Lastly, what’s one thing you hope the team does differently this upcoming season?
Nurse: The one thing that I hope the team does differently, this season, is utilize all of their talent. With no dominant players around, this team can only thrive working as a unit. In other words Spoelstra and Whiteside both need to get on the same page.
Gewirtz: I hope the youth of the team gets a chance to play more, considering they are the future of the Heat. If Spoelstra can come up with some kind of lineup to get players like Winslow, Bam Adebayo, Josh Richardson, etc. more minutes, I think they would benefit a lot from it.
Rahming: I know the Heat’s philosophy is ‘Next man up,’ but there should be a little more discretion when all players are healthy. This season, Spoelstra needs to decide a lot sooner what his rotation is going to be and stick to it throughout the season. Yes, it’s great to ride the hot hand mid game, and as a coach, you have to be willing to take out players in foul trouble or who are cold, but let them live a little. Let them play through their mistakes and see which players genuinely earn a spot in the rotation. I don’t want to see any more scenarios where Whiteside is being subbed out in a game situation he knows he should be in, without providing some sort of explanation to him as well as the fans. Playing with rotations and lineups is cute until you play the Nets (a game you should win) and lose due to tinkering with your star player on the bench.
Eyrich: I want to see more consistency from the top players. I love seeing someone step up and have a breakthrough game, but last season we had to see that because someone else would have a bad game. For players like Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Richardson, they have to be on there game every night. They need to be consistent in their nightly stats, rather than hit or miss.
Hear that, haters?