After missing out on Giannis Antetokounmpo and then proceeding to do nothing at the NBA Trade Deadline, Miami Heat fans have to be hoping that Pat Riley (and the rest of this front office) has a much better plan for the offseason.
Because, if not, it's hard to envision how this franchise is ever going to get back to a championship level.
From all indications, the Heat's plan heading into the NBA Trade Deadline was Giannis or bust. While it's not completely surprising, the fact that there was no pivot, no plan B, or anything else done by this team is truly alarming.
The Heat's inactivity at the trade deadline makes no sense
The Heat have two, possibly three, expiring contracts after this season. Even if the plan is still to pursue Giannis during the summer, the fact that they didn't try to flip any of those expiring contracts for additional assets is a bad look.
It shows the inability to foreshadow what may be awaiting this team in the offseason. It just proves that the Heat had no plan B, C, or D in place. And that's truly shocking and, honestly, indefensible.
And this is not even just about Giannis, or the team's decision to stand pat at the deadline. The front office did Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra no favors heading into the second half of this season.
The Heat's biggest problem that fans are tired of
Did they forget that over the past 31 games, this team is just 13-18? They're a bad team. They've been a bad team this season more than they've been mediocre. But what's even more infuriating is the team's inability to pick a direction.
With Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell still on this roster, Spo doesn't have easy decisions with his rotations to make. Theoretically speaking, if the plan is for Giannis in the summer, you'd imagine the Heat would want to feature their young talent down the stretch.
It's hard for Spo to do that with the number of veterans that they still have on the roster. Mind you, these are also veterans who could now leave in the offseason for nothing.
Powell is an unrestricted free agent, and Wiggins has a player option for next season that he could rather easily decline.
The Heat's biggest issue right now is not necessarily that they don't have a good enough roster to compete in the Eastern Conference. It's the fact that they refuse to pick a direction. Are they trying to win-now or build their young core for the future?
Right now, they're trying to balance both of those blueprints, and are doing a pretty terrible job at it.
It's only fair to allow more context to slowly eke out about what exactly happened inside the Heat's front office in the days leading up to the trade deadline. But, at this point, fans have to be begging and pleading for the Heat's decision-makers to get in order and come out with a better plan heading into the offseason.
Because, right now, this is just not going to cut it.