The Miami Heat will enter the 2015-16 season with championship expectations.
Despite going 37-45 and missing the postseason, the Heat have reloaded and are expected to return to elite form after a disastrous 2014-15 campaign.
In his recent season-opening press conference, head coach Erik Spoelstra stressed what he expects out of this year’s Heat squad:
“Now it’s about putting together a team that we feel has an opportunity to compete for a championship. We’re not hiding from the expectations.”
Part of the reason why there are such high expectations for a team that missed the playoffs last year is due to the fact that this Heat team has one of the best starting fives in the entire NBA—that lineup would feature none other than Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside.
Making matters even better for the team are the additions of veterans Amar’e Stoudemire and Gerald Green. Spoelstra went out of his way to applaud those signings during his conference:
“If you would have told me a year ago that we would have an opportunity to sign both those players in the summer and add them to our team, I would have said that’s not realistic. Those type of game-changing players are tough to find in this league.”
This team may have a lot of potential but they will have to display it on the court for people to truly buy in. The starting five looks pretty on paper, but they have yet to play a single minute on the court together.
All things considered, here are five bold predictions for the Heat this season.
1. Goran Dragic Will Make His First All-Star Team
Believe it or not, Dragic has never made an All-Star team in his seven-year NBA career.
Despite this, Dragic is considered the key to the Heat’s success this season. The Slovenian point guard averaged 16.6 points and 5.3 assists per game in 26 starts after being acquired by Miami at the trade deadline last February.
A large reason why the 6’3″ point guard has never achieved an All-Star nod in his career is due to the fact that he had played in the Western Conference his entire career before last season. For those that aren’t aware, the West is loaded with great point guards.
Secondly, Dragic didn’t really start breaking out as a player until the 2012-13 season when he became a full-time starter for the first time in his career in Phoenix after Steve Nash was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Unlike the West, the East doesn’t have many great point guards. If the Heat emerge as even a top four team in the conference, and Dragic posts at least 16 points and six assists per game, he should be able to clinch the first All-Star selection of his NBA career.
Next: Dwyane Wade Will Continue to Be the Team’s Best Player
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2. Dwyane Wade Will Continue to Be the Team’s Best Player
When Bosh was signed to a five-year, $118 million contract in the aftermath of LeBron James departing for Cleveland, many expected the veteran big to take over as the best player on the team.
While Bosh’s season unfortunately ended due to a blood clots ailment in February, the 44 games that he did appear in showed that the 31-year-old veteran is better suited in a secondary role rather than a leading one.
There is no doubt that he is one of the better offensive players in the league—he averaged 21.1 points per game last season. However, the other areas of his game, namely rebounding, leave a lot to be desired.
Despite the fact that Wade will turn 34 years old during the 2015-16 season, this team will remain his for the present and foreseeable future. The 12-year veteran is coming off of a fine season which saw him lead the team in scoring for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
Next: Chris Andersen Won’t Be Traded This Season
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3. Chris Andersen Won’t Be Traded This Season
Chris Andersen, along with Mario Chalmers, remain on the trade block as the Heat look to shed their luxury tax bill as much as possible.
Both players have one year left on their contracts, with Andersen at a $5 million cap figure and Chalmers at a $4.3 million cap hit.
Ideally speaking, Miami would like to get rid of both players. They would likely take anything in return when it pertains to trading both Andersen and Chalmers.
However, Andersen is 37 years old and has always been an extremely limited player. He is great in short spurts as a high energy guy, but his value as a player is only to a select few NBA clubs.
The veteran center is a non-factor on the offensive side of the ball, but can give you 15-to-20 minutes of straight-up hustle. The only value Andersen has is for teams that are contending for championships.
If the Heat are one of the elite teams in the NBA this season as expected, there is no way the organization is trading him to a rival like the Cleveland Cavaliers or Chicago Bulls.
Expect Andersen to remain a member of the Heat for the duration of the 2015-16 season.
Next: Josh Richardson Will Emerge as a Member of the Rotation
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4. Josh Richardson Will Emerge as a Member of the Rotation
Not many people expected Josh Richardson to receive a guaranteed contract from the Heat, but he received just that.
Despite being drafted with the 40th overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, Richardson has already carved out a name for himself based upon his play in summer league.
In 10 overall appearances and six starts during the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, Richardson averaged 11.8 points while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc. More importantly, he displayed his ability to play multiple positions. The second-round draft pick is capable of playing small forward, shooting guard and point guard while being the team’s primary ball handler.
As ridiculous as it sounds, do not be surprised when Richardson cracks the Heat’s rotation during the season. He will have every opportunity to make just as big of an impact this season as his first-round pick counterpart, Justise Winslow.
Next: The Heat Will Finish with the Eastern Conference’s Second-Best Record
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5. The Heat Will Finish with the Eastern Conference’s Second-Best Record
It’s been stressed before and I’ll stress it again—the Heat have high expectations.
In Marc Stein’s first power rankings of the season on ESPN.com, he ranked the Heat as the third-best team in the Eastern Conference, just one spot behind the Atlanta Hawks. For those that aren’t aware, the Hawks finished the 2014-15 season with a 60-22 record, the best mark in the East.
If all things go according to plan—and that is somewhat of a big if—Miami will finish with the conference’s second-best record, behind the Cavaliers.
This 2015-16 Heat squad may not be ready to dethrone a team like the Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors for NBA supremacy, but give them a little bit of seasoning and this team should truly be ready to be back on top when the 2016-17 season rolls around.
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