The OKC Thunder trade deadline series T.I. looks at the Miami Heat who are hampered by a bevy of middling talent on long term non-economical contracts.
As the OKC Thunder and General Manager Sam Presti prepare for Thursday we’re left to wonder if Thursday, February 7, will be one of those insanely busy trade deadlines. With so many teams anticipating the summer of star free agents it could just as easily be a quiet trade day. Particularly, since it looks more and more likely the Pelicans brain trust will wait until the draft lottery occurs to get their bearings (as they should).
Conversely, it could be an active day with lots of support players moving to fill specific roles. And although Davis may stay put there are a few upper echelon talents being shopped. One who was projected to move was traded late Tuesday (Tobias Harris) and two top Grizzlies talents (Mike Conley and Marc Gasol) are also expected to change locations.
In South Beach, Pat Riley finds himself hampered with an expensive roster and without a star. The Heat continues to cling to the eighth seed with a 24-29 record. The best news is they’ve finally hit the road where strangely Miami perform better than they do at home.
Staying in the mix in the East will be a challenge for the Heat who are among the league leaders in man games lost. Core contributors like Goran Dragic being out forced Erik Spoelstra to utilize Justise Winslow at the point. Apologies to Josh Richardson who is developing into a wonderful second or third option but can’t be the one to carry this team on his back.
Spoelstra is also utilizing zone defense to great effect. Still, with no stars and a crew full of great support players this team isn’t getting any higher up the ladder.
In the interim Dwyane Wade continues his farewell tour – with the end of game jersey swap often being the highlight of the night.
Note: while writing this article a trade occurred sending Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington to Phoenix. It affects the trades I was outlining in this piece – but there is still an opportunity as the Suns may very well waive Ellington so read on.