powell

b]5) Who will be our best overall young/inexperienced player?[/b]
kasper the ghost


b]6) Which player will make the biggest improvement from last year?[/b]
hard tell.probly jaime

7) Who will be the biggest disappointment?

bambi


b]8) What trades will we end up doing during the year (or even before the season starts)?[/b]

none, treadmill

9) What will be the biggest surprise of the season? (positive or negative or both)

jaime does a sex change and starts playing the WNBA for mental reasons lol

b]10) What will our board posters write about Spo once this season is over?[/b]
**** spo. **** riley and **** burney too

11) Predict a nice/interesting statistical nugget you can see happening with the team or a player.
the regression will be obvious for all to see, the emperor will have no clothes

12) Predict the weirdest moment of the season.

toss up jaime sex change or burnie being haslem all along

13) Predict a RealGM Heat-board development you expect to see with a long time poster/s.

iggy will make a comeback


b]14) What will you consider a success/failure this year?[/b]
spo will try davion to play at center and dru smith as a foward

15) What will be the biggest factor to impact our success or failure this year?
treadmill
16) What are your picks for Eastern champions, Western champions - and finally NBA Champions?

denver for western orlando for the eastern nba champion. mickey mouse will get a ring this year

b]17) If you had to sum up your vision for the team going forward (next 3-5 years) in a couple of sentences - what would it be?[/b]
treadmill

[b]18) Bonus playoffpost mortem question - How far will we get in the playoffs and/OR how will our season end?[/b]

playoff what playoff? this team will lose at the play in