As the final seconds ticked off the clock in last Thursday’s deciding Game 6 of the NBA Finals, fans of the Miami Heat couldn’t help but wonder how their team would have done against a Golden State Warriors team that won yet another world championship.
Aside from the fact that Miami couldn’t get past the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, it’s obvious the main thing the Heat have to do if they want to sniff the title round again: get another superstar player to help the team’s current star, forward Jimmy Butler.
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During this year’s postseason, Butler was arguably the best player in this year’s playoffs - singlehandedly keeping Miami from getting knocked out in the conference semifinals against Philadelphia and in his amazing 47-point effort to force a deciding game against Boston.
With the 2022 NBA Draft coming this Thursday night, the Heat have a chance to make a move that would both bring another superstar to the 305 and keep Miami from making a draft pick for the second straight season.
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Much of the speculation has been the Miami is focusing on two players: Utah Jazz point guard Donovan Mitchell or Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid. To get either one of the superstars, the Heat would have to trade the No. 27 pick this Thursday along with likely at least three players.
To get Mitchell from the Jazz, that means moving the pick along with three outside shooters – more than likely the combination of guards Tyler Herro and Max Strus along with forward Duncan Robinson. To get Embiid from the Sixers, that means likely only having to move two of those players but now a big man is likely going to have to be thrown into the conversation.
The problem there is that three of Miami’s four tallest players - Dewayne Dedmom, Udonis Haslem and Markieff Morris - are all free agents this summer. That leaves just one option: trading forward Bam Adebayo.
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While some in the Heat fanbase aren’t a fan of trading Adebayo to get Embiid to South Florida, it would make perfect sense. This past postseason, Embiid was statistically better and his 24 points in Game 4 against Miami kept Philly in that series. Bam, meanwhile, scored more than 18 points in just six of the Heat’s 18 total playoff games this year and had nine points or less in six games this past postseason.
Miami has time to make a move but doing it sooner rather than later would throw a monkey-wrench into a lot of team’s plans come draft night. It would let people know the Heat are ready to play and get back to the NBA Finals for the first time since the pandemic playoffs of 2020.
If the Heat want to be taken seriously as a title contender once again, a bold move has to be made to make Miami more than just Jimmy Butler and a cast of role players.
