Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat have gotten off to a slow start in the 2022-23 NBA season, and they currently sit at the No. 13 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 2-5 record.
Though things have not started as anyone within the organization likely hoped they would, it hasn’t changed Butler’s outlook on the Heat’s title prospects.
He recently stated his belief that the Heat will be going to the NBA Finals and winning a championship this season.
He did so while speaking with Sam Amick of The Athletic.
“We’re still going to win the championship, and I don’t care what nobody says,” Butler says about his Heat while shaking his head. “Count us out. We’re going to win the f—— championship. I’m telling you. I don’t give a d— that we started 2-5.”
Butler added that he’s not worried about the Heat’s slow start.
“Yeah, we’re 2-5, but we straight,” Butler said. “We’ve got time, man. We’ve just got to play with a little bit more urgency and realize how fragile this thing is, trust in one another and play basketball the right way on both sides of the ball. There’s a lot of good things, so I don’t get discouraged.”
He concluded by adding that from here on out, he expects the Heat to go 77-0 in the regular season to finish with what would be a historic record of 77-5. Of course, he was making this prediction in jest, but it definitely does go to show just how confident he is in his squad.
“Y’all will look back at this, and be like, ‘Oh man, they started 2-5 and they ended the season f—— 77-5,'” he said.
Butler is off to another strong season in the 2022-23 campaign. He is currently averaging 21.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He’s also shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep. Both percentages are superior to his career percentages.
Butler is holding up his end of the bargain so far, but it is currently somewhat difficult to imagine the Heat making it to the 2023 NBA Finals with the roster as it is currently constructed. It’s not necessarily that the Heat are a bad team, but rather that the best teams in the East simply got better over the offseason.
The Heat’s front office made few moves in the offseason, and the biggest move the team made was to re-sign talented youngster Tyler Herro.
It will be interesting to see if the Heat manage to bring in some additional talent prior to the deadline later this season.
