Regular Season Record: 44-38

Season Highlight:

Made the Play In. Won against BOS/Lost against IND. First time in the post season since 19/20 (Year 1). +11 compared to 23/24. Nabbed Lauri.

I almost feel a little guilty writing out this part of the Heat's 'Season in Review; Highlight'… It's been a rough trot for Pistol and his boys, pretty much for the entirety of his NSL career.
 

You would definitely need to ask him yourself, on which is worse; To be limited or held back by circumstances, mostly out of your control (Injuries/NBA Drama etc…) OR do be 'Goin' for it this whole time and STILL falling short, year after year.

Well, on the Brightside at least, they were up +11 in the win column compared to last Season… They DID actually make the post season *Cough Play-In Cough* for the first time since 19-20… And even though they were eliminated by Rookie GM Yeet; Quite possibly the last person you want to give ANY ground to… Ever… To make it all Gravy in the long run, Pistol made some elite dealing to highlight a mediocre season; By managing to land Lauri Markenen via trade. A formidable and complementary Franchise star alongside Duren and Co. Knee deep in his prime, ready to hit the ground running!
 
Season Lowlight:

Lost to Yeet in the Play-In. Marking an emotional end of an 'Era'… Being that of the Ben Simmons 'Run'… Or walk… Sit… Whatever.

Best Trade:

The aforementioned deal to aqquire Lauri. Solidying this young Heat team and their chances heading into the 25-26 Season.

-Vuce/Isaac/BOS 25 1st (No.12-Carter Bryant)/NO 25 2nd (No.47-Amari Williams)/MIA 29 2nd

FOR

Lauri

Worst Trade:

Hindsight is a bitch sure. Easy for me to sit atop this thrown casting stones in glass palaces. BUT. In retrospect this deal looks like it's soured quickly with age. They're stacked for big's obviously, so I highly doubt Yang goes here for them if they held onto that Suns 1st… But Pick 13 in ANY draft is still a massive swing at it.

-LAL 26 1st/CLE 29 1st/LAL 26 2nd/OKC 26 2nd

FOR

PHO 25 1st (No.13-Hansen Yang)/WAS 28 2nd/SA 28 2nd

Other Notable Trades:

Love this small deal to get his hands on Kalk. The kid already looks the good and is underrated AF. Pistol struck gold.
 

-Buddy/Micah/Raynaud/LAL 26 2nd

FOR

C.Martin/CLE 25 1st (No.30-Ryan Kalkbrenner/OKC 29 2nd/OKC 26 2nd/DET 28 2nd/CLE 30 2nd

Handy little deal flipped Lowrys dead body for ANYTHING AT ALL.

-Lowry

FOR

BKN 29 2nd

Free Agency:

-DLO (Signed)
-KPJ (Signed)

-RFA: K.Ware/Dillingham/Coulibaly

Huge FA period for Pistol. Who's generally NOT been known to ever make such a splash come this time of year. Credit where credit is due. He set up his team nicely and hit all his targets.

Star:
 

In somewhat of a 'Down year' Derrick White was a lone shining star. Putting up fringe All-Star type numbers. Yes he had the luury of literally being the only guy on the Heat last season that could do anything at all really… So you COULD argue his averages are a tad inflated. Regardless he's the perfect 3rd option for the Heat this season and will play his role perfectly.
 

-D.White: 24.4/3.0/4.6/1.0/.5

47/34/84 Splits
2.5 3ptFGM/4.4 FTM

1.3 TO

31.0 MPG

Flop:

-Ben Simmons; Certified Flog.

...Good riddance.

 
That is all.

Draft:

Pete loaded up and fired a few shots at the draft board picking in the first round at No.10/No.14/No.29. By the looks of things even at such an early stage, It looks like he's had multiple hits.
 

-R.Kalkbrenner (Pick 30 Traded via MIL)
-N.Essengue (Pick 10)
-C.Murray-Boyles (Pick 14)

The Future:

-Lauri: 28yrs/87 Overall/4yrs(46.39m 25-26 Season).

-Young core consisting of;

*Duren(84)/K.Ware(79)/Coulibaly(79)/Kalkbrenner(78)/Murray-Boyles(77)/Essengue(72)/KPJ(76)/Ellis(76)/Dillingham(73)…

-7x 1st Round Picks over the next four drafts (26-30): Owns (LAL 26/CLE 29).and all of their own 1sts.

-Expects to be cutting 19m+ salary off the books next Off-Season (Falling just under the projected soft cap Approx.)

...The Future is RED HOT.