MIAMI — When it comes to the Miami Heat marketing wing, rarely are opportunities missed, from the Vice uniforms to the hammering home of Culture.
And yet, as season 38 approaches for the franchise, tipping off on Wednesday night at Kia Center against the Orlando Magic, a turn (and term) for the better seemingly has been bypassed, one that would have had to come in lockstep with the basketball wing.
No, the motto might not have worked on uniforms or as a logo in the lane, but it would have provided direction toward something better: “Watch us grow.”
It would have been honest, atypically Heat candid — and a move away from the sometimes costly notion of winning trumps all.
After all, there is youth to be developed, potential bridges to the future, from recent first-round picks Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis to even, at still just 25, Tyler Herro.
No, not a winning lineup at the moment.
But something that can be grown, fostered, nurtured, perhaps seeding a future as championship complements or the seeds of a trade for a true leading man.
Instead, the focus appears to be on the mismatched, middling.
“Watch us grind”, where the Heat have planted the flag for years, simply does not carry similar gravitas as “Watch us grow.”
Because who exactly are the 2025-26 Miami Heat?
Answer: A hodgepodge mix of veteran and youth cobbled together seemingly without a masterplan, creating a rare Heat moment born outwardly out of lack of direction.
To wit:
– Andrew Wiggins is here because it was the best the Heat could mine in exchange for Jimmy Butler (albeit with the bonus of the 2025 first-round pick that turned into Jakucionis).
– Norman Powell is here because the price of entry to the Los Angeles Clippers’ raffle was nothing more than the expiring deals of end-of-rotation components Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson.
– Davion Mitchell is here because the Toronto Raptors element of the multi-tentacled Butler trade had to be redone at the 11th hour last February.
That is not to say there is anything wrong with any of the aforementioned. But this also is not the typical meticulous Heat roster construct.
This was not adding James Posey, Jason Williams and Antoine Walker so that Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal could be elevated to the 2006 NBA championship.
This was not augmenting the Big Three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh with complementary components such as Mike Miller, Shane Battier and Ray Allen to fuel title runs in 2012 and ’13.
This was not even acquiring Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala at the eleventh hour in 2020 to assist Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic on the run to that season’s pandemic-delayed NBA Finals.
This was taking what was available and — as so often has been the case these past 18 years — seeing if Erik Spoelstra can craft a souffle out of other teams’ surplus.
The upshot is a roster caught in the worst place in sports — the middle.
Not good enough to contend at the highest level.
Not bad enough to necessarily be lottery lousy.
Or, as has been the case the past three years, a team to be defined by the play-in bracket, the NBA purgatory of somewhere between No. 7 and No. 10 in the conference.
Perhaps Spoelstra will be able to salvage, particularly in an Eastern Conference so down that there are few sure playoff things beyond the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Perhaps a return to a winning record can be crafted with 50 games against the Eastern Conference, considering the uncertainty with the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and whether the Magic actually can score.
But that would require “Watch us grow” to instead again stand as solely living in the moment.
So what to do?
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Play it out in typical Heat fashion at the start, making the most of what is in house. But also create value in Powell and Wiggins to the degree that draft capital potentially could be mined by the Feb. 5 NBA trading deadline. Turning a short-term rental of Powell into a future first-round pick would further elevate the return on July’s trade with the Clippers. Similarly, turning Wiggins into a pick would turn the Butler trade into what it should have been in the first place, one for multiple first-rounders.
As the Heat head into their 38th season, this hardly stands as the ultimate piece of roster architecture of Pat Riley, Adam Simon, Andy Elisburg.
But it could be a bridge to a better future.
Particularly if cast in the proper light, one of, “Watch us grow.”
IN THE LANE
DIFFERENT PLACES: Some familiar former Heat faces are starting the season in somewhat unfamiliar places, such as: Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson with the Utah Jazz; Isaiah Stevens on a two-way contract with the Sacramento Kings; Kelly Olynyk with the San Antonio Spurs; Haywood Highsmith with the Brooklyn Nets; Thomas Bryant with the Cleveland Cavaliers; Duncan Robinson with the Detroit Pistons; and Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson on two-way contracts with the Orlando Magic. That as Derrick Jones Jr. plays on with the Los Angeles Clippers, Gabe Vincent with the Los Angeles Lakers, Caleb Martin with the Dallas Mavericks, Kyle Lowry with the Philadelphia 76ers and Max Strus with the Cavaliers.
PAT HAND: Among those looking on with particular pride at Erik Spoelstra‘s introductory media conference as the next Olympic coach of USA Basketball was Heat President Pat Riley, with Spoelstra taking time to note the Riley influence. “The greatest mentor, basketball mentor, in my life has been Coach Riley,” said Spoelstra, entering his 18th season as Heat coach, after taking over from Riley in 2008. “And I would never be in this position without the success that we’ve had here with the Miami Heat. We’ve had so many really good teams. We’ve been able to get to the mountaintop. And we are regarded as a winning organization, and that is because of the leadership from (owner) Micky Arison and Pat. And we’ve become beneficiaries of that.”
PREDECESSOR PRAISE: Even before Spoelstra officially was named by USA Basketball as the next Team USA Olympic coach, his predecessor said it was the right call with his former Olympic assistant. “I mean, Spo is incredible, he’s a phenomenal coach,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Just watching him the last two summers and getting to know him up close rather than just from afar, where I’ve admired him for so long, I got a firsthand glimpse at what a great coach he is.” In Kerr’s view, the job might have come down to Spoelstra or Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, Kerr’s other NBA assistant at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “I think the assistant coaching is almost a prerequisite for coaching USA,” Kerr said. “It’s really a different job, and now he has that experience.” Kerr similarly served as an Olympic assistant to Gregg Popovich in the 2020 Olympic cycle.
FRESH START: As was the case with his Heat arrival in 2019, Jimmy Butler is stressing during his first preseason with the Warriors that he again is in his happy place. In an interview with the Dubs Talk podcast, Butler said, “My kids are in California. So going that long, without seeing my kids, I was miserable. Like I tell everybody, that’s the part of the game that the outside eye doesn’t see. You think it’s just basketball, but it’s not. So I’m happy, because I’m wanted. I’m happy, because I got an incredible group of guys. I’m happy, because I know we can win a championship. But I’m happy because I get my kids around too.”
NUMBER
1. NBA players to convert at least 10 3-pointers in a season opener, with that distinction held by current Heat guard Terry Rozier, who converted 10 in the Charlotte Hornets’ 2020 season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Rozier also set the NBA record in a season opener with 16 3-point attempts in that game.)
