Miami Heat JOLT Backcourt with Norman Powell Trade | Can Spoelstra Make It Work?

Miami Heat JOLT Backcourt with Norman Powell Trade | Can Spoelstra Make It Work?

It’s official as NBA veteran Norman Pal joins the Heat roster. What does Pal bring to the table? Can he continue his highlevel scoring in Miami? We break down the pros and cons of Pal’s game and what it means for the future on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg here with David Rmill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. For daily content on the Heat, click that subscribe button on YouTube. Make sure you’re following us on your podcast app. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins on FanDuel. Have a great show for you today. We’re doing a deep dive into Norman Pal, what he can bring to the Heat, some lineup combinations, and what it means for the Heat’s long-term planning. But let’s start with the biggest concern over the fit. David, how will Miami balance offense and defense with this new back court? Right. So, let’s start with the offense. And I want to start with a few stats I looked up since our last podcast, uh, breaking down the trade minutes after it happened, right? So, got a little bit more time throughout the day to dive into some of the numbers and really carve into what this means for Miami. So, here’s some here’s some stats that I that I dug up. Norm Pal, he averaged 22 points per game on 42% shooting from three. We all knew that already. He was one of four players to average at least 20 points and seven three-point attempts on 40% from three last season joining Kyrie Irving, Zack Lavine, and Darius Garland. All-Star level offensive players. Darius Garland was nearly an all-star last year. Um he had that kind of season. That speaks a lot to the the offensive ability that he’s bringing to the table. Uh doing some of uh advanced stat stuff here. Box plus minus. It’s sort of an aggregate grade uh from basketball reference. Norm Pal would have graded out as Miamiy’s second best offensive player last season according to Box Plus minus. I thought that was interesting. And then Bball index ranks him 11th in three-point shooting talent in the NBA. And that’s a metric that takes into account a bunch of different three-point shooting metrics like pullup threes and catch and shoot threes and cornered threes and pull up threes point shooting accuracy and consistency and all these other crazy wild Bball index type of stats. They put an aggregate three-point shooting one together and he was essentially the 11th most talented three-point shooter in the league last year. Talah was 10th. Their numbers were nearly identical. So, uh, to me, there’s no question that this is going to help the offense. Those are some of the good numbers that I found. Yeah, I it was s I was surprised in looking into it as well the sheer volume in terms of the majority of his field goal attempts are from three. Like that is the bulk of his offensive game at this point. And it kind of figures that much considering Kawhai Leonard, uh, Zubach, and even an older James Harden can get to the rim. And so that leaves the perimeter kind of his area of domain. And I I I just think when you look at Miami’s offense now, all of a sudden, you’ve got a much more reliable three-point threat to pair alongside Tyler here, at least that seems like what the likelihood of uh what’s going to happen in Miami’s future. And that being the case, that kind of lets Bam be more of the attacking center. Khalil Wear, I think, is certainly going to have an increased role, and you hope that he can live up to that. And I know we’re going to talk about that balance a little bit more, but just being able to find that balance offensively as a unit because of Powell’s three-point shooting and the amount of three-point shots that he’s going to be taking certainly seems like it’s going to be an advantage for Miami. So, you mentioned James Harden there, and if I have a concern, it’s what does Norm Powell look like without James Harden setting him up? Say whatever you want about James Harden. He’s still a genius level passer playmaker, still one of the best guys at setting up teammates in the league, right? James Harden had 115 assists to Norm Powell last season, three times as much as the next Clipper. And as we’ve talked about a lot, the Heat don’t have a playmaker in the same universe as James Harden. Are you concerned about that without somebody setting up Norm Pal? Like you said, this guy overwhelming amount of shots from three-point range. He kind of is one of those player. He can create his own shot. He is a lot better when he has somebody like Harden setting him up. I think those opportunities will come. I I look Harden certainly commands a lot defensively, but I think Miami can get those looks. They can find ways of generating the open looks or finding the open shooter on the perimeter just because I think hero is going to command some attention. Bam, wear, etc. Even Wigs is going to command some attention if he’s still a part of this roster. So, I think there’s enough opportunity there. I just it’s just a matter of whether or not he gets the kind of space that he’s used to. And that might be a little different because you do I think you have to focus a little bit more on Leonard Harden, etc. And uh that might be a little bit more challenging, but I I think they’ll find the balance. I really do. I I I think it’s not as much of a concern as you might think. And I know a lot of his scoring is mostly un or assisted in terms of generating those wide open looks, but I think Tyler’s continued evolution as a playmaker and that’s something that we kind of overlooked. He’s not a natural point guard. We know this. We’ve gone over this a number of times, but he has evolved as a playmaker and it’s uh it’s dismissive of his growth in that regard because I think he’s done a lot for a guy who was never asked to pass the ball, never expected to pass the ball, and never necessarily want the ball in his hands to be a playmaker. He’s grown in that regard and I think he’s going to be able to make he’s gonna make things a little bit easier for Pal to get those kind of looks that he needs. Yeah. And you can argue maybe with Hero and Pal that might be a little bit better floor spacing than what the Clippers had just cuz Kawhai was in and out and when Kawhai wasn’t in there it was a lot of Chris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr. They got Bdonovich too though. Remember they got Bdonovich after the trade deadline. That’s true. Um, so yeah, maybe maybe it’s a wash there. The other part where so I brought I am a little concerned about what it looks like without the drive and kick nature of somebody like James Harden. Again, maybe Tyler Herro can do a little bit of that. Dave Yon Mitchell can do a little bit of that too. Um, Andrew Wiggins if he’s still on the roster. I mean, he is a guy who can run pick and roll. Uh, the So maybe it’ll be more of a committee approach than where the Clippers were very much, hey, James Harden, you’re running the offense and when you’re not doing it, it’s Kawawaii facilitating out of the post. And that’s essentially their entire offense. And it worked, right? Nothing against it, but that was their offense. Miami doesn’t operate that way. They’re more of a committee approach. The one thing I do like is Norm Powell is an ace off of dribble handoffs. He was averaging 1.1 points per possession off of dribble handoffs last year, which is just a hair less than what Tyler Herro was averaging at 1.12. So on almost the same amount of like frequency and attempts. So, you’re kind of just, look, the more and more I dive into the numbers, the more it feels like they just added another Tyler Herro to the offense in terms of the shooting part of it. Uh, there he’s not what Hero is with the float game, with some of the playmaking stuff that we’ve talked about. Like it at that level. He’s not like the threelevel score that Hero is in that regard. But in terms of the floor spacing, three-point shooting part of it, you kind of just added another Tyler Herro to the lineup. Yeah, I’d say I’d say he could finish at the rim a little bit better than Tyler. I think Tyler certainly takes the mid-range floater area. That’s And in terms of three-point shooting, I I mean, I think kind of I think Norm might actually be a little bit better of a three-point shooter. I don’t know. Yeah. But he was also he was being set up a lot better than Hero was. Yeah. And I mean, in terms of Yeah, it does get to the line. That that is another thing that I like about that. And and look, I mean, Zupach had a fantastic year, an all-star level year himself. Uh your most improved candidate if I’m not mistaken. And uh he’s a great screen set as well. Yeah, that is right. Um, so I I think like the Clippers were a really good team and there’s no doubt that Pal benefited from that, but I I think he was a reason why they were able to thrive and and I think a lot of people expected the Clippers not to necessarily be as good as they were last year and Pal was a big part of that. He had, as you’ve said, an all-star level campaign. I remember a lot of people talking about, oh, he was one of the guys that were snubbed because he put up great numbers that if you’re going to make a case for Tyler Herro could absolutely make a case for Pal playing in the Western Conference. So, I think he comes from Miami and almost the expectation I would say is that he emerges as their go-to lead scorer over Hero. Yes. I don’t know. Yes. I It’s still going to be Hero and maybe even Bam. Maybe not. I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe. It’s interesting. I hadn’t even thought about it. It feels like with Hero being the incumbent, it’ll still be I would be a little surprised if Pal finished with more points per game than Hero. Well, we’ll see because I like his ability to get to the line a little bit better, but we know the ship has sailed on him and his possible growth in that regard. No, I mean, and he can get better and I’m not even saying this. I’m just we don’t expect we’re not going into camp with the expectation that Bam is going to evolve into a 25 point game score. Like, he’ll maybe he’ll be closer to the 20 point averages that he has in the past. That’s fine. But as such, I think he’s still naturally their third best option. Um, but I would love to see what camp looks like with Pal and Hero kind of trying to assert themselves as the top dog. And I think I I kind of like Pal’s chances to be honest with you. It’s not a knock. I mean, Hero his playmaking I think might be a little bit better of an advantage in that regard, but that doesn’t mean that if he’s looking to be the playmaker and that look at it from that perspective. If Powell emerges as a better scoreer just pure in terms of pure scoring ability and that forces Tyler into more of a playmaking role that’s kind of a great playmaker to have on your roster and hero and I don’t think you have to necessarily feel bad about that from either Tyler’s perspective and certainly not as a fans like you all of a sudden have a highlevel score that can also playmake and create opportunities for others and if Hero embraces that challenge and I expect that he would unless Miami has another move up their sleeve and that’s certainly another possibility Then I I would say Miami got a hell of a boost offensively on Monday morning. No question about it. Defensively though, there are some concerns. We’ll talk about that. Plus some lineup combinations that Norman Pal unlocks, including did the Heat just find their closing fiveman unit. We’ll talk about all of that next here on Locked on Heat. into it yet. He’s on the record several times idolizing Dwayne Wade. Yeah, I love that. He has gone so far as to say that he models his game after Dwayne Wade. I don’t know that I see that in his game, but I love it. I love that he talks about it. I love that he idolized Dwayne Wade growing up. Um, that’s a big thing for me. Similar size. similar size. Good point. Yeah. Uh I’m hoping this is the Terry Rosier trade gone right. Please, please. This is because I know a lot of He fans already are like, “Oh, 42 points. The 42 point percentage from three-point range. Let’s see that in the low 30s, buddy.” Because we all a sudden the expectation is that as soon as he puts on a heating order uniform, his three-point percentage is going to drop 10 point, you know, 10 points. But, uh, look, it it was the inverse for DaVon Mitchell. And so, maybe that maybe that’s the a new trend starting that as soon as Miami acquires you, you could be even better than you were with your previous team. And I I would like to point out, we keep talking about Norm Pal’s three-point percentage last year. He’s a 40% shooter from three for his career, right? So, 40% 42%. This guy’s a knockdown three-point shooter. So, idolize Dwayne Wade. One of Damen Lillard’s favorite teammates that he’s ever had. just keep that in the back of your mind in case Lillard talk happens in the future. Um, there are some concerns defensively though with him that I want to get into. He’s not a very good defender and it was something that the Clippers were concerned about and it’s a reason why the Clippers were shopping him and and honestly willing to give up on him the way that they did for somebody like essentially John Collins. Um, that’s a concern, right? And you can look at the Bball index stuff. he does not great out as a great defender. The one thing I will say though, he’s good in the passing lanes and he did average onepoint steals per game last season and as we know that’s an Eric Bolstra favorite if he can create steals deflections and create chaos and turnovers in that way. That’s it. It doesn’t make up for the fact that he can get blown by at times, but if you can coach him up a little bit like you do in Miami, you get a little 10% boost defensively like everybody does when they walk into those doors and he’s still averaging more than one steal per game. He can at least make an impact on that end. it might be at the end of the day sort of net neutral considering you know some of the deficiencies on that end but net neutral is okay you know especially if you’re able to kind of create some turnovers out of those I think look and I’m sure we’ll get into the the nitty-gritty of potential lineups and stuff like that but I’m kind of you know you have brought up the possibility of another trade down the road and maybe that still happens but I I think in this sense keeping Wiggins on the roster makes sense Um, DaVon Mitchell might be an expensive backup, but I I think it’s certainly a good role for him to have, but I still like the idea. 12 million these days is fine for a backup. Maybe. Maybe. So, yeah. TJ McConnell makes 10 10 11. It’s about the same. So, Powell and Hero as a back starting back court not great defensively and not really bad defensively either. Like I I think both of them, you know, maybe a little bit too much of the Toriodor defense there, especially on Pal’s because I think he’s physically capable. In Hero’s case, we know that’s just not the case. So, I just think Pal is kind of, you know what, I view myself more as a scorer. I’m not going to exert that kind of defensive intensity sort of thing. And I’m not saying that he’s lazy or anything like that, but it’s I think that’s just the nature of NBA players. It’s like, you know what, this is my strength. We got Kawhai, we got Zubach, we got other guys that can pick up the slack defensively, and that’s fine. Um, and look, they worked with Harden and Powell starting and you know that James Harden’s a terrible defender. So, I think that’s a really good point. That’s a very, very good point. And they were one of the best five defenses in the league last year. So, you can mask those deficiencies. And I think if you keep Wiggins as a starting lineup, if you don’t wind up trading him alongside Bam and Wear, now all of a sudden you have three really plus defenders. I think continue if We continues to develop the way we expect him to. and then Powell and Hero might not be exploited as much as they have in the past. And look, we’ve seen lineups with two offensive leaning guards work, right? And and win games at the NBA, right? Like you we’ve seen Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Growlin. Like they won a lot of games last year because they were always surrounded with other good defenders. Say what you want about their playoff issues, right? ditto with Portland when they had Dame Lillard and CJ M but those teams still won a lot of games. Now, what was great about those teams is they had somebody like Damen Lillard and Donovan Mitchell. And I wouldn’t put Hero or uh Pal at that level, but the general concept of hey, these if you can get 40 plus points per game combined from your back court and you just let the rest of the team handle the defensive stuff, and I’m I’m oversimplifying it obviously, but sure, that could that that’s at least a formula that we’ve seen work in the past. Now I do want to look into some of these lineup combinations and I think we should start at least with the starting lineup. The two options as far as I see it right now Tyler Herro Norm Pal Wiggins Adabio and Wear or Mitchell Hero Wiggins Bam Wear with Pal coming off the bench as sort of a super sixman and maybe he could come off the bench. It’s Yakonis Powell one of Adabio and Wear throw Heywood Highmith in there for some defense. Maybe there’s some Hameh Hakeovic stuff, right? So, but in terms of the starting lineup, uh it feels like it’s probably one of those two, unless you disagree. No, I I think that makes sense. I I have to think it’s the first option. I just think it’s easier to kind of sell Yeah, I think it’s easier to sell DaVon on come back and thrive. You’re you’re one of our closers because of what you do defensively and we trust your shooting because we know that. We’ve seen it in big moments during the playin tournament and leading into the playoffs. So I I think you can continue to like he’s still young enough where I don’t think he’s worried and he just got his deal. Um so I don’t think that’s as big for Powell being on a contract year. Getting him to buy into a six-man role probably not as easy to do. And so I I think starting him might be the better option. Uh unless somehow Miami agrees at extension. I don’t and I don’t think they would. I don’t think that’s cons I don’t think that’s being considered either but um yeah it might be as like who’s your best five players it’s hero pal Wiggins Bam and where isn’t it I honestly think that your closing unit probably would involve Mitchell instead of where no no I’m not talking about closing unit right now just talking about the starting lineup starting five yeah maybe where Mitchell maybe Nico like assuming that you you’re putting where I guess in the starting five because Bam wants it. So your best four players are Hero, Pal, Wiggins, and Bam. Yeah. Yeah. I suppose you could maybe it’s just that simple. Is that what that’s what you start with? I also like the idea of starting there because Spo and and most coaches will script out a couple of plays to begin like, hey, okay, let’s get Wiggins involved early on some sort of bam, you know, Wiggins pick and roll or whatever it is and let’s get Pal involved early on a dribble handoff. Like we got to we have these plays that we want to get to early on. And then Mitchell comes in halfway through the first quarter and is more of that traditional, you know, table setter kind of guy. And I thought DaVon Mitchell made great strides last year as a point guard. So, yes, if he could do that again, then we start to mitigate some of those issues that we were talking about earlier. But he was he was good in drive and kick situations if I were he was um uh sorry, I just want to say real quick, am I crazy for drinking the Kool-Aid here? Because I the more we talk about this, the more I’m starting to see this all of a sudden revitalize team and they still have a glaring deficiency I think in backup center. It would help if they had a point guard or unless Yakuchianis really does develop into the kind of playmaker that we expect him to be although that might be a little premature. I think there’s potential there but given I’m also expecting Hakez and and Yoic to continue developing. I think they had their bumps last year given injury and everything else like that. I think the hope is that they’re still going to be good and you kind of cleared the roster a little bit so that now some of the the other role players on this team have are being shipped elsewhere so that you can give them more playing time. I think you can have a good 10 to 11 man rotation and I think you certainly need that in today’s league and I think it’s a great unit. Like I’ve seen people criticize Miami’s roster. And I I don’t know. I just I think the addition of of a 22 point per game scoreer that that provides the kind of volume three-point shooting that he has historically throughout his career really benefits this team. And I’m I’m kind of just buying into it. I really think that this is a much better addition. And you know, you have some experts in the media landscape saying this is a home run for Miami, etc. I I tend to agree. I really think this I don’t know how you don’t I don’t know how anybody doesn’t like this trade. You traded two guys who were not in your rotation or didn’t factor into your every single night rotation. Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson certainly could contribute here and there, but you traded these guys who are the lower end of your rotation for a starter for a guy who was almost in the all-star game last year. You traded two non-rotation guys for a borderline all-star. How if you want to take an issue with this trade, I’m sorry, you are you’re lost. I don’t I you are just you’re never going to like any trade. And it’s not even that you’re committing anything financially. Like this isn’t the big swing. This isn’t the big move. This is just hey, can we make our roster better? Yeah, we could do this. Okay. It’s that sometimes it’s just that simple. This was a trade to make the roster better and it definitely did that. And I I think a very big way. The closing lineup, just to tie the the loop on this, I think you and I agree. I think it’ll be Da’Von Mitchell, Tyler Herro, um Norm Pal, Andrew Wiggins, and Bam. I think that’s the closing five. I think those are your best five players probably. I know I just said where was in it, but those are probably your best five players. Um I think it works. I think Wiggins can obviously play the four. He did that for a championship winning team in Golden State in 2023. By the way, Norm Pal won a championship with Toronto in 2019. Um it matters, man. That stuff matters. So, uh I think that’s the closing five. Uh yay or nay. and then we’ll then we’ll take a quick break and move on to our next. No, absolutely. I think that’s that’s it. Um Bam certainly can play those last few minutes of a game, but I like that balance of defense between again three really good defensive players. You you know, you take out where, but you don’t lose anything necessarily on the perimeter with DaVon Mitchell causing chaos. So now you have three kind of chaos defensive players in the back court there. And I think that works, you know, I think that that allows a lot of versatility defensively, too. One last thing I like about Pal 611 wingspan, long arms taking those passing lanes. Let’s get let’s get big. Let’s get some size. Let’s get some versatility. This is what we’re talking about. Uh meanwhile, what are the long-term salary cap implications of the PAL trade? We’ll talk we’ll talk about that and how the deal improves their flexibility for next summer after this. So, just to catch people up on the salary cap implications of all of this, so Miami was about $12 million under the luxury tax when uh before they made the trade, they’re about $1.3 million over the luxury tax since making the PAL trade. We both expect that something is going to happen where Miami reduces their payroll by at least $1.3 million to to get under the luxury tax. They don’t want to be paying the repeater tax and all these things. That is something that we expect to happen. That could happen in any number of ways and we’ll have plenty more time to talk about that. But we do expect something else to to happen. As of now though, it’s not going to involve flipping some on Feeko to another team here. Um they they made that trade official. Um and word is out of the Heats front office that they’re planning on keeping Fonteo for now. Uh he is an expiring contract. We can see what happens. But so is Norm Pal. You mentioned the extension earlier, David. Uh he is pal currently eligible to sign an extension worth up to $80.6 million over three seasons which is about $26 million per year and the Heat have until the end of the season to do it. They have until basically next the end of next June to offer that extension. So they could just wait out this whole or not wait out necessarily but kind of evaluate this entire season and then figure out if they want to offer Pal that extension before the beginning of the next league year calendar. So, that’s a nice place for them to be in with Pal. It really does sort of put all the the put puts them in the driver’s seat, so to speak, on what they want to do with Pal. But, to your point, I don’t think that they expect to sign Pal to that extension now. But even if they do, 26 million per year for a guy who just averaged 20 points per game, that’s not bad when you talk about the the financial implications of it. But, uh, again, we don’t expect that to happen. And as long as he’s expiring, the Heat actually increased payroll this season, but created more flexibility next summer, which is what I kind of want to focus on here because by getting off of Kevin Love’s $4 million next year, and Kylie Anderson had about $910 million fully non-G guaranteed next year, but you don’t even have to bother waving it now. They created about $15 million in cap space for next summer right off the bat if nothing changes. And it could be more if they’re able to uh it could be more if Wiggins opts out of his $30 million contract. If he opts out, that’s $45 million in cap space for next summer. I think that’s pretty impressive. That’s a that that’s that’s some good flexibility going into next off season. Yeah, it’s a it’s a smart move. I I think it really benefits Miami both on and off the court. And you know, that’s that’s what we expected. you know, we we were disappointed and I think a lot of the team’s fans were as well being they just a lack of activity. You’re watching other Eastern Conference opponents do something. And while this might not be the home run uh swing that a lot of people were expecting from this group because, you know, you had to obviously change a roster that has been in the playin tournament for the last couple seasons, even with Jimmy Butler on that roster. So, you know, that a move was necessary, but I think this certainly helps. And again, to have given up as little, as much as we like what Kyle was able to do in his limited time here, and we appreciate Kevin Love’s just presence in that locker room, I think at the same time to get a player like Powell is such a smart move and and you’re able to create a lot more avenues that lead towards that financial and cap flexibility that you’re talking about. So, there’s a lot of different things here, you know, and I’ve seen see some people suggest this already. Let’s say the this doesn’t pan out the way you expect it to and the trade deadline rolls around in February, you could move Powell very easily at that point in time and create even more space. You have a lot of options in that regard, you So, I I think they’ve got their their work cut out for them. Obviously, with Terry Rosier on this roster, and you’re exploring trades for Wiggins if necessary, but at the same time, I think you’re you’re doing a lot to position yourself to be able to take advantage of whatever opportunities are available next summer. And and I think that’s a smart way to operate. I mean, Powell was a guy who I thought the Clippers could have traded for one or two first round picks at the trade deadline last year for sure. And you just got him again for nothing. I mean, you just absolutely stole this guy. And to your point earlier, I am I’m I’m in on this, man. Like, I’m I I’m not sitting here saying that the the Heat are going to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals or anything, but one of the things that you and I had kept talking about is if you can’t go get that star player this summer, then just make the roster better. Go get guys who could play in the playoffs and high highlevel rotation players. Norm Pal is that to a tea. He is exactly that. He is something below an all-star and above a replacement level starter. This is literally a borderline all-star is what you just acquired for Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson. It’s a home run and it’s the kind of thing that it moves the needle. It really does. It moves the needle. You just added a high-end rotation player and I don’t think that the Heat are done. It could mean more payroll stuff. It might not mean adding another super, you know, rotation kind of guy, but this is exactly the kind of move that we hope that we hope they would make. And if you can get a leap from Haime, a leap from Nico, a leap from Kell, maybe you get something from Yakonis as a rookie, who knows what you could turn Tay Rosir into if that indeed happens. And if it doesn’t happen, you’ve got Terry Rosier’s expiring contract at 26 and you’ve got Pal at $20 million. Right there, you’re at $46 million. And you can go a little, you throw Fonteo in there, you’re at 50 plus million dollars. That’s max level player by the trade deadline. I mean, who knows what happens with Giannis or anything like that by February, you know? And and so now it you just have a lot more flexibility than where you were when you had Jimmy Butler on this roster. You’ve essentially turned Jimmy Butler into DaVon Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, um, uh, uh, Norm Pal, and Kasparus Yakonis. And that’s not bad for a Butler return. It’s not as good as you’d hope it would have been. And I know I’m doing some stretching some some stretch math there, but No. No. Yeah, because we were kind of in the opposite end there was like I think it was a week or so ago, maybe it was following the draft or the fact that they couldn’t land Kevin Durant, and the argument was almost the opposite. But yeah, um I stand by that argument, but I, you know, just trying to look look at things possible. But they’ve changed. They’ve changed. They I think to flip Anderson and and and Love again, that’s that’s a no-brainer. I mean, yep. And you know, I’m thinking whether or not Miami knew something like this was in the works as I’m thinking back to that Barry Jackson report from last week about how what their plan was and the alleged youth movement, but that they’re still were looking to add either a superstar or a very good player. and we were kind of joking about that kind of that’s a a pretty big gap between superstar and very good player. But guess what? They got themselves a very good player. So he’s not the superstar. He’s not going to be that. But I think he contributes at a very high level. And that’s kind of where Miami is at that. You know what? They’ve got they don’t have their one. They might not even have the number two, but they have a really strong three through six, I think, between those four guys in the starting lineup and Khil uh and DaVon. And again, I’m expecting improvements from Yoic and Hakez. And I think that they’re going to be able to contribute. So, uh I’m I’m starting to feel good about this team again. I know I know I know they might drag me back down to earth. It’s the first offseason trade to add a quality player since they added Kyle Lowry. It’s been a minute. I think it’s the best trade Pat Rally has made since acquiring Andre Guala and Jay Crowder. Yep. Um to me it’s it I mean this was a no-brainer trade and if you want to say that it doesn’t work with the youth movement or whatever, okay, you say no to Norm Powell for Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love then like sometimes your plan is your plan and then you’re like really? Uh okay. And then you just do it. And like we already discussed, it doesn’t get in the way of the youth movement. doesn’t get away in terms of long-term stuff. He’s an expiring salary. You figure out what to do with it then. But this makes them better. It makes them better. Um and and they’re in this sort of pocket in the Eastern Conference where little moves like this can separate them from two, three or four different teams here. Doesn’t get them to the top of the Eastern Conference. Not saying that, but it separates you from maybe some of these other h uh um middling teams in the East. But we’re going to end it there for tonight. Thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen today. For your second listen, find the Locked on NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube and wherever you listen to the podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Miami HEAT land NORMAN POWELL in stunning trade. What’s the impact on Miami’s offense?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down the MIAMI HEAT’s acquisition of sharpshooter NORMAN POWELL, analyzing his potential impact on the team’s offense. They explore how Powell’s scoring and three-point shooting could reshape Miami’s attack alongside TYLER HERRO and BAM ADEBAYO. They dive into potential lineup combinations, addressing defensive concerns and salary cap implications of this surprising move.

0:00 Intro
5:21 Powell’s offensive impact
10:55 Defensive concerns
15:15 Potential starting lineup options
21:18 Evaluating the trade and closing lineup
27:42 Salary cap implications and future flexibility

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