Miami Heat Stock Watch: Who's Rising and Falling After Five Games?

The Miami Heat have struggled this season and are currently 1-4. Nobody expected the Heat to get off to such a bad start, especially after trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Expectations are still high for this team, and they hope to turn this around as soon as possible. The Heat finally got into the win column, which was a step in the positive direction.

With five games in the books, let's look at which players have impressed relative to expectations and which ones have left plenty to be desired.

Stock Up: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Even though the Heat are off to a slow start, I’m not going to blame Giannis for that. Some national media folks have said that Giannis is hard to play with, but I don’t buy it. Giannis has been Giannis, and he's been dominant in 4 of those 5 games.

Giannis was great against the Atlanta Hawks, scoring 24 points and grabbing 18 rebounds to help secure the Heat’s first victory. His production has been great so far, but one area of improvement could be his defense. He needs to be good on both sides of the ball if the Miami Heat want a real shot at being a contender.

Bam and Giannis have struggled together and it's understandable; both are adjusting to an entirely new situation.

The encouraging part is that even with those growing pains, Giannis has been productive. Imagine what this offense could look like once he and Bam start developing some real chemistry.

Stock Up: Davion Mitchell

Davion Mitchell has straight up been the Heat’s second-best player after Giannis. He has been great so far, and I've really liked what I've seen from Davion Mitchell, especially considering how disjointed Miami's offense has looked at times

Mitchell has been playing his role well, and he looks comfortable out there with his new teammates. His scoring numbers are up, which I love to see, and his decision-making has been solid. He’s been pushing the pace and laying it on at a blistering speed, and he;s also understands when to slow the game down and organize the troops.

Everyone on the Heat needs to play better defensively, including Davion, but he still brings the effort, energy, and toughness we all love.

He's been one of the more reliable players on a team that hasn't been consistent, and I think his early play deserves some recognition.

Stock Down: Bam Adebayo

Bam Adebayo finally had a really strong game vs. the Hawks: he scored 24 points and was super aggressive, which is great to see. He finally looked comfortable on offense and relied less on the three-ball.

Even though he had a great game, his play has still been concerning this season through the first five games. One of the biggest issues is how uncomfortable he’s looked playing alongside Giannis. Bam has been hesitant at times, and most of his shots have been three-pointers. He needs to remain aggressive and get back to mid-range and in the paint.

I've pushed back on the national media declaring this pairing a failure after just a few games because I think that's an overreaction. The Atlanta game was a positive step, and hopefully Bam can build on it, but I'd like to see him play with that same confidence regardless of who's on the floor with him.

Stock Down: Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins also had a nice game vs. the Hawks, but before that he was struggling immensely. I was really excited to watch Wiggins this season, and I believe he still has the opportunity to play a huge role for the Heat.

With Giannis and Bam drawing so much attention from opposing defenses, Wiggins should have opportunities to attack mismatches, get downhill, and knock down open shots. Instead, there have been stretches where he's been far too passive, and Miami hasn't consistently gotten the two-way impact it needs from its third option.

Wiggins looked much better against Atlanta, finishing with 18 points and knocking down four three-pointers, which was encouraging because that's much closer to the player I expected to see this season.

The Heat will need that version of Wiggins far more often, especially when teams load up on Giannis and force somebody else to beat them. He's too talented and too important to this roster to disappear for long stretches.

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