Does missing the playoffs still have a positive effect on Miami Heat?

Missing the postseason could have grim effects on the Miami Heat long term. Making the playoffs could set them apart this summer.

Making mistakes in the NBA is as common as hearing those mundane MVP chants in every arena around the league. General managers make them with signings and trades, players make them on and off the court and organizations make them as a whole.

Some people would make the argument that the Miami Heat are in the midst of three major mistakes: drafting Justise Winslow, signing Josh McRoberts and fighting for playoff positioning instead of lottery luck.

At the moment the Heat are keeping pace with the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls for one of the final spots in the postseason. However they are sitting in ninth place with four games left against three of the Eastern Conference’s top four seeds. On the other hand, the Pacers and Bulls face three games, apiece, against one playoff team and three cellar dwellers.

Read More: An open letter to Gordon Hayward

Let us take a positive outlook on things though. Say the Heat do not gas out and win their final four of the season. And say they sneak their way into playing late April basketball. Is an early first round exit worth what many would deem the gaffe of not tanking?

The Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman believes that make or miss, Miami’s season could be a boost to the future:

"“Here’s where the payoff would come for the Heat: finding the next James Johnson and Dion Waiters, players who might be next when it comes to a willingness to sign for less than their market value in order to increase their stock, develop, and, yes, contend, at minimum, for a playoff berth… if the Heat can continue to churn through Johnson- and Waiters-type players, then they still can surround their prime talent (Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, Gordon Hayward?) with quality pieces, even if they don’t come from the draft.”"

Being able to add a Gordon Hayward-type of player to Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside could probably convince James Johnson to take the hometown discount that he has hinted at in the past.

Moves like that would allow the organization to sell players on using the team’s system to revitalize their careers and build their value up enough to turn a cheap contract into a more lucrative future deal. Players would have no choice but to take notice if the strategy worked for someone — like Waiters and Johnson — who looked to be nearly out of the league.

This type of compromise would be needed with the projected salary cap coming in much lower than the early $108 million predictions.

Of course the success of such moves would be all predicated on Miami securing a Hayward, Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap talent. Otherwise none of the bargain basement free agents look like they could put up Johnson and Waiters numbers on their own. And throwing a ton of long-term money at the originals doesn’t make much sense when the current incarnation of the team cannot crack .500–even with a 27-10 record since mid-January.

Next: Elite Dragic vital for Heat’s playoff push

Sometimes mishaps can be a blessing in disguise, but if the Heat finish with no playoffs, no top pick and no great additions, they may have to find themselves in discussions with the Orlando Magic about their summer strategy board.