The Miami Heat's front office has gotten its deserved praise over the years, and understandably so. However, they're also not above criticism. And the way they've managed their assets over the last five years or so is quite embarrassing. And the sign-and-trade of Duncan Robinson was just the most recent example of that.
Just doing some quick research, over the last few years, the Heat has lost Jae Crowder, Gabe Vincent, P.J. Tucker, Caleb Martin, and now Robinson in free agency for essentially nothing. Technically, the Heat did get Simone Fontecchio in a S&T from the Detroit Pistons, but he's unlikely to play much of a role for the team. In fairness, the Heat did S&T Max Strus for a second-round pick. It's not great, but it's not the worst, I suppose.
In addition, the Heat also traded Goran Dragic (and Precious Achiuwa), when both their trade values were pretty low, in a sign-and-trade for Kyle Lowry. They then had to flip Lowry (and a first-round pick) for Terry Rozier, who has arguably been the team's worst move of the last five years.
To add insult to injury, the Heat's front office waited a year too long to trade Jimmy Butler, and only managed one first-round pick and non-foundational pieces in exchange for their face of the franchise. This is what you call terrible asset management.
The Heat must get to the bottom of this problem
For as good as the Heat's franchise has been in many other areas, such as player development and culture setting, Miami has been a disaster in asset management.
What is asset management exactly? Well, in its simplest form, it can be described as knowing when to trade a player, when to keep one, and negotiating. Just think of it this way: When was the last time the Heat made a trade and they emerged as the no-brainer "winner" of the deal?
I suppose the last time that was the case, it was when Jimmy was forcing his hand to Miami. And I'm not even sure if that counts, considering it was a sign-and-trade deal. But that tells you all you need to know about the struggles the Heat have had over the last few years with their asset management.
For example, there's a very clear path the Heat should be taking right now. If the Heat is genuinely embracing a youth movement, they should be trying to trade Andrew Wiggins and Haywood Highsmith to the highest bidder. Terry Rozier is on that same boat, but he'd be much more difficult to trade than the other two.
Is that something they will do? Probably not, especially with how the Heat have mishandled similar situations over the last few years. Miami didn't trade Vincent, Strus, Martin, or even Robinson at the trade deadline before hitting the open market. If the Heat knew there was a good chance each of those players was going to explore other options in free agency, they should've cashed in on each of those assets.
They didn't, and the fan base wonders why they don't have nearly as many assets as pretty much every other team in the league. This is also one of the bigger reasons why Miami is constantly outbid in trades for star players by other teams; they're terrible at managing their own assets.
What's the solution? Well, that's probably a bigger conversation to have. However, unless there's a philosophical change at the top, it's difficult to expect much to be different over the next few years. Here's the unfortunate truth about the modern NBA that will gut the fan base: You can't be great at team building without superb asset management. Perhaps that's the biggest reason why the Heat seems stuck in NBA purgatory now.