Podcast: Kyle Lowry heads to Miami, the Heat goes full ‘Culture’ and a farewell to Dragic
The Miami Heat made the biggest splash of free agency Monday when they landed Kyle Lowry in a sign-and-trade deal with the Toronto Raptors, but is it enough to vault the Heat back to upper echelon of the Eastern Conference with the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets?
Whether or not it is, Miami has definitely at least put together the hardest-working, best-conditioned, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in the NBA.
On a new episode of the Heat Check podcast, David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer, break down the Lowry signing, and what it means for Miami’s short-term title hopes and long-term outlook. The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds also joins from Saitama, Japan, to weigh in on the Heat’s busy Monday, guard Goran Dragic’s departure and the Heat’s commitment to keeping combo guard Tyler Herro in Miami.
Lowry was only the beginning for Miami. The Heat also re-signed wing Duncan Robinson, and brought in power forwards P.J. Tucker and Markieff Morris to reshape Miami in the full cliche image of “Heat Culture.”
It’s why it might not matter if Miami can’t quite match the Bucks’ or Nets’ top-end talent. This Heat team is going to be beloved in South Florida and maybe that’s enough, especially since there’s enough talent in place to get back to the NBA Finals if a few things break its way.
In the second half of the episode, we put on our psychic outfits and correctly predict the imminent signing of Victor Oladipo. With the former All-Star wing back in Miami, maybe the Heat does have the pieces to make a run at the 2022 NBA Finals — if everything breaks the right way.
In the modern NBA, it’s impossible to just sit around and wait for free agents to fall into your lap, anyway. Miami got burned by waiting for Giannis Antetokounmpo last offseason, and president Pat Riley wanted to make sure he didn’t waste another year of star forward Jimmy Butler’s prime.
At the very, we talk about center Omer Yurtseven’s big debut in the 2021 NBA Summer League ,and Reynolds shares the details from a very important phone conversation with Dragic.
As always, please continue to rate, review and subscribe. We will come to you next week from the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
