The Miami Heat are free to bring relatively big dreams into the 2025-26 NBA season (although their wildest dreams exist farther beyond it). Their roster is improved—if more subtly than splashily—and the Eastern Conference is not. If you want the book on why Miami can feel confident about the upcoming campaign, that's the CliffsNotes snapshot.
And yet, the Heat could be in danger of dashing their own dreams. Because if the Heat still don't have a floor general, then their grandest ambitions will never get off the ground.
Miami's ongoing point guard problem again lacks an obvious solution.
Remember all the good vibes created during the draft's opening night when lottery-prospect point guard Kasparas Jakučionis fell into the Heat's lap at the No. 20 pick? Well, his shaky showing at summer league kind of torpedoed all of that.
While a rough summer session hardly defines a career, it does suggest his arrival wasn't the quick-fix solution to Miami's backcourt problems as many had hoped. There are major questions about his ability to separate and defend at this level, and everything from his distance shooting to his decision-making lacks consistency.
Hopefully he can iron out his weaknesses over time, but even then, that process probably isn't giving the 2025-26 Heat much relief.
Terry Rozier clearly isn't the answer, and there are reasons to wonder how much of Davion Mitchell's stretch-run surge will prove sustainable. Remember, the No. 9 pick of the 2021 draft was discarded by two different clubs before landing in Miami. And for as awesome as he lucked with the Heat, he'd been decidedly...well, not awesome before then: 7.4 points on 43.4/32.7/70.3 shooting and 2.8 assists over his first three seasons.
The Heat have quietly pieced together a talented roster, but they still need an impact playmaker to put all of the puzzle pieces in order. Head coach Erik Spoelstra can only do so much from the sidelines (even if that's more than anyone else in the profession), and Miami could be setting itself up for disappointment if the hope is that Tyler Herro, a net-shredder by trade, can take another sizable step forward as a table-setter.
Miami needs a calming, coordinating presence on the ball. That's the reason the Jakučionis selection seemed so exciting. His best-case scenario checked off some vastly critical boxes on the Heat's wish list.
But if he's as far from contributing as he seemed on the summer circuit, then it's basically back to the drawing board on this one. Maybe Mitchell can hold things over for a bit, but he's more of a smart-and-simple-reads passer than he is a crafty creator who bends opposing defenses to his will. I'd like to add a maybe Rozier bounces back scenario here, too, since he's had productive seasons in the past, but there'd be zero confidence behind even the mere suggestion.
In other words, this hardly seems like a problem that suddenly solves itself. So, the same fatal flaw that has buried this bunch in the past might once again spell its demise.