After getting into the NBA Finals in the last four years, the Miami Heat is now seeing the most challenging year descend upon the team and the organization in the current NBA season.
The organization had to deal a lot with changes in its roster highlighted by the departure of LeBron James, who took his act back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the decision of Ray Allen, and Rashard Lewis, not to re-sign with the team when they became free agents, and the retirement of Shane Battier, notes Yahoo! News.
With Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh holding the fort, Miami was still a playoff team by any language and with the addition to the roster of the likes of Luol Deng, Shwane Williams, the Heat was still an above average team in the Eastern Conference.
More struggles
But unfortunately, the team had to deal with more struggles along the way. D-Wade was constantly injured, and so are some of his teammates particularly Josh McRoberts, who when acquired by the Heat during the off-season, was being primed to be Chris Bosh’s partner in the shaded lane.
When the Miami Heat landed Goran Dragic from the Phoenix Suns during the NBA trading deadline on February 19, the good news also came with a bad news. Blood clots were found in the lungs of Chris Bosh and he had to sit out the remainder of the season to recuperate and be fully restored again.
So the Heat and coach Erik Spoelstra had to make do with what he has on the bench and the floor every night. The good thing is, despite the team’s struggles, the Miami Heat is still holding on precariously to the seventh playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with a 26-33 win-loss record with 23 more games left in the season.
Not sorry at all
Despite the current struggles of the Miami Heat, Erik Spoelstra says that no one feels sorry for them and the best part of it is that the team does not feel sorry for itself either.
There’s also a bit of history in the roster struggles of Miami this season as a total of 21 players have been in the team’s lineup, which is actually a record with the organization and perhaps in many other NBA teams too.
Veteran forward Udonis Haslem summed it quite succinctly when he said the he has never seen a player movement with the team like the current NBA season. And he also doubted if many people in the NBA have seen anything like it too.
Spoelstra says that amid the team’s roster struggles, the Miami Heat still find ways to win and survive. The challenge has built and strengthened the character of the team.
Dwyane Wade said that he believes that he and his teammates in the Heat will not be backing down from the challenge because he thinks people should not quit until time runs out on them. Time has certainly not run out on the Miami Heat so they will continue to fight and go through with the battle.