The Miami Heat should skip the trade deadline and wait to leverage Chris Bosh and others in the offseason.
As February draws near, many of the league’s eyes will be focused on South Beach. Not because the Miami Heat are doing well or because the team is the perennial hot spot that it used to be. Miami will be the center of attention due to two dates: February 9th and February 23rd.
The first marks the anniversary of Chris Bosh’s last game, in a Miami uniform, before a recurring battle with blood clots took him out for a second season. The other is the NBA’s trade deadline. Before we get into the latter, let us address the Bosh situation.
Ever since his failed September physical, there has been speculation building around the possibility of the organization cutting him loose as soon as they were allowed to. However making such a move hurts the team more than freeing themselves of the remainder of his $75.9 million helps.
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Cutting Bosh next month would give the Heat a chance to transform their newly-formed cap space for a player who could immediately help. But wins, right now, are exactly what the second worst team in the league–one heading straight for a top pick in the NBA Draft–does not need. To make matters worse, there is a chance–no matter how slight–that a team could take a chance on Bosh if they could find a doctor to clear him.
This is where seeing him backstage at a recent Chicago Bulls game would possibly make officials a little uneasy about his friendship with Dwyane Wade giving him options, or the less likely linking up with LeBron James after the growing use of his platform, Uninterrupted.
The likelihood of Bosh being allowed back on the court to play the minimum 25 combined–regular season and playoff–games in order to reset his money on Miami’s books seems farfetched, however the Heat would have to make a move to fill the space, just in case. Which causes an issue because a player good enough to replace his financial void would also be skilled enough to add wins to the season’s standings. It makes no sense to run the risk of jeopardizing the chance at a top five pick.
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In a way the same goes for moving Hassan Whiteside or Goran Dragic. The Heat are poised to be picking near the top of the draft already, so there is no need to trade them in a tanking move. Dealing either, at this time, would come with the purpose of securing the luxury of having another lottery pick. The downside is they would likely give their new team a boost that pushes the draft choice from a possible lottery pick to the middle-to-late first round (Unless the deal involves the Boston Celtics handing over the Brooklyn Nets’ 2017 pick, which is all but guaranteed to be in the top three as they sport the worst record in the league).
The best bet is for Miami to avoid a fire sale and address any trades and releases in an offseason where they can assess space and positioning after the ping pong balls have dropped.