The Miami Heat made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals and were one shot away from beating the Boston Celtics in Game 7 to make it to the NBA Finals. However, the Heat had dealt with various issues on their roster regarding the health of their players all season. Despite that, the team was a formidable second seed in the East and made its way to the ECF.
Kyle Lowry was struggling for good health in the playoffs, having an extremely hard time all post-season. An unnamed NBA executive spoke with Heavy.com and revealed that they felt more confident in the guard play of Gabe Vincent during the playoffs and didn’t sign a backup PG due to their trust in Vincent.
“Go back and watch them in the playoffs last year. I think the dirty little secret there is that they were better with Gabe Vincent on the floor than with Kyle Lowry. Now, to be fair to Lowry, he was not healthy, that was obvious. But on the other side, they were really good with Vincent in there. He did not play lights-out, but he could get the ball to Jimmy [Butler] and get out of the way, then play some defense on the other side. So they’re fine with him as the backup.” (h/t Heavy)
Did The Miami Heat Have A Good Offseason?
The Miami Heat have objectively had one of the weaker offseasons in the NBA this year. They were involved in making trade packages for the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant but couldn’t land either star. In the meantime, they saw PJ Tucker walk to conference rival, the Philadelphia 76ers.
Their lack of additions to the core rotation can be a massive concern next season, especially with the Eastern Conference getting stronger. Teams like the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks are better positioned to upset teams like the Heat after acquiring Western Conference guards like Dejounte Murray and Jalen Brunson.
Lowry can still be extremely useful for the Heat in the playoffs as a former champion, but the team around him and Jimmy Butler needs to be improved. The only question everyone will have is whether there is enough left in the market for Miami to improve its situation.
