NBA Trade Rumors: 5 trades Miami Heat need to make

What trades should the Miami Heat make to become a contender going forward? Here are five deals they can pursue.

So much can change in such a short amount of time. The Miami Heat were back-to-back NBA champions just a few seasons ago, then LeBron James left, they immediately fell out the playoffs, and now they’re failing to live up to great preseason expectations.

Plain and simple, the Heat aren’t a title contender in 2016. They have some talent, they have the NBA’s top shot blocker, they have a three-time champion to serve as a leader in Dwyane Wade, but they aren’t good enough to contend. Their seventh place standing in the Eastern Conference is evidence of that, and being attacked with injuries and ranking 13th in net rating (+0.1) sums up their struggles to achieve a mediocre 23-20 record.

With the way things are going, this season effectively looks like a lost cause. Alternatively, a trade can take place to focus on changing the team’s future for the better, which is their best option.

Yet, with very limited trade pieces, the run up to February 18 won’t be easy for the Heat if they’re looking to be active.

As you’ll have expected, we’re going to consider the Hassan Whiteside dilemma. While he’s probably the only big man with the ability to record a triple-double with blocks in the league, and he’s an incredibly dominant interior defender at times, he isn’t always at that level. Believe it or not, the Heat are actually better off without Whiteside on the floor. The offensive rating of their opponents drops by 4.9 when Whiteside is on the bench not in the game, and overall they lead by an average of 1.9 points per 100 possessions without him and only 0.7 with him.

There are moments his awareness and focus switches off, or he wrongly strays away from his man to bait players into driving so he can fly in for a block. This consistency can be a problem. No matter how much explosion and ridiculous length he has, that can’t always be relied upon to make the defensive play necessary.

So, along with some targets to help the Heat’s struggling offense, we’ll consider how the team can resolve the issues surrounding Whiteside.

They may look to guarantee he won’t walk for nothing in return in free agency by making a trade, especially if they decide they aren’t willing to commit max-money to a player who’s only appeared in 89 games for them and has consistency issues. Otherwise, they’ll need to pull of some financial magic to even have a hope of keeping him around.

Next: Landing a new small forward