2023-2024 Heat Preseason Press Conference

[logpmess]

Welcome everyone!

We are coming up on a new season, which means it is time for me to speak to all of you. Last season was tough on our fans, but we appreciate the continued allegiance in South Beach while we are nearing the completion of our rebuild.

Lets fast forward to the draft. We were disappointed in dropping a couple of spots in the draft. We had our eyes on Boban Marjanovic, but unfortunately, he was drafted with the third pick. We decided to pick Clifford Paugh. We like his versatility as a player. Upon development, we anticipate him playing both the shooting guard and small forward position for this team.

In Free Agency, we decided to go for it this year. We sent out some money on players that seem to be in the twilight of their careers. We expect pick output from Hassan Whiteside, Harrison Barnes, and others this year. The real prizes of our free agency is the multiple year deals that we gave out to Daniel West and Aubrey Broomfield. Both players are entering their primes on team favorable contracts. Although they may be playing in different positions this year, we plan on using their quickness to serve as versatility in years going forward.

Training camp did what training camp does. We were disappointed in Jason Peterson dropping some potential since we saw him as a future starting shooting guard for this team. We hope that he can continue to develop and maybe he will serve us as that player after all.

This season is a difficult one to judge. We seem to have some pieces for now and some pieces going forward. I will say right now that due to our haul in FA, we will continue our redshirt process to let our players develop. Don't expect Clifford Paugh, Long Anderson, or James Christner to see any playing time this year. We have been happy with this program in the development of our players, and we hope they continue to see the long term value in it.

Our starting five is going to be as follows:
C - Hassan Whiteside
PF - Daniel West
SF - Aubrey Broomfield
SG - Jason Peterson
PG - World B. Free

This team is still Free's team. We support his continued development as our on the court leader. With that I will open the floor up for questions.

[JNR]

GWR: Has Free been eager to learn from Rondo this offseason?

[WigNosy]

How much of Kevin Durant will we get to see this season?

[TheSyndicate]

What are your expectations in terms of team performance this year?

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Aubrey Broomfield is an interesting player. He looks like he has the athleticism to play the 3, but not the shooting touch. How do you work around that?

[logpmess]

GWR: Has Free been eager to learn from Rondo this offseason?

Rondo has been great as a mentor to our young leader. He has shown Free what it takes to be great especially at the defensive end. Free has been relishing this opportunity to learn.


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[logpmess]

How much of Kevin Durant will we get to see this season?

Durant is going to be used as depth more than anything. He might only get a few minutes each game.


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[kucoach7]

Talk to me about Long Anderson. What do you see as his ceiling? Is this a guy that can start on a good team or is he bound to be a solid role player at best?

[logpmess]

What are your expectations in terms of team performance this year?

High end, we could possibly make the playoffs. That is our highest goal this year.


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[logpmess]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Aubrey Broomfield is an interesting player. He looks like he has the athleticism to play the 3, but not the shooting touch. How do you work around that?

He brings enough to the court in terms of defense and rebounding that we can look for points from elsewhere on the court.



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[false9]

You've got a surplus at PF- long term will you be using creative lineups or will someone be dealt to fill a gap elsewhere?

[logpmess]

You've got a surplus at PF- long term will you be using creative lineups or will someone be dealt to fill a gap elsewhere?

I'm looking for Long Anderson and James Christner to develop underneath Daniel West and Aubrey Broomfield. I am not anticipating trading anyone at the moment. If an offer comes across my table that is clearly making me better, I'd have to at least consider it.

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: It's been quite a while since Miami's been taken seriously as a potential playoff team. Some local journalists have expressed concern that your chosen strategy has only prolonged the rebuilding period rather than progress it. What would you say in response to this?

[logpmess]

Random Reporter: It's been quite a while since Miami's been taken seriously as a potential playoff team. Some local journalists have expressed concern that your chosen strategy has only prolonged the rebuilding period rather than progress it. What would you say in response to this?

The rebuild is going as planned. I wanted to get some players to build around and then surround them by veterans to fill in the gaps. Although my players are still a little ways from fully developed, we need more points to advance the growth of our young pieces. So we need to win more games to get more points. It’s working as planned.



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