Miami Heat: Those sleeping on this team better wake up

The Miami Heat are quite the topic for some this offseason. Most are sleeping on their potential now, but they will soon wake up with crow in their plates.

As we all know by now, the Miami Heat made a splash move this offseason as the moratorium period opened up. They landed Jimmy Butler as a result of a sign and trade agreement with the Philadelphia 76’ers.

While the Miami Heat faithful were overjoyed at being able to land a guy who will not only lead but help this team tremendously, others haven’t been wowed, so to speak. Most of them share the same opinion that current BIG3 Head Coach, NBA analyst, and basketball Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie has. Here is her opinion, via the Twitter account of the CBS Sports Network.

A loser move? Really? Is that what we are calling that now?

A loser move is going to the organization that you wanted to be with from the start, before even getting traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Philadelphia 76’ers. A loser move is going to play with a winning organization, that also has a league-wide reputation for a certain culture that they are renown for cultivating?

Is a loser move going to play for one of the foremost brilliant basketball minds that the NBA and game of basketball has ever seen in Pat Riley? It must be a loser move to go play for one of the best coaches in the entire league, a top-five coach at a minimum. Are those loser moves?

We don’t think so. It really actually shines a light on those who have that opinion.

Along with the denigration of Jimmy Butler for making such a move, “a loser move” according to Leslie, many are predicting that the Miami Heat are merely a seven or eight seed in this year’s NBA Eastern Conference. Even with the addition of Jimmy Butler, people are saying that he only makes them two to three slots better than they were this past season without him.

This could not be further from the truth. The Miami Heat not only had countless games last season that they were leading by a huge margin or leading in general during the closing moments, but they also could have won most those games if they had just had another guy who could create, take, and make those shots outside of Miami Heat Legend Dwyane Wade on occasions.

While the other players have gained a year of experience, which means that they should be more comfortable in those situations and able to execute, they now have that guy. Jimmy Butler will be that guy for this Miami Heat team. With Butler at the helm and able to make those shots, the Miami Heat should be at minimum a top-five seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs next season.

Looking at the conference, Philadelphia added Al Horford and retained Tobias Harris, but are they better or about the same after losing Jimmy Butler? Milwaukee got worst, as they lost Nikola Mirotic to the Spanish League while also losing Malcolm Brogdon to the Indiana Pacers, who will be without Victor Oladipo for a good span in the beginning of the season.

Toronto lost Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers, which is pretty self-explanatory. Boston added Kemba Walker, but he will at best be a replacement of what Kyrie Irving brought to the table, who left the Celtics to team up with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. With Durant out for all of next season, can Kyrie lead the Nets deep into the playoffs alone?

The other two playoff teams in Orlando and Detroit didn’t really do a whole lot, so it’s safe to say the Miami Heat have now surpassed them with the addition of Jimmy Butler. Regardless of how you approach it, the Miami Heat will be better than most think they will be next season.

Also, there must be more respect placed on Jimmy Butler’s name. Regardless, those who doubt either of the two should get their taste buds all set for crow, because after it’s all said and done this upcoming season, they should be eating a ton of it.