Kevin Love remained in the Heat‘s starting lineup Wednesday, but the results weren’t nearly as good as they were in Game 2, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. After sitting out the series opener, Love provided a spark in Sunday’s win at Denver and helped to neutralize the Nuggets’ height advantage.
He sank a three-pointer about a minute into Game 3 and drew an early charge on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but Love wasn’t as impactful on Wednesday night. He played just 16 minutes with six points and two rebounds while shooting 2-of-5 from the field.
Miami had been 11-2 in the playoffs with Love as a starter before Wednesday, but the starting five was badly outplayed by Denver. They were outscored by 10 points in their 16 minutes together and allowed the Nuggets to take control of the game early in the third quarter. Coach Erik Spoelstra has just one off day to consider whether he wants to adjust his starters again before the series resumes Friday night.
There’s more from Miami:
- The prospect of a Tyler Herro return appear less likely as the series wears on, Chiang adds. Herro has been able to practice, but he hasn’t received medical clearance yet to take part in games. The Heat have been listing him as day-to-day, but he hasn’t played since breaking two fingers on his right hand in Miami’s first playoff contest. “I don’t have another update for you,” Spoelstra told reporters before Game 3. “He is scheduled to have another full-contact workout (Thursday). He has not been cleared yet. So until he has been cleared, a lot of this stuff is really just hypothetical.”
- The Heat didn’t get much production from their complementary players in Wednesday’s loss, notes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. After scoring 19 and 23 points in the first two games of the Finals, Gabe Vincent shot just 2-of-10 on a seven-point night. Max Strus was 1-of-7 and Duncan Robinson only took two shots in the game’s first 45 minutes before sinking two late threes.
- Vincent and Strus are both in line for big raises in free agency, with a rival executive telling Darren Rovell of The Action Network that they may be able to land new contracts starting at $15MM per season. He also added that there’s a certain amount of risk for teams pursuing either player. “I’ve invested in players who had breakouts like these guys did and they turned out to be duds because they were just good in the system they were in,” the executive said. “If it doesn’t work out, you might never really know why. The teams that are going to be paying $12 to $15 million for Gabe Vincent and Max Strus are low- to mid-tier teams and they are going to be asked to do more on a consistent basis.”
- Damian Lillard identified the Heat as a potential destination if he were to ask for a trade, but the Trail Blazers star said that’s “definitely” not happening if Miami wins the title, according to a tweet from NBA Central.
Giving either of those players more than 12 million a year will be a mistake. Duncan Robinson is a prime example of why. Use their talents when they are cheap and let someone else overvalue them.
Love’s rebounding and size in the paint made it easier for Miami to deal with Aaron Gordon and MPJ, but the flip side of that is that if he’s not grabbing boards, he shouldn’t be playing. His shot still looks off, so he can’t take a real role on offense. I honestly don’t think Miami has the players to compete unless Jimmy goes for 40 ppg or someone else gets crazy hot. Denver’s offense is too multi-faceted for their current players to defend.
This Lillard stuff is so wrong. Miami might be a place if he were to ask for a trade? He should have played out his contract instead of signing for $60 mil in 25/26.
He wants his money more than he wants to win that’s obvious and he got his money. That’s great now play in Portland where you signed the contract and be loyal like you have been. No problem. But don’t sign a mega deal and then say you may ask for a trade. That’s not right.
He signed that deal with the expectation of competing. Portland hasn’t. At all. Especially not the last two seasons. I don’t see it as unreasonable to request a trade from a franchise that has repeatedly failed their star player. And it’s not like he’s sitting out games or half-assing it. He’s not James Harden.
EON, how do you suggest Portland improves other than what they’ve tried to do? They brought in a younger guy and traded away CJ McCollum. Okay. Brought in Jeremi Grant to improve the front line. Okay.
With the massive cap hit of Damian Lillard what else do you suggest the Blazers do with one hand tied behind their back?
Signing Simons to that extension wasn’t a good move in my opinion; they just recreated the McCollum-Dame pairing with worse defense, so they outright downgraded. Jusuf Nurkic isn’t a championship-caliber center. Keeping Sharpe instead of trading him for help was also not win-conscious. They got Grant, which was good, but his weakness, specifically weak rebounding, have given them problems. They had the opportunity to actually go all-in last year and outright refused. I get the desire to both build and compete, but that doesn’t result in championships. You’re either in, or you’re out.
And Portland’s problems with roster construction have gone back much farther than the last couple seasons. That kind of cap hit hasn’t stopped other teams from building around their star. The Nuggets have managed to do a better job of building around Jokic than the Blazers without spending near as much money, by drafting intelligently and filling in the gaps with trades and signings. The Heat have done a better job around Butler with a bunch of undrafted guys. The Kings brought in Sabonis with a win-now move to pair him with their star PG despite a lack of great drafts. The Raptors built a good core and made a win-now move to bring in Leonard, then stayed competitive for a couple years even after he left.
The Blazers combined lack of player development or drafting, consistent roster moves, and any eye for defensive talent have all screwed them over more than a few times. I’ll admit, injuries haven’t done them any favors. But they had plenty of opportunities to do better and refused because of the salary cap. Unlike your Warriors, they aren’t willing to commit to the luxury tax every year. Essentially, they did the same thing the Cavs did with LeBron prior to his free agency.
That’s a great breakdown Eon and you make so many great points. So much of it is drafting correctly, developing the young guys and Fringe guys, and building the roster properly. Portland hasn’t done that. Good post.
Really goes to show you how tough that entire process is. Not just anyone can roll up and build a winner in the NBA.
I honestly don’t think it’s about the money with Lillard. He is loyal and the Blazers have always been loyal to him. It’s a mutual respect.
“But don’t sign a mega deal and then say you may ask for a trade. That’s not right”.
Thats kinda the lay of the land today Gary, someone needs to tell Por FO that they still hold the wheel tho , thats the problem Imo
Reminds me on an interview Johhny Depp did where he said his idol Marlon Brando told him never to read a review on any of his movies as the ones reviewing it had no sense of the art and can effect your works thereafter
Cronin, or whoever is behind the curtain needs to be the one to draw the line in the sand, this pandering and trying to scratch everybody’s back is helping nobody
I don’t understand your logic. Every team that has a reasonable chance at winning will have a +$50m a year contract. Why is Portland uniquely different with Lillard?
Really, if they can trade Simons, Nurkic, and FRP for any combination of good and great PF and C that can improve defense and rebounding, then they’ll be in a position to win. (slot Sharpe at SG & Grant at SF)
I keep reading stories here about how the new CBA rules will help improve parity in the league… well, then I still think this team has set itself up for a run.
That said, Denver looks unstoppable and POR/Dame have had terrible playoff series’ against this same basic core team that has built that chemistry and improved all along.
Portland will likely come up short over the next couple of years, like everyone else, but in the meantime, the organization has fundamentally shifted in a promising direction and they are paying Lillard to be the leader of that change in culture.
Yes I understand JerBear, but what I’m saying is I don’t appreciate Damian Lillard signing for the next four years at the mega max, and then saying he will ask for a trade if things don’t go his way. My point is don’t sign the mega Max.., play out your contract and then leave.
But yeah you’re right, Portland needs to do a better job of what a couple guys mentioned above. Drafting, Player Development, Etc. Other teams do it while paying a max guy so why can’t the blazers?
Oh, got it. Thx. I guess that precedent is already set in my mind so now I see it as a given.
On that point, tho, the entire union / labor-relations angle is complex. I’m not sure which side I fall on. My impulse is to say players should not be locked in if teams can make trades. Tho, it seems the teams can’t properly invest if they can’t rely on their most valuable leaders…
But I read into Lillards comments a sense of fantasy. The other recent article said he acknowledged his contract is too big and any team that tried to get him would be too costly to still have a good team. He’s kind of stuck, really, unless he screws over POR, which then I’d agree with you would be b.s. So at this point, he’s probably just showing respect for what Miami is doing over there.
Yes makes sense, and it seems like teams and players are between a rock and a hard place now. The league is trying to control things where each city has one or two Max guys and then fill the rest of the roster as they will. They’d rather have that then Mega teams with four guys making big money and they’re doing their best to spread the talent around.
I guess I can see that as a good thing in a few ways. The top guys are getting paid, the smaller markets have an opportunity to get or keep two Max guys just as the big Market teams.
Pretty soon when the clipping of the wings of the Warriors and Clippers spending is realized, it will all come down to drafts and development and luring veterans on minimum contracts but even more so than today.
I don’t know…
Lillard in but who goes out?
It really depends on if the Bkazers want to tank or not…
Tyler Herro would have to be the centerpiece, obviously. The Heat aren’t giving up Jimmy or Bam. Especially not Bam, seeing as he’s the reason Lillard wants Miami in the first place. But that’s only 27 mil of 45 mil. And the Blazers would need multiple firsts to even sniff a reasonable deal as well. The Heat *really* don’t look like the trade partner Portland would prefer.
If Herro is the centerpiece it aint happening.
Exactly. Herro has gotten to the point that he’s developing at a rate that he’s only a get if a team is giving one of the elite to the Heat. Lillard is excellent, but at 32, I’d rather keep Herro developing for us.
The heat don’t have anything the blazers want, so I don’t see what impact the finals outcome will have on a Damian Lillard trade?
MIA may be on Dame’s list of preferred destinations, but I doubt they are on POR’s list of preferred trade partners.
The problem with POR’s (butt kissing) approach to all things DL is they might not have much choice (practically) if Lillard does demand a trade. On the one hand, DL is not KD or DM value-wise. On the other, he’s got more internal leverage over his existing team to compel them to take best available among his desired destinations than either of those two guys. IMO, it’s not out of the question that a MIA package of Herro, Martin, Jovic, #18 (2023) and 2028 FRP (top 4 protected) could be best available. I’m not convinced that MIA would even offer that, and/or might want to off load Robinson.
The Heat aren’t giving that package for Lillard.