Around this time a year ago, the landscape of the Miami Heat organization was undergoing a huge change. our power rankings -- three slots lower than the Detroit Pistons who lost five more games than the Heat.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015...
The front office had to do a lot of work and dish out some cash, but the Heat have a lot of good things going for them as the 2016 NBA season inches closer and closer. And as of July 28, according to oddshark.com, Bovada has the Miami Heat in a tie with the Chicago Bulls for the seventh most-favorited team to win the title.
But are the Miami Heat still going overlooked? Yes -- and here are four reasons why.
1. Going Big
Chris Bosh is regaining his strength and conditioning after missing the second half of the 2015 season with blood clots on his lung. It remains to be seen whether there will be any restrictions or precautionary measures taken as the season begins, but one thing is for certain: a healthy Chris Bosh will be the leader of this Heat team.
After Chris Bosh was sidelined in late February, Brandon Gdula touched on earlier this month, the Heat got a deal by signing Dragic for less than $100 million. In the last two years, his 17.1 Win Shares is tied with fellow point guard showed us his stuff in Summer League. The rookie put up 15.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per run in his first three games in the Orlando Summer League before having his minutes reduced. The synthesis of Deng's experience and Winslow's explosiveness should prove highly valuable this year in South Beach.
4. Losing Money Dead Weight
If you've been doing the math, it's not difficult to figure out that, despite being inactive in free agency, Miami has spent a lot of money this offseason. Their signings of Wade and Dragic put them about $10 million over the luxury tax. And since the Heat would also be paying the repeater luxury tax as well they were in line to pay out a whopping $26 million.
It's safe to say that the Heat will not be dishing out that kinda cash after all. In two days, the Heat shed $3 million in salary by trading away two of its young guards in two separate deals. On Sunday, Miami traded Shabazz Napier and his $1.3 million contract to Orlando for a future second-round pick. A day later the Heat traded Zoran Dragic and his $1.7 million contract to Boston for a heavily-protected 2019 second-rounder. In a nutshell, the Heat got rid of salary for nothing -- but that's not it.
The Heat also shed some negative influence. Last year, Goran's brother Zoran posted a nERD of -0.5, which was a lot better than Napier's -3.1. According to the numbers, these two moves added 3.6 wins to the Heat's total from a year ago. Mario Chalmers could be next as the Heat are reportedly shopping the long time Heat guard on the trade market. That move could cut another chunk of salary in addition to Chalmers' poor nERD (-4.2).
The Miami Heat might have done everything right this summer. Even though they weren't out wheeling and dealing with the likes of the Spurs, Mavs and Cavs in free agency, the Heat did a great job this offseason and have put themselves in the conversation as a title contender. They retained everyone they wanted to retain and discarded those they didn't.
It could take a 2016 playoff run, or even a 2016 Heat title run, for us (and Vegas) to be taught a valuable lesson: sometimes, less is more.