It’s been a slow start to the 2017-18 offseason for the Miami Heat. Still, the AllUCanHeat staff has a few thoughts on the team’s summer so far.
Has this offseason been pretty much what you expected from the Miami Heat?
Allana Tachauer (@AllanaTachauer): Pretty much, although I’m probably in the minority who doesn’t really have a problem with it. Between the Miami Heat having a great young core to build around and guys like Goran Dragic to add veteran leadership, I quite like the current roster. Obviously it would have been nice to have some more financial wiggle room, but with contracts like Tyler Johnson‘s on the books, I wasn’t predicting much movement.
Rich Nurse (@followthepen): With no money to spend and none of the young assets (Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson, Bam Adebayo or the 2019 first round pick) being made available, I expected this to be an unfortunate lackluster summer for the Heat.
Lauren Gewirtz (@laurengewirtz): Yes and no. I did not expect the Heat to do a whole lot this offseason, but I thought that they might try to move at least one of their large contracts in either Johnson or Hassan Whiteside. That being said, the team really does not have that much money to work with right now, so I expected it to be fairly quiet.
Rahmeaun Rahming (@Boneman9000): Yup, this is exactly what I expected. I appreciate the organization being methodical with their moves as to no go further over the salary cap than necessary. I believe the Heat are treating Dion Waiters like a free agent since he missed almost all of last season. I even expected them to remain quiet at the draft, which they did. There was no reason to execute a transaction that would cost money or assets (acquiring a pick) and then again to actually sign the player. Standing pat was the best option.
Imran Ebrahim (@iebrahim81): Pretty much. I’d have like to see them trade Whiteside early in free agency, but once Dallas scooped up DeAndre Jordan, I knew that ship had sailed. I also really wanted them to get into the second round of the draft to pick up Rawle Alkins (now in Toronto) and was a little bummed when we didn’t grab him as a undrafted signing. All in all, went exactly as expected.
Michael Shofner: It’s been a quiet offseason thus far for the league, other than a few deals headlined by LeBron James. This is not surprising, as it’s become a yearly staple for an NBA offseason in which until the big pieces fall, the rest of the dominos begin to fall as well. I expected the Heat to be attached to names like Carmelo Anthony, though I think that is a name they should avoid. I expected them to do exactly what they’ve done and not make any big splashes, just focusing on trying to minimize their current salary situation. They re-signed Wayne Ellington, which I think was a good priority, but they are still having trouble finding suitors for Hassan and James Johnson, two players they desperately need to rid themselves of. I don’t see a deal for either player likely during this offseason, so I expect the Heat to remain under the radar in the free-agent market, while they will work on getting under the luxury line during the course of the regular season.