LeBron James is back in Cleveland. Dwyane Wade is in Chicago. Chris Bosh is likely finished playing due to health concerns. It’s time for Miami Heat to rebuild. Team President Pat Riley acknowledges this and believes that the rebuild will be a brief one, he tells CBS Miami’s Joe Rose (H/t theScore):
“We’re dealing with that word that you hate to use – that we have to rebuild,” Riley told CBS Miami’s Joe Rose Wednesday. “But we will rebuild quick. I’m not going to hang around here for three or four years selling this kind of song to people in Miami … I think we can turn this thing around. You can use that word rebuild. But we’re going to do it fast.”
Miami isn’t starting from scratch in their rebuild; they have some talented players. However you feel about Hassan Whiteside, there’s no denying his talent. Justise Winslow has the makings of an elite wing defender. Josh Richardson can shoot the rock. There’s some talent on this roster.
Unfortunately for the Heat, they owe the Phoenix Suns a top-seven protected first-round draft pick in 2018 (or unprotected in 2019). Luckily for the Heat, the talent in this year’s draft class has scouts raving.
The Heat aren’t going to be a playoff team this year. Their 10-22 record has them at 13th in the Eastern Conference. Their best option is probably to tank and hope for a good draft pick in this year’s lottery. One way to accelerate that tanking process would be to trade Goran Dragic. The NBA is very point guard-heavy right now, but there are still several teams that could use an upgrade at that position, and Dragic is a very good player.
