Although the Miami Heat have struggled to start the season, the team doesn’t seem particularly anxious to make any early trades, based on a new report.
“Miami came into the season with lots of questions about its future,” wrote ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “After a middling start to the season, including Jimmy Butler going down with an ankle injury, those questions remain. Given the extraordinarily forgiving nature of the East, don’t expect Miami to make any early moves. Entering the season, the Heat wanted to see how their roster would look and then evaluate from there. That thought process hasn’t changed.”
Any chance for the Heat to accurately evaluate their roster is currently on pause with star forward Jimmy Butler on the shelf.
Butler has missed two straight games. It’s unclear when he will return, but he has remained with the Heat on their road trip, which has two games remaining. With any luck, he’ll return sooner than later, opening the door for the Heat to make a legitimate judgment of their current group.
Although the Heat are 4-6 this season, there are some reasons for optimism. The squad hasn’t seen the best versions of players like Bam Adebayo and Terry Rozier yet this season, and one has to imagine that it’s only a matter of time before those guys get going.
Meanwhile, Tyler Herro is playing some of the best basketball of his life, so if he can keep that up once Adebayo and Rozier return to form and Butler is back on the floor, the Heat could emerge as a dangerous team in the East.
Like Bontemps implied, the Heat are in a conference that is full of opportunities for middling teams, as there are just two teams in the East with records above .500. That means the Heat, who are two games below .500, are somehow just one game back of third place.
All of these factors are reasons to stay optimistic even amid a rough start to the season for Miami.
Still, the Heat shouldn’t get too comfortable, as it’s entirely possible that their current group doesn’t have enough to beat teams like the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers when it really matters. A trade may be a legitimate necessity at some point for the team to insert itself into the championship discussion.