With the Miami Heat having a silent trade deadline, being the only team in the Eastern Conference to not make a deal, the franchise looks to finish out the season strong, trying to look for more consistency. As the trade rumors around the Heat were swirling, especially in connection to Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke on the team's outlook.
While there are fans irate at the team's inability to land Antetokounmpo, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant, or anybody to even marginally improve the team, Miami is confident in the roster to turn around its fate. Spoelstra especially is confident in the team, saying that with the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the team can focus on reaching its “high ceiling,” according to The Miami Herald.
“League-wide, I think everybody is just glad that all of that is behind us,” Spoelstra said after Friday's shootaround before that night's game against the Boston Celtics. “And we can just focus on the next 30 games. We have great opportunities still ahead of us, we know what we have to work on is our consistency, we have a high ceiling, but we need to do it more consistently.”
“I think we’ve shown this year we have a high ceiling. I’ve talked about it quite a bit,” Spoelstra continued. “The fact that we’re third in the league in scoring and have a top-six defense shows you where we can go to, but we have to be a lot more consistent with it.”
Erik Spoelstra continues to explain why the Heat have a “high ceiling”
Though the trade rumors around the Heat never materialized into big deals for Antetokounmpo or Morant, the team didn't want to risk the team taking a step back. Whether that means trading a veteran for draft assets that could be used in the summer for Antetokounmpo or making a lateral move that would take away time for Miami's younger players, the team believes they have a shot to make some noise down the line.
The biggest area that Spoelstra wants to see cleaned up is their consistency, which doesn't help that there have been players going in and out of the lineup with injuries, especially Tyler Herro, who has only played in 11 games this season.
“Look, we’ve had some guys miss games. But a bigger thing has been just our consistency,” Spoelstra said. “To be able to do our best level more consistently on the road versus quality teams, having more consistent quarters all the way throughout the game. First quarter, second quarter, and then this third quarter that we have to do a much better job with.”
“Even with the things that have happened to us, we’ve shown that that ceiling can be very high,” Spoelstra continued. “If we defend at a high level on any given night, we can blow the doors off offensively. But we have to do it a lot more consistently.”
At any rate, it remains to be seen if the Heat can stack some consistency, leading to wins, as the first game after the trade deadline is Friday against the Celtics, as Miami is 27-25, putting them eighth in the Eastern Conference.
