NBA: Grading each team’s 2014-2015 season

C. <p>This is a very difficult grade to hand out.</p> <p>On one hand, the Heat “lived up” to my lack of preseason expectation. Some projected Miami as a legitimate contender for home-court (a top 4 seed) in the East prior to the campaign, but I simply didn’t see it, assigning a 41-41 record to the team.</p> <p>On the other side, Chris Bosh (the team’s best player) appeared in only 44 games, the Heat made a blockbuster trade midseason, and someone named Hassan Whiteside appeared as a star-level big man from out of nowhere. If Dwyane Wade played 44 games (he played 60+), no one could have cried about “luck” issues, but given Bosh’s durability and his injury (collapsed lung), it is fair to give the Heat a relative pass during his absence.</p> <p>What is this team?</p> <p>Well, the Heat are an outfit with big-time talent in the starting five, with Luol Deng joining the quartet of players previously mentioned, but Pat Riley hasn’t exactly assembled a deep group and with aging veterans in the starting lineup, that could be a problem. No one in South Beach is happy with missing the playoffs, but given where I thought they’d be in the preseason coupled with Bosh’s absence, I can’t kill them either.</p>. 3rd. Southeast Division, Eastern Conference. MIAMI HEAT