The Heat are investing $15MM+ this season in Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin in the hopes that both players can build on their encouraging 2021/22 runs. While Miami is certainly hoping guard Oladipo can get closer to his pre-injury All-Star heights this season, and that the 6’5″ Caleb Martin can convincingly play significant minutes as the team’s power forward, the team has a variety of other options to pick up the slack on its roster if neither scenario comes to pass, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
As Winderman observes, guards Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, and Gabe Vincent make up a threatening backcourt rotation with or without Oladipo stepping up, and 6’7″ small forward Jimmy Butler will most likely at least finish games as Miami’s power forward.
There’s more out of South Beach:
- On the heels of the news that the league’s salary cap is on track to increase over $10MM to a projected $134MM for 2023/24, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes that the Heat still won’t have much flexibility to add new players, given the $132.4MM Miami has locked in for just its five best players with guaranteed deals that season. Assuming Herro reaches a contract extension agreement with the club and a few other contracts remain on the team’s books, the club could quite possibly exceed the expected $162MM tax threshold in 2023/24, according to Jackson, who opines that the best way for Miami to make upgrades will be through trades, not free agency.
- Butler was awarded a 93 overall player rating, the ninth-best among all players in the new video game NBA 2K23, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Winderman notes that Butler’s score ties him with fellow All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Ja Morant.
Q will Orlando Robinson show Riley enough to make the roster ….?
He’s got LaMarcus Aldridge archetype
lol a 2k rating making rumors page is funny to me
Martin isn’t and will never be a PF. You’d think a Heat reporter would know that. Didn’t he watch the playoffs last yr. Heat need to find a 4 to play with Bam. Or keep Bam at the 4.
Oladipo looked good to me last yr. I think he’s ready for real mins. He can be a part of rotation. Heat need to replace Tucker. Should of signed Harrell imo. Herro is a player I wonder if they want long term. He could be on the move.
Basically the Heat want to small ball Martin into the same role/minutes as Tucker played. It doesn’t matter whether you label 3 or 4, it’s going to be with Butler and Bam. Martin has said he’s going to bulk up some so it should be fine. He played some “4” last year and the numbers were really good. Don’t get caught up in the semantics of it or feel the need to bash the reporter. The reporter is basically just being spoon fed talking points by the team which want to promise Martin a role and minutes publicly while not threatening Butlers minutes at all.
Yes it’s basically rolling with what you have. And wow the heat are sure going to miss PJ tucker. I have a feeling there will be an impact in the standings just as his absence hurt Milwaukee.
Heat have to replace him. They will. Even if it means moving Bam to the 4. It’s his rightful position anyway. I was Heat I’d start Howard and Bam as my bigs. Howard only needs to play 20-25 mins.
Dude you don’t know me. He will never in his lifetime be a 4. I don’t need anyone to tell me what to think. A 6’ 5” 205 lb SG. Which is what he played last yr. Will never hold down the 4. You can play small ball all you want. Very few teams can win Titles with it. Playing the 4 means you can defend the 4. He’s not defending no one at the 4.
Tucker can do it cause he is thick and got girth. And has done it all his life. No one becomes a 4 in the NBA having never done it. Most small 4s like Tucker do t even last in NBA. Small ball has kept them around.
If you play Bam next to Claxton. Two real 4s n 5s. Heat would win a few titles with this team. Cause both can play n defend against bigs or small ball.
The Celtics who won all those titles. Played small ball long before. Semantics got nothing to with it. Balling is balling. It’s all about who you are playing.
It’s semantics because Butler and Bam are there and who guards the 4 between him and Bulter depends on the match up. Martin played over 20% of his minutes last year at the 4 with widely positive plus minus.