2025 Regular Season Thread Vol. 5 - JIMMY BUTTWART EXTRAVAGANZA

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Contending sort of but the writing was on the wall with the Bam extension coming up and how Jimmy has been a malcontent in every other place he left. If Heat knew they weren’t going to be paying butler what he wanted, should have read the room better IMO. Maybe it was a breakdown in communication between player and management but it was an oversight. Relating to Bam yes it incentivizes the team even more to move forward without him. The next few years are likely to be some tough years for the Heat as we’re basically back to the days of picking like 8-11 in the draft. Might as well totally bottom out and see what you got in some of these kids

It's like you said, reading the room. The whole 2026 plan seems like hope shilling to be perfectly honest. What star player is going to give up 50+ mil to come here, especially after this Jimmy PR disaster. The current target/victim is Fox, who says he wants to win, we take that literally. When players say I want to win, 99% of the time it's really, bleeping pay me. Fox wants to get that super max. So say we miss out on Fox, Herro is up for his 50 mil extension this October, Jovic wants to get paid, then JJJ is up next. All of the cap space will start to get mighty small all while we punt away another season. In the meantime Bam gets older, an undersized player whose whole game is based on athleticism. Its about reading the room

Is Fox supermax eligible?

I agree that's the major hurdle that makes the likes of Luka 2026 very questionable.

From my understanding he is not because he will not make all nba.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

It's like you said, reading the room. The whole 2026 plan seems like hope shilling to be perfectly honest. What star player is going to give up 50+ mil to come here, especially after this Jimmy PR disaster. The current target/victim is Fox, who says he wants to win, we take that literally. When players say I want to win, 99% of the time it's really, bleeping pay me. Fox wants to get that super max. So say we miss out on Fox, Herro is up for his 50 mil extension this October, Jovic wants to get paid, then JJJ is up next. All of the cap space will start to get mighty small all while we punt away another season. In the meantime Bam gets older, an undersized player whose whole game is based on athleticism. Its about reading the room

Is Fox supermax eligible?

I agree that's the major hurdle that makes the likes of Luka 2026 very questionable.

If he gets named to an all NBA team he is. If he gets that, then he can sign 345 mil 5 year contract, basically almost 70 mil a year. Like most things, just follow the money and it all starts to make sense.

He’s not getting all nba.

[MettaWorldPanda]

There’s a world we end up with two Klutch free agents in Ball and Ingram lol

C Ware
PF Bam
SF Ingram
SG Herro
PG Ball

[twozeroMM]

I don't know about paying Ingram the max, but him on this team does catch my attention

[MettaWorldPanda]

I don't know about paying Ingram the max, but him on this team does catch my attention

There’s not much money out there that we might be able to get away negotiating a better deal or a one year bloated payment that still gives us 2026 flexibility and he enters free agency again

[3ammy3uck3ts]

And this notion that Bam has to be a knockdown shooter if he’s playing the 4 is also wrong. Theyre obviously working to develop that over the season and into the summer and rightfully so but he could literally not shoot 3s and it still wouldn’t matter as long as Ware is hitting them at a respectable clip (like we saw year 1 with KO and Meyers) and then also factor in whoever we replace Jimmy with im going to assume is a much better/more willing shooter.

Everything is not so extreme, believe it or not the sky is not falling. Chill tf out and let it play itself out

[MettaWorldPanda]

Read on Twitter

[IceColdCubano]

I don't know about paying Ingram the max, but him on this team does catch my attention

Any Wing that is above average in the scoring department that can defend or is long/big whatever will work here. Right now you have Duncan and Herro who are pulling gravity but are terrible defenders, and no other wing that can perform self creation or take advantage, as we saw last night Milwaukee eventually caught on to our play of going in and out with our bigs to get easy buckets, they shut that down and their wings were good enough to stay in front of both Herro/Duncan so we got completely shut out of our schemes. Right now neither JJJ or Niko are good enough to self create their own bucket, and played terrible.

[SA37]

There’s a world we end up with two Klutch free agents in Ball and Ingram lol

C Ware
PF Bam
SF Ingram
SG Herro
PG Ball

What's this weird obsession with Lonzo Ball? If Miami is hell-bent on no significant salary beyond 2026 outside of top-tier player, Brandon Ingram definitely does not fit that bill.

[MettaWorldPanda]

Middleton and pick to NO for Ingram sneakily gets them out of the tax and gives them a one year stop gap

[IceColdCubano]

And this notion that Bam has to be a knockdown shooter if he’s playing the 4 is also wrong. Theyre obviously working to develop that over the season and into the summer and rightfully so but he could literally not shoot 3s and it still wouldn’t matter as long as Ware is hitting them at a respectable clip (like we saw year 1 with KO and Meyers) and then also factor in whoever we replace Jimmy with im going to assume is a much better/more willing shooter.

Everything is not so extreme, believe it or not the sky is not falling. Chill tf out and let it play itself out

In my mind the Bam/Ware duo would work cleaner with Bam taking advantage of Ware as well, but needs to focus on his face up game and size some post ups, now that he is against guys his size or smaller play more bully ball pull the secondary defender and lob to Ware or pass to open shooters.

[SA37]

Read on Twitter

No idea why Chicago would swap Lavine for Beal, especially when the draft capital would be minimal. And I don't see Beal wanting to go play for a team that is setting up to tank by moving Lavine and Vucevic.

I also wonder why Butler is apparently adamant he won't go to Memphis. He must hate someone real bad there

[twozeroMM]

Interesting and funny how Jimmy is in NY right now, but not to join the team lol

He's doing something for Big Face at a store here in the city

Check out their story https://www.instagram.com/happiergrocery/

[3ammy3uck3ts]

And this notion that Bam has to be a knockdown shooter if he’s playing the 4 is also wrong. Theyre obviously working to develop that over the season and into the summer and rightfully so but he could literally not shoot 3s and it still wouldn’t matter as long as Ware is hitting them at a respectable clip (like we saw year 1 with KO and Meyers) and then also factor in whoever we replace Jimmy with im going to assume is a much better/more willing shooter.

Everything is not so extreme, believe it or not the sky is not falling. Chill tf out and let it play itself out

In my mind the Bam/Ware duo would work cleaner with Bam taking advantage of Ware as well, but needs to focus on his face up game and size some post ups, now that he is against guys his size or smaller play more bully ball pull the secondary defender and lob to Ware or pass to open shooters.

Just go back and watch the 1st quarter, everything was flowing great on both ends. Bam was involved in the offense as we were working to get him shots like we need to be doing all game, Herro was getting good looks coming off screens or 2nd chance opportunities Bam was getting us on the glass, Ware literally isn’t being guarded off ball so we were finding him on open lobs, and Duncan was flying around everywhere being a distraction and hitting open looks. Defensively we were locked in, no one was getting easy looks. The second the bench and Terry came in all that went to waste. From that point on we were pressing to try and catch up

[IceColdCubano]

Interesting and funny how Jimmy is in NY right now, but not to join the team lol

He's doing something for Big Face at a store here in the city

Check out their story https://www.instagram.com/happiergrocery/

Funnier would be him, showing up to the game on Saturday court side, laughing the entire time.

[MettaWorldPanda]

Read on Twitter

No idea why Chicago would swap Lavine for Beal, especially when the draft capital would be minimal. And I don't see Beal wanting to go play for a team that is setting up to tank by moving Lavine and Vucevic.

I also wonder why Butler is apparently adamant he won't go to Memphis. He must hate someone real bad there

I will repeat why Beal is the betting favorite for Chicago.

1. Gets to play in big city
2. Proximity to hometown St Louis
3. Getting to play with beloved college coach Billy D
4. His agency Priority Sports and Mark Bartlestein based out of Chicago
5. Admiration for Jordan(Tied with Jordan brand) marketing opportunities in big market Chicago.

Why the Bulls do this?

LaVine has told management he wants out of Chicago since last year. They will also get some other assets for being in this deal.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Jaylen Wells would be a great replacement for Jaime going to Sacramento when Bam gets us Fox.

21 year old rookie averaging 12-3-2, 6’7 SG/SF who is shooting 39% from 3 on 5 attempts a game.

[Rapaz]

Interesting and funny how Jimmy is in NY right now, but not to join the team lol

He's doing something for Big Face at a store here in the city

Check out their story https://www.instagram.com/happiergrocery/

Phuk Phace Coffee you say?

[greg4012]

We just started the Ware and Bam front court. It needs time and the proper build now. It’s worth the patience. Get a scoring SF and real PG with them and allow the unit to gel.

100%

Look if there's a Gobert+ haul for Bam, I don't take issue with a massive haul and full rebuild. For that level haul, I'm OK with trading anyone on the roster. This is a clear pivot and regroup season for the post-Jimmy era. I'm still optimistic that Miami doesn't have to completely drop off to get back to a really exciting competitive squad.

Some seem really eager to get Bam off the team no matter the return and that seems WILD to me. It also seems wild to think that projecting forward, Bam will never have as much market value as he has today. But, to each their own. Some may believe that Bam will only get worse from here and will never physically or mentally be who he was as recently as this summer. I don't get that at all.

Personally, I've seen Bam produce way too much value when it matters most (the defender in the NBA that quite literally covers the most space in a spacing playoff game) to think that he's fizzled out at 27 years old. Esp when you see his archetype of player--Draymond, Horford, etc--be crucial pieces for top tier playoff contenders into their mid 30s.

I've seen Bam have an All-Star season producing to the tune of 16 ppg, 10 rpg, 5 apg, and elite defense as a starting big next to a slow-footed 7' center that can space the floor.

I've seen Bam produce as a 20 ppg scorer on good efficiency and plus playmaking on an offense that features a #1 option that isn't a real 3pt threat and scores from the same parts of the court that Bam is most comfortable occupying and scoring from.

I've seen Bam evolve his game to be relied upon as an iso-scorer in the absence of even league-average playmaking coming from the perimeter players.

Bam is out of whack in a wonky environment. I'm still a believer in his strengths and that he can produce in the manners commensurate with how he's produced in the past (with a 7' center, with decent playmaking guards, with spacing on the floor, as a facilitating hub). I do not believe he will suddenly become less impactful defensively.

With Jimmy out, this is fully a developmental season. Let's develop a framework to build off of that will work with Bam and Ware.

Miami currently has at least $74M in allotted salary that is not serving roster construction in any way right now (Jimmy and Terry). $93M if you add in Duncan's contract.

Let's turn that $93M into productive roster balance and use that to fuel the potential of this new frontcourt.

[MettaWorldPanda]

And this notion that Bam has to be a knockdown shooter if he’s playing the 4 is also wrong. Theyre obviously working to develop that over the season and into the summer and rightfully so but he could literally not shoot 3s and it still wouldn’t matter as long as Ware is hitting them at a respectable clip (like we saw year 1 with KO and Meyers) and then also factor in whoever we replace Jimmy with im going to assume is a much better/more willing shooter.

Everything is not so extreme, believe it or not the sky is not falling. Chill tf out and let it play itself out

Exactly. On offense Ware can be the PF while Bam is at his Center spots on the floor. They can flip flop anytime. It’s up to Spo to make this work but the current roster does not have the right pieces.