The Miami Heat are in a weirdly unique place. Though that place consists of some success, it also consists of what seems like greater failure, none of which makes it no less interesting and for as painful as that still all may be.
Being able to beat some of the league’s best teams but then being able to lose to some of the worst teams in the league in short order, perhaps even in the following game in some scenarios, the Miami Heat are a conundrum if there ever was one.
And while they are the Miami Heat, meaning they can be fixed, and if nothing else, due to their coach and their culture, what is that fix?
Honestly, it seems like it’s something that has more to do with what’s already there than what they need to bring in. What that means here though is that while you are never against a trade or move of any such, if it is a net positive for the team, you don’t want to make moot moves.
You never want to trade for the sake of trading—”shaking things up” as it’s called in professional sports today.
Miami Heat Rumors: Is Jae Crowder Still Even A Potential ‘Fix’?
That leads to chatter that has existed for some time now but has since been updated in recent days.
Having never played a minute of action for the club that he currently “plays” for, the Jae Crowder Games are ramping up. Based on all actions, things are about to take shape for his immediate basketball future.
Here is the most important blurb of it all. It comes in a quote from Shams Charania of The Athletic (subscription required).
"The Hawks and Heat also are interested in Crowder, and Miami is expected to have a re-energized pursuit soon because it has a slew of players, such as Dewayne Dedmon and Victor Oladipo, available to be traded starting Jan. 15. The Bucks could continue to seek a third team to facilitate a trade for Crowder, which would be a homecoming of sorts for the Georgia native who played his college ball at Marquette."
But with that, it takes you back to the principle discussed earlier. You never want to just “trade for the sake of trading”, which begs of a question here.
Is Jae Crowder still the or even a “fix” for this Miami Heat team? Is he or the ability that he will bring the missing piece or the thing that will transform this Heat team at the moment?
More Miami Heat Value In Dedmon And Oladipo Than In Crowder Right Now
While that seemed like a huge part of the case when he came over a few years ago in a trade, that may not be the case at this exact moment. When you consider the other part of that equation, the part also mentioned in Charania’s reporting about who the Heat may consider moving to land Crowder again, that especially doesn’t seem like the case.
Mentioning soon-to-be-tradeable names for the Miami Heat like Victor Oladipo and Dewayne Dedmon—what Crowder would bring isn’t worth what you would be losing with either of those guys, honestly.
Though Dedmon has his warts and only plays about 12 minutes a game, those are an important 12 minutes for the Miami Heat to be able to get Bam Adebayo a blow. Dedmon also injects a certain amount of energy into the game that you can’t manufacture, going all out in his short minutes, which is a huge part of why you really can’t be so overbearing about his mistakes.
If a mistake is made because you aren’t trying or playing hard, that is one thing but when you make a mistake because you are trying so hard to do your job, that is something else altogether, and almost always the case with Dedmon.
As far as Oladipo, he has only played a few games, but you can already see the impact he will have. The man is a one-time top player and two-way guy in the league with some of that ability already showing itself once again in his short time of the floor for Miami this year so far.
His defense and offense will be a massive help to this team, overall, and the most major of boosts to a reserve unit that is struggling mightily this season. Basically, that sums it up.
Jae Crowder is a nice little piece and prior to the season, it may have been a totally different notion.
But, thankfully and at this point, you should be able to see that what Crowder would bring to this Heat team, at this point, isn’t what they need to get where they are trying to go—especially considering the guys that have been associated with the price to land him.