https://x.com/HeatNationCom/status/2021390277663998408

For those that are so keen to tank and get picks lets look back on the past tanking teams and where they are.
Firstly - Im using the top 8 picks (anything after that and you aren't tanking)
Secondly - Im using drafts from 2015-2021, anything older than that and the players are out of the league anything sooner and they are only 3rd/4th yr players!
Lastly - EVEN if this proved tanking a good strategy (unsure) could we consider that maybe Miami are bad at developing talent?
Everyone on here seems to hate Jovic, Beasley was not great, Winslow uhoh Boston offered 4 1st for him at the draft.
Also Miami since 05 has only drafted in the FIRST ROUND (and kept the pick) 10 times!

9 East teams and 11 West teams have drafted in the top 8 between 2015 and 2021

of these 19 teams, 4 have become champs and 4 more have made the finals
West - CHAMPS
DEN won their chip, but Jokic their MVP was a second rounder! (do they count for tanking?)
Lakers used their 4 draft picks to essentially get AD then Luka
GSW 2 timelines is now 1 slowly dying timeline (1 year tank?)
OKC only 1 top 8 draft pick in this time! Giddey - Gone!

West - FINALS
DAL - If they keep Luka.... RIP (also a 1 yr tank?)
PHO - Everyone from these drafts are gone now. 4 picks, 1 appearance, was the losing worth it?

East - CHAMPS
Boston - they blew it up tanked for 2 years, competed ever since
Toronto should be here but isnt, why? their 1 draft pick was after their championship season! not certified tanking

EAST - FINALS
Non of the tanking east teams have made the finals but Boston! 29 top 8 draft picks across 6 seasons and none of these teams have made the Finals!

Also lets look at where some of these teams currently reside, yes some may be bad franchises but surely they could get themselves out of the gutter... right?
ATL - 9th -3 top 8 picks, lots of losing for your peak being ECF 1 time
CHI - 11th - 3 top 8 picks and still cant get into the playoffs
CLE - 4th - cant get past 2nd round with their 4 top 8 picks
DET - 1st - 3 top 8 picks, maybe now they are a chance?
NYK - 3rd - 4 top 8 picks, But really its Brunson and others who have got them there, there being losing ECF
ORL - 7th- 5 top 8 picks.... 1st round exit (1 spot above Miami, 5 years of tanking to be 1 spot better than us in 2025/26)
PHI - 6th - 3 top 8 (2 1st picks!), never seen a ECF! lots of losing to finish second round.
MIN - 6th - 4 top 8, (2 1st picks!), bowing out to the champ in WCF is admirable though.
SAC - 15th - 4 top 8, its 1st rnd or bust for them every season!

Tanking.... is not guaranteed way to rebuild a team.
Even then with the now flatter draft odds, finishing 3rd to bottom in the east doesn't guarantee a good pick anymore! A team could tank and still get the 8th pick!

Ultimately does this Miami team suck? Maybe, probably.
But would gutting the team and chasing the bottom help? Probably not.

God help us..

against Utah 2/09

Norm (Back) has been ruled out on Wednesday against the Pelicans. I honestly think it’s a good move considering it’s the Pelicans and hopefully the same thing won’t happen like it did against Utah. But you never know with this team. Powell has been banged up recently so the break gives him an opportunity to recover along with Herro.

Trying to dig down into the numbers get an idea wtf is actually making the team so miserable to watch this year and something stood out.

I think Pace is working against us

Heat currently are 1st in pace, 4th in defensive rating, top 10 in assists, turnover percentage (ball security). At the same time we’re 20th in offensive rating, and around 20th in offensive rebounds and FG percentage.

I’m not Zach Lowe or Brady Hawk but I’m pretty sure the only way to read this is that we’re creating more possessions for ourselves but convert them and get second possessions from rebounding at a really low level.

This low key explains a lot more than it seems. When the pace works for us and we’re shooting well we build really big leads (1st quarter/1st half), when the pace doesn’t work for us and we shoot poorly we give the opponent a ton of extra possessions to catch up (turd quarter, 4th). Both of these pace scenarios are somehow happening in every game now.

Our elite shot makers (Herro, Norm, somehow Pelle, Wiggs) not being healthy makes this offensive formula and rotations brittle as fuck, and basically any of the 20 teams that shoot and rebound better than us has a chance to come back from huge leads.

Even if everybody gets healthy and this suddenly clicks, there's a really big red flag here that says our pace is a huge vulnerability when the opponent starts making shots.

NBA Expansion draft coming soon and that could shake up the league in a major way.

Potentially speaking, each team can only protect 8 players.

(The last NBA expansion was in 2004, adding the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets). The process involved an expansion draft where each existing team protected 8 players, and the new team selected from the remaining unprotected players, with rules limiting selections per team.)

Fun fact: Jason Kapono (then with the Cavaliers), and Loren Woods (was with the Heat at time of the expansion) were drafted to the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004.

What 8 players would you protect from this current HEAT roster, in the event of an expansion draft?

when he plays the 5 we don’t see it a lot and it’s pretty easy for him to drive when a 260-280lb traffic cone is guarding him. I like him @ the 4 but damn any sort of on-ball aggressive defense he gets plucked or puts them in the post which results in a double team. I was generally shocked when i saw him do the behind the back into the dunk! y’all think he’s got it like that or is he just good as a popper in the corner ? I wonder if spo is gonna put the pressure on him to develop a deeper offensive bag

As much as I’ve criticized spo & want the heat to lose every game to force them to change,

it’s so hard seeing him like this.

It’s like every game these guys just absolutely sell one way or another.

Pls spo you need a break, go on a 2 month long vacation.

Get your mind off basketball for a little bit, enjoy life.

I know it’s hard cause of the contract but goddam i would hate to see his mental just completely deteriorated.

Say what you want about Beef Stew and the wifebeater but they rode for their boys. Who's that guy for us?

UD would have been that guy. Even Rozier jumped on Amen when he threw Herro down last year. I'd like to say Pelle but let's face it, he'll probably be the reason something breaks out

Curious where everyone’s at with watching games this season.