you're making my point for me. everything will be great, you just have to wait 3 years.

and all of their contracts are movable, you just won't be able to move any of them until they're more like expirings.

they could have accomplished both of those things with non-mediocre cap management and rebuilt sooner. instead they will be the #4-8 seed for the next 3 years, which is a little miraculous since they currently have the 3rd worst offense in the league.

Lakers are kind of a bad example since they will always garner huge support and care a lot more about championships

I mean they're stuck paying 1/4 of the cap on BOSH and they're selling out and making the playoffs. LOL Heat I guess

I got bored and did this for every team in the 3-10 morass making all teams equal and factoring in HCA and B2Bs. The results were kind of surprising:



I have Minny going 48-34 despite losing the next 7 games! I'm going to keep tabs on this daily to see who's ahead/behind where I think they'll end up.

i think the absolute worst year for heat in attendance they were 15th (one of the post-shaq pre lebron years). they are consistently between 5th and 10th in attendance.

this isn't like the hawks or grizzlies where it's a disaster if they can't field a winning team.

if it's not terrible (like right now) then they're approx 6th best in attendance. but it's not appealing right now to stars unless they offload all of these bad dumb contracts. i don't see anyone interested in any of these dudes on a future trade deadline but you never know.

the only teams more mediocre than the ones in the middle are the magic and the kings, who tank and can never actually become anything.

having been a hawks fan for most of my life, i assign absolute mediocrity to teams who are committed to being good but zero title equity. miami has ensured this for probably 4 years. they are mediocre.

The Heat sell out every game and Shaq and Lebron have proven they have an upside that LOLAtlanta do not have

again, you're making my point for me. you have a city that can actually get these dudes, so why are you capping yourself out on average dudes for 3 years. just go the lakers route and be not great for a couple years and get some pieces then sell some dude on a max contract in miami. its not hard.

And you may be thankful for the Hawks strategy but I doubt the owner is too ecstatic considering they've literally lost half of their viewers, but hey at least they locked up Schroder

Yeah Miami has cemented themselves as a 40 win team and are paying a fortune for it with no upside in the next 3-4 years now. Despite the fact it is a top 3 destination for NBA players.

It's like they had PLLS (Post Lebron Leaving Syndrome)

lol okay you guys win, LOLOLOL Heat

fyp

hawks were always a dumpster fire in attendance, and their 60 win season only propelled them to the 17th or so. it's not saying a lot.

atlanta probably the WOAT sports city, clap!

how are the falcons fans? the issue with ATL are manyfold. one, most people live in the burbs. two, too many transplants. three, it's really SEC football territory. four, TRAFFIC. five, none of the stadiums are in ideal spots for convenience--aren't most not near mass transportation and most not in cool spots surrounded by bars.

Gotta start thinking about Thad's HOF chances

Dudley in. Misses both free throws, steps out of bounds. 11-1 Grizz run to close the first.

Tank in gear.

nooooooo.....

The heat have made 2 moves in the last ~5 years that I thought sucked. 1 is amnestying Miller. Just really poor optics. Think Mickey needs to eat the tax. 2 is the Dragic trade.

They paid market price for Dragic, which isn't great when a team doesn't have a high ceiling. Worse, it essentially locked the Heat into being forced to compete and forcing yourself to one path 5 years down the road (the 2021 pick is unprotected) seems like awfully bad business. The trade looks worse in hindsight now that 2 1st round picks get you a lot more.

The rest of the deals you don't like lack context. TJ and Whiteside are guys they shined up in their D league - a source they've gotten more talent than any other franchise in the league. The signings in 2016 and 2017 are meh, but they were both plan Bs to Durant and Hayward. The 2017 signings in particular had no opportunity cost since TJs salary bump means there isn't any 2018 and 2019 capspace to preserve. And they used really creative cap gymnastics to sign Kelly Olynyk - most thought they could just sign JJ and Waiters.

For a team that went from a big 3 to nothing very fast, I think they've done pretty well. Look up and down that roster and you'll find 14 useful rotational pieces that Spo and their program gets the max out of. And like I've mentioned, people in the league take note. When Kyrie asked out of Cleveland, Miami was one of 4 teams on the list. When Hayward did the FA tour the Heat were one of 3. And when Durant did his they were one of 6.

I think their long term vision was bad, but calling them a stupid organization because they let wade freelance too much while ignoring the things that they do well is really silly. Maybe they're stubborn, but dumb? Just a ridiculous assessment.

Didn't the Heat have like the best record in the 2nd half of the season last year?

you can explain away the stupid decisions the front office made, it doesn't make them any less dumb.

having terrible long term vision and handing your offense to washed DWade makes you dumb.

having 14 useful rotational pieces guarantees an average basketball team (and maybe a contender if you have bradGOAT) but when you're capped out, it doesn't matter how much star players are taking notice.

Suns really don't have to tank. They're just really ****ing awful. I purchased a cheap pair of season tickets for next year(just because it came with the rest of this year free), hoping they might start getting better. I'm starting to have buyer's remorse.

@Clips vs Rockets, leggo beard

Lol@ Chris Paul getting booed and Harden getting cheers

LMAO

Lol Harden

LOL @ staring down Wesley Johnson.

I for one can't wait for Playoff Rondo to be upon us.