The Miami Heat reached the NBA Finals as an 8th seed in 2023, becoming only the second team in history to do so.
One month later, the team coordinated a sign-and-trade that sent sharpshooter Max Strus to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Two seasons later, the Cavaliers defeated the Heat in a first round sweep.
Strus, who averaged about 12 points as a starter for the Heat between 2021 and 2023, recently put together a collage of pictures in a post for Instagram. The caption? “Strictly business. Nothing personal,” along with the ‘cooking’ emoji.
The sign-and-trade situation all started with a business decision by the Heat, who did not want to pay Strus the contract the Cavaliers were willing ($63 million over four years). Strus was a key contributor in their 2022 Eastern Conference Finals appearance as well as the run to the Finals.
Strus averaged 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal in the historically lopsided sweep that saw the Heat lose by a combined 92 points in the two games in Miami. Additionally, the Cavaliers outscored the Heat by about 35 points per 100 possessions in the series when Strus was on the floor.
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Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket
With the Miami Heat’s season over, analysts around the league are questioning what’s left of the roster that lost in the debilitating sweep against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Including NBA analyst Zach Lowe. On a recent episode of his podcast, Lowe said that Adebayo’s postseason underperformance reflected his typical output.
“This is what Bam is,” Lowe said. “The Heat need him to score 25, 27, 28 a game. It’s not going to happen. That’s just not what he’s going to be and that’s fine. Different players can do different things. He’s never going to be a top 10-to-15 player for the most part because of that. He’s still awesome, and you just need to realize that.”
The three-time All-Star averaged 17.5 points, 11 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in the series. Although they were still outscored by almost 25 points per 100 possessions in the series when Adebayo was on the floor, they were outscored by about 64 when he wasn’t. Additionally, for all of the (valid) concerns with his offensive limitations, their offensive rating was 28 points better with him playing.
“Everybody knows I love Bam. He’s a winner. Bu he was not good enough in this series,” Lowe said. “17 points a game, 44% shooting, not good enough, not assertive enough. It wouldn’t have mattered and, at some point, everybody just let go of the rope and he’s going to have series where he’s not, he doesn’t give them enough offensively.”
