Heat
It’s not just the culture that’s taken a hit with all the Jimmy Butler drama. The Heat have been paying the price on the court, too.
“If the season ended Thursday, the Heat would have to win twice in the play-in just to reach the playoffs as the No. 9 seed,” wrote ESPN’s Kevin Pelton. “Miami has performed much better from a point differential standpoint (plus-1.0), however, ranking fifth in the East. And the Heat are only a game out of moving up to sixth.”
Butler was suspended two games (after a seven-game suspension) for missing a team flight. Oh boy.
“There’s a Jimmy Butler-sized elephant in the room for Miami,” Pelton wrote. “… If the Heat can’t find an acceptable Butler trade by the Feb. 6 deadline, they’ll have to hope he can rediscover his joy for basketball in Miami — and his need to impress suitors before potentially changing teams this summer.”
Lakers
It’s been an uneven first half of the season for the Lakers, and you can’t help but wonder if things will improve. Or if it will just stay this maddening.
“The Lakers started the season remarkably healthy, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis missing a combined six games,” Pelton wrote. “Yet the Lakers are still 12th in the West in point differential (minus-2.0), suggesting their above-.500 record might prove difficult to sustain.”
At the very least, LA needs to get better defensively.
After trading D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers probably don’t have much upside to explore on offense without a major trade,” Pelton wrote. “But there’s enough defensive talent to be better than 23rd in the league. The imminent return of Jarred Vanderbilt could help there.”
Trail Blazers
Portland has shown signs of life in the first portion of the season, perhaps more than most people expected — including the Blazers themselves.
The development of young perimeter players Deni Avdija, Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe has been a positive, and Portland should surpass last season’s 21 wins,” Pelton wrote. “Yet the Blazers still get dominated on a regular basis, producing a minus-8.4 point differential that ranks 29th in the league, and the poor play of Portland’s veterans might impact their trade value.”
The key for the Blazers, though, is to keep seeing growth from the younger guys.
“The Blazers want to see Henderson continue a strong January in which he’s shooting 43% from 3-point range, as well as have rookie center Donovan Clingan finish the season strong,” Pelton wrote. “But without a clear centerpiece to their rebuild, lottery positioning will be critical, too.”
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