If the Miami Heat plan to follow the passive Jimmy Butler blueprint to build around Giannis Antetokounmpo, this high-stakes experiment is destined to be a huge disaster.
It was one thing to be careful about taking big risks when building around Jimmy, and, looking back, completely understandable. However, if the Heat's goal is to win a championship around Giannis, they must be aggressive right off the bat.
The Heat were understandably careful in their build-out around Jimmy. They may not have been so willing to go all-in on a player who, at best, was still not a top-10 player in the league. But that's not the case with Giannis. At the height of his powers, Giannis is a top two or three player in the world.
Miami's front office must act accordingly.
Giannis deserves an organization that will go all-in
Whatever hesitation the Heat had when deciding to put their chips (or assets) at the center of the table when building around Jimmy can't exist with Giannis. With a player as talented as Giannis, there should be no holding back. The Heat needs to do whatever they need to put Giannis in a position to succeed.
To a certain extent, and for whatever reasons, the Heat were not so willing to go down that route with Jimmy. That just can't be the case with Giannis.
Honestly, I can't imagine that will be. This is not a criticism (yet) of what the Heat have or haven't been willing to do after making the big move for Giannis earlier this summer. While there has been some (probably misplaced) backlash already, it'd be foolish to give the Heat too much flak this offseason (post-Giannis trade) without seeing how it all ends.
Instead, it's certainly a warning of how important this first year is for the Giannis era in Miami.
Forget that Giannis can opt out after this season (even if he does, he's almost certainly going to sign a monster extension with the Heat), or that he's going to be 32 years old by mid-season (at or near the end of his prime years). No, this is more about the Heat's front office philosophy that has been under fire over the last few years.
It's time for the Heat's front office to silence the doubters
One of the biggest criticisms from the fan base lately is that the Heat haven't been willing to go all-in on certain moves. Whether that was putting all the chips on the table to land another star to pair with Jimmy or passing on all-in moves like one for Kevin Durant last summer.
The Heat have made it known that they were never going to tank or blow up the roster to start a complete rebuild. With that understood, the fans desired the Heat to then go all-in on a winning roster. For one reason or another, they held back on triggering some of those moves in the past.
But now with Giannis, that still can't be the case.
Miami proved they were not afraid to go all-in during their pursuit of the superstar. Now it's time to also go all-in as they begin to build out the roster around him.
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