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NBA Christmas: A gift for each team’s wish list in 2018

By Gerald Bourguet

Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images /
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Miami Heat: Roster fireworks

Even after Thursday’s win against the Rockets pushed the Miami Heat to three straight victories, they still sport a losing record at 14-16. Goran Dragic is out for the next two months due to a knee procedure, and if the season ended today, this team would be missing the playoffs.

All the reports say the Heat are not interested in tanking, which makes sense — they’re too good to lose games, but probably not good enough for anything more than a first round playoff exit. That leaves them in NBA no-man’s land, with a bunch of bloated contracts that need to be moved before the rebuild can really get underway.

Josh Richardson, Bam Adebayo and Justise Winslow form a nice foundation for the next chapter, but whether it’s Dragic, James Johnson, Hassan Whiteside, Kelly Olynyk or Tyler Johnson, this team has to start unloading unwanted salary. A major roster blow-up is unrealistic, but we’ll settle for some casual fireworks.