Victor Oladipo Is Heading To Miami And It's Clear Pat Riley Is Not Fucking Around

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If there's one thing we know, it's that Pat Riley has balls of steel. While I can admit I like to make fun of the Twitter noise about how they are interested in every player under the sun, I also have to be fair and give credit where credit is due. The rumors of Oladipo ending up in Miami have been around forever, and for him to pull off a trade without including Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson is a gigantic win for Miami. I think most teams would be nervous about a player potentially leaving for nothing, but considering Oladipo probably would have gone to the Heat anyways in free agency, this is a no brainer move for Riley.

The hope is Oladipo is better than the version we've seen since he returned from injury. He's been OK, but not exactly the All Star player he once was. He shot 42/36% in his 9 games on the Pacers this year, and then is putting up just 40/32% in his 20 as a Rocket. That's a pretty big drop from his 47/37% before he got hurt.

But for the Heat, he slides into that #3 option which is probably where he should be. The thing about Jimmy Butler is I consider him an extremely unselfish star player. You think he gives a shit if Oladipo gets a ton of looks on any given night? No chance in hell. Jimmy Butler cares about winning. That's huge because a big part of Oladipo is he fancies himself as THE GUY, which he has shown to be on any given night. Whether or not he can do it consistently is the question. But considering it took basically nothing to get him, it's a gamble you absolutely make if you're the Heat.

Much like a bunch of the teams in the 4-10 seeds, the Heat are having a bit of an underachieving season. At just 22-22 and a 5 seed, we could see them rise up to 4 or slide all the way down to like 10th in a blink of an eye. They've lost 4 straight so it's not surprising Pat Riley did what he had to do to potentially improve his roster. 

But this trade is less about the Heat and more about the Rockets for me. I mean holy shit is this James Harden trade turning into a disaster right before our eyes.

First, they should have just kept Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen. That's a mistake they probably with they had back. Not only that, but then the player you then got in return for LeVert is now Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk. Look, I love those guys. They were great Celtics, but you cannot say it's a good spot to be in to trade James Harden and end up with picks that won't matter and Kelly Olynyk. Especially because there are rumors that Avery Bradley might be a buyout guy! 

I know I just threw a lot of names at you, so here it is nice and clean.

Could have had: LeVert/Allen

Currently have: Avery Bradley/Kelly Olynyk/pick swap

That is rouuuugh. How do you sell that to your fanbase? What is the rationale behind that? If you weren't 1000% positive Oladipo would stay in Houston, why trade for him? Especially with LeVert under contract for two more guaranteed seasons after this one. I'm trying really hard to make any sense of that and I'm coming up empty. Not only that, but Olynyk is a free agent this summer! No chance he stays in that dumpster fire if he doesn't have to. So basically if you buyout Avery, and Olynyk leaves, the Rockets are left with nothing but low 1st rd picks. WOOF.

Meanwhile, the Heat added another potential weapon for what should be a brutal Eastern Conference playoff race. Hard to complain with what Riley was able to pull off. He didn't overpay for Lowry and still found a way to add. Gotta give the man credit.