One NBA scout thinks the Miami Heat are “a little better than mediocre.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Heat in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. Miami president Pat Riley was busy this offseason. He traded Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love to the Utah Jazz, acquired Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers, traded Duncan Robinson to the Detroit Pistons for Simone Fontecchio and re-signed Davion Mitchell.
“Let’s start with who’s better. I see six teams for sure: New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee. Philadelphia is better if they’re healthy. So I would say the Heat’s a solid play-in team, in the same ballpark as Indiana and potentially better than Boston,” the NBA scout told The Miami Herald.
“They’re not 10 or 11; they’re more like 7, 8 or 9. It’s around a .500 team. If they won 45, it would be a great year. They’re not bad, but they’re not good. Chicago is mediocre; the Heat is maybe a little better than mediocre. They have three very good NBA players with [Bam] Adebayo, [Tyler] Herro and Powell. We’ll see about [Kel’el] Ware. Andrew Wiggins is meh at this point.”
The Heat traded Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors last season after the NBA star requested a trade. Riley and Co. haven’t won a championship since 2013. Miami made the NBA Finals twice during the Butler era, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and falling to the Denver Nuggets in 2023.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra will likely start Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware next season. The East is wide open since Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton has already been ruled out for the season and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum may not play either.
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