The most successful eras in Miami Heat history have something in common: They usually don’t last longer than four seasons. And if they do go longer than four seasons ... it’s not for much longer.
The Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway era went for six seasons, as they helped the Heat make the Eastern Conference finals in 1997 but never advanced to the NBA Finals.
Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal played together for four seasons, teaming up to lead the Heat to its first NBA championship in 2006 before that core was broken up two seasons later.
The Heat’s Big 3 era featuring the superstar trio of Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Wade lasted four seasons, producing two NBA championships in 2012 and 2013 while making four NBA Finals appearances.
The Jimmy Butler era featuring Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro has turned into one of the most successful and memorable stretches in Heat history despite not yet winning an NBA title, making three East finals appearances and two NBA Finals appearances in their first four seasons together. That run has included historic accomplishments like becoming just the second No. 8 seed in league history to advance to the NBA Finals last season before falling to the Denver Nuggets in the championship series.
But history says time could be running out on this iteration of the Heat, as the Adebayo-Butler-Herro combination begins its fifth season together on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
“It’s been successful,” Heat president Pat Riley said to the Miami Herald when asked about this current period in Heat history, “but it hasn’t translated into a championship.”
Butler has been at the center of the Heat’s success during this four-year run. He’s been selected for an All-NBA team in three of his first four seasons with the team and has turned into one of the NBA’s top playoff performers since joining the Heat.
But Riley knows Butler will need others to step up around him for this era of Heat basketball to finally deliver a championship.
“I don’t know who it’s going to be, Bam or Tyler, somebody is going to be a 25-point a game scorer and we need that,” Riley, 78, said. “Somebody else is going to be in the 20s or 19 or 21. But we need those three guys (Butler, Adebayo and Herro) to play at a level and to play together as much as they can for us to have a great regular season and a great playoff run. They’re all capable. I’ve seen some signs of Bam and Tyler in the preseason that I really like.”
Then there are the depth pieces around those three players like Caleb Martin, Kyle Lowry, Haywood Highsmith, Kevin Love, Thomas Bryant, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Josh Richardson, Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic and others who will be relied on as complementary players.
“As we go into this year, I like our roster. I think Thomas Bryant is going to be an addition as a backup for us and Caleb, Jaime, Haywood. I like our team. I like our team,” Riley said.
“I look at Kyle as an X factor this year. He looks good, he’s playing hard, he’s smart as hell, he’s all of those things that we want. Kevin Love, too. And then the guys that we got coming off the bench, I don’t know if there are many teams that have what we have coming off the bench. They may not be the big name guys, but we have some guys coming off the bench who can compete with anybody.”
But the clock isn’t just ticking on this Heat build because the core is entering its fifth season together. The fact Butler turned 34 in September can’t be ignored.
The only players in league history to average more than 20 points per game during a playoff run that ended with an NBA championship at age 35 or older are LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, according to Stathead. In other words, there aren’t many NBA players who can lead a team to a championship in their mid-30s.
“Everybody is going to put that out there. But there is some truth to it,” Riley said when asked if Butler’s age has created a heightened sense of urgency for the Heat. “That’s why it’s time for Bam and Tyler to really step up, which they can. We need the performances that are unexpected from other players and timely performances during the season.
“But it should not be any kind of, OK, warning to [Butler] or to the team that if you don’t get it done this year that this whole thing is going to go in the incinerator. That’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking to add to this.”
The Heat almost shook things up this offseason after seven-time All-Star guard Damian Lillard requested the Portland Trail Blazers to trade him to Miami. But there was a fundamental disagreement between the Heat and Trail Blazers on what constituted sufficient trade compensation for Lillard, and Portland never expressed much interest in what Miami was willing to offer before eventually dealing him to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Heat also pursued guard Jrue Holiday this summer. But the Trail Blazers sent Holiday to the Boston Celtics after acquiring him from the Bucks in the Lillard trade.
And a trade for guard Bradley Beal didn’t happen either this summer, as the Heat philosophically didn’t like the idea of inheriting a no-trade clause. Beal and his no-trade clause ended up with the Phoenix Suns.
This left the Heat without a major upgrade from last season. The only new faces on Miami’s standard roster entering the regular season are Richardson (via free agency), Bryant (via free agency) and Jaquez (via draft).
“We were very reluctant this summer in giving up all of our assets in any kind of discussions with anybody,” Riley said. “And we decided that let’s do it (bring back the same core). Let’s do it this year with Jimmy and then we make some decisions from that standpoint. Jimmy and the crew. He’s been with Tyler and Bam now, going into his fifth year. So that’s where my thinking is and I think that’s where Spo (coach Erik Spoelstra) is also.”
More punitive salary cap rules await the Heat and the rest of the league in future offseasons, when the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement will cripple roster building efforts for high-payroll teams.
Starting next offseason, teams with a payroll above the “first apron” but below the “second apron” will still be able to aggregate salaries in a trade, but will not be able to take back any more money in a trade than they send out. In past offseasons, teams in this situation could match salaries up to 125 percent and that number shrank to 110 percent this season before the more restrictive rule takes effect next season.
Also starting next season, teams above the “second apron” cannot aggregate player salaries in a trade for one player making more money, cannot deal one of its own players in a sign-and-trade and cannot sweeten trades with cash, among other impediments.
One thing that does begin this season: Teams above the second apron no longer have access to the taxpayer midlevel exception. Because the Heat is currently considered a second-apron team, it’s only able to offer minimum contracts to outside free agents at the moment and is already on track to pay a luxury tax of more than $20 million for this season.
The Heat will try to avoid crossing the second-apron threshold next season when the more onerous restrictions are in place.
As presently constructed, Riley believes the Heat has three of the top players in the East on its roster in Adebayo, Butler and Herro.
When Butler was asked during media day at the start of October whether he feels like the Heat has done enough to build a championship contender around him, he responded: “Yeah, we straight. Like I always say, I know what I’m capable of. I know what my guys are capable of. So we’ll continue to play basketball as a unit, as a team and somehow, some way end up in the Finals.”
That’s the approach Butler has taken since he started playing for the Heat in 2019.
“I think that’s the attitude he takes. He knows that it’s not easy to do some of the things that the media or the fan base wants us to do,” Riley said. “But yeah, I believe that’s how he is. He says, ‘Well, this is what we got. Let’s dig the fox hole, let’s jump into it and let’s go to battle.’
“If somewhere there is an upgrade that might cost you a lot of assets and would shrink you in other areas and changes the role of other players, then you’re taking a risk there yourself, too. But I like the balance of our team. I like Jimmy’s attitude.”
That approach has helped to lift Butler into an exclusive class of Heat players who Riley labels as the best to ever play for the organization.
“He’s right there with Zo, you got Wade, you got Shaq, you got Chris and you got LeBron and you got Butler,” Riley said. “So he’s top six. He’s right in that group of guys that have really made a difference.”
Among that group, Butler is the only one who has not won a championship with the Heat. Butler has gotten close and has already established himself as one of the greatest playoff performers in franchise history in his first four seasons with the team, but a title is the one thing that’s missing from his resume.
“We’re in the fifth year,” Riley said. “Jimmy is anxious, we’re anxious. But you get to a point where, does it run its course? Not Jimmy, but does the team run its course?”
That’s a question that will be answered on the court in the coming months as the fifth season of this Heat era unfolds.
“When it comes to the championship window, we’re at the abyss,” Riley said. “I don’t mean that in any kind of ill-manner other than what it is. When you come to the abyss, you got to get to the other side.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2023 9:01 AM.
