With their season coming to an end at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers, here are five goals in the 2018 offseason for the Miami Heat.
In his wrap up of the Miami Heat‘s 2017-18 season following with their first-round defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers, veteran Miami Herald columnist Barry Jackson gave a straight forward analysis of their prospects moving forward:
"“Good enough to make the playoffs? Absolutely. Good enough to achieve anything meaningful once you get there? Absolutely not. And the later, after all, is what Heat president Pat Riley and this organization are all about – building championship contenders – not sixth, seventh and eighth seeds.”"
While finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 44-38 record is a commendable performance, Jackson is deadly accurate in pointing out that this doesn’t meet the expectations of Riley and the franchise.
As a whole, the Heat finished 20th with a 104.5 offensive rating, and seventh with a 104.0 defensive rating. Thus, with a 17th-ranked net rating, the Heat were essentially a middle-of-the-team just good enough to qualify for the playoffs.
In his annual season-ending exit interview, team president Pat Riley noted the following as a general assessment of the Heat roster:
Riley: "We have too many good to great players. We have 11 or 12 guys." Said this is a problem in some respects.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) April 30, 2018
Therefore, some serious decisions will need to made this offseason in terms of the composition of the roster. Does Hassan Whiteside have a future with the team? What will be done with Tyler Johnson and his oversized contract? Will Riley attempt to land a big name via trade or free agency?
With so many questions in the air, here are five broad goals for the Heat this upcoming offseason.