The Heat May Have Mortgaged Their Future For Giannis

The Miami Heat.

tough day for the Miami Heat last week, losing out on LeBron James.

They were bullish.

Pat Riley was talking about it.

Uh, somebody in the intern department let loose a YouTube link of an announcement.

I felt bad for this person.

Yeah, that was tough.

That was tough.

I mean, let me ask you a question.

What was the prep at SI for this decision?

Did you pre-write anything or did you just completely write cold?

No, I wrote cold.

Like if it was, if we were in the weekly magazine phase, I would have pre-written some, but for the web, I'll just turn, you know, I'll, I'll turn around.

I'll make some phone calls.

I know that at a lot of our brethren national networks because we're all friends with all of our friendly reporters, our neighborhood friendly, friendly neighborhood reporters, that several national outlets had a story ready for all four versions of where he went.

And that it is not uncommon.

I mean, it's like when somebody dies and 25 minutes later you see a lengthy, you wouldn't believe how many 50-inch obituary on the website.

The number of obits I've got in the can, I might have one for you.

I, I'm just , I'm just telling you, I was, I have been an obit king for a while.

So yes, so this is, yes , but, but this is what happens in an instantaneous world where these kinds of things that used to be, I mean, newspapers have done this for decades with the obituaries has 5000 Obits on celebrities that die or I mean that are Gene Hackman dies and there's 2500 words ready to go boom, that's already been pre-written.

There's a lot of stuff in media that is ready to go, especially now that we live in an instantaneous world.

Apparently this person who was responsible for this was about to go on vacation and wanted to like preload.

The biggest fallacy with that entire media thing and was this a hint and all of that stuff is that LeBron was never going to do an introductory press conference.

So didn't do one in 2018 when he went to the Lakers.

No, it did, did the after.

The not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4.

He, trust me, I've spoken to his people.

I've spoken to him.

He will never do one again , not the Lakers.

Yeah, the Lakers, no, didn't do one to go to Cleveland.

Didn't do one in Cleveland.

He did a sort of like coming home charity thing, but that was all under his control, and it was about the charity, and then didn't do one with the Lakers and press release, and then this, you will see, you will hear from him on media day.

I'm interested that they did a whole big thing about LeBron on the social media.

Have they done that for Jalen Brown because they certainly haven't done a Jalen Brown presser.

No, I wouldn't expect there to be a Jalen Brown presser either.

I think everything's gonna come down to media day.

uh, but yeah, LeBron was the only one that got, uh, that treatment.

Anyway, uh, Miami, uh , tough position they're in right now.

They get Giannis.

Everybody's celebrating as they should.

They hunted the big fish.

They got him, gutted their team to get him, left a whole bunch of holes.

Pat Riley said we need a playmaker.

LeBron was the best playmaker that is out there now.

LeBron.

is gone and they are left with a big hole for playmaker.

They're left with big holes for perimeter shooters.

They're still kind of in the mix.

You're seeing like DeMar DeRozan talk out there.

I'm not sure what problems that he would ultimately solve.

Maybe Klay Thompson gets bought out.

Now we're doing the buyout thing where guys get bought out.

It's like, wow, we got.

Mar DeRozan at like $3 million.

We got Klay Thompson at $4 million.

It's always a reason these guys are available and very rarely is it that they make a measurable difference.

Um, Miami was sky high a couple of weeks ago when they got Gianni Dekopo.

What do you think of the position that they're in right now?

I mean, I don't blame them for wanting to be in the chase, and it's not their fault that a lot of the sort of myth-making around both them and in Cleveland.

It was really interesting over the 3+ weeks that LeBron was taking his time to make this decision.

In the two cities of Cleveland and Miami, if you talk to people in those cities, both cities were absolutely convinced they were getting LeBron.

And not in any way every local media radio person was contributing to this, but in both cities, a lot of local media, not national, but local media was contributing to this and not even local media, but just sort of the local internet celebrities and everything.

It was, I heard such and such.

I heard a source tells me such and such, and I would see these reports.

Schefter got in on it and I was just like, man, you don't have better sources than the GM of the like of the Miami Heat.

Like, the general manager of the Miami Heat doesn't know.

Your sources aren't better than his, right?

The team officials you and I were talking to would flat out say, yeah, we don't know.

So how would the 3rd hour radio guy know ?

Like I, I just, I, I think the fans were done a disservice by some of the people in those markets who got them all worked up that they were getting that.

And then when it didn't happen, then all of a sudden, oh, we only got Giannis is a disappointment when it shouldn't be.

You got Giannis andopo.

He's a force, man, two-time MVP.

Yeah, but I think it is a disappointment, and I don't even think I actually, I don't know if the team's gonna be any better, but you have a bigger star.

You, you've got a bigger, well.

You've got a bigger star.

That's Tyler Hero.

Yes, you do 100%.

You got a bigger star, but are you a better team?

I don't know.

Like you weren't that good last year, so I guess.

There's only I was gonna say , are you, are you with standing pat wasn't getting you anything.

It wasn't getting you anything.

So to me, look, to me, what Miami did, it would have been good for Miami if they had been able to pull a, uh, Rob Polinka and give up less for more.

Um, they were not able to do that.

And given Milwaukee didn't want Tyler Hero one first round pick, I'm, yeah, it's shocking, um, you know, given that that was the option they had, I would have made the Giannis deal because now at least you have Giannis.

Winning a title is amazing, and I understand he is Pat Riley is the guy who said winning is everything, right?

There's winning and misery.

Was that Pat or was that right?

Um, I get it, but also you do have to sell tickets to your building, and Mickey Arison may tell you, hey, there's winning and there's misery, but there's also ticket sales, and Giannis sells tickets, and it's fun watching Gianni Intokopo .

You and I have sat and watched Giannis Anteopo.

He's a good, good show, and he will give the people of Miami a lot of fun.

He is.

Charming.

He's a lovely personality.

His kids are damn adorable.

They'll be, he and his wife are tremendous in the community.

He is going to be an asset to that city.

I don't know if they're going to win more basketball games than they would have if they hadn't made this trade, given everything else they had to give up and the depth they do or don't have now, but.

It's more fun to be the team that comes in 7th or 8th or whatever they come in with Giannis than it is to be the team, no offense to Tyler Hero , that comes in 7th or 8th without Giannis.

But is it a, and you know me, I'm always considering that if they're 7th or 8th this year.

It, it's a huge disappointment because it's not only Tyler Hero that they gave up, they mortgaged their future to get Giannis.

Like if they had just held on to Tyler Hero, they still would have had Yakohoni, who I think is a really good player.

They still would have had Khalil Ware, who I think could be a good player, a bit inconsistent, but could be a good player.

Uh, the draft picks that they gave up, the capital that they dealt Milwaukee in that deal, they still have all that.

Now they've tied themselves to Giannis, who's in his early 30s, who's gonna get a contract extension at some point.

To me, I I don't like this team right now.

I don't like it at all.

I understand the argument.

I've, I've talked to heat-related people about, hey, Daveon Mitchell, you know, was a high 30s 3 point percentage shooter last year.

Fontechio off the bench, high 30s 3-point shooter.

Andrew Wiggins, low 40% three-point shooter.

We've got some guys here.

Bobby Portis comes in.

Last year was, I think, low 40s from three-point range.

Like, statistically speaking, we've got some guys, but you don't look at any of those guys and say that's a sniper.

That's a guy that's gonna get you a bucket reliably from 3-point range, and the two guys in your front court cannot shoot from 3.

They cannot do it.

Giannis has abandoned it.

Giannis doesn't do it anymore.

He just decided like 3 years ago, like, it, I'm not gonna do it.

n't.

We all told him he shouldn't.

I, well, yeah, but rarely do you see a guy just like abandon the shot.

Like, usually it's like, all right, I'm gonna incrementally, you know, maybe our, our, it's a couple of years our shot percentage goes up some, then it goes back down.

The volume goes up.

The volume's going down for Giannis from beyond the 3 points.

We'll see what happens though in this new.

You know, Erik Spoelstra has a way of moving things around.

I think that ship has sailed on, on Giannis.

Like, is he gonna become a great corner three-point shooter now?

No, I don't know.

But look, Bam is low 30s too from 3.

Like, you know, he can get hot every so often as he did in 80+ points.

There you go.

Um, I just, I don't like it.

I, I think it's great that you got Giannis, but I think there's a very real chance that you mortgaged your future for a little more star power down there.

And like the next mortgage what I, I'm not talking about Tyler Hero.

Like I, I would have, I wouldn't have wanted to pay.

Tyler when that came up that would have, I was gonna say there, there's, there's ramifications.

You're pretending there's no ramifications for keeping everything you kept.

Also, you know, well, there's only ramifications if you pay a hero.

Like I am not, I do not worship at the altar of draft picks as much as some people who evaluate around this league.

You are hoping when you draft someone that maybe one day if you're lucky and after a lot of development and a lot of money going to them and a lot of years where you will then have to pay them again, they can be maybe half as good as Giannis Anteopo.

Like you got Gianniscento Tekumpo, so you don't need if you got him 5 years ago, I would agree with you.

But you know what, you wouldn't have gotten him 5 years ago .

So this is what's available now compared to a draft pick that could be number 12 in a future draft.

Forget the draft pick how good Jaohonis is a good player.

Like he could be a starting point guard.

Like Jaime Haus Jr.

is a consistent, like inside your top 5 rotation guy.

Like he can be a starter or a top 6th man.

I know.

I get that.

But like these guys have a little bit more room for growth.

Just you gotta put it all in the pot.

Like it's all, it's like Khalil Ware drove Spo mad for parts of last season, but he is a talented guy.

You got 3 gonna be good as Giannis.

No, I don't.

But I think all these, but look, I think all these guys together plus the draft, I just don't think Giannis gets you there.

I'm not I think just Giannis does, and I'm not saying it's ideal, and I'm not saying that they're deep enough, and I'm not saying they've got the team around him.

I'm just saying you, you don't have to look at what's ideal.

You have to look at what's available.

It's great.

I could want my own toy train for Christmas, but if there's no trains available, that's off the table.

So like you have to look at what's available to you.

What was available to the Heat was keeping the status quo, which was basically being a playing team with not exciting players , middling draft picks, and an uncertain future middling draft picks.

We don't know what they, they, what they might be down the line.

We don't, but like what, what if.

That package could have gotten you another younger guy, but by the way, this is not a tanking team, and there aren't even supposed to be tanking teams anymore.

So by definition everything has to be kind of considered a middling draft pick unless you are just absolutely terrible and awful for 2 or 3 years, in which case that's got its own problems.

Like I, I just think that so often when we're evaluating these trades and the teams that get put together, yes, it is ideal to have the 2018 Warriors.

That is what you want.

That would be amazing.

But like most teams aren't that.

It's ideal to have the 2026 New York Knicks, but that required your absolute superstar, A being a surprise superstar who came to you, even though that deal was lauded as sort of, oh, they overpaid him.

It was a discount considering what he actually turned out to be, and then took less money for all the reasons that may have been smart for him to do it, but did that.

That enabled you to pay more.

Like it just requires so many different hitches to get to a team that becomes, oh, that's a great team.

Yes, it requires LeBron James signing for $4 million.

It requires Steph Curry's ankles being shot and therefore signing at a discount and then having a ballooned cap because of a TV deal and getting Kevin Durant.

It takes Jalen Brunson coming over, only one team really believing he could be as good as he turned out to be.

And then taking less money than he could have taken and then getting Karl-Anthony Towns the way you did because Alex Rodriguez's group didn't want to pay as much for him.

It takes a lot to get one of those teams where you can look at them and say at every position they're really the team they should be.

Most teams, 26 of the 20 of the 30 teams, soon to be 32 teams, aren't going to be like that.

You're going to have a roster that isn't what you'd want it to be.

I'd rather have Giannis on my roster.

If I'm gonna be 67 or 8, I'd rather be 67 or 8 with Giannis than 67 or 8 with Tyler Hero and a maybe future middling draft pick.

I feel like they gave up too much to get him.

I feel like they've set themselves up to be this team for the next 3 years.

What was their other option though?

Not doing the deal.

OK, but then what?

Not finding a different deal for Tyler Hero where you don't give him what?

I, I, I don't know yet.

I, I would just have offloaded Tyler Hero at that point.

And gotten what you could get for him and kept these young guys who I think are pretty good who I think in Milwaukee with enhanced playing time are gonna be even better.

I think I'm a, I'm a Yakachon guy.

Ever since, ever since he was at Illinois, I love this kid.

I, I think he's a year from now the Bucks are gonna finish higher than the Heat.

That's an interesting question.

A year from now, like this time next year, will the Bucks have finished the season?

Probably not next year.

The year after that, maybe.

Maybe, maybe, maybe remember the Bucks have no incentive right now to be bad because somebody else, no, well, Portland's got their picks, um, that's an interesting question like .

The Bucks are gonna be plucky.

They're gonna be a team that nobody's really getting up for, for most of the season.

They might be able to steal some wins here or there.

I don't know.

It it might be the fact that they're even talking about it is.

Interesting.

I, I just think that so often when I see the trade grades and the this and the that, we are measuring against the ideal for most people, most teams, the ideal does not exist and I will go back to the thing that you and I talk about all the time.

I know you don't have this conversation with Evan, so I've got to have it extra with you.

The fan experience is important.

This is an entertainment league and so if you are going to go pay good money to.

Watch your basketball team and they are not going to win a title.

And I can tell you the Miami Heat in the old version, we're not going to win a title and I would be surprised if in this version with Giannis, and again, they could make changes and then I could say, oh my God, they're the favorite for the title.

This version that we have right now, this roster does not appear to me to be a favorite for the title.

I'd rather see if I have those two choices.

I'd rather see the version with Giannis.

They're going to get somebody, whether it's DeRozan, Klay Thompson, somebody else.

Even with that type of guy though, I don't think they're going to be a top contender in the Eastern Conference.

I think they're at best, and at best implies that Giannis plays a full slate of games, which is another question after the last couple of years.

But at best to me, they're like a 4 or 5 type of seed in the Eastern Conference next year.

And then, I don't know.

I didn't love the deal.

I, I didn't love how much, I didn't think they were in a position to go and get like Giannis, it wasn't like you get Giannis, we're there.

They've got two guys in their front court who are great defensively.

Maybe that's their path to success.

We're just gonna be the best defensive team in the NBA.

We're gonna grind out wins because we've got Mitchell at the point guard who was a terrific defender .

Two bigs that are elite defenders.

Maybe we're gonna try to win games in the mid 90s every single night.

Maybe, maybe that's the path to victory.

You know, a little bit more of the Alonzo Mourning toughness Miami Heat kind of vibe as opposed to the flashy Heatles vibe.

I, I get it, but like, again, what's available to you?

Having a championship team did not seem to me to be available.

The, the guys down in Miami are very smart.

If a championship team was available and like in your mind.

Like Pat Riley's 81.

Like, does Pat Riley wants to take a big swing?

Like, does Sam Presty do a deal like this?

Sam Presty has the luxury of things that they don't have at the, but if you're put, take, take the what the Thunder are out of the equation, like if, if Sam Presty's like, All right, does Sam Presty look at a deal like this, and I'm not just gonna say like Presty, Brad Stevens or something, any other top GM Brad Stevens, we, we need to have that conversation.

That's a different conversation.

Yeah, that's, well, I actually did want to ask you about that.

I know it's not on your list one for Boston to swallow.

Um, any of the top executives like I.

I think part of the reason Miami does this deal is Riley's 81.

Riley wants to win.

You know, the clock is ticking on his professional career, how long he's gonna be able to do this job.

He's got a good coach there.

Andy Ellsberg is a great executive alongside him.

Like, I'm not sure other executives would have taken this kind of swing with this kind of team because it's not like we're sitting here now, either one of us saying they're a championship contender.

Sometimes that's not available.