Heat Hand Division to Hawks With Trade Deadline Inaction
Thursday afternoon's NBA trade deadline was a tale of two teams in the Southeastern Division. The Atlanta Hawks reinforced their rotation and shed dead weight while the Miami Heat stood pat.
[I didn’t find the “Hawks” on a cogno’s list of “Winners and Losers” but finally found a grade for them. The New York Post gave them a “B”. I did see the “Heat” on several Losers lists yesterday.]
Miami's inaction at the trade deadline was the latest example of the organization taking an ad-hoc approach to team-building.
[So this is a fanzine. You get b.s. like that from fanzines like Ira Windermin's columns in the Sun-Sentinel. The "Heat" are exactly the opposite of ad-hoc in team-building. They are exceedingly well-planned in their approach. Their results just suck.]
Despite having prime-Jimmy Butler, a player built for the postseason, not a single trade was orchestrated.
[I have read that now in a couple of places. Maybe it's true.]
Team president Pat Riley opted to leave two roster spots open and test the buyout market further down the road. For the record, there has never been a buyout player who transformed a team into a championship contender - and a transformation is what Miami needs right now.
[Should we take a fanzine's word for this? Alright fine, we'll take their word for it.]
Miami is an excellent defensive team, but their bottom-five offensive rating acts like a weight tied to the team's ankle (not dissimilar to some of the team's signings in recent years).
[They are correct about that! Hoo-doggie.]
Currently, Miami stands at 30-25 with a narrow lead over the New York Knicks for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. However, Atlanta is the team that will walk down Miami in the final stretch of the regular season.
The Southeast Division rivals face off in back-to-back games in Miami early next month, with the season series and playoff seeding hanging in the balance. Last year's gentleman's sweep/beatdown will not be lost on the rebooted Atlanta roster.
A showdown between Atlanta and Miami is inevitable. Only this time, one of the teams got better, deeper, and, most importantly, tougher.
[You are bold, sir! The "Hawks" are explosive but my memory from last season's 'loffs and every time I've followed ATL-MIA is that Erik Spoelstra knows that as Trae Young goes so go the "Hawks" and he always has a defense prepared for him and them. Maybe not this year. The Post gives them a "B" for getting Saddiq Bey from Detroit. Maybe that takes the load off Young to carry the team but maybe Young doesn't want that load taken off him. If Jimmy Butler is "built for the post-season", well we still have Jimmy Butler. If we meet in the playoffs I don't see the winner determined by Saddiq Bey but maybe this guy is talking just about the regular season. If that, see Miami at Cleveland last week (but also Miami at New York). I do know that winning the Southeast Division is not even an afterthought, not a thought at all, with the "Heat."]
