Was the Miami Heat Finals Appearance a Fluke?
By: Breaking The Glass
Tags: Sports Journalists, Basketball, Sports, NBA, Heat

Photo cred: backsportspage.com

I know what the Miami Heat did last season was impressive, yet still I’m not 100 percent convinced that the Finals appearance was not a fluke.

Call me a hater if you want but when a 5th seed makes the NBA Finals eyebrows are likely to be raised.

Although the Eastern Conference is the conference where anything is humanly possible the Miami Heat were not on anybody’s radar to make a championship appearance.

The team’s surprising Finals appearance was largely due to some unexpected contributors. Bam Adebayo had a great leap in production, Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson also added some unexpected productivity. Tyler Herro looked like the steal of the draft, Jae Crowder added toughness, defense and a veteran presence.

Jimmy Butler showed us in last season’s playoffs that he should be mentioned amongst the league’s elite.

I feel as though we should all take the results from the NBA bubble with a grain of salt. We all can admit that last season had some unique circumstances.

I’m not convinced that Butler can regularly lead his team to an NBA Finals appearance. I wouldn’t quite classify Butler as a superstar just yet until he proves that he can keep his team in championship contention with regularity.

For those of you who disagree with me, what do you consider a superstar to be? What are the requirements? Most might say that even the lowest level of superstar would at least need to average 20 points per game.

Well Jimmy Butler for his career averages 19 points per game, and hasn’t averaged 20 points per game since 2018.

For those of you who think that Butler is a superstar, can you confidently say that he can lead his team back to the Finals?

Probably not.

In the bubble I think that the Heat entered with a mindset that most of the teams there didn’t have.

They showed up a lot more prepared and focused than most teams there and it showed, while this is not the Heat’s fault, they will not have that luxury heading into this season and this playoffs.

I don’t live in a world of hypotheticals, so no one should blame the Heat for making the best out of the scenario that they couldn’t control.

I commend the Heat for what they did last season, but again that season was like none other and I strongly believe that this season will be a lot more predictable.

If you believe that a 5th seed lead by Jimmy Butler will be in the NBA Finals again, I don’t know what to tell you.

Not to say that Jimmy isn’t a great player, but you’d be lying if you said prior to last season that you thought he could be the best player on a championship level team.

Let’s keep in mind that the Heat were a 5th seed last season and their biggest off season acquisition was Avery Bradley.

When you consider how good the Celtics are, the improvements the Bucks have made, the Sixers still being a threat, and the Nets equipped with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, you start to realize that the odds of the Heat returning to the Finals is that much more unlikely.

With a season with no interruptions, I can confidently say that the Heat’s ceiling this season is a second round exit.

I like Jimmy Butler but I believe he’s more star than superstar.

A player that can get his team to the playoffs consistently, but ultimately can’t get his team to that championship level.

In order to be a true championship contender, team’s need a solid number 2. While Bam Adebayo has been improving greatly, I still don’t think that he can be the second best player on a championship level team.

When we look at the duo of Jimmy and Bam in comparison to the rest of the Eastern Conference, how do they match up?

In comparison to a Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, a KD and Kyrie, even Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have a strong case to be considered a better duo.

The Heat might have the worst duo of the bunch.

This season the Heat will catch a lot less people off guard because now teams are focused and hungry, and the Heat have a target on their back.