Should Buddy Hield be on Miami Heat radar amid Pacer unease?
Q: Ira, I see that Indiana wants to trade Buddy Hield. I’m sure he would come much cheaper than Damian Lillard and at a lower salary. If the Heat are tired of waiting on Portland, do you think they should pursue him? Would he make the Heat more of a contender? – Rich, Plantation.
A: Apples to oranges. Damian Lillard is a transformative offensive player who scores at all levels, plus runs the point. Buddy Hield is a shooter, a very good shooter, but still more along the lines of some of the one-dimensional players the Heat have had in recent years. If you move away from Max Strus at the price point that the Cavaliers offered, I’m not sure you move toward Buddy Hield ahead of his impending free agency next summer. Yes. Buddy’s $18.6 million salary for this coming season certainly is reasonable. But for a Heat roster that will have Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo (and potentially also Tyler Herro and/or Damian Lillard), I’m not sure you can keep stacking such contracts. (Now, if the Heat were to offload Duncan Robinson’s contract, then this all could be a different story.)
Q: If Caleb Martin is the only thing holding up the trade, the Heat should let him go now, before another team swoops in. The Heat got into the NBA Finals on the whim of the basketball shooting gods. And if Mike Budenholzer wasn’t so incredibly stubborn, Giannis Antetokounmpo would have guarded Jimmy Butler and shut him down. The Heat needs Damian Lillard as another offensive threat. – Morgan, New Orleans.
A: Here’s the deal. There is not a single player who stands as the be all, end all when it comes to completing a potential Heat trade for Damian Lillard. It will require a package of picks and players to get a deal done. And that requires negotiations. Portland can ask for all that the Heat have, but that doesn’t mean the Heat will, can, or are obligated to toss everything into the mix. Not sure how this shakes out, but it is safe to say that this deal will not have the Heat sending out all of: Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Haywood Highsmith, at least two first-round picks and at least three pick swaps (assuming we all can agree that Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler aren’t going anywhere). Also worth noting is that players signed by the Heat this offseason cannot be dealt until Dec. 15 at the earlies, a list that includes Josh Richardson, Thomas Bryant, Orlando Robinson, Jamaree Bouyea, Jamal Cain and Dru Smith, among others.
Q: What do you make of the screenshots that have Damian Lillard in NBA2K? – Anthony.
A: That that is a video game and that this is real life.
