Is it enough?
This fun the Heat are creating?
Erik Spoelstra is the NBA’s coach of the month in another season he’s squeezing every drop of expectation from the roster. Goran Dragic is an All-Star, meaning this roster of moderate talents finally has a recognized one of higher standing.
Wayne Ellington, who just launched another 3-pointer as you read this sentence, actually might be the team’s Most Valuable Player. Even though he doesn’t start. Which explains what an odd team this is.
They’re nightly fun. They’re mostly winning. They’re still improving.
Oh, and one more thing:
They have no chance at a title.
Does that matter?
Should some button be pushed by next Thursday’s trade deadline?
It’s a tribute to the staggering success of the Heat that it’s a fair question to ask. It’s also a measure of the franchise’s confidence in itself that seasons aren’t just thrown away in some five-year rebuild like has become the accepted norm in sports.
Here’s the realistic flip-side to any pressing demand for a big move right now: It wouldn’t change the big picture at all.
Riley once pounded his head against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls teams. He now has the roadblock of LeBron James in the East. Even if that’s conquered, for the sake of argument, there’s a bigger and stronger one waiting in Golden State.
Nothing the Heat can do gets them a title this year or most likely the next few seasons. Riley seems to know that. Just this week, Blake Griffin was moved to Detroit for a few smaller pieces like the Heat could have cobbled together.
It’s not just Griffin the Heat hasn’t landed. Look at all the big names that have moved in the past year: Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, DeMarcus Cousins, Carmelo Anthony and Isaiah Thomas.
Meanwhile, the Heat added Kelly Olynyk. He’s a nice fit for what the Heat are doing. He doesn’t belong in the talent of the previous paragraph.
The one trade the Heat could make for today and tomorrow is for center Hassan Whiteside. That would allow them to get from under his contract while potentially added to the mix they have. But Whiteside is their most dynamic player. Come playoffs, he’s the only one who can change a series at both ends of the court. Do you trade that for his floating through January nights?
If the Heat were focused only on a title, they’d seriously consider trading Ellington before this deadline. He has never been more valued. The Heat will have little chance to fit him under the luxury tax when he’s a free agent this summer. Get something when you can? Or run out the season?
Riley said last April he said he wasn’t, “all goose bumply and fuzzy haired” over the team that went 30-11 finish that fed into this season. But after a failed run at Heyward, he kept the band together for this season and has passed on making roster-changing trades.
There’s plenty to like. These players like and respect each other, spend an unusual amount of time enjoying each other’s company and have an obvious chemistry so uncommon and unselfish in the cutthroat world of pro sports that the announcement of Dragic to the All-Star team was a sight to see.
“We’ve got another announcement,’’ Spoelstra said, the players seated before him at practice. “We’ve got another guy going to L.A. [for the All-Star Game.]”
He then shook Dragic’s hand as players jumped from their chairs and smothered him with hugs. That’s the kind of moment that defines this Heat team. They’re having fun, and it shows on the court, where they’re winning enough to make some noise.
Is it enough to get goose bumply over? Not when you’re measured against championships. But the big picture is no team can assemble a Big Three right now to uproot Golden State.
Riley surely sees that. He has a good team, a fun team. You never dismiss a move from him. But it looks like he’s ready to let this roster ride for as far into spring as it can.
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