Miami Heat will certainly carry a top 10 starting unit into the season
The Miami Heat aren’t known for mailing it in, at all, and even with all of the perceived shortcomings of the latest NBA offseason, there should be no plans of such this coming season or anything close to it.
Not striking on Kevin Durant or Donovan Mitchell, along with any of the other possible targets out there to be had, the Miami Heat are still ok. That’s even after losing P.J. Tucker to the Philadelphia 76ers and not truly having a solid replacement guy at the four spot.
This is so much so the case that some still have them ranked as a top 10 starting unit heading into the new year. According to Bleacher Report and to be more specific, they see the Miami Heat as the number nine starting unit as the season gets closer to tip.
Here is a bit of what they had to say on the topic.
"Projected Starting Lineup: PG Kyle Lowry, SG Max Strus, SF Jimmy Butler, PF Caleb Martin, C Bam AdebayoMiami may still end up being one of the best teams in the East, but this is far from one of the conference’s top starting fives."
The Miami Heat didn’t do all they wanted to this offseason, but they’re still ok. And in fact, they’ll still start the year with a top 10 starting unit.
"Losing P.J. Tucker and Markieff Morris in free agency has opened up a glaring hole at power forward, one that doesn’t have a clear answer at the moment.Butler, Martin and Duncan Robinson are all undersized options that may be forced to play the 4 out of necessity, which could cause some real matchup problems when playing teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors with two All-Star/high-caliber big men."
They are right and as mentioned, they still have a bit of work to do at the forward spot. However, when you consider that Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo aren’t even names mentioned here, they’ll be fine.
Hear us out here too. What if Duncan Robinson can return to form (which the prediction should be that he will)?
Jimmy Butler will have to play some power forward until they sort that out but that’s ok as long as it’s temporary, doesn’t hinder him from being fresh down the stretch, and when they need it the most. Also, Adebayo should see some time at power forward, as he has been their center and never really tried at the position.
Omer Yurtseven, Dewayne Dedmon, and Nikola Jovic should make that a possibility. Lasly and the thing that really puts them over the top is this.
The Miami Heat were the second best team in the East last season and that’s with a 50 percent version of Kyle Lowry, at best. Looking to come into this season in much better shape and on the other side of knowing how to better manage some things he’s dealt with in his life over the past year or so, he should have a much better year.
All of this is, indeed, why the Miami Heat are a top 10 starting lineup heading into the season.