Miami Heat Reportedly Eyeing Youth Movement This Season | Good Plan or Good Coverup?

Miami Heat Reportedly Eyeing Youth Movement This Season | Good Plan or Good Coverup?

Hey, welcome on in guys. Tobin here with you and thanks for checking out the channel. Hope you’re doing well there. If you guys could subscribe, that’d be great and appreciate you stopping by. So, the Miami Heralds, Barry Jackson did a a very thorough piece that described the Miami Heat’s plan and where they are and a little bit of insight into their thinking. And it was a great article by Barry Jackson. He did some real thorough great reporting on this. So, hey, appreciate the word from Barry Jackson and and where the organization is standing right now and and what they’re trying to to do with this um situation that they’re in. And I I guess the thing out of the box that was described by Barry is that the team is going to go into a youth movement, that that is what they’re going to lean into, which I do like the sound of that. Um, you know, my whole point a couple of uh weeks ago when I went on to my rant is they do feel a little directionless and I don’t understand what this roster is. I don’t understand why they didn’t go harder after Kevin Durant. This article said that they didn’t think that they were ever close on Kevin Durant. Um, and obviously with what they offered, they probably never were. uh why they decided to be in the negotiations as long publicly as they were. I don’t know because I think that that definitely drew the eye of the fan base. But uh this was uh from Barry. It said uh though it hasn’t publicly been said that he actually has a plan, it’s probably the more realistic one at this point, though it will be unsatisfying for some. But according to people with direct knowledge, Miami’s intention is to quote, “Let our young guys show what they can do and see what the team looks like with their exposure having a full training camp with the Jimmy Butler distraction in the rearview mirror and with Casperis Yakuchunist added to the core of young players which the organization believes has a big upside. also said in the part two of the plan which is to pounce on any star if a star becomes available blah blah blah blah blah the um the article so let’s start off there uh I if that is the case I think that’s positive I do like the idea of Miami letting their young guys try to flourish um which would speak to if they believe in that you know yak Akachonis getting some significant minutes this year if he’s up for it obviously and um you know Spo typically and we talked about this a couple of weeks ago about the the guards versus the bigs and that’s typically the bigs have typically been the guys who have to impress Eric Bolster a little bit more for playing time. Rookie guards and backcourt players they’ll get a little bit more uh of a of a of a shake. Um guys who have the ball in their hands. So the Hakz’s, the heroes, the Winslows, those guys will get a little bit more of a chance to to to to go out there more so than the bigs who, you know, obviously have to stick out there defensively and and be in their system and not get uh get overrun like that. So I do think that for for Casper, I think he is going to get his opportunities. Uh I think that will be the case. Um and I’m very excited to actually see what he’s able to bring. I got, you know, we had his coach on this week. I don’t know how many you guys got to catch it. Uh Brad Underwood. I know people will say I love the smartasses who are like, “Who who what’s he supposed to say?” It’s like, “All right, cool. Hey, congratulations. You’ve you’ve you’ve really you don’t want to take anything that he says. He’s just a big fat liar.” I mean, he did have two guys going the first round. That’s a big deal for their program. And um he does have insight to the player more so than you, you know, like one I love the guy. I had a guy on uh I forget what platform it was, but uh you know there was one guy I put up one clip that was talking about Casper, how serious he takes things. And I get it. You guys don’t have time to go watch the whole interview, but he’s like would love to hear about his game and his measure. I’m like, well, there is a whole interview you can go watch. I choose I chose to put that one up. I I don’t like to spam my Instagram with multiple multiple clips of interviews. every once in a while if it’s golden I will. Um, and then there was one that was like he need to tell him he needs to turn the ball over less. And there’s a whole thing where it’s like we talk about his turnovers and why the coach is not worried about his turnovers. Um, and I just but I just found all that funny because look, I get it. The Heat fan is in a cynical place. They’re in a they’re in an annoyed place. I’m there with you guys. I’m not here sitting here satisfied with where the Miami Heat are at. But I would like to do this with not like piece mealing it together with a ton of uh Andrew Wiggins minutes and you know making sure Kevin Love is is is taking opportunities away from any young bigs that they may go out there with. I just don’t see what the point is. Um so if that is the case, they’re going to see what their young guys can do. That for me was was a positive piece from Barry’s article. Now is it the position they’re kind of stuck in? Yeah, it is. You know, all of this has is a little bit of a result of Miami doesn’t really have a lot of great options because what is your option right now? Your option is oh, when Giannis is asks out, he’s I mean, not with what they just did. They’re not trading him. I mean, like probably not by by next summer, I would guess, unless it just goes horribly wrong and he demands a trade. Um, Zion’s not leaving New Orleans. John Morance’s not leaving Memphis. There’s just not a lot of guys that you would get that juiced up over. That’s why I was into the Kevin Durant because one, I still think he’s an excellent player. And two, you know, my whole thing was pairing him with Bam and Tyler and doing that in in regard to knowing that, hey, you guys haven’t really given Nicolola Yoic like the full endorsement of a role. So, I know that’s a little bit of a strange fit, especially with the emergence of KL Wear. So, I’ve explained why I was into the Kevin Durant thing. I don’t want to keep harping on this. This next piece after the Durant thing that that uh that Barry talked about, this was the line that I think pissed people off the most. And whatever was told to Barry by this on reporting that got to this, this was definitely the thing that got people I think the most annoyed. And I think rightfully so. I I think it’s a bad look and I think it’s bad reasoning. And that was this line from Barry Jackson. and it says the Heat believes it cannot accurately judge last season’s postbutler roster because of the chaos that Butler created, a change in role for different players, Andrew Wiggins ankle injury, and other factors. I don’t know what was said to Barry in this, but I don’t, you know, I’m sure that’s the description, the feeling from the organization. Um, putting anything left on your assessment of the season and still attaching it to Jimmy Butler was weak sauce for me. And it’s not even to say you don’t get a little bit of grace because of, hey, that’s a bad situation. Did they have a part in it? Sure. Did Jimmy act more professional than they had a part in it? I would say I would lean more. Yeah, you should probably do your job as a professional. Um, but I’m not going to sit here and say there’s somebody on this roster that I genuinely think was stifled by what happened with Jimmy Butler and wasn’t able to deal with their job because Jimmy Butler was gone. And in fact, while I’m sure it was an exhausting season, especially on the coach, and that was called out by Pat Riley saying, you know, that that that Spo wore a lot of it on and and it was a tough it was a tough year. I’m sure it was a tough year, but I don’t think that I looked at any player this year and was like, man, maybe other than like Haime Hawis Jr., But I don’t think I can look at any player this year and be like, man, they really were messed up by the Jimmy Butler thing. And I feel like this has completely deterred them. Uh, especially in the post Jimmy Butler era, which is oddly when this got really bad because they ended up losing 10 games in a row. And yes, Andrew Wiggins did get hurt. Um, that was not ideal because they thought they were going to be in a position of getting somebody and he was in and out, in and out, in and out. But nobody wants to hear that you don’t have an accurate assessment because let’s be real about it, guys. The assessment of this roster was 37 wins and a longest losing streak in that coach’s tenure. And I don’t think that you could look at that team and the way they performed in that playoff series and think that clarity would have made this and non Jimmy Butler chaos would have made this series any different. I just don’t think it can do that. Um, if I was telling, if I was going to give my number one reason, I’d be like, well, we probably should have leaned in younger earlier and Nicola Yoic missed half the season and he was our six-man essentially. That’s probably where I would have gone as far as like not assessing things because yeah, Joic missing half the season when it just felt like he was fine in his comfort zone, had that Grace West Coast trip to me. I looked at that and I was like, that’s that’s an undersold that’s an under part of the story. Like if I look back a year ago and you talk about the Miami Heat really couldn’t assess themselves, you could actually have a case of it because Jimmy Butler got hurt in the playin game. Terry Roier busted his neck. Duncan Robinson’s back was shot. You know, you could legitimately look at some of those things and be like, “Yeah, we didn’t really get an assessment of it.” But then you went into a summer of chaos where you didn’t want to pay Jimmy Butler. I just think that coming off and saying that we couldn’t handle the chaos of Jimmy Butler when all you guys talked about afterwards was clarity and having it behind you, you kept using the word clarity and the results didn’t bear out. That clarity was beneficial. So, it was either BS or this is now spin and you’re trying to use the Jimmy Butler card. And I just think it’s time to get away from that. It’s over now. I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s a good look on the Miami Heat to do that. They did this already once in their history with LeBron. And with LeBron, it led to the eventual departing of Dwayne Wade because things got too personal. This one, I don’t think it’s going to be because I don’t think the Heat were blindsided. This was more of a Heat choice than it was a Jimmy choice because they didn’t want to pay Jimmy Butler. Then Jimmy Butler acted unprofessional. Um, so I hope that this one doesn’t linger as long. I hope that they can just be like, “We’re not talking about it anymore. We’re moving on. It was obviously hard, but fine.” um talked about the development it’s going to do with cool. Uh this is the other thing and this to me was probably, you know, this is going to be the interesting part about this season. It said uh would Miami part with several of its pieces uh of its young core for its prime star. I believe so. But the Heat wasn’t going to do it for a star in its mid-30s. Meanwhile, a source with direct knowledge said the Heat has given no consideration to trading Bam Adabio and Tyler Herro and essentially starting from scratch with a treasure trove of picks likely it could acquire from dealing out of bio. The Heat believes that tanking stripping its roster with hope for a brighter future fails more often than it works. That is not a philosophy the organization plans to rethink. that he currently has two tradable first round picks, 2030 um and 2032 or just 2031. So, I get that. That’s the Heat’s philosophy. The Heat don’t believe in tanking. They never have believed in tanking. They hate tanking. And I I don’t even think the Heat, you know, I didn’t want them to go into this year tanking. I don’t want them to go in here like, “Hey, we’re going to start Vlad Golden all year. We’re going to trade bam, start Vlad Golden. That’s, you know, we’re gonna do, you know, we’re going to start Kesha Johnson, trade bam, charts and play Keshaw Johnson and sign Isaiah Stevens. And that’s our backhor. We’re going to trade them both and we’re just going to really screw the pooch on this thing. So, I don’t want that to be the case. But what I do hope the Heat recognize is if we do go into a year and it is going a little bit sour and if it isn’t going great, that is the benefit of them having their own pick this year. Like this is where they got the wiggle room now. And a lot of teams are thinking like this. I mean, go look at what Boston’s doing. Go look at what uh Indiana’s doing. And they’re both already hitting the reset button and they’ve been further recently more so than the Heat because the Heat’s time has passed and the best player they had on their finals team is gone. Um, but with the Bam Tyler part of it, it’s like to me the thing I’m going to find fascinating about this season between both of those guys, Bam is going to be 28 next month. And we know that Bam can be a big piece on a on a team that goes deep in the playoffs, but you’re now entering like the middle of his prime. So, how much longer are you going to wait with him on the roster before he isn’t the treasure trove of picks? Now, I don’t want to trade Bio. I mean, like, they’ve basically propped him up as the Heat Lifer. I think everybody knows that, you know, I’m a big fan of Bams, but there’s got to be some level of frustration from him, too, of being like, “All right, well, you guys didn’t go after KD.” He clearly was signaling at the end of the season that he wanted the team to do something. And I’m sure he’s been frustrated for some time now because a lot of these guys, as much as people talk about Jimmy Butler, a lot of these guys want to play with him, you know, because he is an he is a an all-star who is unselfish and a pretty easy guy to play with. Um, and then with Tyler, ton of pressure on Tyler and and I think from a, you know, I can feel for Tyler in some regards because Tyler I think does get the brunt of the criticism. Although I do think, you know, Bam’s been taken a hefty amount this offseason, too. Tyler’s going into this year, if he doesn’t get the extension in October, okay, it’s kind of on his plate. And then the Miami Heat’s going to be like, “All right, dude. Well, what are you gonna do here? Are you gonna show that you’re the guy or are you not the guy?” And then he’s sitting here being like, “Yeah, but you didn’t do anything with his roster to help me.” I’m like the only elite offensive player on this team or very good whatever ranking you want to put him at. Very good. And is that putting him in the best position to succeed? I don’t know. Now, he may be happy just because it’s his team. He’s the go-to guy. He gets all the shots. And more likely than not, you know, teams will just end up paying their guys anyway. But there is going to be some area like I thought it was interesting. I saw that Tyler ended his YouTube video on his channel with him watching Stephen A. Smith talk about Kevin Durant not ending up on the Miami Heat. And he was talking about it was the part where he was like, “You got Tyler and Bam and and Kevin Durant that’s formidable in the East.” and and like you could kind of tell off of Tyler’s looks like it it felt like he was agreeing with that and you saw that he went on like the stream with uh um Aiden Aiden Ross and he was like you know doing the whole KD flirtation thing and so I thought that kind of spoke to Kyler being like hey I wanted them to make that move and they didn’t make the move. So, you got these two guys here who they don’t want to trade, but I thought that not trading for KD was kind of like a vote of no confidence into those guys either. And so, maybe one of these young guys or multiple of these young guys will step up around them. But I also think like, man, Tyler’s going to be 26 in the middle of the season. Time flies. And so, these guys are both in the primes of their career while you’re developing these other guys. And there’s going to be part of people that are going to be like, well, that’s on them now. Like, go prove that you’re one and two and not needing to be two and three. And I get that. But it’s a it’s an interesting dynamic that we’re going into this year where like the pressure is going to be on those guys to really show that they can actually uplift people around them and make them better. And if that is what not having the chaos of whatever last year was is going to then hopefully. But I do think we all recognize that they’re not perfect players that they do have their flaws and that there are question marks about whether or not they can be top of the top guys. And that’s I guess what’s going to be the interesting dynamic of this year. Um because I would say that those guys did not live up to that at the end of last year by by any means. Um Bam and oddly for Bam like Bam’s struggles actually were more so I would say in the midst of all the Jimmy Butler stuff because his stretch of the season where he really struggled was early on. Um and then it felt like for Tyler he really had a wear down effect especially post Allstar break when this was all happening. So, you know, we it is going to be an interesting test for those guys and, you know, we’ll see where Miami is at. I’m not surprised that they’re not going to trade him, but it is, you know, Bam is locked up and Tyler’s got what, two years left on his deal and then is going to be seeking the extension. So, you know, for an organization that seems unsure of things, I would think that they want to be pretty sure about Tyler Herro’s future and investing cuz like we’ve seen around the league, it’s one thing to have one guy paid like that. Two guys, okay, if you have the right pieces around him, but you better be sure on those two guys because once you start paying three of them, your team’s kind of sunk it to where it is. And so they got two guys that they really need to know on answers with and one is is Tyler Herro a Max guy and then with Nicoolola Yoic like what do you end up doing with his contract because I don’t I don’t think he’s going to sign in something in before the season. I would doubt it unless he just really wants some guaranteed money in the bank and he’s been injured a lot. So maybe he’s offered like a, you know, like a four for 40 and he’s like, “Oh, I’m taking that.” Which is I mean, I don’t know. You never know with people. Um, and then there was some stuff also on the roster that I want to get to, but I actually I’m going to I’m going to talk about this in another video because I’m I’m hitting long here and I know you guys don’t stick around that long anyway, but uh I’m going to do another video because there are a lot of Andrew Wiggins rumors circulating today, particularly with the LA Lakers. So, I’m going to do another video on that. I’ll throw in the stuff on Wiggins from this article cuz I didn’t know the the stuff in the Wiggins on Wiggins in the Barry Jackson article I kind of felt was smoky. I was like this that kind of feels more to me like they’re playing poker than it is their genuine feelings on him. Um, but all in all for the Heat thing I like I like leaning to the youth. Happy with that. I think that they should probably find a home for the guys who aren’t part of the youth. Lot of pressure on Bam and Tyler this year and they got to figure it out. Like I hope that this year ends with the Heat having a final verdict on both of those guys on what they want to do. Do they believe in them as top guys or do they not believe in them as top guys? And I need the team to stop bringing up the Jimmy Butler thing. It’s exhausting. We’ve all talked about it. You guys are a strong, wellbuilt organization. Stop talking about the Jimmy Butler thing. Stop having it leaked. Even if it is your feelings, keep it inside. Unless you’re going to give like unless you’re going to give actual examples. Like this is the one thing that’s been frustrating is everybody just been like chaos. Uh you know how he was handled a lot to walking on eggshells. give actual examples of it like leak act actual examples of it to to give some credence to that or shut up about it because you it sounds it sounds soft to people and nobody wants to hear that. They want to know that you’re ready to move on from it and this isn’t something that’s going to keep lingering because like look ultimately the Jimmy Butler era ending the way that it is and it’s interesting that this is like the end of the dame week like this whole window closed two years ago. It was over. Once Damen Lillard this year, this week, two years ago, when Damen Lillard wants to get to Miami and we think all summer they’re going to get him and he’s going to be the final piece and they’re probably going to move on from Tyler, but this is going to be their final piece to push him over and you don’t and it goes to one of your rivals and then your one of your other rivals gets even better. The Miami Heat have been watching teams get significantly better around them or at least taking swings to get significantly better up and down the conference. There’s probably like the Hornets and the Wizards have taken less swings than Miami. Everybody else pretty much has done something. The Knicks done a ton of trades. Pacers, Pascal Seakum, Bucks, Damen Lillard. Uh the the Celtics drew Holiday Christophs Porzingis and now have traded both of them and have moved on. They got their gold and they moved on. Uh Cavaliers, you know, traded for Spa and and added uh you know, added pieces around them with Max Streus and and DeAndre Hunter and tons of moves there. You know, Detroit is now starting to move in and hell, they got Duncan Robinson from you. Everybody in this kind Orlando trades for Desmond Bane, the Hawks, ton of moves, everybody is doing some kind of significant upgrades at least around their all-stars to give him a chance because you don’t think like the Hawks have the same questions around Trey Young that the Heat do about Tyler Herro and like at at least they’re going to go on down swinging a little bit. So, the Heat kind of want to just I guess the only other team is the Bulls. And even the Bulls traded away Zack Lavine and and and Demardo Roses. I can’t even say them. So, but they didn’t try and improve. Like, they were trying to cast off. So, I’m not going to count them. Um, my point being is all right, that Damen Lillard thing stuck the dagger on the Jimmy Butler Heat. They tried to put a brave face on it for the next year. Tyler Hero dealt with injuries that it was a it was a snake bit final Jimmy Butler year. Tons of injuries. That one I’ll give you excuse. Tyler Herro got hurt. Terra Roier got hurt. Jimmy kind of halfassed it. Then he was going to turn it on. Then he got hurt. And Duncan Robinson got hurt. And you made one of the worst, most desperate trades in franchise history. So, it’s time to move on from that. It’s time to accept that that error is done. So, whatever this remnants is this year, get a final answer and especially on Bam and Tyler and think about what do you believe those guys to be. What are you going to do to either invest around them or move on from them? Because that’s the when I talk about pick a direction, that’s what I’m talking about. Are you going to build around those guys or are you going to move on and find something else and and and and and pick a whole new direction? Because it feels like you got to pick one or the other. You know, it feels like you got to go in one direction or the other and and I think that that’s where everybody’s frustration is at. So cool. Lean young, you know, lean as young as you can. Get answers. Fix Haime Hakees Jr. Get the most out of Ekan out of Casper’s Yakonis. Give Nicole Yoic confidence and a real role. Make sure KL Wear can continue to to to progress forward. Pella Larson, let’s see what he can do. Keshaw Johnson, let’s see what he can do. You know, everybody else that’s in the way of that. I don’t see what the purpose is of them this season. all these guys, you know, cuz Bam and Tyler, they got enough veteran leadership experience amongst them and you got Kevin Love hanging around somewhere. There’s your veteran leadership that you have. But anybody who’s not part of that, I don’t really see the purpose of them this year, you know, respectfully. I’m just like, I don’t see the the point. Get answers. If you’re not going to win, then get some damn answers because right now, this is where you’re stuck at. So, let’s see if they can figure some things out because look, they right now I think they know they’re in a little bit of a they’re in a little bit of a holding pattern. They don’t really have any plan. Like their plan is we should play who we have. Told by Pat Riley that they weren’t going to run it back. That seemingly right now is a lot. Now, maybe this could still be a good offseason for him and there are going to be pieces that he could still flip. So, I’m going to talk about that um about the veterans that are going to be left and what they can do. But, uh this is on the youth movement. Those are my thoughts as I know I said I was going to stop talking seven minutes ago, but here I am still yammering.

Tobin reacts to report from @MiamiHerald that the Heat is looking at leaning into their young players this season. Is this the right plan or the only plan without anyone to add?
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