A decision not to pursue Bucks big man Bobby Portis in free agency may have led to the Heat’s playoff downfall, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jackson traces several missteps for Miami, which is in a 3-0 hole against Milwaukee, but the most significant might be passing on Portis, who is averaging 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in the playoff series.
A source tells Jackson that the Heat showed “mild interest” in Portis during free agency, but decided against making an offer. Portis would have considered Miami, Jackson adds, but he wound up signing with Milwaukee for $3.6MM and having a career-best season. The Heat signed Maurice Harkless for the same money, but he played just 11 games and scored 15 total points before being traded to the Kings in March.
Portis figures to be back on the market this summer as an unrestricted free agent and should get much better offers this time.
There’s more from Miami:
- The Heat made overtures to Marcus Morris in free agency before he re-signed with the Clippers for $64MM over four years, Jackson adds. They lost two of their own free agents when they refused to come close to the three-year, $30MM deal that Jae Crowder got from the Suns or the two-year, $19MM contract that the Trail Blazers gave Derrick Jones Jr. Instead, Miami split its $9.6MM mid-level exception between Harkless and Avery Bradley, neither of whom is still with the team. The Heat also drafted Precious Achiuwa and gave a two-year, $19MM deal to Meyers Leonard, but Achuiwa dropped out of the rotation when Dewayne Dedmon was added and Leonard played just three games before a season-ending shoulder injury.
- Team president Pat Riley has a history of making major changes after playoff embarrassments, and Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel suggests that another one may be coming. Winderman notes that the current roster was built for an immediate overhaul, with team options on Goran Dragic and Andre Iguodala for next season and Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, Andre Iguodala, Victor Oladipo, Trevor Ariza, Nemanja Bjelica, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Udonis Haslem and Dedmon all potentially headed for free agency.
- Jimmy Butler believes the Heat need to fall back on toughness to salvage the series, writes Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN. “(I’m most surprised by) just how fast it got out of hand,” Butler said after Thursday’s loss. “We’ve got to pick who we want to be — be physical, make things much tougher. Then you’ve got to live with the result.”
Heat have only $10 million cap room to use if keeping Nunn and Robinson cap hold as well as Dragic
Get rid of Dragic
Heat have $30 million cap space
Heat don’t have good assets to trade for third star
If Heat want to sign free agent Kawhi max, they have to get rid of all free agent except Duncan Robinson
If Kawhi joins Heat, Clippers have $5 million cap room
Kawhi isn’t leaving California.
Heat must sign a third allstar. They have absolutely no answer for the improved bucks.
In addition to the misguided free agent signings, trading Olynyk for damaged goods had much more of a negative impact on rebounding and in the paint than anyone realized. I know Olynyk alone most likely wouldn’t have been enough to change the series outcome but perhaps they win Game 1 which would have given them a much greater chance.
Two things:
1. Portis did not re-sign with the Bucks this year, he was a Knick last year and took the BAE to sign with Milwaukee as a UFA.
2. He is not technically a free agent yet this offseason as he has a player option for 2021–22, though he will likely decline.
Not sure he had a career best season either, 14/8 sounds better then 11/7 to me
Portis is a mirage, buyer beware.
It’s time for pat to blow this up starting with the coach. I don’t know how adjust doing the game. We only team trying to play small ball. That stuff ain’t working no more. Demon should have been starting at center and bam
At the 4
I agree the Heat need to train Bam at the 4, not sure he can succeed but that’s the best option for him. Maybe Yurtseven is another Riley diamond in the rough find.
Portis wouldn’t have made any sense on the Heat – they already had Kelly Olynyk and were searching for a Jae Crowder replacement.
Trading Olynyk for Oladipo and the latter getting hurt meant the Heat were inadvertently sellers at the deadline.