Heat Model Showcases to Jazz a Small-Market Type Path to Success
The Utah Jazz are in full offseason mode, so they can only sit back and watch as the Conference Finals are coming to an end. The Jazz have lots of important decisions to make in the coming months that will shape the franchise as they rebuild in their new era.
As the franchise does learn from the direction of the league and how current teams are finding success, the Jazz should pay close attention to the Miami Heat as they look to close out the Boston Celtics and reach the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.
The success of the Heat in 2020, and now this season, has been somewhat of an anomaly in the NBA. On the surface, the superstar duo of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo have been able to lead Miami to compete at a high level. But neither Butler nor Adebayo are viewed as top-10 or even top-15 talents in the NBA, and having a top talent (or 2-3) has always been the prototypical path to postseason success in this player's league.
Butler has always played at higher level in the playoffs and is much the reason for the Heat’s success thus far. But there is an argument to be made that the Heat are just as good without him.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Heat posted only a +4.0 differential with Butler on the court. We compare that to Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets, for example, and see a differential of +24.8 when he's on the court.
The real growth of the Heat has been their development of drafted and undrafted players. Seeming role players have found a way to contribute on a night-to-night basis, stopping opposing teams in their tracks as they try to figure out how to defend them.
The irony of Miami's success is that this small-market approach to winning is coming from one of the larger markets and more enticing cities in the NBA, especially for superstars in free agency.
What it Means for Utah
The point is that Miami is winning games and is a real title contender because it's invested in the development of the talent it has, and built a team around its two building blocks of Butler and Adebayo. The Heat have assembled a lot of really good players that, with continuity, have developed into a great team.
The Jazz were trying to build around that same Donovan Mitchell/Rudy Gobert model, but as fans know, it never came together. The Jazz have a chance to do something similar with Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler, but they have more assets than the previous era ever had to work with.
The two budding stars also have similar individual ceilings as the Heat's two stars. The question is whether the Jazz have the patience to invest in their young talent and see their development through as they “trust the process,” for lack of a better term, to build around their young duo.
If they can follow this path, the Jazz may have the opportunity to be on the same champion-contending trajectory the Heat are on.
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