Tim Hardaway On Expectations For This Year’s Miami Heat And What Holds Them Back
Hall of Fame point guard Tim Hardaway knows a thing or two about leading great teams in Miami.
The crossover king had the best stretch of his career during his tenure — 1996 until 2001 — with the Miami Heat, leading the franchise to playoff appearances in all six of his seasons with the Heat. Along the way, Miami clinched the division on four straight occasions and finished with the Eastern Conference’s best record during the 1998-99 season.
Hardaway finished fourth in MVP voting during the 1996-97 season while leading Miami to a 61-21 record and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
The 57-year-old — who racked up two All-Star appearances and three All-NBA selections during his Heat tenure — detailed the key to the Heat’s success this year.
“This year, they have to be healthy,” said Hardaway during a one-on-one interview on behalf of his partnership with Panini during All-Star weekend. “Everybody is out. For some reason, your main guys are out. They’re always out. Jimmy Butler right now is out due to personal reasons. He’ll be back after the All-Star Game. But before that, he was out with the ankle injury for a month. Bam, he was hurt, he was out for a month. Herro in and out. Jaquez in and out. You have to be whole. And once they become whole, they’re going to be a team that’s in the upper echelon.”
The Heat — who have been arguably the Eastern Conference’s most consistent team in recent years — were in the NBA Finals last season. They actually matched up decently — despite entering the playoffs as the eighth seed — with the Denver Nuggets, who entered the playoffs as the Western Conference’s top seed. However, it became clear as the series progressed that Miami was out of gas from their deep playoff run.
“They just ran out of gas,” Hardaway says bluntly regarding the Heat’s Finals loss to the Nuggets. “They didn’t have enough for the Denver Nuggets last year.”
Miami relied heavily upon the contributions of undrafted role players such as Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent following severe injuries suffered by Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo early in the team’s postseason run.
Hardaway believes that if Herro — who was the Heat’s third-leading scorer last season and is Miami’s second-leading scorer this season — was healthy, he would have made a difference.
“You have to understand — Tyler Herro wasn’t there,” Hardaway says. “He missed the whole playoffs and they still made it. Just think if he was playing and he was there to give that extra whatever they needed. And I understand why they held him out too, because his thumb wasn’t ready. His wrist was not ready. And you don’t want a guy to go out there and jeopardize his career or because he wants to play and he shouldn’t be playing.”
While it’s true the Heat entered the playoffs as an eighth seed — they actually lost their first play-in game before winning the second one to enter as the last seed — it’s a bit concerning the team has been unable to sustain momentum despite bringing back most of their key rotation players — minus Vincent and Max Strus — from last year’s postseason run.
Miami entered the All-Star break with the Eastern Conference’s seventh-best record and they languished around there for most of February. The key for Miami as they enter the final two months of the regular season is to obviously remain healthy so they can gain cohesion with their main pieces — Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — in the lineup.
Furthermore, the trade acquisition of Terry Rozier — who was averaged 23.2 points per game with the Charlotte Hornets — should only aid in the Heat clinching a higher seed and when it comes to Miami making another deep postseason run. The Heat have been in the NBA Finals in two of the past four seasons and came within a game-winning shot from Butler of advancing to a third Finals appearance.
Hardaway has some advice for Rozier as he gets acclimated to his new team — be more aggressive. The Heat had gone 4-6 in his first 10 games with Miami prior to Rozier suffering a knee injury before the All-Star break.
The 29-year-old recently returned after a four-game absence while scoring 19 points — second-most on the Heat — in their 106-96 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, their fifth straight victory.
“Don’t worry about anyone else,” says Hardaway on his advice to Rozier. “Play your game and go get it and let them follow him. And shoot the balls that come to you. Stop faking, trying to drive to get that next best possible shot. You have to take the shots that are given to you. And what’s what they’re (the Heat) not doing.”
Hardaway believes the Heat need to simply let Rozier play.
“They need to just let him play,” says Hardaway on how the Heat should manage Rozier. “Stop trying to fit in. Sometimes trying to fit in is not doing the right thing. And he’s trying to fit in and be that type of player where he just passes the ball. You’re not that type of player. You’re a player that goes out and gets it. You’re a player that goes out and makes things happen. Go out there and make things happen. Go out there and score your 20 points a game, get your five-six assists, they’re going to follow.”
The point guard great stresses that he believes in head coach Erik Spoelstra and the organization. He believes they have the tools to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals. However, he also points out that they’re one star player away from winning the championship.
“I don’t think they’ll be able to win a championship,” says Hardaway. “I think they’ll be able to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals. They need one star player to get over the hump. But they still have the right tools to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals.”
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