Are the Miami Heat better positioned than perceived? | Five on the Floor
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Of course, once NFL season starts, we’ll have lots of episodes up. But for right now, play baseball, WNBA, and more. Check it out. It’s prizepicks.com. And now today’s episode. [Music] Mercy luxurious heat nation. Yeah. Mercy and logo down the gang. Five on the floor. Ride for my dogs. Where’s the thing? You can check the score. Hustle hard. Couple stars. Bubble frog kept the floor plan got all y’all seen the block stop one hand trust have the guts here y’all can hang it up welcome to five on the floor a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick Greg Sander Alex Toledo Brady Hawk and others from the five reason sports network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Welcome back to five on the floor. We’re an equal opportunity platform here. You can follow me at Ethan Jolan and Five Reason Sports. I got Major Passage. You can follow me at Major Pass. We gave Hot Take Harry the floor. We’ve given Tobin the floor. We’ve given Alf the floor. Everybody’s been on this darn floor. Um, but we have Mr. positivity here. Positivity passins is here on the podcast and Oh, I don’t know how I just did all that. And he is going to tell you why things are not as bad as they seem or may seem to some. So, we’re going to put this out there and then I’m sure I’m going to get the uh the equal the uh the equal anger from the other side that I got when I put out the podcast with Harry. So, we’re just going to go back and forth. Um but it’s too much for me to direct traffic with two of you on at the same time. So, I’m just going to do this separately. All right, Major, let’s get to it. Um, I just did an episode with Alex and we tiered the Eastern Conference. We struggled a little bit. Uh, for him, of course, it was a tough question, but it was 15, it’s 15 different teams in the very weak East. We tried to split them into five different tiers, three teams each. Uh, ne neither of us had the Heat in the first tier. We both had the Knicks, the Cavs, and the Magic. The second tier we did struggle with a lot. Uh, Pistons kind of unanimous. We both leaned Hawks and then we went with Giannis. I can’t say the Bucks because the rest of that roster is dreadful, but he’s the best player in the conference. And then we had the Heat Pacers. I would have gone with the Sixers. He went with the Celtics uh in the third tier for just this season. And then the the Sixers, he had then we I guess agreed Sixers, Bulls, Raptors, and then the last tier uh as it’s been for a little bit, the Hornets, Nets, and Wizards. Um, let me just ask you this before we go forward. For this season, because I know you’re not just talking about this season, you’re talking about going forward. Would you argue with that? C, can you can you make a case for the Heat being in a higher tier than maybe we put them? And again, I considered them at the back end of the second tier. Yeah, I mean, I think back end of the second tier is kind of fair. Um, I’m not mad at the third tier. I I mean, I’ve said it, I think, on post games. I tweet it all the time. I will never trust a team with Trey Young. So, having the Hawks in the second tier, I’ll believe it when I see it. They had one great run in the postseason when it was the wildest postseason in NBA history when all the best teams were exhausted from the bubble and that was not replicable and it hasn’t been. They’ve got wax basically every playoff since. Um, so I’m not trusting Trey Young. I would switch those, but I’m not even delusional enough to act like they’re top three. And then even if you like project in the future, the Heat probably do knock down, you know, at least the 76ers go up. Pacers probably go up a little bit higher. Um they’re they’re like midplayoff team in the East at best. Probably. Okay. Are you going to make a case of such positivity that you would put the Heat in the first tier this season? And this is a weak East. We we can’t argue otherwise. I mean, the Knicks are flawed. Cleveland just got beat in the playoffs after winning 64 games. Like they didn’t look great, but we both had them consensus first tier. The Magic haven’t done anything in the playoffs. Uh and yet we put them up there because they’ve added Desmond Bane and we’re, you know, thinking they may be healthy this year. Can Can you make any case for the Heat being that high up for the regular season? Certainly not. Like Okay. You just said like we just saw the Cavs lose to the playoffs. We also just saw them just beat us in the worst playoff series. So that’s not really like I know you’re trying to like prep up the question that made it worse. Like they’re just not like they’re just not okay. But they haven’t had a Norm Powell since that’s obviously a positive addition. The Cavs haven’t done anything. I don’t know that Norman Pal makes up for 92 points over two games. Uh but if he did then he’d win MVP. All right. But let let’s go to the overall premise here because Harry was on here and he’s made he made look some very reason arguments. Um, I know that the team would disagree with some of these on a pointby-point basis, but his argument is that overall the Heat have not done enough to accumulate assets. They’ve given up too many assets. All the second round picks and everything, which has put them out of the market for, you know, these star players that are harder to acquire than they used to be because you can’t just clear cap space and have a guy come. Everybody’s traded beforehand. They’re trading for lots of picks. So he’s made the case that some things have been mismanaged that they they’ve bas they brought in some good players that Adam Simon’s done a good job but that they they’ve developed these guys but then they haven’t gotten anything for them and that’s putting them in a weakened position. Uh again I know they will challenge this on a pointby-point basis but he’s speaking in the overall. Do you agree with that general assessment? Me and Harry have argued about this for years to where we both have come through to like a conclusion of it’s best to almost just not talk to each other about this type of thing because we are polar opposites. Now he does have some logic behind it. Like you see what trades are going for and everything, but then you don’t have any of the runs that they’ve ever had or any of the success. Now he would argue that’s not success because they haven’t won a title. I would argue as a fan personally, Eastern Conference Finals and above, I look at that as a successful season as a fan. If I was a player, if I was a coach or I was in the organization, I would be more aligned with Harry and how some other fans feel championship or bust, there’s winning and there’s misery. That’s meant for the org. They should not be satisfied with making the finals. The other thing is like you’re saying trade Caleb Martin when he should have been Eastern Conference Finals MVP for Yes. That’s one of the cases that he made. Yes. Which is just ludicrous. I’m sorry Harry. You seem like a great guy. This is nothing new to you. You know, I think it’s crazy. But then like Max Struce, trade him for second round. Second round picks wasn’t the reason we didn’t land name any start. Well, they they Well, they did get a second round pick for Max, by the way. They they didn’t get one for Duncan. His argument is that a similar trade was made. They got Fonte. They could have extracted a second round pick. Harry’s not in the room obviously, so he doesn’t know how these negotiates played out. But he’s just speaking in general based on what other teams for these these these players go for. By the way, winning or misery, I want to clarify this because I you said it, I know others said it. The way that the organization looks at winning or misery, and again, this is a Riley quote. It’s not like winning a championship or like being a bad team is misery. It’s like it’s but when you get close to the end and you don’t finish, that’s the misery. Okay, the Heat never want to be in the misery position of 15 and 67. Okay, that’s not really what we’re talking about. We’re talking about something else. I I do think that the organization will take those finals runs. Obviously, they want to cash it in. No question. I mean, you get that far, you want to go you want to you want to finish it. But both of the finals runs were unexpected. uh the fifth, you know, they were the fifth seed in the bubble and that was because they slipped a little bit prior to co uh and and the break. And then the other year, I mean, that was a run out of an eight seed. So, they were unexpected runs. They were kind of I mean, they were house money essentially. Although, I know fans don’t look at it that way. Uh because basically they’re saying, “Okay, well, you had Jimmy, you could have closed.” Well, Jimmy was not the best player in the league. He was one of the best players in the playoffs. And your point is they don’t make the finals if they trade Gabe early. They don’t make the finals if they trade Strus early. They don’t, right? So, losing these guys afterwards is just, you know, you have the run and then you play it out. But again, I I understand the idea about trying to get more assets, but I also kind of understand where you’re going there. But here’s where they are. Okay, they are middle of the pack in the east. I think uh they are not rebuilding to the degree that say the Wizards are. The Hornets are probably poorly. The Wizards seem to have never will, right? The the Wizard, right? They never will. The Wizards seem to have some kind of a plan now, but it’s going to take some time. Trey Johnson pops for them. It’ll it’ll expedite the process. The Nets accumulating picks, but they took five players and nobody really likes their draft. We’ll see how that plays out. Uh the Bulls are in Netherorld forever. The Raptors just fired their general manager. The Celtics and Pacers seem to be trying to take a step slightly back now and then go forward when they get Tatum and Halen Burton back respectively. The Nixon Cavs are competing. The Magic and Pistons seem like their rebuilds have worked at least, but they took forever to this point. So, I’ll ask you, and then the other side is I want to get into more depth of where you think they actually are. Would you be comfortable with a four-year rebuild like some of these teams have had? The Magic have had a long rebuild. The P the Pistons have had a very, very, very, very long rebuild. Would you be comfortable with that? What do you mean comfortable? I could survive it. I would not be happy. I would be miserable, but I I could survive it and as long as they give me a plan, I I’ll stick with it. I’m never not going to like watch all the games. I’m never not going to be a Heat fan like all these people like, “Oh no, if they don’t tank, I’m not going to be a Heat fan.” Which is the craziest thing to me. But um I I I think it to look at the Pistons, to look at the Magic, to look at the 76ers or the Knicks as what you should do as a front office is the most mindblowing thing I’ve ever seen on heat Twitter because what have they won? What have they done? My dad’s a Pistons fan and he doesn’t care about basketball anymore. Half because he tried to watch his team for 20 years just be the worst team in the NBA. That at least that’s what it felt like, right? And uh people are like, “Let’s let’s let’s look at the Knicks. Let’s be the Knicks.” The Knicks haven’t won a championship. I’ll use my dad again. Has it since my dad’s been alive. They haven’t made the finals since I’ve been alive. Can we please stop saying we should be the Knicks? They have a good They have a better team than us. Well, the Knicks are the Dolphins. I mean, although the Dolphins are not the Knicks right now, but the Dolphins literally have not won a Super Bowl since I was in the crib. Uh and and my daughter just reminded me how old I am. They haven’t won and they have not won a playoff game this millennium because technically December 30th, 2000 is not this millennium. So they haven’t even won this millennium. They’re the only team in the NFL that has not. And so that’s a different level of suffering than the Heat having to endure a couple down years. But on the other side is I’m going to let you hold the thought because on the other side of this, you said as long as they have a plan. So I want you to tell us what the plan is because this is what we’ve been trying to sort through the entire offseason. What is the plan? go young. What are what exactly are they are they trying to accomplish here? I want I want it from you. Uh before we get there, if you’re trying to accomplish getting renters’s insurance, health insurance, homeowners insurance, especially car insurance, reach out to our friend Lynette. You can find her at insurancebylanette.com 9545818800. The insurance agency that works for you. Lynette, also one of the biggest heat fans that you’ll find out there anywhere. Again, she is in Lauder Hill, but she’ll service the entire Tri County area. 954-5818800 or just reach out to her on off the floor. You can find her there. Just tag her. Uh and from there you can start the process of getting your insurance. All right. So, what’s the plan? Not what would you be your plan. What is their plan? What do you think their plan is right now? If I had to guess what their plan was and what I think it seems like kind of a reasonable plan and I tweeted this out and I said I would be fine with this if they would just say it but it is really frustrating that they don’t say it because they’re never going to. I’m fine with a gap year. I’m fine with keeping Terry for his contract letting expire. I’m fine with letting Wiggins become an expire. Just say for once if this is the plan and it’s a reasonable plan because then you open up a lot of money. you’re starting to get all your picks back, then you can kind of figure it out. You just have to say we’re not in that championship level and we’re not going to be this year and we’re just going to see how it goes. They’re never going to say that. But that would be my plan because I have the sentiment that the Heat front office does too of I’m never going to tank. Always win as many games as you can. That’s just how I’m wired in not just basketball and life. Like I just be the best you can every day at whatever even if it theoretically hurts you in the long run like people like Harry would say which is a valid point and I concede that this is a terrible operations of how to do it. But the plan would be for me don’t trade any assets. If you trade a second round pick to get off Terry I’m actually losing my mind. It’s an expiring. Like people that are like just dump a pick with it. No, please do not because even though I said second round picks aren’t the reason they haven’t got a star at the same time, don’t just give them away because they can help not with stars but other traits, right? And uh don’t trade a first round pick for anyone. Don’t trade Tyler a hero for three bench players. I there’s just so many things that’s like almost just standing Pat right now seems like the best thing to do. Ironically, Sleepy Pat might be the best option right now. Um, if they can’t like, you know, if you can trade Wiggins for a first round pick, obviously I would do that. Um, the Lakers thing doesn’t seem to be as big as some reporters wanted you to think it was. I think it’s one reporter basically, Major. It’s one reporter has been drumming that up. Yeah. I I don’t think there’s a whole to that, but I I understand what you’re saying and I think that is in some ways kind of what they’re doing. It’s go young. Um, don’t give away. Leave your Yeah. See what you have and leave yourself open for the next star to come. It’s just the problem is that, and we love him to death. Uh, the problem is when Barry puts it out there like that, then that’s when the alarms go off on social media that, oh, we’re going to go star hunting and wait four more years for that to happen. I I I just I always come down to it this way. He fans always want the move to be made that moment, right? because Trill’s got to get his uh he’s got to get his jersey swapped, right? So, they want the move to be made that moment. Everybody, you know, everybody’s on Riddlin. They they need it done then. And then when the real star comes along and you’ve traded a first- round pick for Terry Rose because let’s just start here. A lot of Heat fans were in favor of that trade. 70% of Heat fans. I pulled it at the time. I know you weren’t, but I was. I was. I was. I was. Okay. You were. You were. Most of our network was. I was because I was like, “Okay, give Jimmy a little bit more juice. They need somebody who can get to the rim. Uh, now the finishing numbers were not great even before he tailed off, but it was like, okay, I get it. You’re making a move. You’re going, you’re not going all in for Jimmy. You’re not trading two first round picks for DeJonte Murray. He traded one for Rosier. Mia Kulpa. Okay, mistake. Should have let Lowry expire. I think a lot of it had to do with frustration with Lowry really not seeming to do much on the court but point and then, you know, he wasn’t contributing in the way he was in 2122. He never really wanted to be here. And so it it just it was stale. So when it’s things are stale, we’re like make change. But I think what we’re seeing, we saw it with Coca-Cola, right? New Coke didn’t work, right? We saw it with Max, HBO Max, Max, now they’re back to HBO Max. Sometimes change for the sake of change is not really good. And so I’m kind of with you. Like they they stole Norm Powell, so why not? if you’re gonna if they’re gonna hand you a 22 point score on good efficiency, you take him for two guys who weren’t going to play for you and one who was good in the locker room and good on IG. Um, but like there’s no reason not to make them move, but other than that, I don’t see the point in overreaching right now. And I think they have to see if any of these young players have even borderline star potential. Like I I think right now I think we’re saying maybe high-end rotation players potentially for a couple of them, but I think they have to see what it looks like and particularly before they make any big decisions. All right, I’m going to go to you on on this last one here because again, you’ve you’ve annunciated what you think the plan is. I think that is sort of in line uh with what’s going on here. What would you Here’s some of the big questions. So we’ll do rapid fire and everybody thinks I don’t do rapid fire properly, but it’s not me. It’s the people answering usually. Alex, let’s go. Let’s go on this. Okay, number one. What would you offer Tyler Hero? I’m terrible with numbers. I’m not the max. I’ll I’ll make that clear. Everyone thinks I want Hero on the Max. I don’t. Then everyone when I say that, the other half says you want Hero traded for nothing. I also don’t. You can value people in the middle. All right. And don’t do the max. He’s a much better player than a lot of people would say, but um he’s not a max player, especially with Second Apron. All right. How many players around the league, you don’t have to name them, but give me a rough number. Would you trade Bam for? Three. Three. I love the guy. I It’s so biased. I love the guy. I can’t I know. And most mo most people do. Uh most people do. I I I understand that. All right. Does Haimey Hakez in your review bounce back? Yes. Okay. That that is a positive thought. Um there uh for for sure. Um, and then I I guess I I’ll I’ll finish with KL Wear. Obviously, that was a little bit of a soap opera out there. If I was to say to you, Kel Wear is on the Heat in two seasons, you say yes or no? Yes. Okay. I’m torn on this one. It depends on who like I feel like they’re trying to he should not be untouchable, but I that’s more my sentiment. And ironically, the whole pod topic is I think they’re in a better um spot than a lot of people say, and I’m about to say I don’t think they’re going to get a star in the next two years. Uh like a mega star that they’re going to deem worth it. So, if you think they’re in a better spot than most people, I’ll let you close with this. If you think they’re in a better spot, why? Because you think they’re going to be able to get up to the top four with kind of the current plan? You think they’re able to contend with what they have? I What What is your your view? Because they do have their pick this year. We know that and they do a pretty good job drafting um you know over the past few years. Well, what makes you say that? Well, let’s list a couple things. I’m not the biggest wear fan, but they have where is a lot of potential and can be a star. It’s just some of the things that we saw in summer league are the reason why me, Adele, others keep harping on it because it just is almost more glaring than good games. Right. Right. But in in his defense, he has star potential. They just got a guy a lot of people had in the lottery top 10 even at number 20. So that’s crazy. He could be a star. You never know, right? He could really But yes, gonna take time. They have Yovic who probably not going to be a star, but is still a good young player. Hakez had a better rookie season than wear. Um I’ll put that out there. As well as I think he can really bounce back once he has a full off seasonason. Tyler Hero is what I would consider a young star. Is he a superstar? Probably not, but a young star that can be used in a trade or anything. Um, Wiggins right now, good player, much better than I even give him credit for for the Heat. Um, because I’m still mad about his playoff performance and that trumped everything else. Um, but he’s still a good player. They just freaking stole Norman Powell. Still don’t know how that happened. I love Kevin Love for also personal reasons outside of basketball for stuff he struggled with and what it meant to me, but you got to do it. Like it’s it’s insane that that happened. And uh which also offers more flexibility in the Tyler Hero situation. If for whatever reason they had an opportunity to move off of him for an upgrade, they’re not going to do it for a downgrade. That would be crazy. Um I don’t think that’s how this front office is going to work. And then you do have Bam who he is coming more into what people call his prime. I think he’s going to be able to sustain this for a while and worst case scenario Giannis becomes available. You can like that’s one of the three people you trade bam for, right? And he gets you in legitimately in that conversation, right? Along with they have all pretty much all their picks now. Um that is getting sorted out by not or by giving up their pick this year. um that is being sorted out. Um they have expiring money in Rosier. They have the history of drafting and the history of finding undrafted people. And I’ve said talked to Greg about this. I think that is honestly the biggest reason why they do not value second round picks as much as other people would like because they talent. I I I made that case to Harry. So I I recog I know you haven’t listened to it yet because we just posted it, but he has a different view of that, but that you’re aligned with my view on it that their attitude on second round picks is we’ll get a guy just as good who slips out of the second round. But he his his point is that the second round picks these days are used as like sweetener currency. And I get that and there were a bunch of second round picks that were traded for Durant. But that’s why I don’t I don’t get all stressed about the second round pick thing. I I think that getting Norman Powell for nothing makes up for three second round picks that they gave up in my view. So that’s at at at the very least. All right, Major, I appreciate it. Um, we want to put these episodes side by side. I think there might be one in between, but uh go back if you listen to this one, listen to Harry, get both. I separated the two of you. I quarantined the two of you. Uh, but very different perspectives on this. This is kind of what we experience on heat Twitter and by the way on Discord, although Harry hasn’t joined that yet. Uh, Major, appreciate it. Fment major_passins and also check out insurancebylanet.com price pickics. Use the code fiv.
Major Passons tends to be one of the more positive fanalysts in the Five Reasons Sports Network. He joins Ethan Skolnick to dispute claims that the Miami Heat are in a bad spot.
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