While playoff seeding remains the priority, there is something to be said about the Miami Heat also building equity this season, to re-establish their real estate on the NBA trade market.
BOCA RATON — Like any shrewd investors, the Miami Heat have come to appreciate the value of building equity, their developmental program a touchstone of the team’s enduring success during the Pat Riley/Micky Arison era.
It is why, while winning remains the ultimate goal, there also will be something to be said this season about experience and exposure for Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Because while the Portland Trail Blazers weren’t even open to considering the value of the Heat’s prospects when it came to a potential trade for Damian Lillard, effectively sending the Heat to voicemail for two months, there also was an outside perspective of limited Heat assets.
This season, there is the opportunity for the Heat to alter that thinking.
In the Heat power rotation, there is nothing similar to Jovic’s mix of perimeter skill and 6-foot-11 height.
On the wing, Jaquez’s youth and collegiate experience have him closer to ready than most draft picks.
As a No. 27 pick, Jovic was a 2022 first-round afterthought.
As a No. 18 selection, Jaquez hardly was perceived as 2023 lottery talent.
What is needed — should there be a need — is for the Heat to start building equity in both, so the next time there is the ability to go all in on star talent, there would be something to go all in with.
The current roster offers a perfect example amid the return of Josh Richardson.
In 2015, Richardson was selected No. 40 by the Heat out of Tennessee. He then was put into the Heat’s developmental grinder. Four years later, he was the prime component in the sign-and-trade transaction with the Philadelphia 76ers that allowed the Heat to acquire Jimmy Butler in the void of salary-cap space.
For that matter, after Justise Winslow careened to the Heat at No. 10 in that same 2015 draft amid doubts about his athleticism, the Heat rebuilt his stock enough to make him the centerpiece of the 2020 trade with the Memphis Grizzlies that delivered NBA Finals contributors Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala.
Now, a case could be made to allow Tyler Herro to further flaunt his skills, so the next time a leading man is needed for a trade there won’t be a repeat of the Heat “only” offering Tyler Herro.
Understand, this is not solely about flipping NBA real estate through reputation renovation.
The Heat’s future very much could be Herro, Jovic, Jaquez, in addition to Bam Adebayo. There is a potential bridge to the future in place.
But you need chips.
You always need chips.
Just in case.
As he played through the World Cup last month, eyes opened to Jovic. Had the Blazers not put the Heat on hold, there could have been tangible dialogue regarding the Serbian big man.
Based on his work ethic and basketball IQ, Jaquez soon could show something similar with his multi-positional skillset.
Yes, Thomas Bryant has more experience in the league than Jovic.
Yes, Richardson knows NBA things than Jaquez couldn’t possibly yet comprehend.
Those would be the safe routes for Erik Spoelstra and his coaching staff, a veteran approach that likely would produce more victories in the early going.
But you don’t build equity in the eyes of opposing executives by biding time on the practice court, as essential as such work can be.
You build it when the cameras are rolling, when stock is taken, when it is there for all to see.
Take, for example, the revival of Duncan Robinson in last season’s playoffs. Continue to expose that this season and Robinson’s contract no longer might be viewed as ballast.
Instead, there could be another chip.
For most of the summer, the perception was the Heat had little to sell on the trade market. And what the Heat did have was out of sight, out of mind.
Now there is a chance to change that thinking, to build equity.
For some teams, the process is simpler. Simply be bad, draft Deandre Ayton at No. 1 in 2018, get the Blazers to take your call, and ship him off to Portland. The Suns sold low on a high pick. Equity squandered.
For a team that prioritizes playoffs over tanking, such as the Heat, it often means settling in the draft for the mid-century modern instead of the mansion, then digging in to reset the wiring and expanding the footprint — and then capitalizing on the added equity.
As investments, Jovic and Jaquez could provide ample payoff for the Heat.
But it also means renovation that must come under the brightest of lights, in this case, 2023-24 playing time.
JUST YESTERDAY: To appreciate the perspective of the impact of the NBA’s Covid shutdown and late-summer restart is to appreciate that just three years ago at this time, the Heat were playing in the 2020 NBA Finals. Wednesday will mark exactly three years since the Los Angeles Lakers closed out that series 4-2 in the Disney World quarantine bubble. To put further perspective on how much has changed in the interim, consider that the only Heat players remaining from that Oct. 11, 2020 game at the Wide World of Sports complex are Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson. The Heat’s other starter that night along with those four was Jae Crowder. To further put perspective on the Heat overhaul in the interim is that among Heat players in the bubble through that not-so-distant experience were KZ Okpala, Chris Silva, Kyle Alexander and Solomon Hill.
FULL CIRCLE: Among the first moves the Heat made in the wake of closing out those 2020 NBA Finals was to sign Max Strus. Then, when Strus moved on from the Heat in free agency in July, it was after listening to the advice of former Cleveland Cavaliers and current Heat forward Kevin Love. “Kevin was one of the first people I called, and he couldn’t have been more positive about the city and the organization. He told me it was a no-brainer,” Strus said at Cavaliers training camp, according to Cleveland’s Plain Dealer. “He was like, ‘Max, you’re everything they need. You’ll be a great fit. The guys are great, the organization’s great.’ Kevin talked very highly of it, and he hasn’t steered me wrong once.” Strus wound up signing a four-year, $62 million contract with the Cavaliers. “When I knew Miami wasn’t going to work out,” Strus said, “this was probably the next best situation for me.” Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell has been duly impressed. “He comes from that Heat culture. He brings that championship mindset and identity over here with us,” Mitchell said. “That’s what it is. As much as I’m a vet, I haven’t been to where he’s been.”
THE TROLL TOLL: No sooner had Damian Lillard been traded to the Milwaukee Bucks instead of the Heat, and no sooner had Jrue Holiday landed with the Boston Celtics, then Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid tweeted, “This off-season was fun lmao.” So, anger about what his team failed to accomplish, especially with the 76ers’ uncertainty regarding James Harden? Nah, just trolling. “I thought it was fun,” Embiid said of his post, “just seeing the interaction around the league, guys getting traded left and right, teams getting better, making it tougher for every other team. I thought it was fun just looking at the back-and-forth between fans. You got Miami fans that are mad and Milwaukee fans that are happy, and you’ve got Boston fans that are happy.”
AS FOR DAME: As for Lillard, he explained to ESPN’s Andscape about when he first realized that the Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and not the Adebayo and the Heat, could be his 2023-24 reality. “A couple weeks ago, probably about two weeks ago,” he said ahead of Milwaukee’s training camp. “Obviously, I didn’t know what was going to happen. Things were up in the air. I mentioned I wanted to go to Miami. I felt like it was a great situation for me and my agent (Aaron Goodwin) was just like, ‘Man, Milwaukee is probably the best basketball situation for you. What you think about Milwaukee?’ And I told him, ‘I love Giannis. I think it’s a great opportunity for me, but let’s see.’ And I left it to him. So, I knew weeks ago that there was a possibility that it could happen. I just didn’t know how. So, when it happened, I was like, ‘’Man, it actually came back.’ ”
13. Years since Heat have had a losing preseason record, when they went 3-4 in exhibitions in 2010 at the start of the Big Three era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Heat, who open their preseason Tuesday at Kaseya Center against the Charlotte Hornets, went 4-1 in exhibitions last year.
