The Good, Bad and Miami Heat Culture is a bi-weekly column focusing on what has gone on with the Heat in the past two weeks, including trade deadline drama and who is to blame for the team’s struggles.
The Good
There is no way around it — these past two weeks have been rough for the Miami Heat. Between constant lineup changes and Heat Twitter looking for blame wherever they see fit, it feels like any uphill swing that this team had is nearly gone.
That being said, I am here to find a little light in what has happened.
The Heat are not completely out of the playoff race. With a 24-27 record, they sit at No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and two games behind at No. 9, are the Detroit Pistons (who are not looking so good right now either).
So why is this good? Most fans seem to be at the point where they want to blow this up and would rather have a lottery pick. While that is a completely fair assessment, I would like to see how this Heat team fairs in the playoffs.
Trey Flynn, AllUCanHeat’s site expert, said it best this week:
"“While every one of the current members of the Heatles were once grind-it-out players on minimum contracts, they all seem to have become superficial, off-brand, overhyped role players.”"
At this point, I expect to be bounced in the first round, but I would like to see the youth play together. This would give a glimpse at what the team looks like if Pat Riley decides to keep the young core — especially after all of these expensive, large contracts are gone and the Heat have a shot at getting someone that can make this team a contender again.