The Bad
So the Heat moved Ellington, which was not a big deal except for the fact that he went to the Detroit Pistons — the team that the Heat are now chasing for the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference.
According to Tankathon, the Heat have the seventh most difficult schedule in what is left of the season. On the other hand, the Pistons have one of the easiest schedules remaining. That being said, nothing is certain.
As Wes Goldberg pointed out here at AllUCanHeat, these last 26 games will be very telling for the Heat and their future. The bad thing is there is not a huge win in either of the two courses.
Course one is where the Heat make the playoffs. If they took the No. 8 spot and the playoffs were based on where every team sits now, the Heat would play the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. The Heat have split the series after playing the Bucks twice now, but they face off two more times this season. Regardless, the Heat’s odds to beat that team in a seven-game series is slim to none.
Course two is where the Heat miss the playoffs and increase their chances of getting a decent pick in the draft. While this would benefit the future of the team, the odds that the Heat get a top-four pick are less than 3 percent.
Both of these courses do not come with great guarantees, but only time will tell as to which one the Heat will end up on.