Speaker 1: What is up, fellow sickles, I am Dana Valley coming
at you with another twenty four twenty five NBA season
look ahead. We were onto the Miami Heat, which means
we were running it back with MBA freelance content creator
Alana Tauhouer. Follow her on the socials at Alana Underscore Tauhauer.
That's at A L L A n A Underscore t
A c h A U e R. The link to
that is also in the podcast and YouTube description. We
get into all things heat. This was the first one
I think maybe the only look at it we done
so far that ran under an hour, So look at
us very much pacing ourselves. A good convo with her.
She had a bunch of I would say ambitious takes
for Miami that I disagreed with some of them, but
if this team stays healthy, they are a giant question.
So with that, remember subscribe if you've not already, ratings
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about us. All that stuff is great and appreciated. Now
let's get to talking some Miami Heat with Alana Tahauer. Alana,
welcome back to the Harbor Knoxs podcast for another Miami
Heat look Ahead. This is year four of you coming
on to do the Miami Heat look Ahead?
Speaker 2: Is it really? I had three pegged. I guess I
forgot about my rookie season here, which.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your rookie season. So you've come back now four times,
which I make it appreciate, especially as I was telling
you before we recorded, I have just a lack of
feel for this team, more than more so than any
other team. But first we must ask how are you doing.
Speaker 2: I am doing well. I'm back out of retirement again
for you. Literally. I know we were talking about this
before you started recording, but I haven't done any thing
and I think a year, so apparently I'm back. We'll
see if this is it for the season or not.
But excited to be here.
Speaker 1: This is your look. MJ did it, you can do it.
I appreciate it first.
Speaker 2: And that's quite the comparison. I also want to say
on record, I fumbled because I in our office space.
I have a Jimmy Butler and a Damar de Rozan
sign jersey, both on like the wall and I things
got busy on my end and I was gonna set
stuff up there, and now I have this boring background,
So this could have been a much better setting for
us to do this in. But at least I got
the gear on.
Speaker 1: So I think your background is kind of interesting because
you're the first one, at least this year, that I
could just see right out the window and get a
view too.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I
realized like five minutes before I sat down that I
really missed the boat. That means I'll have to come
back so I can show off my new office, but
I do.
Speaker 1: So you have one like is this it's a jersey
that's signed by both Butler and No, I have.
Speaker 2: A Damar one and a Butler one because my fiance
is a Bulls fan. I'm obviously a heat fan, and
it just so happened that we had both, so we
were like, this is kind of perfect.
Speaker 1: Your fiance is a Bulls fan, so that's that's like
self harm at this point.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean he he's obviously taken on the
Heat as his second team, but I'm like, I'm hoping
to just get him there, slowly but surely, because whatever's
going on in Chicago is as a hot mess.
Speaker 1: So well, send Michael dolences to him one, but also
my congratulations for you to actually getting engaged. Let's talk
about these Heat though. So I want to start with,
did you do you have any just lingering takeaways from
the way last season unfolded that you're thinking about heading
into this year? Do you cut beyond the Okay, they
were very injured and there was a bunch of roster
chared here. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's super cliche and it sounds like an excuse,
but it's just we were injured and it wasn't even
one or two guys or for a month or two,
it was everyone all the time. Honestly, last year kind
of feels like a fever dream. There's certain things here
and there that stuck out, primarily from the playoffs, but
it was almost like last season just didn't happen because
did we even have a full team at all? I don't.
I didn't pull stats on this, but I am curious
to know, honestly, like, how many games were actually played
with the quote unquote full team, because even when I
guess all our starters were good to go, one or
two main guys off the bench weren't. So I don't know.
I just I know a lot of people are saying
you can't displame injuries, but that's just the truth of
the matter here.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what their fully healthy starting lineup
they were envisioning it being. So it's just they used
thirty five different ones of them, and then the one
that they used the most, terror or Zier, was actually
in So there was no way that that was the plan,
right like my season's end. So I don't know that, Like,
I don't even know if they understood what they wanted
to do at full strength, and then all the injuries,
especially a Tyler Hero probably made it that much harder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, but you know I've set this time
and time again. Spoe. I feel like his one criticism
is that when he pivots, it's not necessarily always in
the best way. But even I cannot fault him at all.
For this season, there was just pivoting. Pivoting was an understatement.
Every single game was something different, and I don't know
I'm ready for the season, and I'm ready to see
hopefully what obviously we look like at full health or
as close to that as possible.
Speaker 1: When you look at their when you look at their offseason,
they did not have financial flexibility as we record this.
They're like a million bucks away basically from the second
apron that being said, you lose Kayleb Martin, you bring
in Alec Burks, What just do you kind of like,
how let's start here. How big of a loss does
Caleb Martin end up being for them? They were able
to retain Hollywood High Smith on. I was scolding the
rest of the league for allowing that deal to be
He's so cheap. I don't understand why no one else
beat that, But it was just like a very it was.
It was a very non discript off season from them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't remember at what point during the playoffs,
but I and I don't know if I publicly said
this or not, but privately I was ready to let
Caleb go. I understood what he brought to the table
at first, his athleticism especially, I just did not find
him consistent, and I realized it's hard to say that
in the vacuum given the season around him last year,
But I honestly I was not too upset about that,
nor was I surprised. But I don't know if I
honestly expected that much more from this offseason too. And
it's not even necessarily because of the fact that everyone
was obviously, as usual clamoring for something big. But I
just I feel like, for better or worse, the front
office and the coaching staff really do believe in this
group of guys, and because we were so injury ridden,
it was wasn't really like a full test of what
they could do. Plus, honestly, the market wasn't really that
impressive to me. There are a few things here and
there we could have done, I guess, but I don't know.
I wasn't really surprised. I actually did forget about Alec
Burke though, to be completely honest, until I was reading
your notes for this episode, So I don't know if
that says something about him or me, But I mean
that was one move.
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, that's it. I thought it was a
good pick up at the minimum, and you mentioned it.
People are used to hearing them linked to someone via trade.
The trademarket just wasn't there and unless you're putting jim
hawk Is on the table, I don't really know what
sweepstakes you're getting into at this point when you look
at their future pick commitment, So whether the front office
actually really believes in this group or it's just a
matter of like, what the hell else were we supposed
to do? Maybe it's like a combination of both of
those things. But when you're looking at this season, what
is the biggest storyline to you that you will be
tracking as we get into it and over the course
of it. I feel like I could guess where you're
gonna say if I had to, But I'm very should
to hear your answer.
Speaker 2: Well, now you're gonna have to tell me your guests
after obviously, I mean health aside, because I think that's
an obvious one. I'm super curious if BAM is gonna
continue to be the BAM that we saw.
Speaker 1: I did not think you were gonna say that, and
I love it because that's real sick. Oh shit, So please.
Speaker 2: Wait, what did you think I was gonna say?
Speaker 1: Contract to hear Jimmy Butler, No, I'm that is I
I don't know if it's just me.
Speaker 2: I am not concerned about that at all. This man
is not going anywhere. I honestly, I almost feel like
both him and the front office, primarily Pat Riley, are
like playing with people at this point. When I saw
that quote from Pat come out, like honestly, I was
just like, Oh, this is totally orchestrated by him and
Jimmy together to kind of feed into the whole heat
Twitter mania that was going on at that time. I
don't know, maybe I'm going to eat my words. I'm
just I'm not concerned. I'm really curious how BAM is
going to progress and less so on a I don't
necessarily even I mean, more is always better, but I
don't necessarily expect more. I just want him to stay
consistently this aggressive on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: Uh, let's stick with the Jimmy thing for a second.
So you say you're not concerned, I think you could
probably argue that contract to your Jimmy Butler might be
terrifying for the rest of the league, but it also
does create a storyline because there's the report. I don't
I don't care about the Brooklyn report. I dare you
to go sign with the Nets at this point and
be what I would say, but the whole he wants
to the report that he wants to get to free agency.
You are this is someone who is the thirty five
years old, like your timeline and team is very much
still built around him. He is headed into a contract year.
He will have a market if he gets the free
agency because he's one of the players who can actually
shift things that might actually get the free agency. Now,
you don't think that that kind of has the potential
to become a distraction for this team, No, jim.
Speaker 2: Jimmy's just built different. I feel like I've never seen
a player so I don't even know how to put this.
I just feel like he's preparing himself for what comes
next already and has been doing so for so long.
And that's not to say that he's near retirement anytime
soon or that he isn't like completely giving is all
on the court. But I feel like between big face
and the alo yoga stuff, I don't know. To me,
he's not the type of player that I'm concerned is
kind of scrambling because he's nearing the end and wants
this big payout. I think at this point he wants
to win as much as possible and as badly as anyone.
But I don't think he's necessarily gonna bring down the
team or completely shift his entire life because of that. Again,
I don't know if I just have a different read
on him or a wrong read on both him and Riley,
but just from things that I've noticed, especially last season,
but even the two or three seasons prior, there's a
lot of leaning in to everything, all the noise that's
happening outside of the team, whether that's media or fans,
and I don't know, to me, it's all just them
like leaning into this narrative.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. I would be very concerned if you hit
a rough patcher if this team is not as good
as fans or internally they want to be.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna like destroy them from within.
But that's when it becomes gut check time of like
if we're like eighth, Like what does that mean? Like
he's only gonna get older, And so that's the perspective
I'm coming at it from. And also I think Jimmy
Butler and the Heat in general have lost some of
their mystique about like kind of fuck the regular season
when you just weren't healthy to even once you got
to the playoffs, and like, there's only so many times
you can get to the postseason while being like a
fringe playoff team anyway, And so I think, again it
might not be. I think Jimmy Butler plays well. I
think his agent curve has been fine. You put up
like all star caliber numbers last year. The two point
efficiency dropped a little bit, but he did take more threes.
He made more threes. I still am very cuercy how
he specifically does age. Have you made anything of that
about just like the trajectory of how his game gets
not only just leading into this season, but like if
they're going to resign him, it's going to be years
beyond that too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I do think his game is gonna
have to change a little bit. I do think he's
smart enough to do so in a way that it
doesn't take God forbid, like a major injury to have
him have come to that moment, you know, whether that
is I don't know if it's taking more threes or
honestly just become becoming more of a facilitator. I think
that he would rather protect his health than go full
fledge into you know, the way that he's been playing
I don't know, maybe two three seasons ago and risk that. However,
with that said, I mean, the man's conditioning is a plus.
You see. I know you can't necessarily judge everything based
on social media, but you see all the work that
he puts in, you know, shoulder pumps.
Speaker 1: I judge everything by shoulder pumps, and Jimmy gets one
of the best shoulder pumps in the NBA.
Speaker 2: So I don't know why, but that just made me
think of Zion, who is an entire different caliber of player,
if you can even call him a player at this point.
But no, I don't know. I think he's going to
be smart about it. The other thing, too, is Jimmy
doesn't do anything anyone else's way, and I feel like
that also gives me a little bit more confidence in
his future with the heat. I think if we were
talking about most other players, then yes, it would be
a concern. But to me, Jimmy is just Jimmy. So
I don't know. I hope I'm not wrong, but I'm
not really concerned about that.
Speaker 1: Let's get into the bam stuff he had for so long.
I mean, we've talked about his offense a bunch and
he's always just been considered a super valuable defender. But
the knock has always been he's not going to do
a lot of the traditional big man stuff. You look
at the Heat's roster last year, it wasn't really built
to play the way that it did in years past
on defense. So then he starts doing all the bam
stuff on top of doing just all like the traditional
big man stuff, like we saw had more and drop
his rim protection, I would argue was probably a career season.
I know he's probably had stingier years at the rim,
which just like the lume with which he was doing it.
Whilso being responsible for all this other shit, what have
you just made of like that part of his game
somehow getting better when all along that's really been his
calling card.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that everything stems from his confidence. I
think the skill set has been there, the raw talent
has been there. Obviously over the years, you develop things,
not saying that he's not working on like the physical
part of his game, but he just had some mental
block for yr during years pass and I think it
was slowly getting better. But this past season he I think,
in my opinion anyway, was the band that everyone has
been calling for. He was aggressive, he played smart, He
took a lot more on his own shoulders, not only
on the court, but I think off the court, he
definitely led the team a little bit more, and obviously
during the Olympics he showed his strength on both ends too.
So for me, this is the band that we've always
wanted and that people were hoping he would be. The
question is is just if he's going to maintain this.
I think part of it may have been just the
fact that he had to step up with so many injuries,
but I hope that we're able to stay fully healthy
but also get this BAM too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that'll be interesting to evaluate him in that context
because last year kind of felt like, maybe you sprinkle
in some more three point attempts, but that might have
been BAM's I don't want to say final form, but
I don't know that he has because I don't view him.
I don't mean this as an insult. I don't think
he's ever gonna be like the guy who can just
be the number one option. I don't think he's wired
that way, which is perfectly fine. But the Bam we
saw last year can absolutely be a number two option
on a championship team, which I mean technically he's been before,
but I agree that was probably the most aggressive and
it was probably by necessity that we've seen him. I
just when you talk about expansion of his game or
just can he hit that next level of like actually
supplant Jimmy Butler is just the guy who's gonna drive
everything that they do. That's where I would have questions.
But that's not really an insult though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that he To me, it just
seemed like he wasn't honestly grasping the concept of that
number two spot. It was kind of like there were
either two options. You're just a role player or you
are the number one. But I think to your point,
he stepped up as that number two and as long
as he's consistently that he's gonna add a lot to
the team. I will say too, I just feel like
here and there just seeing things off, you know, off
the court, in terms of interviews or just like I
said things during the Olympics. I think he proved to
himself what he finally needed to everyone else seemed to
know that he could do it. It was just kind
of him standing in his own way, So I'm I'm
curious to see if that keeps up. But I was
very pleasantly surprised, and that might have been the first
season that I honestly had had nothing negative to say
about his aggression.
Speaker 1: Tyler Hero one of the NBA's most divisive figures because
he got paid and that's just how things work with
NBA fandom for some reason. So we talked about this
last year and there's really just not much to add
with Tyler Hero. We both considered him an undervalued dynamic
shot maker. I think he is still that when you
look at some of the shots he could hit. So
I have a question for you of what area of development,
if you're the coach or if you're a Tyler Hero,
you would be prioritizing or that you think is most
important when looking at his ability to get better. And
if you have something that's off the book of the
four options I gave you, that's fine. But would it
be getting more volume at the rim, subbing out some
mid rangers for more catch and shoot threes or threes
off motion, drawing more fouls, or creating additional separation off
the drill.
Speaker 2: For me, it's the threes and my answer might have
changed depending on the roster around him, but I just
feel like with Duncan not being as reliable as you
know he was in that one season where you know,
everyone thought he was just going to be the go to,
and also obviously losing Max Stres, I just feel like
Tyler really needs to step up in that role. The
other part of that is, I don't say this in
a critical way, because you know, at the end of
the day, everyone is just built differently and it might
not be anything he's doing, but he is injury prone,
and to me, when you're at this point in your
career and you see kind of the injuries that have
been occurring, you try and protect your body a little bit.
And I'm not saying that that should take priority over
what the team needs, but if the team needs more
three point shooting, and it also perhaps will protect your
play style a little bit, I'm going with that.
Speaker 1: My inclination was to go and this might show a
lack of faith that I don't know that his shot
profiles gould to change that much. Is I just want
to see more separation off the dribble so that his
shot selection than just because sometimes you'll pull your hair
out at the shots. So if you're able to create
more separation off the dribble, get maybe a little bit
more complicated handle. He's made strides as a pastor. I
didn't even include that on the list because I'm like, yeah,
if you want him to be a point guard, then
we need to have a different conversation. But for what
he's supposed to be, the playmaking feels there, so that'd
be my pick. But ideally I think yours is the
right answer. I just don't know that I have a
level of faith that it'll come to bear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I do think the shot selection. It's
funny because I always trust him in like the very
clutch moments, but it's everything else where I'm like, ooh,
you could have taken one more time or one more
second to think that through. So you know, and I
know we're going to talk about lineups a little bit
later on, but I think to me, it also kind
of depends where you're putting him. Is he coming off
the benches, he starting what.
Speaker 1: Did you make of your early impressions of Terry Rozier,
and then just scaling ahead his overarching fit with this team,
and also just by the way one of the most
like concerning like throwaway injury reports, like, oh, Terry Rozier
was out for the season with a neck injury, and
it was like, it turns out to be next spasms.
It seems like he's okay, but you hear neck and
that's just not an injury. You hear in ton I
remember like.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean at that point, I was just like,
we can't have any nice things like this is just
it was the pinnacle of just doom of the season.
I think that he's a great culture fit. I think
he has the work ethic needed for this team. I
don't know if I have enough of an opinion beyond
that at this point he came late. He also just
thrown into a messy situation where you know, we keep
saying it, but everyone was injured. I think he can
get there, and I do like what I've seen so far.
I just I'm not confident one way or another yet,
just because of the super small sample size, but also
within the environment that he was playing in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think him going through a training camp with
this team will be big because I think we'll see
him used creatively more off the ball, and I think
even he showed some just equivocation on like what types
of shots he should be taking when he was on
the ball, and I'm assuming a lot of that will
get just ironed out by going through an actual training
camp with this team and then kind of like maybe
getting run with all of their best players at once,
which is just not something that the heat we're able
to do last year with all their injuries. Jimy Hawkis,
let's start here with him. What stood out to you
surprise or just most impressed you about his rookie season.
Speaker 2: He was so confident right off the get. And that's
not to say that he you know, didn't make mistakes,
but I think being in college for as long as
he was was such a strength for him. He came
in just kind of guns blazing. He really didn't overthink anything,
at least, you know, from an outsider's point of view.
I also think that he was asked to do a
lot very early on in his career just because of
all the gaps happening along the way. And honestly, he's
He's baby Jimmy. I mean, the fact that they were
in a commercial together even again, to me is just
only like solidifying my theory that they're playing into all
the narratives happening online. But I don't know. I love him.
I hope we never get rid of him. I think
this year, hopefully he'll be able to zero in on
his game a little bit and tighten things up and
really decide kind of, you know, he's gonna be well
rounded regardless, but kind of where he wants to put
more of his time and effort in. But I was
excited when we got him from the get, but I
think that he's hurt. He's surpassed all my expectations.
Speaker 1: They and again this was probably by necessity, but they
did shoulder him with like some creation duties and not
just like driving. It was like he ran picking rolls
for them at points. Is that something that you envisioned
them continuing to try to expand or is that more
situational on like, well, if you have Terry Rozier and
Tyler here on BAM and Jimmy Butler, how much of
the initiation aspect of Hawke as game do you really
need to plumb.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think he is super high basketball IQ
and I think, yeah, you have to lean into that.
And it's not a knock on any other players everyone
has strengths and weaknesses, but I think that, in my opinion,
because he has such strong basketball IQ, you definitely keep
working on that, not necessarily in a primary in a
primary sense, but maybe if he does end up kind
of showing more focused in that area and it starts
to work better than with other players, I say you
definitely lean.
Speaker 1: Into that he has replaced Jimmy as the player on
this team who will most be tracking their three point attempts,
because three point four or three point one, whatever it
was for thirty six just isn't enough. Do you won
he finished at thirty two point two percent. He had
some start the season like on fire. He had like
pockets of time where he was just knocking down threes.
Do you one believe that the volume will come up?
And two do you trust that as the volume goes
up that he'll be able to have this percentage of
his climb as well?
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't know if I see him as
as the guy that needs to be doing that. I
think it if it comes organically, great, but I just
to me, there's other guys that would rather carry that
burden and focus on him more so, I mean, being
little Jimmy. Honestly, I just I don't know it could
go up. It's just it's not something that I'm concerned with.
And I think that having guys prior who you know,
were lights out from three is making a lot of
people like feel the need to put that on every
single new player. I feel like that we come across,
but I don't know. I just don't see that being
where he ends up focusing most of his kind of attention.
Speaker 1: On I think that would be fair. My concern would
be if you want to play him and Jimmy Butler
together and then bam Adebayo is going to be on
the floor and those times, like one of Butler a
haimhawk as needs to be an actual shooter in that scenario,
I would think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it kind of depends who else is
on the floor at that point.
Speaker 1: Let's Hero and Rosie. Even if it's Hero and Rosier
or Hero like throw your two best three point shooters
around him, I still think you need one of those
two dudes to be more of a floor spacer than
they currently are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with the current roster, I do agree. I'm just
curious if you know, maybe at the at the trade deadline,
we start reassessing that because I do think that one
of the biggest gaps for us right now, after seeing
how things could be when Duncan was at his peak
and obviously having Max Strus, I think that's a little
bit of a void unless obviously we kind of reconstruct
our entire plan. But I think in today's NBA and
kind of where the league is headed, we do need
someone to step up. I just don't know if he's
the one I would want to be doing that.
Speaker 1: You've just mentioned Duncan Robinson a couple of times. His
arc on this team has been one hell of a drug. Yeah, Like,
what is the expectations for now? Him, especially over the
past like three years, has been fucking turbulent.
Speaker 2: It's insane. I at this point really just don't even
know what to expect anymore. He was the other guy that,
along with Caleb I by the end of the state
was like, I think I would be fine parting ways
with him. I just I don't know what to make
of him being so hot and cold. It doesn't really
seem motivated by you know, what's going on around him,
and nor does it honestly seem opponent based. I don't know.
You know, when he first started getting into a shooting slump,
a lot of it was around kind of the chatter
with trades, and I was willing to kind of look
past that because he was a young guy. That was
the first time that his name had been thrown into anything.
You know. Then with the contract, it's just I don't
know if it's mental. I don't know if he's just
being scouted more. I don't know what's going on. Obviously
with that contract, it's going to be hard to move him.
But at this point, I just I don't I don't
know how much we can depend on him.
Speaker 1: Hayward high Smith. I kind of think that between what
he did defensively to the point of attack and then having
amahawkas it probably made it easier for Miami just to say,
when Caleb didn't want to opt in an extend, it
was like, all right, bye, how do you feel about
him taking on more responsibility next season? Not just defensively,
but that's another guy, you know, we go through this
Kurt roster like, Okay, those three point attempts need to
come up, buddy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't really have a raid on that, honestly,
because I feel like he came out of nowhere and
then all of a sudden everyone was paying attention to
his defense rightly so, and now I think, to your point,
the question is what can we get offensively from him.
I'm glad he stuck around, though he seems like a
great guy. I think he's really given, you know, the
coaching staff and the front office reason to trust him,
not only in terms of x's and o's, but in
terms of what he is willing to give to the team.
I'm just I don't know. I think that you know
what you had said at the beginning and even before
we started recording, there are so many question marks this
season that on the one hand, people may be a
little bit worried, but on the other hand, like it's
kind of fun and kind of exciting to have absolutely
no idea what the season holds.
Speaker 1: I feel like this might be a season where Eric S.
Pololstra could be in his bag, just because you have
all these question marks. Not everyone's young, but like a
lot of players who are still developing or just relative
unknown quantities. And I do feel like Eric polstro is
one of those dudes where it's like, oh, he'll coach
the hell out of that.
Speaker 2: To you, he loves chaos two. I like literally feel
like when every thing is aligned, he just doesn't know
what to do. It's like, wait, we're all healthy and
we have this great team, but then it's like suddenly
there's all these injuries, and there's all these guys who
know knows anything about and he's just like coaching his
butt off. So yeah, I actually agree, and I just
I think the team all really wants to prove themselves
and prove kind of to the rest of the league
that they are worth being feared. But I think they're
also just loving the kind of underdog narrative that is continuing.
Speaker 1: How are you feelingout Nikola Yovic these days? What you
make of his last last season as a sophomore, and
what are your expectations for him in year three?
Speaker 2: He looked good this summer. I was pleasantly surprised by that.
I do take that with a grain of sealtho, because
it's a very different league and you're playing a different
style of basketball. I don't know if I'm willing to
trust him enough to put him in a starting lineup,
for example, but I do think that the kind of
rooking nerves have shaken off and that he's gotten a
lot stronger defensively. He also seems to be taking his
time a little bit more. He almost seemed to be
very rushed with every possession, at least in his rookie year.
So I am curious to see how that goes. But
I'm not like fully on board the train yet.
Speaker 1: Oh I am. I am happy.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: I'm happy you mentioned his defense because I thought he
improved a lot there. He gave him some good rebounding.
He was like some of the assignments he had to
take on, or just some of the guys he spent
the most time on, Like those are like actual bigs
he was covering. And I've heard and read some people
just kind of writing him off as this defensive liability
or the offseason. I'm like, I don't think he's a
great defender, but like, if the option is, I don't
know if they'll go this route. They could start on
my hawk as and go a little smaller. But if
it's between who do we want starting alongside ban Kevin
lover Nikolai Yovich is like not even a question for me,
And I'm assuming that he don't want to revisit the
love at a Bio front quarter. Would they give it
like four games last year before they ripped it out,
like I can't even remember.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they also like don't love playing size and Side
together just over the last decade.
Speaker 1: So I kind of feel like they want to though,
like they might be because look, they tried Kevin Love
and you remember, like a few years ago we even
talked about it the result before he got injured. There
was all this buzz about like they want to play
Gert and bam Adebio together, and so I feel like
they want to go big and they just can't figure
out how to do it.
Speaker 2: But I think part of that, though is when they're
looking to construct the roster, they're always looking for like
backups that aren't necessarily ready to even play alongside Bam
So for me, obviously, Kevin Love is a different situation
because he's more the other way where he's a little
bit too much of a veteran. But I don't know,
I feel like they give it like a game or two,
and then it's never revisited into like an absolute It's
either during absolute garbage time or like by absolute necessity.
Speaker 1: So another player Khalil Wayer, they draft him. Everyone loved
that pick. Give any early impressions of him.
Speaker 2: So because my summer has been what it is, I
have not really been able to form that grade of
an opinion. Honestly, I barely. I think I might have
been able to watch like half a summer League game.
I will say from highlights I've seen, he looks ready.
Obviously there will be a little bit of a transition period,
but I don't think it's going to be one of
those players that needs a year a year and a
half to really get his feet under him. I think
that obviously the size is there, but also the skill
set beyond the size seems to be there. I'm just
I have not watched enough to make kind of a
strong opinion one way or the other.
Speaker 1: I hope they play him because my early impressions of
him are like he will come in and make an
immediate impact. They need rim pressure, and he will give
you that if you give him at least some of
a runway once he's catching the ball. I think he's
gonna end up being my co host. Grant has talked
about like he could see him being like having a
Derek Lively type vision to him when you're looking at
him moving the ball. That would be huge for Miami.
And you seem opposed to this based off what we
just said, but I'm actually kind of hoping they play
him in BAM together just to see what happens Defensively, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not opposed to it. I just feel like Spoe hates
it and I every year I feel like I call
for it and then I'm like, oh my god, it's happening,
and then thirty seconds later my dream has died and
then is not revisited until perhaps the next season. So
I don't I don't know. Maybe maybe they will, maybe we're.
Speaker 1: They better and this will probably step on the toes
of the lineup we're going to talk about in a
couple of minutes, but like they will leave opposing offenses
in the fetal position if Bam and Khalil Ware and
Jimmy Butler and Hi may Hawk has or everyone on
the court at the same time, and I.
Speaker 2: Saw okay, But I also kind of felt like that,
not to compare the two players, but I felt like
that with Thomas Bryant a little bit, and I'm so
I'm sad. I'm sad we got rid of him. Honestly,
but I was like, we could do something here. I'm
not even saying like he didn't have the best hands,
but I feel like the energy was there, the size
was there. He obviously was on a team prior that
had gone had seen a lot of good talent. So
I'm like, we I don't Again, I don't of stats
in front of me, but I bet we tried that
maybe once, if even that.
Speaker 1: Ye, you know, Thomas Bryant always had the energy of
just like a toddler wanding around the supermarket and moving
frantically but not really know where they're like what they're doing,
at least defensively. For me, that's the I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just feel like he was like genuinely so happy
for his team, like regardless of if you got any
playing time, Like he was the guy that I was
just rooting for, and I'm like, I feel like there
was more we could have done with him. I obviously
understand that I'm not privy to like practices or what
goes on behind the scenes, but to me, I I
was a little Obviously money plays into this, but I
was a little surprised that we didn't give him more
of a chance.
Speaker 1: Do you have any initial impressions of pel Larson because
I that's turn I.
Speaker 2: Literally wrote, please skip, have not have not had a
second to investigate this.
Speaker 1: Uh he kind of. I don't know what they're gonna
like the extent that they'll use him, but he reminds me,
having watched him play in summer leagues, I don't look
at these guys in college or anything. It's like, what
if Bruce Brown Junior could shoot way better and more
than he does, which is probably a pretty inflammatory thing
to say about. What was he drafted number forty four
and I remember at this point, but I'm hoping that
pel Larson just gets like even some spot burn for this,
Like there's injuries with the heat all the time, so
I would just like the human action.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, given how well we've drafted, I would
not put them past drafting another gem. So excited to
see I was thinking about it the other day. I'm like, Wow,
I've probably this summer watched the least amount of basketball
or read anything probably in the last easily fifteen years
of my life. So I'm extra excited for the season
to start.
Speaker 1: That's honestly impressive when you consider we had the Olympics
too this year, so it's like there was topaly more actual.
Speaker 2: I watched one Olympic game one that was my capacity
this summer, so that probably should give you a sense
of what I've been dealing with. But this fall up
is so far looking a lot calmer, so excited to
take in all all things basketball.
Speaker 1: We've kind of talked about this a little bit already,
but the heat neat offense. They were bottom ten, bottom
ten again for the second consecutive year. You can drop
some of that up to injuries, but at some point,
like you have to be fairly concerned. We talk about
maybe kalil Ware will give them some additional rim pressure.
This team needs to play faster like they've been in
the bottom five of average offensive possession time for the
past two years too, Like what is just is that
like did we just kind of not show it like that?
Is that with and does this team, looking at the
personnel they have now, do they have the ability to
be much better, like noticeably better, like an above average
offense than we've seen these past two years?
Speaker 2: I hope. So I don't think that we're I don't
know if we're going to ever completely change the style
our style of play or the type of offensive team
we are. I feel like Spoe, it's not to the
point where you know, Popovich Spurs were, but there is
some sort of like fundamental basketball with Spo and I
just I don't know if we're ever going to be
that quick team that's just chucking threes at a high
at a high clip. I think will be better, and
I do think the injuries play a significant part of that.
We also have a relatively young team that should help,
especially with you know, the new guys being picked up.
So I hope so, But I just I feel like
this past year was not the greatest indication of who
we could be.
Speaker 1: She's now like dealing with two years of it, so
I'm hoping we can. The thing I want to see
from them the most is like I want to see
them play faster. And it doesn't look if they're gonna
after you know, offenses hit their shots and they're gonna
have to slow things down. Okay, fine, but like after rebounds,
after forcing turnovers, like let's get let's kick the butts
into high gear. Like I know Jimmy Butler's like eighty
at this point, but that dude can play fast. And
they have you mentioned they have some younger guys on
Hayward high Smith can do it, but Batman Dvaio can
do it like haimay Hawks can absolutely do it. So
I'm hoping that we see at least a faster version
of the Heat because honestly, their best path towards getting
better on offense when you look at the personnel, especially
if you can't on health, it's just like create more
chaos and try and thrive in that well.
Speaker 2: And it's funny that you mentioned Bam because I do.
It's almost like we forget how young he is or
how old he is. It's like we look at him
as this old head now because he's always being talked
about kind of in conversation with Jimmy Butler as his
number two. But he he should be acting like a
young guy, you know, I don't know. To me, he
definitely should be relied upon kind of moving faster, but
also just less of a like a veteran figurehead and
more of just someone who's in his prime, which he is.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter portion of
the podcast?
Speaker 2: Always?
Speaker 1: Is there anything about this team that is that we
have not discussed? Obviously, that's flying under the national radar
you think we need to talk.
Speaker 2: About I don't know. I feel like I sound like
a broken record at this point. I just think that
they love the underdog narrative and they know how much
they're being discounted right now. They know obviously the roster
has barely changed. I think that at I say full health,
but we're never fully healthy at most of our health.
I think we are going to shock a lot of people.
So I don't know. I'm just leaning into the whole
underdog narrative at this point.
Speaker 1: So you're you're like a really big believer in that
the front office does buy into the product that they
have currently assembled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe or two here and there. Do I think
that perhaps if they could move Duncan more easily they would, Yes,
But I think given what we have in kind of
the way that they're going about who they're retaining, and
also you know who they're drafting and so on, I
do think they believe in this team pretty strongly.
Speaker 1: The thing that I'm wondering if it's receiving enough attention,
is whether they will have let's just say they're right
where you would expect them to be. They're in the
playoff hunt, do they have the urgency to make a
move and it basically has to be we know the
second April limitations, like they can't go into it so
they can aggregate salary, but they can't take back more money.
That's fine, That's where would you expect them just yeah, okay,
you have Bam, you have some younger guys, but like
you are on Jimmy Butler's timeline, do you think that
this is a team I don't even tell necessarily about
a blockbuster, but that they will operate with urgency if
the chance to upgrade presents itself in the middle of
the season, where those moves are one more difficult to negotiate.
But we kind of some of this with Terry Rozier.
It can be hard to integrate these guys in the
in midstream.
Speaker 2: I do. I think though, that they're more focused right
now on showing everyone and themselves I guess what they
can do right now with this roster, because I think
without that, it's going to be even harder to attain
what they want to attain through moves at the deadline.
If they're kind of just showing that they're injured and
that you know, maybe it's another dut of a season.
I think that they need to focus more on how
they start off and get to that point. I am
usually one to say that, you know, player integration is
a big thing to consider, but I also think that
there's kind of of pros and cons with that. If
we are going off Jimmy's timeline, it's kind of at
this point you may as well take that risk, because
I think for the last year two three, they've played
it a little bit safe in terms of kind of
sticking with the roster and seeing what happens there. But
if they do come out like I think they will
for the first half of the season, I think they're
going to be in a good position to do something,
not to your point, necessarily some blockbuster move, but something
that would position them a lot better.
Speaker 1: To that end, you're looking at this roster right now,
without having seen any games, what is their biggest need
to you?
Speaker 2: I think it's three point shooting. And I also am
not quite sure how I feel about our point guard
situation right now. That's not to necessarily say that I
don't feel good about it, but I just don't feel
like I've seen enough to feel any type of way.
I just feel like the Rogier experiment, it was just
not enough for me to make a good opinion one
way or another. So I'm a little bit there's a
question mark for me there, which I.
Speaker 1: Think is unbelievably fair. By the way, because they do
have self creators on this team, Bam, Jimmy Tyler Hero,
Alec Burks is one of those guys like Alec Burks.
Speaker 2: Will which I keep forgetting about.
Speaker 1: So I probably win the heat like two or three games.
He also might cost them like two or three games.
That's how the Alec Burks experience works. And then you
do have Terry Rozier, who's always been to me more
of an off guard than a point guard. It's like,
you do have all these self creation options, and yet
I agree with you that I just have questions about
when it comes to floor generally, especially outside of Jimmy Butler,
is that still the area. And it's also like to
say that they might need when people say they need
shock creation, I do think they're mostly saying, well, they
wanted off the dribble three point shooter aside from Tyler
Hero on this roster, which again to me would be fair. Yeah,
this is a tough question. So I think we need
to break it down. I want to know about their
top ten rotation at full strength. But the heat, as
you already said, have so many question marks. Let's start here.
Who would you start? Who would be the starting five
if everybody's healthy for you?
Speaker 2: So I had Terry, Jimmy, Hamae, Duncan, and Bam, which
was vastly different than where you had.
Speaker 1: Well, I told you before we started this team is
in so far as I have no fucking idea about anything,
I have even more less of an idea about this team.
So you would bring Tyler Hero off the bench?
Speaker 2: I would. I know he's probably not. I don't think
that's necessarily what his ego wants, but I do think
he performs better. He's a guy who I feel like,
time after time just needs time to warm up. And
I also feel like they need a little bit of
flash coming off that bench. You know they have that
in BAM and Jimmy and Hamey as well. If we
are starting him, they just they need someone with a
little bit of something to lead that second unit. And
I'm offended that you left Jay rich off because to me,
he also gives a little something but I would have
Jay Rich and Tyler coming off the bench. Uh.
Speaker 1: Well, look, this top ten was tough. I thought about booting.
So let's look at their rote locks den. So even
if the starting lineup differs, it seems like they would
have eight locks for the top ten rotation in Hero Butler,
Jim Hawks, Nikoli, Jovich, Bam Terry, Duncan, Robinson, and Hayward
high Smith. Would you agree that all those guys would
be penciled into the full strength rotation?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So then the other two you want Jay Rich
in there, and then so you have like khalil Ware,
Alec Burks, Kevin Love, Like who's getting the shaft? Then
in not Kevin Love.
Speaker 2: I cannot. I could never do that.
Speaker 1: I guess yeah. I mean emotionally sure, but functionally I'm
kind of like I probably.
Speaker 2: Okay, but if you know anything about me, there's no
separating the two. I am like such a player player
first x is and O's second type of fan. I also,
I just think that in small bursts at the right moment,
but he Kevin can still hoop, and I feel like
sometimes when everything is looking super bleak, He's the one
who comes in gets you going again, and then he
stepped out and never never sees the floor again for
that the rest of that game. But I feel like
he's instrumental in lighting that fire, both from like a
moral standpoint, but also actually giving them whether it's it's
threes or honestly a little bit on defense too.
Speaker 1: So to be clear, I would have him in the
top ten rotation, and part of my calculus there was
he will throw outlet passes and if I want to
heat to play faster, that would be a good way
to start. I would have koleil Ware in there instead
of Jay Rich. Maybe I'm reading too much into the
injury and the type of season he had last year.
I just want to see khalil Ware. I think that's
really where you know you have loved Bias.
Speaker 2: It has been my boy since day one.
Speaker 1: So I in the middle and just say that pel
Larson should start. Can we all at least get on
the same page there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally not a hot take at all.
Speaker 1: This will be matchup dependent to some extent. But if
you had to guess what will be their most used
crunch time unit this season, which five players would you
go with?
Speaker 2: I capped it honestly at Jimmy Bamman Hame. I think
the rest will be super like opponent driven and also
unfortunately injuries too. I just think those those three guys
are guys that I can always rely on, not only
in terms of giving both offensively and defensively what we need,
but making the right plays in those moments.
Speaker 1: I think I would agree with the locks. I think
you also have to kind of include like Terry Rozier
and Tyler Hero as one player where it's one of
those two will always be on the floor and crunch
time for the shooting, and then it gets super you
could throw out a bunch of different combinations if if
you're Miami. So I wish they tracked that a little
better like the crunch time lineups you play, because I
could see Heat being one of the teams that are
in like the ninety nine percentile the number of like
clutch time lineups that they use next year. Is there
a weird, funky offbeat off the Rails lineup that you
want to see this team?
Speaker 2: I literally, like in my notes, was like, no, because
all of our lineups end up being that way because
of injuries. So I don't even want to put that
in the universe, And to your point, I feel like like,
obviously he wants his team healthy, but he thrives a
little when that happens. So I we're gonna see one inevitably.
I hope they're not often, and I hope they're not
always because of injuries, but they'll be out there.
Speaker 1: See I bask in funky lineups, and so I'm gonna
lean into the kind of f shooting and say, gimme
Hay with high Smith Jimmy Jim Hawk as Bam and
khalil Ware and let's throw that out there and look,
if you need the shooting, I'm willing to sub out
Heywood high Smith for pel Larson and then that might
just solve. That might be like top five offensive material.
Speaker 2: I honestly, I feel like you're gonna get a call
and get recruited as some sort of the front office.
Now they're just like that's so wacky. It might just work.
Speaker 1: And like you said, they're injured all the time. So
I guess with this team it's kind of like, all right,
you might as well just brace for forever.
Speaker 2: I hope the more I say that, the more the
universe is like, oh, you're onto me now. We're gonna
have the healthiest season known today and like that's like
reverse psychology with the universe currently and.
Speaker 1: I'm also trying to manifest like playing time and success
for pel Larson. We're gonna see it in the middle
of next year. IM gonna dm in like January or February.
It might be a loss that he might have been
blown out by thirties and be like, you know, I
kind of get what you were saying about Pel Larson
five months ago. Okay, So keeping in theme with the
heat not really changing, They're over under as we record
this on September the tenth is forty four and a half.
It was forty four and a half when we recorded
last year, Alana, So would you take the over or
the under?
Speaker 2: I'm giving them forty nine wins this year.
Speaker 1: Holy fuck, that is a lot.
Speaker 2: That's like I'm listen, I'm feeling good. I'm just gonna
lean all the way into this. I'm excited and that
could just be because I'm basketball deprived, but I don't know.
I think we're going to do a lot better and
a lot more than a lot of people think.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming then that you believe like they're probably going
to have a top five defense or something, or you're
just like that big of a believer in what the
offense could be.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think a lot of it is leaning
on defense, and I think a lot of it is
also just leaning on guys like Hame coming back and
being like you thought my rookie year was great, just eight.
So I'm just I think we saw glimpses, in my opinion,
especially during the playoffs, of what this team really could
have been. And I'm just hopeful hoping that with enough
health and you know, some development here and there for
the young guys, that that's what we're gonna get a
good eighty five percent of the time.
Speaker 1: So I sent you a list of what I consider
the most relevant Eastern Conference teams and so on. That
list is the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Milwaukee Bucks,
the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, the
Indiana Pacers, the Orlando Magic, and the Atlanta Hawks. Health
is the caveat for everyone, so we don't need to
factor that in. But of those eight teams, if you
had to guess, you don't even necessarily need to go
into the specific teams but how many of them do
you see Miami being better than next year?
Speaker 2: I don't even remember who I listed, but I said.
Speaker 1: Five, five seams. I think that might for me. That
might be so Boston, I'm gonna go no, And there's
question marks with everyone, but I think i'd go no
with the Sixers, the Knicks, and then at least one
of the Bucks or the Calves, if not both of them.
So five feels it, I might settle into like three
or four. I'm pretty high on the Calves if the
Bucks are healthy, and you could use the health caveat
for the Bucks if you're gonna use it for the
but like the Bucks, you have to use it for
the heat as well, So if they're better than five,
I mean, I guess that keeps in theme with your
forty nine win prediction too. So since we seem to
differ here a little bit, let's try and workshop this
in a lightning round fashion. Boston. We agree they'll be
better radulant. The rating champions are fraudulent, Yes.
Speaker 2: The ranting champions who had it basically handed to them
on a silver platter. And I feel like, for some reason, uh,
Jason Tatum has now become as annoying as Jill and Brown,
which makes me sad because he was the one Celtic
that I was rooting for. So I feel some self
implosion happening.
Speaker 1: I mean, how was it hit? Christoph's present was healthy
for like two games in the playoffs or three games
or whatever it was, and they won the title? Any
I don't know if that you could call that hand
in on a silver platter.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm not I have.
Speaker 1: Hear me, you have a better regular season record than
the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna say yes, because I'm like, now so
far into this narrative that I've created for my own
perception of this heat season that sure, why not?
Speaker 1: All right? So let's frame this way. What should these teams?
Do you think they have the best chance of having
a better regular season record then Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York
or Philly.
Speaker 2: I don't really have faith in Philly either, and I
feel like, especially because they've made so many changes to
their roster, that it's gonna be one of those things
that I think it's gonna take time for them if
they even get there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I would say all these teams we
just talked about be better than the Heat. But to
your point about Philly, the more I've thought about them
this offseason, the more I've softened on how high I
was with the supporting cast around the three stars and
just the look the Miami Heat have health questions, the
Joelle and beat of it all, with how many games
is gonna play? How healthy will be?
Speaker 2: Certainly men I also the Bucks are kind of a
question mark to me too. It's almost like they've been
so reliable that like at some point it's gonna get stagnant.
I don't know, there's something about the Bucks that I'm like,
what now, Like you've kind of.
Speaker 1: Just they're old. It's just I mean, Giannis is fine,
They've garytur Junior and there. I thought they did some
nice work on the margins. I like AJ Green, but
what does Dame look like? Chris Middleton just had dual
ankle surgeries. Brook Lopez is gonna be what thirty five,
thirty six? He was fine last year? But is there
any drop off there? So there?
Speaker 2: Yes, almost like we've reached to me, we've reached like
the end of sustainability with them.
Speaker 1: To see I probably have them as the second best
team in the East. I think that there's like this
might be the Swan song, but they were so dominant
when their four best players were on the court last
year that I think that element is still there. It's
the sustainability beyond next season I would worry about. But
they Philly and Miami, for teams that are considered playoff hopefuls,
have just like a lot of health question marks. When
you kind of look at that.
Speaker 2: That you put us in Philly in the same category
with that deeply saddens me.
Speaker 1: Well, Philly has like one dude, and I guess Paul
George has had some shoulder stuff. But Jimmy's always dealing
with something, Tyler hero is always dealing with something, and
then somebody else, a rotation player in Miami is just
gonna miss a shit ton of time.
Speaker 2: That's like, I completely agree on the health run. It's
just you grouping them together in any sense that is
the problem here.
Speaker 1: I think you need to take that as a compliment
given what happened to Miami last year.
Speaker 2: Listen, I can't I can't support Philly, and it pains
me because Kyle, like I and PJ. Tucker like there
were reasons for me to like in theory be fine
with Philly, but I just you can't do it.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else about Miami that we haven't discussed
anyone else on the team, anything about this team that
you would like to touch upon before I let you
skip that.
Speaker 2: I'm honestly just excited. I think you know as many
question marks as there are, and I think we've addressed
this ad nauseum, but there are just there's really so
many unknowns. Tyler is going to be the one for
me where I genuinely have no idea what's coming. I
don't know which Tyler we're getting hit new haircut Tyler?
Like are we are we entering a new era? I
don't know? To me, Like, obviously BAM is the biggest
storyline for me, just to see to it.
Speaker 1: Yep, you're good.
Speaker 2: Obviously this team has several question marks, and I did
say that for me, BAM was kind of the biggest
storyline to watch. But I am so curious what's going
to happen with Tyler. I think for me, seeing what
version of Tyler we're getting is going to be not
necessarily the make or break for the season, but it
is going to be the most interesting thing.
Speaker 1: Alana, this was fun as always. Thank you for coming back.
You're able just to tell our listeners where they can
find you on the socials.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, just a lot of to how we're on
all platforms. I might not come out of retirement until
the next season again, but you can always find me
on there for any ridiculous takes and probably going against
e Twitter as usual.
Speaker 1: Alana, thank you so much for your time as always,
and as you know by now, I'll be talking and
pestering you again down.
Speaker 2: A line sounds great.
Speaker 1: Thank you,