Miami Heat Roundtable: What does a perfect team look like?

What do the Miami Heat look like in an ideal world? The AllUCanHeat staff discusses.

First up, what do you still find problematic about the current Miami Heat roster?

Jack Leniart (@Leniart_ND): Aside from the salary cap restraints, there are some problems with the current roster. The team has yet to reach deals with veteran captains Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. While most fans remain optimistic that the Heat will reach agreements with both players, it is still up in the air. Wade and Haslem are the clear leaders of this team, and losing them could cap the potential of this team in the near future. The Heat could also use some more shooters in their rotation. Miami was an average 3-point shooting team last season, and they will have to improve in that facet of the game if they want to have success in the post season. Given the aforementioned salary cap restraints, the team will have to hope current players on their roster can improve their shooting this season.

Chase Eyrich (@Ceyrich): Unfortunately, it’s the fact that there are so many good players that can’t seem to separate themselves. All of them have done exactly what the Heat have asked them to, which is to step up their games with a bulldog mentality. Doing that, they are all more valuable to the Heat than any other franchise. Since the players are struggling to separate themselves, a lot of them are struggling to find consistency, as the Heat are forced to ride the hot hand that night.

Michael Shofner (@MichaelShofer): Something alarming that I keep harping on is the amount of payroll that is being spent for players not worthy or living up to the hype; looking in particular to Johnson and Whiteside. While Whiteside is problematic in ways other than just his contract, Johnson has been underachieving and his deal is sort of a joke to me. While he’s an intriguing character off the court, he needs to prove more on the court. While, it seems the Heat will be stuck with Johnson for the time being, deals for Whiteside continue to be explored and although it’s unlikely, hopefully a deal can get done before the season.

Rahmeaun Rahming (@Boneman9000): The Heat have way too many players either listed as ‘guard’ or as ‘guard-forward’; 11 out of the 15 players on the roster are listed as such. That’s excluding James Johnson and Josh Richardson, who are just listed at forward. The problem here is even outside of the 11 other players, head coach Erik Spoelstra uses Johnson and Richardson as primary ball handlers. That takes much-needed development time away from Tyler Johnson, Justice Winslow, and Duncan Robinson. Houston, we have a problem. If all players on the roster remain healthy, it’s going to catch up to the team. Think of Super Mario…. The invisible wall behind you that moves Mario along no matter what is the salary cap crunch. The bricks and enemies you have to hurdle over are team expectations of player performance and player expectations of minutes/self-worth. The Heat lost that battle last year with Whiteside, and he was one of only two players listed a center on the roster. They’re going to need a bit of luck and a few things to go their way to avoid that again this year.