The Miami Heat may have gotten out of the Jimmy Butler saga last season. However, one anonymous NBA scout believes that the team is still far away from being a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference.
This offseason, the Miami Heat parted ways with Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson, and Kyle Anderson. In return, they acquired Norman Powell and Simone Fontecchio while re-signing Davion Mitchell to a two-year, $24 million extension.
“Let’s start with who’s better. I see six teams for sure: New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee. Philadelphia is better if they’re healthy. So I would say the Heat’s a solid play-in team, in the same ballpark as Indiana and potentially better than Boston. They’re not 10 or 11; they’re more like 7, 8, or 9,” the scout told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
“It’s around a .500 team. If they won 45, it would be a great year. They’re not bad, but they’re not good. Chicago is mediocre; the Heat is maybe a little better than mediocre. They have three very good NBA players with (Bam) Adebayo, (Tyler) Herro, and Powell. We’ll see about Ware. Andrew Wiggins is meh at this point,” he added.
Miami Heat News: Anonymous scout has mixed feelings on the Norman Powell acquisition
As mentioned, the Miami Heat had Norman Powell as their marquee acquisition this offseason. The one-time NBA champion is coming off a career year with the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 21.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on 48/42/80 shooting splits. Despite this, the same long-time scout from a while ago isn’t entirely convinced of the signing.
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“His defense was not very good last year. He became much more of an offensive player. Can he really become a two-way player? Even if he can’t, he can put the ball in the basket, and they needed scoring and shooting,” the scout explained.
“Powell is not a handler,” he continued. “He’s not a secondary ballhandler either, in my view. He is a scorer. He is laser focused on shooting and scoring.”
