Would you rather be the Pacers or the Heat?

BetMGM Network

Nick Ashooh and Denton Day debate if they would rather have the future of the Pacers or the Heat right now

Transcript

00:00So, I ask you, Nick Ashton, which future would you rather have, the Indiana Pacers or the

00:04Miami Heat?

00:05Listen, I know, I know what you want to hear.

00:09I know why you put this question out there, and I get it, and I can't fight it.

00:13The Pacers have a really good young team.

00:15The only thing that would give me hesitation would be that as long as Pat Riley is in that

00:19front office in Miami, they always find a way.

00:22They always find a way to build up that roster in a way that is competitive, but Pacers have

00:29a lot of talent, man, and if Tyrese Halliburton can stay healthy and they can build around

00:34what they've got now, it's all just about them affording it at that point.

00:40So are the Pacers going to be willing to get into that?

00:43We start talking about the aprons and how teams can stay away from a hard cap and all

00:47this stuff, and most people don't care about that.

00:49Their eyes glaze over, but the reality of it is that's part of the business of the NBA

00:53today.

00:54If the Pacers can find a way to afford this roster as it continues to get more expensive,

01:00let's say over the next just three to four years and throw that out there, they're going

01:04to be in a really, really good spot, but Pat Riley always gives the Heat an opportunity,

01:10and so does Eric Spolstra, but I got to take the Pacers given what that roster looks like

01:14right now.

01:16The Pacers are the correct choice.

01:17They are the correct choice here because the Heat seem to be in a bit more of a free fall

01:22at the moment.

01:23The problem with Pat Riley is he will get his team to where it needs to be, but if you

01:27look at the history of the Miami Heat, there have been some downfalls, right?

01:30It is very much a roller coaster or rolling hills, if you will.

01:34They have the heights, and then they take a dip for a little bit.

01:36To me right now, they're in a dip.

01:38I don't know if Jimmy Butler wants to be there.

01:40He wants his money.

01:41I can't blame him.

01:42He deserves a little bit of money.

01:43He is the reason they have been primarily as good as they have that they have reached

01:48the heights that they have reached over the past couple of seasons.

01:51It's almost been exclusively, not fully, but exclusively on his shoulders, and now

01:57they're not that anymore.

01:58I don't know how I feel about Bam Adebayo as a superstar in the league.

02:03I think he's a really good power forward slash center, whatever you want to consider him.

02:07Maybe we're positionalist basketball, who cares?

02:09But he's really good at whatever he does.

02:11He's not a superstar, though.

02:13They don't have a superstar, and I don't know if you've noticed, Nick, Miami has been in

02:17the running for every single superstar that has ever moved over the last 15 years.

02:22Just ask them, and they have come away with Jimmy Butler, and that's it.

02:26And LeBron James.

02:27In the post-LeBron world, they have come away with nobody.

02:30I don't love the direction they're going right now, comparing that to Indiana, who they're

02:34getting better.

02:35They are built a roster in a way that I think is the proper way to do it, mostly through

02:40the draft, but supplementing with trades and free agency.

02:43I think their future is very, very bright.

02:46Let me say this, though, when you talk about the heat and the stars and only coming away

02:51with Jimmy Butler, they've also been up against cap hell for years.

02:57So the fact they were even able to get Jimmy Butler, and I know we maybe laugh at it now

03:00because he's not the player that he once was, but Kyle Lowry, that was a big get for them

03:04at the time as well that cost them a lot of money.

03:07Again, not a superstar, I understand that, but what makes Miami always still so intriguing

03:12is they find a way.

03:14They do find ways to work around whatever cap hell they're currently in, but at some

03:19point we know you eventually have to pay that bill.

03:22We've seen it now with the Saints, where Sean Payton knew when that was eventually, that

03:27was it.

03:28They were kicking the can down the road, and eventually that was going to be it.

03:31They're like, we're going to have to pay this.

03:32We keep pushing all these salaries down to the bitter end, and now, so that's what concerns

03:37me the most about Miami, is if they had more cap space and more picks, they might be in

03:43a better position.

03:44But you're right, Durant's been thrown around, Bradley Beal was thrown around, and you can

03:48name like five other guys on top of that, and that's just kind of the way that thing

03:53works with them, but they've done enough to show you that they at least can find ways

03:59to do it, right?

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