The Miami Heat are the 1 seed in the Eastern Conference right now. With no real superstar as the focal point in the team, it is amazing that the Heat has established themselves on top of the East. The Heat are also the only team with 8 undrafted players on their roster! That is more than half of their 15 man roster. It goes to show how important it is to establish a culture in an organization.
Heat culture is famous throughout the league. Established by Pat Riley in the late ’90s when he got there, the culture has continued to grow and is the basis for the functioning of the organization. No other team could bring in 8 undrafted players and make them a part of the squad. In fact this season, with their main players out, the Heat started 5 undrafted players and ended up winning the game.
The Heat have managed to stay at the top despite injuries to their star players. They have a great team where no one star is present and the team performs at a high level as a unit to win games. They have the current 6th man of the year favourite in Tyler Herro who has been their greatest offensive player this season. They also play a tough zone defense and are led on the defensive end by Bam Adebayo.
The Heat improved their record to 46-24 creating a 2.5 game gap between them and the Milwaukee Bucks in the standings. After the game, Bam Adebayo was asked about how good the team could be. He responded that they had no ceiling if Tyler played like the 6th man of the year, Kyle Lowry continued to be the floor general, Jimmy Butler played like an MVP, and if he played like the Defensive Player of the year.
"If Kyle keeps playing a floor general, Tyler keeps being 6th Man of the Year, Jimmy keeps being #JIMVP, and I keep being #DPOY, π©πππ¨ π©πππ’ πππ¨ π£π€ ππππ‘ππ£π"
Bam Adebayo responds to being asked how good this team can be the rest of the year#HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/L2rRSK8W2a
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) March 16, 2022
While Tyler is the runaway favourite for the 6th man of the year award, Bam and Jimmy have missed too many games to win DPOY and MVP respectively. But what Bam said can’t be denied, this team is young and plays under a coach and organization that demands excellence. With Erik Spoelstra leading the way the Miami Heat definitely has the chance to win an NBA championship in the next few years.
