The Bucks‘ run to the NBA Finals might reveal what the Heat lacked this season, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. In addition to perpetual All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and occasional All-Star swingman Khris Middleton, Milwaukee added borderline All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to the mix this season. Holiday’s excellent two-way play and ball-handling abilities helped take Milwaukee to the next level.
The Heat, on the other hand, have two stars in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, but currently lack a third two-way threat. Winderman notes that promising second-year guard Tyler Herro could become that player, but cautions that a healthy star-studded Nets team will most likely be the class of the East going forward, and that Miami must be ready with reinforcements.
There’s more out of the Sunshine State:
- After the Heat were swept out of the first round by the Bucks, it seemed apparent that offseason roster changes would be coming. Now, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel suggests that exactly what transpires could be predicated on how certain timing elements shake out. The club’s front office, led by team president Pat Riley, will have to decide on expensive team options for former All-Stars Goran Dragic, 35, and Andre Iguodala, 37, on August 1. The club holds a $15MM team option on Iguodala and a $19.4MM option on Dragic. If the club wants to use its 2028 first-round pick in any trade, it will have to wait until after the July 29 draft. If the Heat want to use role players Duncan Robinson or Kendrick Nunn as sign-and-trade fodder, the team will only be able to do so after August 6.
- Though he was up for the head coaching position with the Magic, Memphis head coach (and former four-time Orlando All-Star) Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway never seemed like a leading contender for the gig, opines Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. Hardaway withdrew his name from consideration and opted to remain in the NCAA for now.
- Former Nets head coach and current Clippers assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, who oversaw a successful rebuild in Brooklyn, appears to not be one of the major candidates for the Magic head coaching job, writes Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel. Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, Suns assistant Willie Green, Bucks assistant Charles Lee, and three assistants of now-former Magic coach Steve Clifford all will interview or have already interviewed for the job. Hays wonders why Atkinson’s name hasn’t also made the cut, given his track record as a solid coach adept at developing young talent.
Yes
3 teams will have to be ready for Healthy Nets next 4 seasons
Heat
Celtics
76ers
Trade trade trade
If they are not ready, they won’t win anything
Hawks have 6 rookie contracts. All 6 players are quality starters
The Sixers were ready this season and didn’t win anything as the #1 seed.
Philly hasn’t even reached the ECF in 20 years, they had their chance and blew it.
Rockets went to conference finals 3 times last 20 years?
Suns 3?
Clippers 1
Kings 1
Phoenix must be the only team to make the NBA Finals after missing the playoffs 10 years straight. With their luck, they won’t have to worry about Giannis being 100%.
why do people forget the injury history of all three Nets all-stars? Why do people forget Kyrie Irving walked out on his team without cause not once, but 3 times in the last 6 months? Why do people forget a prime Durant, prime Westbrook, and Harden ready to explode couldn’t win a title… but somehow Kyrie (worse than westbrook) is somehow going to?
Beacuse they’re from New York! How do you not get this!
A team from Milwaukee can’t just get to the finals. They’ve gotta be lucky. That the Bucks lost one of the elite perimeter defenders before the series doesn’t matter.
That Jeff Green came in and hit 7 straight 3’s in a game that KD scored 49 points and there is just one BB, so one of those two things almost certainly would NOT have happened otherwise…also not important.
People just want to diminish what these two teams have done because they’re not large markets. That’s all.
Hardaway should do better at Memphis now that the NCAA is withdrawing itself from making judgements. Indeed there is no reason for the NCAA to exist anymore. People do not seem to want it around.
Atkinson not hired anywhere, D’Lo Russell not counted on: Eventually Dinwiddie should get some leadership recognition.
Ira Winderman proves he knows less and less every year. Always love Riley destroying him for his stupidity at his exit interviews/press conferences in the offseason/when training camp starts the last few years
Ira is at every single Heat game, knows every player, has relationships with everyone in the franchise… but you know better than him? OOOOOOOOK
He asks about a 3rd true pg at every single riley press conference. Dude is 90 thousand years old. He has been around since I was a kid, not denying that. Doesnt mean he knows a single thing about basketball, and he proves that point himself over and over and over again. He doesnt need me to make that point for him
Atkinson is a good choice for Orlando. Mistake not looking at him. He did right by Nets. With those two high picks. He’s the right guy for the job IMO.
It’s not necessarily Orlando that isn’t interested. For all we know it’s Atkinson that rejected an offer to interview.
He knows first hand rebuild coaches have a very short shelf life.
If he’s competitive, he probably has aspirations higher than just being “the rebuild” guy. In the meantime, he has a great coaching gig in LA.