Miami Heat Might Be Better Off Missing The Playoffs
By Jared Doyle
@outofboundsjay
Steve Mitchell- USA Today Sports
It was inconceivable to think, even with the departure of LeBron James this summer, that the Miami Heat could even get close to missing the playoffs this season, especially in an extremely weak Eastern Conference.
Things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for Heat, as injuries have robbed this team of any continuity going into the second quarter of the season. Because of this, the Heat have dropped to the eighth seed in East, and are in danger of dropping even further with a tough stretch of road games against some elite teams out of the Western Conference in the next couple weeks.
This current Heat team, if they are able to climb back into the top eight, won’t be doing any damage come playoff time. A first-round exit is the most likely result, placing this franchise in dreaded NBA limbo — not close to a championship, but also not close to a franchise-changing draft pick.
Would the Heat be better off missing the playoffs altogether? Absolutely. It would not only give the franchise more time to heal and recover from a grueling season that featured some pretty distasteful play at times, but it would also give the Heat a better chance at nabbing a quality player in the first round of the upcoming draft. The Heat are woefully thin at both the point guard and center position, and the upcoming draft will have plenty of quality prospects for them to draft at either position.
This was going to be a rebuilding year for the Heat regardless of how they performed throughout the regular season. Half of the players are on two-year or fewer contracts, so you know that Pat Riley and the rest of the Heat organization were already planning for the future. Not making the playoffs could put this organization one step closer to their goal of future success.
Jared Doyle is a Miami Heat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @outofboundsjay, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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