The Heat will head into the offseason after losing Game 7 to the Raptors on Sunday. Considering all the injuries the team endured, one can argue that winning 48 games and advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals qualifies as a successful season. The team will head into the offseason with several question marks and some big decisions to make.
Should the team offer Hassan Whiteside a max contract? There’s reportedly considerable debate within the organization over that question. Yet, Miami is rightfully waiting to see if Kevin Durant is interested in joining the team before making any decision. The Heat have to wonder if they will need another starting power forward, as they fear Chris Bosh won’t ever be medically cleared. Bosh has slightly under $76MM left on his deal over the next three seasons and should he be forced to retire, the team won’t see any cap relief until at least February 2017.
Miami has other decisions to make this offseason. Can the backcourt of Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic produce a championship contender? Should the franchise prioritize re-signing Joe Johnson? What about Luol Deng? What kind of contracts should each receive? Tonight’s shootaround is all about the Heat. Let us know what you would do if you were sitting in Pat Riley’s chair.
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say!
If its me, I probably wouldn’t like giving Whiteside a max deal, but he’s too valuable a commodity to let walk for nothing.
I was really impressed with the young players the Heat have in the Raptors series. I think Richardson and Johnson could be some really good 3 and D type guys off the bench, and Winslow handled playing the 5 so well, I think he could be the replacement for Bosh at the 4.
Bosh has to retire – I mentioned this in a previous post – but blood clots seem to be one of those things that never totally goes away – and no one wants a heart attack or stroke.
If the heat could pick up a higher end talent like a Batum or Anderson to help spread the floor from the 3 spot and get a decent talent in the draft, I don’t see how they can’t hang around at least a 3-4 seed in the East. And to me, that’s too good to give up on so soon. When Wade retires, think about the rebuild.
A “perfect” Miami Heat off season would be Durant or Lebron committing to them followed by a clearance for Chris Bosh. You then let Whiteside leave and bring back Luol Deng to play the 4. Bosh moves back to the 5 which would require less running around in a smaller NBA and hopefully protect his health. Haslem stays on the minimum in this hypothetical and Joe Johnson would have to be talked into a 6th man role.. but I could see him wanting to start. Amare Stoudemire is probably gone but I would be very happy in the Heat bringing Birdman back on the minimum to fill that role and I think both the Heat and Birdman would love that too. Beno Udrih would be a nice piece to welcome back and down the road when he’s healthy you bring back Mario Chalmers for defense. Richardson becomes the true 2 back up… Udrih and Tyler Johnson split duties at the 1 and 2 and when Chalmers gets back the team has a very deep bench. Would love to see them move McRoberts for a 3 and D guy to help spell Joe Johnson and Deng as well. A ton of what if’s and could be’s here though.
1 year later, do you still think Tyler johnson and Josh Richardson are garbage? Or do you concede the argument to me?
Talk about holding a grudge lol.
I’ve been waiting all year to ask lol
First and foremost is to re-sign Wade and figure out the Bosh situation. I don’t have high hopes for Bosh to be honest so I wouldn’t hinge all of my plans on whether he can or cannot play. That being said, I agree that there shouldn’t be any thoughts of a large-scale rebuild until Wade retires/leaves. Knowing Pat Riley though, they’ll probably make the most out of free agency while being one of the most overlooked team at the same time haha.
Let’s trade t Johnson for 2 second rounders and sign a big man and keep Whiteside
Resign Deng (closest thing to Bosh), sign Stokes as 3 or 4 off bench, bring up Benson as backup center, develop Weber as backup to Dragic and Richardson as backup to Wade. Pay Whiteside max for two years with potential to trade next year when another bump in salary cap occurs in 2017 and stronger free agent market occurs. Bosh will never get medical clearance to play so long as he could get recurrence of life threatening clots. Without him and with Wade’s age and knees limiting minutes, Heat are in hybrid rebuilding mode for a year (competitive but unlikely contenders) so focus on advancing growth of young players next year and go all in for 2017 free agents when Bosh’s salary comes off the books.
I don’t see Whiteside signing a two year max deal. He’s going to want a four/five year max offer.
Best case scenario Bosh is cleared, we sign Hassan to a max deal and we lure Durant to South Beach. If Kevin Durant doesn’t work out, we go after Kevin Love. If we don’t resign Hassan we bring aboard Al Horford from the Atlanta Hawks. And if Bosh isn’t cleared medically then we consider Chandler Parsons. All the above will be free agents next year and should be considered by the Heat.
Kevin Love is not a free agent next year. A trade is probably not a reasonable expectation either because I doubt the Heat and Cavs want to help each other out in any way (Heat would get a quality player and the Cavs would presumbly get cap space and some young players like Richardson, Johnson, Winslow, etc).
It’s too early to figure this out. I’m a Heat fan, but as of now, barring KD, the best outlook might be to try to bring everyone back for a year on and then build off that in the summer of 2017. In that scenario, they would have Whiteside’s bird rights, possibly Deng’s if they can bring him back, and they could add to that group in a deeper free agent class. Let the young guys continue to grow. Winslow, Richardson, and TJ should be a fun group to watch develop, and I wouldnt mind seeing 1 more of their young guys they stashed added to that group. Obviously, it’s hard to see certain guys taking that kind of risk, so this isn’t a likely scenario. There is so much they could potentially do. I’d even look into moving Dragic, depending on what else they can do. I wouldn’t want to pay Whiteside max, but I agree you can’t let him walk for nothing. This is just one of those things you get a better idea of when you know a litter more info