The Miami Heat thought it was a no-brainer when giving up a first-round pick and an aging veteran in Kyle Lowry to receive a scoring guard averaging 23 points.
Unfortunately, Terry Rozier could not replicate his production from his five seasons with the Charlotte Hornets. Rozier is having one of the worst seasons of his career. He’s averaging 11 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 39.5 percent shooting and 29.9 percent from three-point range.
Rozier’s drastic drop in production led to much of the Heat’s offensive struggles because he was brought in primarily for scoring. After trading Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, Rozier could’ve stepped up in an increased role. However, his isolation-centric playing style heavily conflicted with many teammates and did more harm than good.
Erik Spoelstra desperately tried to find answers to end their 10-game losing streak. One of his decisions was limiting Rozier’s playing time, and the Heat have won four straight ever since he fell out of the rotation. Rozier shared his thoughts on the team not utilizing him anymore in a private interview with Heat insider, Ira Winderman.
“I think it’s just my style of play hasn’t been the best fit for what we want to do,” Rozier said. “So I’m just seeing what works, and what coach likes, and what fits best for the team. I’ve kind of been fighting. I kind of know what coach wants me to do, just got to do it.”
Jimmy Butler didn’t get revenge in his return against the Miami Heat in a 26-point loss to the Golden State Warriors earlier this month.
The Warriors have thrived since Butler arrived. Draymond Green and Warriors fans have enjoyed Butler making them contenders again. It left Heat fans feeling betrayed because many feel Butler quit the team during the season. Adjusting to his absence led to a 4-17 stretch and a 10-game losing streak, which is the longest since 2008.
Green addressed the disgruntled fans on his podcast recently.
“To me, it sounded like their crowd was a little confused,” Green said. “It sounded like they felt like they were supposed to be booing Jimmy, but it was so much love there. It wasn’t quite the amount of boos that you thought with how the whole situation played out there would be. But quite honestly, I don’t think there should have been a million boos. At the end of the day, Jimmy had an opportunity to leave in free agency or go into free agency, and he decided to sign an extension with the team. Every year, people continued to ask, ‘They’re going to bring in Damian Lillard?’ ‘They’re going to bring in Giannis Antetokounmpo?’ to double down and help Jimmy take this team to a championship, and that never happened.”
Through a roller coaster regular season, Miami Heat’s Kel’el Ware has been one of their main bright spots.
Despite sitting out the beginning half of the year, Ware has been very productive as the Heat’s starting center. Over the last eight games, he’s averaging 13.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks on 68.3 percent shooting and 29.1 percent from three-point range.
Against the Philadelphia 76ers, Ware made history, becoming the third rookie ever to finish with a double-double without any missed shots or turnovers. While playing essentially perfectly as he did against them isn’t realistic, his potential has been on display for how impactful he will be to the Heat’s future.
With a 111.2 offensive rating, Ware ranks ninth among rookies this season. Compared to other notable veterans such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert, his play has garnered him as much praise as of late. According to Heat insider Barry Jackson, Ware has reached the top 20 in the league in both blocks and rebounds, surpassing both. If he continues to play at this level, Ware will almost be a lock for a First-Team All-Rookie selection.
