Podcast: Bam’s next steps, two possible offseason paths for the Heat and the Lowry debate

The 2021 NBA playoffs are driving on, the Brooklyn Nets seem like they might tear through the NBA Eastern Conference and the Miami Heat is sitting back at home — or maybe somewhere in Mexico — plotting its next moves to get back into the mix for a title chase next year.

The Nets serve as sort of a backdrop for a new episode of the Heat Check podcast. Only about seven months after reaching the 2020 NBA Finals, Miami feels far away from a championship after a first-round sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn’s ongoing beatdown of them in the second round — even with James Harden sidelined.

It’s officially the offseason in South Florida, so Anthony Chiang is off this week, but the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson is here to fill in alongside David Wilson and the timing couldn’t be better: Jackson has a big breakdown this week of the two divergent paths the Heat can take this offseason to try to improve the roster.

We spend most of the episode diving into the benefits of operating as an over-the-cap team vs. working as a team with room, but we have to start with some bad cryptocurrency jokes to celebrate newly christened FTX Arena and a discussion about Pat Riley’s end-of-season news conference. Should we read into the president referring to combo guard Tyler Herro as “a a core player? What should we take away from his comments about Bam Adebayo and the areas he can improve heading into the 2021-22 NBA season?

The Adebayo conversation also serves as a backdrop to the second half of the episode. Adebayo’s still-developing skill set will help determine what exactly Miami needs to add to the roster if it wants to keep up with the Nets and get back to a championship level.

Does his — and Jimmy Butler’s — lack of three-point shooting keep the Heat from making a run at star swingman DeMar DeRozan? Are there players out there the Heat would be willing to flip Adebayo for? How would point guard Kyle Lowry fit with Miami’s two star forwards?

If the Heat operates with room, it can definitely make a run at the point guard. If it goes over the cap, the situation becomes a little bit more complicated. We break it all down for you this week.