The Miami Heat really fumbled things this offseason. There’s no other way to put it here.
Obviously, the Heat missed out on Damian Lillard despite the guard making his intentions clear after he requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers. All Miami had to do was come up with a suitable offer that the Trail Blazers liked and they just couldn’t do it.
Now, Lillard is a Milwaukee Buck. Gabe Vincent — the Heat’s starting point guard from last season — is a Laker. And an aging Kyle Lowry will probably be slotted into that starting spot for the Heat this season —tough break.
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But what if I told you that break gets even tougher? What if Damian Lillard wasn’t the only guard the Heat failed the make a move on.
Apparently, Bradley Beal wanted to join up with Jimmy Butler and the Heat before he was traded to the Phoenix Suns.
Beal told Andscape’s Marc Spears that Miami was his initial favorite trade destination before the Suns swooped in and picked Beal up.
Heat fans, I’m sorry. Take a look at this:
“So, my initial favorite was Miami. And so, we call Miami. [Miami president] Pat [Riley] says well I’ll go talk to [owner] Micky [Arison] and figure it out. So he goes, talks to Micky, we go, we hear back [New York] Knicks, Sacramento, Brooklyn a little bit, and then it was Milwaukee and it was one more big team … And that was kind of one of the most difficult things about every trade and every team. And I respect and love every team, but a lot of them just couldn’t do it because the money was just so high.
…
I’m like, ‘OK, what’s Miami doing? Dragging feet.’ And eventually it came to a point to where Miami said they just can’t do it. But it was an eye-opener for sure. And that’s why I said I went into everything kind of open-minded and with an open slate. And out of nowhere here comes a dark horse in Phoenix and their aggressiveness pushed me over the top.”
Yikes, man. That is not a good look.
It’s reasonable to assume that Miami was probably trying to hold on to the trade pieces it had so it could still acquire Damian Lillard. Remember, Beal’s trade happened well before the Lillard actually asked out of Portland. It was hard to predict that sort of thing.
But, still. The Heat completely fumbled the bag twice this season when faced with a chance to add an All-Star talent to its roster. It waited too long with Lillard.
With Beal, it just seems like Miami didn’t think he was that good. ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his podcast last week the Heat just didn’t see Beal as “$30 million more than Tyler Herro” good over the next few years, which is reasonable if you’re a team that isn’t necessarily trying to win a championship now. But the Heat are. And Miami needs all the talent it can get.
Clearly, it missed out on a lot this summer. And there’s not really any way to make it up. This might be a rough season in Miami.