The Miami Heat have three guys on their roster who, just, embody what ‘culture’ actually means, Trevor Ariza is definitely one of them.
All of this isn’t lost on Miami Heat head coach, Erik Spoelstra, either though. Here’s a quote on Ariza from a recent piece by the Joe Beguiristain who covers the Heat.
"“His versatility is so critical for this team. It’s not underrated at all for us…he just unlocks so much of our versatility,” Erik Spoelstra said. “And then offensively, he just knows how to play off of people. He’s played this role for a long time with some of the best players in this league. He knows how to fit in. He knows how to make you pay if you’re trying to help too much, knows how to get behind the defense on cuts. Just a very heady, savvy, veteran winner.”"
The Miami Heat were fortunate to land him. They were beyond blessed as a franchise by the Hoop Gods to be able to get him for what they did.
As a reminder, that price tag was, essentially, Meyers Leonard. Yea, the guy that had all but ensured he played his last game in Miami on his own.
Either way and regardless of how it happened, it’s a beautiful thing that it did. While the Miami Heat still have work to do to ramp up towards the level they were at last season during the playoffs, hopefully and potentially, you have to believe it’s somewhere down in there.
Though not great, completion wise, this past weekend’s back to back wins and in the fashion that they were, show you that the Miami Heat do have an extra gear or the ability to put teams away. While that may not ever be the case in the playoffs, the putting teams away part, the extra gear will come in handy.
Having a guy of Trevor Ariza’s ilk, ability, and experience will too. He is culture and everything else that he is will certainly help the Heat go a long way, how ever far that is.