The Miami Heat may still be just 5-6 after the first 11 games of the season, and more often than not, the process hasn't looked great. Still, the Heat haven't lost hope or sight of their lofty pre-season goals.
And despite the team's uneven start to the season, Bam Adebayo has made it clear that the team is still holding out hope that they can live up to the huge expectations they're placing on themselves. In his own words, the Heat want to be a top-5 offense and defense by the end of the season.
“Man, I want us to be top three in defense, top five in offense. I don’t know if we can get to that point. It’s going to take time. We’ve got to get out of our comfort zones.”
The Heat still believe depsite their discouraging start to the season
Considering how the Heat's season has gone thus far, these may seem like pretty laughable goals. They sound outlandish at the moment, especially when you figure that the Heat currently have the 19th-ranked offense and 25th-ranked defense.
Somehow, the eye test has appeared even worse.
Despite all that feels to be working against the Heat at the moment, Bam, the team's captain, still believes that they can evolve into something special. And as a player who should be setting the tone for the rest of the team, Heat fans should be encouraged by the fact that the locker room still believes.
But it's one thing to say all the right things to the media and an entirely different thing to actually make the on-the-court strides that are needed for the Heat to actually be a top 5 offense and defense.
If it's any consolation, the Heat have begun to look slightly better of late. It's still difficult to envision the Heat being a top 5 offense and defense at this point, but they've certainly taken some steps in the right direction after the way they looked through the first four games of the season.
For instance, through the first four games of the season, the Heat had a negative net rating with their best players on the floor. Now, after they've won five of their last seven, that's begun to flip. Over their last seven games, the Heat are 15th on offense and 20th on defense.
It's not where they want to be, especially considering what Bam revealed, but it's a lot better than where they were a few weeks ago.
The Heat still have a lot of work to do, especially if they want to reach this huge goal from Bam, but they're trending in the right direction.
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