15. Miami Heat
Early on in Goodfellas, as Henry Hill is giving us a look back into his early days as a junior wiseguy, he tells the story of how local kids used to carry his mother’s groceries home from the store. Why’d they do it?
“Outa’ respect.”
You can chalk up the Heat’s place on this list to the same reason, although after swinging at the biggest fish on the free agent market the last two off-seasons and whiffing both times, that respect is waning. Miami is sitting with the second largest payroll in the league and currently has more committed money on the books for next season than any team in the NBA.
What do they have to show for it? Nothing that will have them sniffing a deep playoff run. Worse off, they’re out two future firsts and the salaries of James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk, and Tyler Johnson aren’t exactly liquid.
So why are they this high? Two words: Spo & Riles. The Heat are brilliant at finding players off the scrap heap and coaching them up to fit their system. They play hard, they play smart, and they win. Durant and Hayward may not have bit, but make no mistake: South Beach still has allure around the league, and Riley’s bag of rings is never far away.
Path to Glory: Winslow breaks through this year, their recent signees play up to their contracts, and a package is put together for the next disgruntled star. Dragic, Whiteside, and Star X break through a Lebron-less East in 2018-19 and pull off a Finals upset.