Do the Miami Heat do well enough at taking advantage of buyout market?

NBA buyouts Rodney Hood and Enes Kanter were keys to a Portland Trail Blazers’ victory on Friday night, while Greg Monroe has also produced for the Philadelphia 76ers this post-season. These scenarios beg the question, do the Miami Heat take as much advantage of that market as they should?

When thinking about any good team in the NBA, they are the teams who have good players, good coaching, but especially good front office personnel. The front office is not only task with putting a team together at the beginning of each season, but they are also responsible for making the necessary additions or subtractions during the season, which and whatever is best for their team. This is no different for the Miami Heat.

Although there are quite a few ways players can be added to a roster during any individual NBA season which include via trade, being a current free agent that’s waiting on the right situation, or getting a player back from injury, there are other methods to add talent to a team mid-season. One of the more fruitful methods, which is of a mercurial nature, is the NBA buyout market.

While the immediate thought may be that if a player is being bought out, how can he possibly help another team? With the logic being that if said player was that effective, would he ever had been bought out? However that isn’t always the correct approach, as certain situations are more suited for certain players, while timing and team standing can also have an impact on these decisions.

With the buyout market in mind though, the currently ongoing NBA playoffs feature quite a bit of talent from this seasons crop of buyout casualties. If you take a look at the Portland Trail Blazers, they feature Enes Kanter (formerly of the New York Knicks) and Rodney Hood (formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers), who have both contributed mightily to their current teams success this post season.

If you take a peep on the complete opposite side of the country at the Philadelphia 76ers, they also feature a buyout casualty in Greg Monroe (formerly of the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, and Boston Celtics and all during this season), who is currently making an impact for the 76ers in the post-season. Instances like these make you wonder, have the Miami Heat taken full advantage of the NBA buyout market over the years as well as they should have?

When taking a look at that question, you have to first think about exactly what occurs within that market. A team looks to get off of a player, for one or multiple reasons out of many that are possible. They range from salary cap relief in the form of contract stipulations that could save them money by buying a player out to the tanking teams that do all they can to get rid of talent in order to maximize their chances of losing.

Regardless of the reason, as there are quite a few more fickle reasons that teams choose to buy out players, these players are then free to sign with the whom ever they choose. These players are then in turn scooped up by teams that could use players of their particular talents, and more often than not playoff bound teams who feel they need to add one or a few more pieces.

In recent years for the Miami Heat, there hasn’t really been a need because they haven’t made a deep playoff run of note. Since losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, LeBron James‘ last season with the Miami Heat, the team has alternated years in terms of making the playoffs.

Their last longest playoff run came in the 2015-2016 season where they lost in the conference semi-finals to the Toronto Raptors.  That is where we begin to break things down for the Heat. It was in this season that they signed Joe Johnson, after he was bought out by the Brooklyn Nets.

The season prior, the 2014-2015 NBA season, saw the Miami Heat active on the buyout market as well. They brought back a familiar face in Miami, as they went on to sign Michael Beasley from China, which was his third go-around with the Heat. During the 2013-2014 season, they were non-participants.

In the 2012-2013 and 2011-2012 seasons, the Miami Heat were active though, signing big men during both periods. In the 12-13 season, it saw them bring in the Birdman Chris Andersen, while the 2011-12 season saw the arrival of Ronny Turiaf. Both big men were influential in the NBA titles won in each of those respective seasons.

In Lebron’s first season with the Miami Heat, the 2010-2011 season, the Heat brought on Mike Bibby after he was bought out by the Washington Wizards. In 2009-2010 season they were non-participants, while they signed Luther Head in the 2008-2009 season after he was waived by the Houston Rockets.

So, to answer the question, they have and seemingly will take advantage of the buyout market when it’s appropriate. It’s actually understandable to be cautious when there is more of the unknown surrounding a team than that of the known nature.

The next question then is how do they make it back to a point where they are active participants in this market? This will solve itself as they simultaneously figure out how to get back to a place of competing for titles. They must first accomplish the latter, before the former is even a factor though, and that is without any question at all.