5 Painful Heat regrets that set back the Jimmy Butler era

There is a lot that has gone wrong during the Jimmy Butler era with the Miami Heat. From front-office mistakes to team-wide health issues, the Heat have come up short of their ultimate goal. Butler’s free agent arrival, although not expected at first, turned the team into title contenders over the following years. In five seasons, the Heat reached the NBA Finals twice and one Eastern Conference finals. 

The national media’s dismissive stance on what Miami has accomplished forced the team to embrace being an underdog. Granted the Heat’s Finals runs came with the team being a five and eight seed, respectively. But they still didn’t get much attention even when they secured the East’s number one seed back in 2022. 

Some will say this core has overachieved, but Heat players will say they always know what they are capable of.

This Butler-led build is still ongoing with unfinished business to handle, especially in this upcoming season. Bam Adebayo is poised for a career year following his Team USA run, along with his co-star in Butler ready to come out with something to prove on a contract year. A full season of a healthy Terry Rozier/Tyler Herro backcourt is also in the works. Then there is continued development and growth from the Heat’s young core as another factor that can impact the team’s success.

However, with all this being said, there is a fair share of regrets surrounding the organization that has kept Miami from finally getting over that hump over recent years.

1. Letting developed players walk for nothing

The Heat have earned a reputation for having an eye for young talent and developing them. Assistant GM Adam Simon, who leads the scouting department, is at the head of this. Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Caleb Martin are all recent undrafted success stories that wound up leaving in free agency over the last couple of years.

Coach Erik Spoelstra and the team’s development staff put in the work to maximize their talents. All three became crucial rotation pieces for the Heat over recent playoff runs. The fact that the organization has nothing to show for Vincent, Strus and Martin’s growth in their system following free-agent departures is tough.

When it came time to pay these guys, the team’s limited cap space got in the way of keeping them long-term. But if that was the assumed outcome, the front office should have attempted to unload each of the role players via trade when they had value before hitting the open market. Now, they have received nothing in return for their scouting and development efforts.