Coming off a trip to the Finals, expectations entering the 2020-21 campaign were high in Miami. So far this season, the team hasn’t played up to its potential, earning a record of 12-17.
“Terrible. Terrible. Just terrible. Not the way we say we want to play,” Jimmy Butler said (via Rachel Nichols of ESPN.com). Not the way we’re supposed to be playing. But it’s OK, because we will turn it around. And like the saying says, better late than never.”
“We know what adversity is. We’re supposed to be better. We’re supposed to get better and bring everybody up with us. Maybe here and there we’ve forgotten that. We will get back to it, though. I promise you that. We will.”
The Heat have had several players in-and-out of the lineup this season. Meyers Leonard is out for the year, leaving a void at power forward. Goran Dragic remains out to the lineup with an ankle injury and numerous players have missed time because of COVID-19 related issues.
Still, all is not grim. The club resides in Eastern Conference’s the 10th seed, good for a ticket to the play-in tournament if the season ended today. There’s room to improve, certainly, but there’s a lot of season left.
