Season summary: After the Heat fuse was detonated?

For the Heat, the 2024-25 season is a turning point in the era. Butler's departure symbolizes the Heat's official entry into a new era, and Adebayo and Hero have become the new leaders of this team. The farce between the Heat management and Butler was rampant throughout the first half of the season, but after dealing with the problem, the Heat did not get better. The talent flaws that were previously covered up by Butler eventually became issues that the Heat must face at the moment.

The Heat, which ranked tenth in the regular season, once again entered the playoffs, but the result was even worse than the previous year and was swept out by the Cavaliers, the leader of the East District. The Cavaliers in the entire series were like a dimensional reduction blow, reminding everyone in all aspects and seeing the huge gap between the Heat and the top team.

To a certain extent, the 2024-25 season may be the most uncomfortable season for the Heat in recent years, but the significance behind it is still worth reviewing.

Season timeline review:

Season experimental stage (October-November: 9 wins and 8 losses)

The Heat's inefficiency on the offensive end in the past few years has been criticized. Coach Spoel boldly tried Magic Ball strategy at the beginning of the season to improve offensive efficiency. The proportion of three-point shooting has increased significantly to 40% of the team's history, and the mid-range shooting has reached 31.7%, which is a significant decline compared to the league's first place in 35.6% last season.

After improving the outside shot, although the Heat did not make a breakthrough in production, the offensive efficiency has been improved throughout the season, with an effective shooting percentage being the highest in the past three seasons. However, the problem of offense disconnection in the second half still plagued the Heat, resulting in their overall performance being average.

Butler's turmoil phase (December-February: 19 wins and 22 losses)

Butler and Riley's differences in contract renewal as the contract period approached, eventually broke out of control. Even though Riley had said that he would not trade Butler and tried to use public opinion to suppress the influence of the storm, but the relationship between Butler and the Heat gradually deteriorated, and he had to actively seek suitable trading plans. The two sides continued to speak out in confrontation and the instigation of the media led to a gradual crisis in the team's atmosphere.

Although the team atmosphere was obviously affected at the beginning of the storm, the Heat quickly adjusted and focused back on the game. Spoo has also begun to try different combination rotations. Put Rozier on the bench and start putting Weir in the rotation. The instability on and off the court resulted in less than 50% of the Heat's record during this period, and their winning and losing performance ranked fifth from the bottom in the league during the same period.

The second half of the post-Jimmy era (March-April: 9 wins and 15 losses)

This legendary star who led the Heat to the Finals twice in five years was eventually traded to the Warriors before the trading deadline, while the Heat got Wiggins, Li Kaile and draft pick chips from the trade.

As a star who has created many historical memories with the Heat, breaking up in such a terrible process, although the fans felt sorry for the conflict, the conflict finally ended, and both sides also achieved the results they needed. With Butler's departure, the team's lineup construction led by him has officially ended and entered the next new stage.

But the subsequent Heat did not perform well because they handled Butler's trade well, but were further revealed in the lack of ball-holding points and lack of offensive creativity. Although the addition of Wiggins and Xiaomi Michelle gave Spoor more choices in lineup strategy, the problem of relying too much on Xiro on the offensive end is quite obvious, and instead he is constantly targeted by his opponents.

The team lacks enough people to hold the ball and tear the defense, which often leads to the offensive end without the ability to open up the dilemma when tactics are targeted, and eventually becomes a forced single or an outside end that lacks advantages. All opponents know that Herro is the only trusted ball holder of the Heat, so as long as they deploy enough defensive resources to limit him, they will almost clamp down most of the Heat's offense.

And Herro's performance in the second half of the season also declined significantly despite being under too much offensive responsibility and pressure for a long time. The team even suffered an embarrassing record of ten consecutive losses at one time, and in the last stage of the season, Wiggins returned from injury and gradually regained his competitiveness.

Regular season and playoffs (2 wins and 0 losses in the playoffs, 0 wins and 4 losses in the playoffs)

Regular season won the last place in the playoffs in tenth place, and won consecutive victories against the Bulls and Hawks to enter the playoffs. Unfortunately, when facing the Cavaliers in the East, the Heat were almost powerless to resist and finally swept out in four games to end the season.

Player level:

Although the team's record is not ideal, there are still many players who have made surprises this season, especially the performance of a group of newcomers is particularly worth looking forward to. Herro played the best season of his career, and the rookie players also entered the rotation earlier than expected, digging out the right puzzle Xiaomi Michelle. These players have contributed their strength in this difficult season and also brought some comfort and expectation to the fans.

Taylor Herro

Since winning the best sixth man, Herro's progress seems to have stagnated, but the Heat still waited for his breakthrough this season. 23.9 points and 5.5 assists are the best in his career, and behind the data, his ability to handle balls and outside offense in the game have become the key to his transformation this season.

In addition, Herro also demonstrated his attendance efficiency this season, playing 77 games throughout the season is the highest in his career. Cooperating with the team's magic ball-making changes, Herro greatly improved his outside shooting output and greatly improved his scoring efficiency. In terms of personal honor, he also won the first All-Star in his career, winning the three-point championship in the three-point competition.

Although the second half of the season and the playoffs were severely targeted, the performance declined, but the premise of having the qualification to renew the contract in advance can be considered as a good value. His contract is also a key consideration for the team management during the offseason.. Judging from this season, it has proved that the original deal was a complete failure, and this summer is likely to be abandoned by the Heat.

Other players

Burks, Highsmith, Li Kaile and other Green Leaf are also important candidates in the rotation this season. The most commendable thing is that they have been facing a lot of changes in role positioning and time when the team is experimenting with different lineups, but they can always find their own special ways to help the team.

As for Duncan Robinson, he is still the trustworthy shooter. Although his appearance is always accompanied by the flaws of defense being targeted, in the Heat lineup with shortage of offensive personnel, his outside line and even ball-holding are important firepower output points for the Heat.

Season Summary

Rather than saying that the Heat have failed this season, I personally think that this season is just a detonation time point for many inactions and failure choices in the past few seasons. The lack of sufficient trading reinforcement and the failure to retain important rotation staff has led to the leading star leaving the team this season, and the management has not made sufficient preparations to cultivate the next core, resulting in the lack of opportunities for the team to advance.

The first half of the season can also be attributed to the team being in chaos, but the second half of the season was a failure without excuses. He also entered the playoffs in the playoffs. Compared with the previous few times, this time the Heat was completely unstable. The players have performed well, and the main players have made breakthroughs and progress, but their record has not improved significantly. The problems of team combat power limit and lack of talent are gradually being exposed.

Perhaps the mid-season trading is a bit urgent, which causes management to not have enough time to think. After being eliminated early in the playoffs, this summer will be an important moment for the Heat to think about the next step.