Pat Riley went all in. He traded a significant chunk of the Miami Heat roster to land Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was the kind of swing that defines a franchise for a decade. The kind that makes the rest of the Eastern Conference nervous. But now comes the hard part: building a team around him that can actually win a title.
And according to a report from longtime NBA writer Kevin O’Connor, the early returns on that plan are not inspiring. O’Connor wrote for Yahoo Sports that some of the Heat’s potential free agent targets — Tim Hardaway Jr., Mike Conley Jr., and Buddy Hield — feel less like a championship supporting cast and more like a budget clearance rack.
O’Connor used the word “bleak.” That’s not a word you want attached to your offseason right after acquiring a two-time MVP and Finals MVP.
The Norman Powell question
Here’s the thing. The Heat already had a version of the perfect backcourt partner for Antetokounmpo on their roster last season. Norman Powell averaged 21.7 points on 47 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent from three in 58 games for Miami. He was consistent. He was productive. And he is now a free agent.
But the Heat don’t have a lot of cap flexibility. Especially after wing Andrew Wiggins started drawing interest from teams like the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. The bidding war for Powell could get expensive fast. And Riley might not have the stomach for it given the dollars already tied up elsewhere.
O’Connor thinks that would be a mistake. “That is why retaining Powell should be the priority, no matter what it takes to dump [Nikola] Jović, given how unappealing the alternatives are,” he wrote. “Powell plus two of Conley, Hardaway and Hield sounds a whole lot better than a backcourt plan built only around the leftovers.”
Hardaway and Conley have real problems
Hardaway just finished one of the best regular seasons of his career. But he fell off hard in the playoffs. That’s becoming a pattern. Conley can still run an offense, but he’s 39 years old and can’t handle heavy minutes anymore. Hield is a career sharpshooter, but he’s never been a primary creator in a playoff setting.
Pairing a 34-year-old streaky shooter and an aging point guard with Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo sounds like a plan that gets you bounced in the second round. Not the one that topples the New York Knicks or the Celtics.
The Heat need urgency. That’s what O’Connor is getting at. South Beach just landed a superstar, and the window for competing at the highest level is right now. Riley has some time to figure out a deal for Powell if he wants to. But fans will expect a strong follow-up to the Giannis blockbuster. Waiting around for leftovers isn’t going to cut it.
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