VaDe255 wrote:Tim_Hardawayy wrote:VaDe255 wrote:
Absolutely disagree. The time to reset was right after LeBron left in 2014. Instead, Miami tried to stay competitive and locked themselves into years of mediocrity with bad contracts.
They should’ve done what Cleveland did, twice (it does work!!!).
When LeBron left in 2010, the Cavs tore it down, landed Kyrie, and built the foundation for his return. He came back and they won a title. When he left again in 2018, they didn’t chase fake competitiveness—they reset, drafted Garland and Mobley, used their assets to get Mitchell, and now they have a legit contender again.
Miami? They handed out bloated contracts, stayed fake competitive, and only got saved because Jimmy chose them—not because of smart planning.
If they’d reset in 2014—stockpiled picks, developed youth, preserved flexibility—they could’ve entered the Jimmy window with real assets and a foundation. Instead, it’s been 10 years of holding onto “culture” like it's a strategy, while jogging in place and constantly burning assets, applying patchwork to a sinking ship.
I wouldn't trade the Jimmy years for a full reset. Yeah eventually that's probably gonna happen anyways, it might even be what's needed now. But pointing to the Cavs or Wolves as teams it worked for is very selective memory, so many teams live for years in the draft and never get anything out of it.
Look at the 76ers, the only thing they ever got that really mattered was Embiid, who they're all but ready to chase out of town now. "The process" in most cases is just rolling the dice, because not only do you need to get lucky in the lottery, not only do you need to pick the right guy, you also need to get lucky in the right year, because some years the whole draft just sucks!
I’ll always see it different ways. I’m a very methodical guy, and for me, building through a proper reset, getting your cap in order, accumulating assets, and acquiring young talent through the draft or smart trades is the only real structured way to build a contender.
The top 4 teams in the NBA this year; Cleveland, OKC, Boston, and Houston, all have a core that came from a reset. It clearly works most of the time if done correctly, there are countless examples.
We’ll see what happens in the offseason. Still waiting for this FO to finally get something right, they’ve been wrong a lot lately.
Not extending Jimmy was the right move, but not having the foresight to handle his situation correctly is exactly the kind of thing you wouldn’t expect from an elite FO, which they haven’t been for a while.
Cleveland??? Houston just got knocked out of the first round by some old guys.
