Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Another disappointing season for the Heat

The Heat knew the build was dead in 2001 when they got smacked around by the Charlotte Hornets and were sent packing early in round one. One wonders if management realizes that it should be no different this time. 

They were drawn and quartered in Toronto on Tuesday to start their miniseries with the Raptors and it’s hard to keep track of what number of humiliation this is for them. It wasn’t because they sealed their fates going into the Play-In Tournament for the fourth straight year, but because they look a class below most of the decent and above teams. 

It’s a good thing that they are likely headed to the ninth and 10th-seeded Play-In game, instead of the seventh and eighth they’ve been accustomed to. This way they have a chance of getting put out of their misery early since losing would send them to the lottery. 

That’s right. The Heat’s one percent chance of getting the first pick is exponentially better than surviving the Play-In to get smoked in round one.

It’s come to this. 

Poor coach Erik Spoelstra has kept up this charade when he knows deep down they can’t hang — and they know it, too. The team will probably be hopeless against the Raptors on Thursday, giving up at some point in the second half. 

It’s around these times that a team quits on the season. In this case, it’s more about abandoning the mission than turning their back on Spoelstra. 

Two games remain after Thursday’s: Friday in Washington against the Wizards and the home finale on Sunday versus the Atlanta Hawks, which will be the final regular season game of Michael Baiamonte, the Heat’s PA announcer’s, career. He’s given them 35 years of service. The team would win that game if life were like a movie, but the Hawks already embarrassed them on the 2006 championship commemoration night. They could easily do it again because they have been a top nine team over the last two months (27-13).

Perhaps the closing to this season will make management reflect on what they had 20 years ago, when Dwyane Wade went beast mode in the Finals, delivering their first championship. Having a player like that is the only way to win. A collection of very good players winning a title doesn’t happen, save for the 2004 Detroit Pistons, and that team had arguably the greatest defense of all time.

The Heat had a real go-to when Jimmy Butler was around, but they couldn’t put a good enough team around him. The way he overdelivered with less in three great playoff runs that included two finals trips broke the Heat’s thinking. They’ve brought back teams that should have expired, thinking their way will surprise the public, but it wasn’t that — it was Butler being one of the greatest playoff risers in NBA history. They reached the wrong conclusion about how smart they are like Jerry Jones did when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1995 with Barry Switzer instead of Jimmy Johnson, who already had won two championships with them.

And now the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets, two division rivals, have eclipsed them in potency and relevancy. The Hawks intelligently traded away an All-Star player (Trae Young) because they couldn’t win with his awful defense, which is something the Heat should have done with Tyler Herro since he is not that guy and next year is the last one on his contract. Plus the Hornets spent a long time in the cellar, something the Heat were never willing to do.

Nick Arison and the committee pride themselves on having an adaptable organization, but that is being put to the test. So far, they’ve been at the desk a while and are flunking.