This Miami Heat team has more “swag” than “grit”

Last year, the Miami Heat were “underdogs” in the league and everybody counted them out, yet as the 5-seed in the Eastern Conference, they made it all the way to the NBA Finals and everybody was praising their young talents in Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo. 

Jimmy Butler is a veteran, All-Star talent that is used to all the attention, so it did not really get to him, but for these young guys who are in their first couple of seasons in the league, you could tell that they were really embracing all of the attention. 

Herro and Robinson played with a certain “swag” last year and now, it almost seems like they were spoiled last year because of all the success they had in their first and second seasons respectively. 

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Now, reality is starting to set back in and it almost seems like this team, particularly their young talents, are almost expecting good things to happen without them putting in the work. This team just looks very calm with no sense of urgency on the court, which is a big part of why they have been struggling recently. 

The Heat have always been known to be a tough, defensive-minded team with a certain aspect of “grit” to their play-style, but they don’t have that same fighting tenacity this year. They need to go back to their roots and find this “grit” before the playoffs if they are to have any success moving forward.