Before Miami Heat fans smash the panic button after opening the regular season on a four-game losing streak, they should remember some wise pre-season wisdom from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
On the eve of the Heat's start to the season, roughly a week ago, Giannis was asked how he felt heading into the season opener with a new team. And that's when he dropped a message that was easily lost in all of the Heat's struggles over the last week, but also one that they should be clinging to right now.
“In Game 40 we’re going to be better.”
Did Giannis predict the Heat were going to struggle to start the season?
It's almost as if he was giving Heat fans some much-needed context before the start of the year. Did Giannis anticipate that the Heat were going to get off to a 0-4 start? Absolutely not. In fact, Giannis did admit recently that he was a "little surprised" by the Heat's start.
However, he also gave voice to the idea of it taking time for it all to click for the Heat. Giannis on the Heat was always going to take time to click. Early-season struggles were expected. The Heat weren't going to be above growing pains.
I can't imagine anyone really thought it was going to be this painful and look this ugly at the start, but these early-season struggles aren't exactly coming out of left field either.
And this quote from Giannis does apply. Even though the Heat aren't very good right now, they're only going to get better. They can only go up from here. There are questions about how much the Heat could rise this season with their current roster, and those concerns are valid, but it'd be shocking if Miami didn't get significantly better than they look now.
By mid-year, there's a very good chance that the Heat have it figured out, and they're in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Sure, especially with their early-season struggles, that may not seem conceivable right now, but a bumpy start was expected.
Despite the Heat's clear roster limitations, the Heat have too much talent to be this bad. They're not going to have a bottom-10 offense and defense over the course of a 82-game sample size. That's just not happening.
It may not help ease the pain much for Heat fans, but the fact that Giannis knew it was going to be rough early should give them some comfort as the team continues to try and break through. Perhaps most importantly, it should help delay Heat fans from acting too desperately this early in the season.
Trust the process. Don't let go of the rope. If Giannis isn't panicking, neither should Heat fans. At least not for now.
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