Eastern Conference 3rd seed
3. Miami Heat
I may end up being completely wrong about this but I do believe that the Miami Heat are going to come out hot this season. They’ve been mocked, ridiculed, and an afterthought since they missed out on Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard this offseason. That will end up being a big mistake. Even after missing out on Beal and Lillard, the Heat have the chance to be really good once again this season.
You can make the argument that they’re deeper heading into the start of the season and that improvements from Tyler Herro and contributions from other young players such as Nikola Jovic and/or Jaime Jaquez Jr. will lead to the Heat finishing in the top 3 of the conference standings. If Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo can remain healthy, the Heat will have a great chance to catch everyone by surprise this year once again.
The big question for this team heading into the playoffs is whether or not they’ll have enough firepower to keep pace with the Boston Celtics or Milwaukee Bucks. On paper, that may not seem like the case but you can never bet against head coach Erik Spoelstra.