Do the Miami Heat have a direction?

Sometimes, it takes the boat some time to turn.

The Miami Heat, after teetering toward and then remaining in the middle -- three straight play-in appearances, albeit with unlikely NBA Finals run mixed in -- have seemed to pick more of a clearer direction this offseason.

They've gone younger.

Yes, they traded nothing to get 32-year-old Norman Powell -- who wouldn't have? -- but didn't keep anyone over 30 on the roster other than Andrew Wiggins or Terry Rozier, and they've tried to trade the latter. The average age of the projected healthy rotation is roughly 26.

The plan seems to be to develop this young core, and then find a star to lead it, even if it means moving some of the pieces for that lead guy.

Still, it will require some time before everyone sees it.

In his annual NBA Clarity Index, "a team-by-team look at who actually knows what they’re doing—and who’s still pretending to," The Ringer's Howard Beck has the Heat in Tier 4 of six. That's "The Kaleidoscope Tier: Colorful and compelling, but a bit unsettled." That's actually up a tier from last year, "The Stained-Glass Tier: Attractive at a glance, headache inducing if you stare too long." That assessment proved correct, as the Heat careened south to 37 wins and a first-round sweep exit.

Here's why Beck moved the Heat up, if only slightly:

You can’t blame the Heat for trading Jimmy Butler—the phrase “irreconcilable differences” comes to mind here—but it left Miami without a north star. It’s hard to have clarity in the NBA without a true franchise star. But the Heat nevertheless rise one tier for their consistency and conviction in not tolerating Butler’s antics and for valuing #HeatCulture over everything.
Howard Beck, The Ringer

Beck has the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies, all West teams chasing the Oklahoma City Thunder (Tier 1, of course) in the Western Conference.

Miami has more proven front offices than most NBA teams, including a couple of those, so the expectation shouldn't be that they stay middling forever. But with a stubborn unwillingness to tank, the Heat will need a couple of their later-than-lottery picks to pop to get out of a rut.

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