Through 37 games of the regular season, the Miami Heat currently stand at a record of 16-21.
At nearly midway through the 2014-15 season, the Heat are currently tied for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference with the Brooklyn Nets, just two games ahead of the ninth-seeded Indiana Pacers. Just a year prior, the Heat were battling with the Pacers for the best record in the East all throughout the 2013-14 season.
Of course, these aren’t the Heat of last season—LeBron James, Ray Allen and Shane Battier no longer make their living at the American Airlines Arena.
Miami maintained pieces of their core from the championship seasons and integrated them with young players. Franchise players such as Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were brought back to lead a Heat squad featuring up-and-comers such as Shabazz Napier and James Ennis. Key rotational cogs from the 2012 and 2013 championship seasons like Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Udonis Haslem and Chris Andersen were retained for veteran leadership and stability purposes.
The results have been underwhelming to say the least. After beginning the season with a respectable 9-7 record, Miami’s play dipped during the month of December. The team went 5-12 with losses to bottom-tier teams such as the Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz.
The losses have been bad, the record has disappointed and there haven’t been many positive results from a franchise that has won the Eastern Conference the past four seasons.
The question is, can this team regroup and be a squad capable of going deep in the postseason? Can they advance past the first round? Do they have a snowball’s chance of repeating as Eastern Conference champions for the fifth consecutive season?
First of all, let’s list some of the positives and negatives for this squad so far this year.
What have been some of the positives for the Heat through the midway point of the 2014-15 season?
Wade has had a resurgent season. A year after being restricted to just 54 games for resting purposes by Erik Spoelstra, D3 has re-established himself as a top 10 player in the NBA. The veteran guard ranks ninth in the NBA in points, fifth in field goals and 10th in free throws made and attempted.
While Bosh was expected to assume the go-to role for the Heat in the absence of James, that did not last too long—of the 17 games Miami played in the month of December, Wade led the team in scoring in all but four of those games.
Over the past couple of weeks, Hassan Whiteside has proven to be a valuable addition for a team in desperate need of one. Whiteside recently posted a 23-point, 16-rebound performance in a 104-90 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. The 25-year-old center is proving to be the Heat’s best player in the front court not named Bosh.
Next: What about the negatives?
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What about the negatives?
Outside of the play of Wade and Whiteside, this is where the negatives for the team begin—sloppy offense, bad rebounding and a lack of consistency from the Heat’s bench has led to the team being five games below .500.
There has been no stability at the point guard position where the team has switched between Cole and Chalmers. Cole began the season as the team’s starting point guard, but after he failed to establish himself as a ball distributor, Spoelstra inserted Chalmers back in the starting lineup at the one-guard.
Chalmers has started the past 11 games, but he hasn’t provided a positive contribution to the lineup. Since his inclusion into the starting lineup, he has averaged just 6.5 points per game on 33 percent shooting from the field. After beginning the season as a formidable two-guard off the bench, ‘Rio has seen his numbers quickly decline, the most disturbing of which is his field goal percentage—he is shooting just 40 percent from the field, his lowest mark in four seasons.
Napier, who was acquired by the Heat during the 2014 NBA Draft through trade with the Charlotte Hornets, was demoted to the D-League twice during the month of December. His hottest stretch was during late November when he scored in double-digits in six straight contests. However, he went scoreless in five of the 10 games that followed.
Miami currently ranks 27th in the league in points per game (93.8) and dead-last in rebounding (36.2) and assists per game (19.7). The 2014-15 Heat have already established a franchise low for rebounds in a single game when they grabbed just 20 total team rebounds versus the Milwaukee Bucks on December 5.
Injuries were cited for the Heat’s dismal start to the season, but with the exception of Josh McRoberts, the team is at full strength right now. Since Bosh returned from his calf strain injury on December 29 versus the Magic, the team has gone 2-4.
Next: Is this team capable of making a second half comeback?
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Is this team capable of making a second half comeback?
The Eastern Conference is pretty tough this year. Whereas in prior years it was the Pacers and Heat and nothing else in the East, the top four teams in the conference are looking pretty tough this year. The Atlanta Hawks have won eight straight games and currently have a 29-8 record, best in the conference. Both the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls are just three-and-a-half games behind, with Kyle Lowry establishing himself as an early MVP candidate and Pau Gasol having posted a 46-point, 18-rebound performance in a victory over the Bucks over the past couple of days.
Meanwhile, the Wizards stand at 25-12 with victories over the Houston Rockets and Bulls this season. The Cleveland Cavaliers are struggling at the moment, but with the return of LeBron they could easily make a push during the postseason.
So where does that leave the Heat?
Even with this team at full strength, the 2014-15 Heat just aren’t very good. The team has one too many issues and a propensity to blow third quarter leads versus subpar squads. While Bosh has posted nice stats (21.2 points per game), he continues to look lifeless on the glass as he averages just 7.8 boards as the team’s leading rebounder. CB has failed to establish himself as an inside post threat, continuing to make a living on mid-range jump shots while Wade remains the aggressor. This lack of aggressiveness on Bosh’s part has contributed to his dismal rebounding and free throw attempt numbers (5.8 per game).
The point guard situation is a major issue. Cole is not a guard capable of setting teammates up, ‘Rio is very hot-and-cold and Napier has yet to find his footing in the NBA.
The rebounding issue won’t be solved by any of the team’s veterans. As odd as it may be to hear it, the rebounding will only improve if Whiteside continues to improve. The 7-foot center had played in just 19 career NBA games before this season, but the Heat are so thin along the front line, that their best hope is for Whiteside to establish himself as a dominant threat on the glass.
If this is the reality, what is the Heat’s glass ceiling for 2015?
Miami will likely end up between the sixth and eighth seed for the playoffs in April. Clearly, the team falls in the tier of the Bucks, Nets, Pacers and Hornets at the moment. With this being the reality, this squad would face the Hawks, Raptors, Bulls or Wizards in the first round.
While the Heat could give a feasible fight to some of those teams considering their veteran pedigree, there simply isn’t much hope for an Eastern Conference championship banner in 2015.
This is a roster that needs to be further reloaded by Pat Riley during the upcoming offseason if it hopes to remain an elite team in an upstart conference.
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