The Miami Heat are at a crossroads. They have crumbled since Jimmy Butler requested a trade and ultimately forced his way out of the franchise. Erik Spoelstra’s team are currently on an eight-game losing skid.
According to former NBA guard Jeff Teague, it’s time the Heat hit the reset button. Teague believes the Heat need to enter a full-scale rebuild, including front office personnel. During a recent episode of his “520 in the morning” podcast, Teague made the bold claim that it’s time for Pat Riley to step down from his role leading the franchise.
“They gotta get rid of Pat Riley, man,” Teague said. “…Blow up the Heat. It’s time for the Heat to blow up, too. It’s time for the whole organization just to start over. Let Pat Riley just go ahead and retire, man. Sit down somewhere, you 88. Let’s just start it over. Let Erik Spoelstra run the team from the top to the bottom. Be the coach and the GM. Just start over.”
Miami’s roster is certainly in need of an overhaul. It’s been a disjointed mess for the past few seasons. However, Butler’s talent and will to win helped paper over a lot of the cracks. If Riley doesn’t believe he’s capable of re-tooling the roster on the fly, it may be time for someone else to assume control and begin rebuilding from the ground up.
Heat Could Begin Rebuild With Kasparas Jakucionis
According to a recent mock draft from Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report, the Heat could acquire skillful guard Kasparas Jakucionis in the upcoming draft cycle.
“There is currently both optimism and debate about how much Kasparas Jakucionis’ positional size, clever maneuvering, shotmaking skill and passing IQ can offset his lack of explosiveness and quickness,” Wasserman wrote. “…Too much recent evidence suggests skill and IQ can outweigh athletic limitations for a ball-handler, particularly for a plus shooter. And despite a recent slump from behind the arc, there are years of promising shotmaking data/tape for scouts to go back to from Jakucionis’ time with Barcelona and Lithuania.”
Jakucionis is an elite ball-handler, shot-creator, shot-maker and playmaker. His 6-foot-6 frame means he has the size and length to also develop into a reliable defender capable of guarding multiple positions.
Heat Currently Lack Competitive Spirit
During a March 15 postgame news conference following the Heat’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Spoelstra questioned his team’s competitive spirit and desire to win.
“We lost our competitive spirit there in the second half,” Spoelstra said. “Enough has been said in the locker room, but we have a certain standard of how we expect to play and compete. We did not meet that standard tonight. When we meet that standard, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to win. Obviously, we’re struggling to figure out how to win games, but you know, last night (vs. the Boston Celtics), we met a standard from a competitive standpoint tonight, tonight we did not.”
Miami currently sits 10th in the Eastern Conference. They’re almost guaranteed a spot in the play-in tournament, as they’re 5.5 games ahead of the Toronto Raptors. However, on current form, the Heat are likely going to be facing an early exit.
Whenever the offseason begins in Miami, the front office and ownership group must take stock of the current state of the franchise. Once they pick a path forward, they’ve got to stick to it, regardless of whether that means embracing another year of losing basketball or not.
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