The Miami Heat will likely be shorthanded on Thursday when they visit the Houston Rockets, as Bam Adebayo and Victor Oladipo aren’t expected to suit up.
In addition, there appears to be a chance starting point guard Kyle Lowry won’t be able to play.
If there is one team that the Heat can afford to be without Adebayo and Oladipo against, it may be the Rockets, who have one of the NBA’s worst records at 9-18.
However, there hasn’t really been such a thing as an easy game for Miami this season.
It holds a dismal 14-15 record and ranks just 28th in offensive rating, and it has failed to win more than three games in a row so far this season. Although the team has been a bit banged up, its issues seem to stem deeper than health.
Lowry has declined pretty sharply, as he is shooting just 39.7 percent from the field, and the team as a whole simply lacks the type of offensive firepower that would allow it to get off to good starts.
It’s a problem the Heat have had for the last three seasons. Even when they reached the NBA Finals in 2020, they often fell behind against elite teams such as the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, and they had to expend lots of energy simply to make things competitive down the stretch and give Jimmy Butler a chance to do his thing.
It is an operating format that simply isn’t sustainable, especially if the Heat are to win their fourth NBA championship.
They have been rumored to be looking to add some offensive punch, and they’re reportedly interested in players such as the Detroit Pistons’ Bojan Bogdanovic and Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, among others.
Some, including “NBA on TNT” personality Charles Barkley, even feel the Heat should hit the proverbial reset button and start all over again by making wholesome changes instead of trying to remain competitive.