Why the Miami Heat’s season was actually a success

The Miami Heat may no longer be in the playoffs, but that does not mean they did not have one heck of a season.

The Miami Heat may have ended the regular season with a 48-34 record, along with three other Eastern Conference teams. And they may not have reached the Eastern Conference Finals, to face off against frienemy LeBron James.

But all in all, their season was actually a success.

Let us take a trip down memory lane.

Remember two summers ago, when James announced he was heading home to Cleveland, back to rejoin the Cavaliers? And Heat Nation crumbled almost instantly?

Along with James went James Jones and Mike Miller.  Shane Battier retired. And Ray Allen…took an extended break. So along came Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts. Both of which were banged up, in their own ways.

That seemed to be a theme of 2014-15, period.

The major story that came out of last year of course was Chris Bosh falling victim to a blood clot in his lung.

But unfortunately the whole roster was looking rough. Injuries and health concerns ran rampant among the entire team.

And Dwyane Wade, despite still looking good on paper, had a season worthy of critics urging him to retire.

President Pat Riley tried to salvage the season by acquiring Goran Dragic in a trade with the Phoenix Suns, but it was too late; the Heat were already so far gone that they were trying to hold onto the No. 8 spot in the East.

So they finished with a 37-45 record, and missed the postseason for the first time since 2008.

And though it is worth noting that the Heat were one game short of making the ECF without both Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside, it is less making the playoffs that deserves praise, and more the journey it took to get there; because it is not just that they bounced back, but the way in which they did.

Miami decided they had mourned the loss of James long enough.

So they got Wade and Dragic to resign. They found guys like Amar’e Stoudemire and Gerald Green, to at the very least add some veteran knowledge and high energy to the team (and as a bonus not eat up too much of their cap space). They drafted Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson (Rook 1 and Rook 2), rookies that were arguably the steals of the year. And little by little, the process of rebuilding began.

However, the franchise did not merely bring on new talent, but helped develop the rest too.

Wade knew he could not survive another such season, so he made the choice to let go of his Chicago trainer that he had worked with for 13 years, and hired James’ Miami-based guy instead.

Dragic also made some changes: he realized in order to be successful with the Heat, he had to impose his strength’s on the team.

"“My whole career I’ve played like this,” the guard explained of playing better at a fast pace. “I was with the Suns my first three years, then I moved to Houston and played a similar style. It helps, because I’m more comfortable.”"

And then of course, there is big man Hassan Whiteside., who Pat Riley recently spoke very highly about:

"“He’s obviously, I think, our No. 1 priority, period,” Riley said, on the topic of trying to re-sign Whiteside this summer. “You don’t have to look further than that. While there might be players out there in free agency, our No. 1 priority is Hassan Whiteside. He’s 26 years old, he’s a game changer, I don’t think he’s even reached his real ceiling in a couple areas of the game that I think that now he’ll be more comfortable with once this situation ends.”"

While Whiteside had a good run in 2014-15 (averaging 11.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks a game), he only further improved this year; the 26-year-old averaged 14.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per matchup.

There is no doubt that Heat Nation should be proud of their squad for what they accomplished this season. They might have gone into last summer defeated and demoralized, but my how they have bounced back. This year, the team truly played Miami Heat Basketball.

(And if word counts were not a thing, or this was Twitter, there would be plenty more evidence to present…)

More heat: Heat Pres. Pat Riley: Re-signing Whiteside is 'No. 1 priority'

Now the question is, what will happen moving forward?