Following a season full of underwhelming performances, here are five important takeaways from 2018-19 for the Miami Heat.
While the Miami Heat‘s farewell for franchise legend Dwyane Wade was first class, their 2018-19 campaign was far from satisfactory.
In posting a 39-43 record, the Heat founds themselves unable to complete Wade’s formal farewell with one final trip to the postseason. In doing so, the Heat found themselves missing out on the playoff action for the third time in five seasons.
Overall, the Heat had an incredibly inconsistent season, with some highly impressive wins mixed in with some horrible losses. This past season represented the third year in which this core group of players has shared the court together. Having now posted a 124-122 record over this stretch, Heat president Pat Riley expressed his considerable frustration at his season-ending press conference:
"“This has not come together the way that I thought it would. I thought this year for sure in my mind that we would be in the top half of the Eastern Conference. Fourth, fifth, that would be a step forward.”"
Now facing an extremely challenging offseason, the Heat front office and coaching staff are bound to be working around the clock to ensure they’re fielding the most competitive team possible come 2019-20.
However, before looking too far ahead, here are five main takeaways from the 2018-19 season.