NBA Preview 2024-25 Miami Heat. Data, results from the previous season, a look at their squad and their future free agents, the objectives of the course, the player to follow and a prediction about the franchise.
Miami Heat
The template
- Movements in the market: Adebayo extension for the maximum. Signing of Alec Burks. Departure of Caleb Martin.
- Backcourt: Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Josh Richardson, Alec Burks, Pelle Larson, Dru Smith (two-way).
- Frontcourt: Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Haywood Highsmith, Bam Adebayo, Kevin Love, Thomas Bryant, Kel’el Ware, Keshad Johnson (two-way) ¿Nassir Little?.
This is how they face the season
Let’s forget for a moment that the franchise is called the Miami Heat. Let’s ignore his career, his hallmark, his culture of effort, his 2023 Finals… and let’s ignore that a certain Pat Riley is in charge of the offices and a certain Erik Spoelstra is on the benches.
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Putting all that aside at one end of the plate, what do we have left? Let’s see:
- A mid-caliber, 35-year-old superstar, Jimmy Butler.
- An All-Star in the paint, one of the most versatile interior defenders in the entire circuit and at his basketball peak, Bam Adebayo.
- And combo guard former winner of the Sixth Man (2022), with a lot of magic and a certain tendency to get injured, capable of scoring and creating play with fluidity, and with the doubt of whether he will break his own ceiling to give rise to a superior version of himself, Tyler Herro.
- A dynamic, veteran, fearless, aggressive and somewhat small point guard, but who has maintained his style in his first year in Miami after having posted the best numbers of his career in Charlotte, Terry ‘Scary’ Rozier.
- The fourth classified for Best Rookie of the Year, a guarantee of scoring from the bench, committed to the game, high IQ and with the perspective of establishing himself as a starter in only his second year in the NBA, Jaime Jáquez Jr.
Anything else? Yes, a promising rookie center (Ware), one of the best three-pointers on the circuit (Robinson) and another who, in his third year, is showing signs of success (Jovic); some veterans to fill the rotation (Burks, Love, Richardson), some low-risk bets with few options to repeat past trends like Max Strus, Gabe Vincent or Kendrick Nunn (Nassir Little, Keshad Johnson, Pelle Larson) and little else to count on for a squad of, for now, fourteen players under guaranteed contract.
And all of this, now, led by one of the best head coach from the entire 21st century and with a competitive feeling that, beyond names, makes the Miami Heat that franchise to always avoid in the first round of the playoffs no matter how much they have sneaked into these through the play-in door. Intangibles such as pride, honor or faith in the emblem that demands that rivals superior in squad and talent must always hit one more racket to win the point.
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The small print
So at first glance it doesn’t seem like a bad project to compete with in 2024/25, but it would still be a crude analysis that needs its fine print to really understand the stage in which a project that exudes the aroma of last stage. The offensive, physical, hierarchical and spiritual leader of the franchise is coming off a bad season due to injuries, yes, but also at a rate of years that is beginning to take its toll, even on someone with values as incombustible and stoic as It’s Jimmy Butler.
This is his penultimate year of contract, which is followed by a player option worth 52.4 million dollars. It’s hard to believe that the Heat want to reward him with a long-term renewal, given his age and that the point at which the project is is advancing at a different pace than Butler, who if all goes well will inevitably enter that stage of being second/third sword of a team candidate for the title. And those, except for the touch of Riley’s wand, are not going to be the Heat (¿sign-and-trade?).
Thus, this could be the year in which Butler puts all the meat he has left on the grill and closes as he deserves a project that, together with Adebayo and Herro, has offered many joys and no less than two NBA Finals to his hobby.
The objective, as usual, will be to reach the postseason, not so much the position in the table as the level of health of the player. rosterto avoid ‘wobbles’ like the Celtics’ 4-1 in the first round in the last playoffs.
the same group
To make good the dense campaign they will have a group almost identical to last year, since if something has prevailed in this summer market it has been the renewals, including those of Kevin Love or Thomas Bryant to keep the second unit almost unchanged. It is essential, to see a tough Heat team throughout the regular phase, that Jovic and Jaquez take a step forward in their development and take offensive control on nights when Butler, Adebayo, Herro or Rozier cannot or are insufficient.
The Heat aim to play wide open this year, even with Adebayo confirming that Spo has asked him to shoot a lot more three-pointers this season. That could leave as an internal reference a true rookie like Kel’el Ware, a true pick 15 in the 2024 Draft.
‘The new one’
Kel’el Ware. 2.13 center who has just exploded in his second year in the NCAA where, after not finding his place in the Oregon Ducks, he asked to join the transfer portal, and already in the Indiana Hoosiers he did demonstrate everything that he is capable. Finish strong under the hoops, rebound, block, and even defend from the three-point curve.
A Jarret Allen project that, with little competition from Thomas Bryant, could enjoy good minutes from the start under the guidance of a Spolestra who does not hesitate to resort to using rookies.
What to expect in regular season?
Butler has appeared without histrionic looks or outlandish hairstyles at the welcome events, breaking with what was becoming almost a tradition. This year she returns with her usual braids and ‘no nonsense’. “Here I am. Normal hair. “No shenanigans”he declared to the media.
It’s not just a gesture. It is a declaration of intent. Butler, after the failure of the previous one, seems to want to start the season seriously, which could translate into the best news for the Heat if they want to end it with a smile like the one on the cover.
If the physique respects them, the Heat’s strong point must lie, once again, in defense. In 23/24 they were the fifth best in defensive rating (111.5), supported by great work in defensive rebounding (avoiding second chances) and with one of the calmest attacks in the league (second pace slower, after Knicks), thus squeezing out the concept of minimum income and aiming to reach the clutchwhere you can deliver the final machete blow (+1.8 of net rating).
The normal thing is to expect a new sequel that, unlike the Joker Folie à Deuxmaintains a tone almost identical to the previous film.
The player to watch
We have been naming Tyler Herro in this section for two years, so it’s time to renew. It’s tempting to redirect to Butler and what could be his ‘last dance‘ in Florida, but the one who has earned the most by being here in this edition is the one called to take over, Bam Adebayo.
He ala-center He has just extended his contract for another three years for the maximum allowed, and at 27 years old he is fully entering his prime period. He comes from participating in two consecutive All-Stars, but his numbers are almost a carbon copy year after year, which speaks very well of his regularity and certainty, but also that he is now or never making the leap to the category of All-NBA player.
In defense, nothing to say: he accumulates five choices in the Best Defensive Quintets. Taking one more step in attack is what would be expected to definitely make him a total player.
NBA Preview 2024-25 Miami Heat, the forecast
There is a certain desire for revenge, against themselves more than against anyone in particular. Desire to show that they are still there. That, together with the squad they have, should be enough for them to fight for the last places that qualify for the playoffs directly, although the season is very long and their squad is somewhat short, so if they get lost and choke at some point of the RS, it would not be strange to see them fall to the play-in zone.
- Balance: between 40 and 48 victories.
- Position: 7th in the East, enters play-in.
- The maximum they aspire to: 5th or 6th.
- If things go wrong: they would fall to eleventh place, ending an era.
Previous team: Next team: Sacramento Kings.
