The Miami Heat are rare in the sense that they do not want to bottom out and rebuild from the ground up. They prefer to remain in the fringes of the playoff picture at the very least, and at present, they are remaining semi-competitive, hoping that the next star that becomes available deems the Heat to be the team they want to play for
Their moves this offseason certainly suggest that they’re going to gun for a playoff spot in the coming season. And it’s difficult to fault them for the trade they pulled off to bring Norman Powell in. All the Heat had to trade to acquire a 20-plus per game scorer in Powell were Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love, and a second-round pick — making it a no-brainer.Powell may not be the piece that takes this team from good to great, but he’s an incredible piece to have for a team that did have its fair share of offensive struggles this past season. He was one of the most efficient scorers in the NBA last year, taking some of the heavy scoring burden away from Tyler Herro.
The Heat have shown in the past that remaining semi-competitive and waiting to strike at the right time could work. They only need their Jimmy Butler-caliber player to set things in motion for their contending dreams. But that may not happen until the 2027 offseason, when stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Donovan Mitchell could, in theory, hit the open market.
Nonetheless, there is a move they must make that is staring the Heat franchise in the face
When the Heat traded for Rozier in 2024, the combo guard was in the middle of a career season for the Charlotte Hornets, averaging 23.2 points per game on 46/36/85 shooting splits. Miami needed a boost at the guard positions during that time, with Kyle Lowry being a shell of his former self already. Little did the Heat know that they would have been better off just keeping Lowry and the 2027 first-round pick that they gave up to bring Rozier in
Now, this is not to say that the current version of Rozier is a worse player than Lowry is. But it’s debatable as to whether or not that roster spot would be better off being designated for someone else rather than Rozier and his declining play while making $26.6 million in the final year of his contract. $24.9 million of that is guaranteed — removing the option of waiving him from the equation.
Of course, Rozier can still bounce back. He’s just 31 years of age, after all. Players who were as productive as Rozier was just two seasons ago always have that potential to return to form still, especially when they aren’t in their late 30s and haven’t exactly been plagued by injury problems.
