Before the pandemic, before the months began to run together, August stood as the dead period in the NBA, a time for a needed exhale, when balls stopped bouncing, the transaction wire slowed to a crawl, the league took stock of what was and would be again.
Then consider this: A year ago this weekend, the Miami Heat were in the midst of a playoff run from two seasons ago. Two. During the final weekend of August 2020, the Heat had just completed their first-round sweep of the Indiana Pacers, were preparing to blow past the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Seasons truly have been colliding, in the interim the Bucks rebounding from that playoff humiliation at the hands of the Heat to win the 2021 championship, a run that began with a sweep of the Heat.
So now, as an NBA August is put to rest, we take stock of an August like no other, ever, in the Heat’s 34 seasons.
— Aug. 1: A sign of what was to follow came on the first day of the month, with the Heat on Aug. 1 picking up Goran Dragic’s $19.4 million team option for 2021-22 and bypassing Andre Iguodala’s $15 million team option for the coming season.
All was not as it appeared. As the second day of August showed, when ...
— Aug. 2: ... the Heat opened free agency by dealing Dragic and 2020 first-round pick Precious Achiuwa to the Toronto Raptors for Kyle Lowry, in a sign-and-trade transaction that netted Lowry a three-year, $85 million contract.
That began a massive makeover for a Heat roster humbled in the first round of the playoffs, including ...
— Aug. 3: ... the Heat on the second day of free agency adding veteran power forward P.J. Tucker from the Milwaukee Bucks on a two-year, $14.4 million contract, and veteran Los Angeles Lakers forward Markieff Morris on a one-year deal at the $2.6 million veteran minimum.
And while that was going on, the Heat turned to their youth movement by opening summer-league play, with ...
— Aug. 4: ... Omer Yurtseven on the second night of summer league play in Sacramento going for 25 points and eight rebounds in a game against a similar team of young players from the Golden State Warriors, a night after the undrafted 7-footer went for 27 points and 19 rebounds against the Lakers’ summer roster.
Those two performances days later locked Yurtseven into a two-year contract at the veteran minimum, a value contract needed ...
— Aug. 6: ... because on the first day allowed, Jimmy Butler agreed to a four-year, $184 million extension that will carry him through his 36th birthday.
The deal was formally announced the following day, which also was the day when ...
— Aug. 7: ... Heat center Bam Adebayo secured Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games, in an 87-82 victory over France, a game, when playing as a starter, Adebayo closed with six points, six rebounds and four assists.
The celebration didn’t end then, with ...
— Aug. 11: ... Adebayo wearing his Olympic gold on the Heat bench days later when second-year guard Max Strus hit a sudden-death double-overtime 3-pointer to give the Heat a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League.
The shot came days after the Heat extended two-year, standard deals to 2020-21 two-way players Strus and Gabe Vincent, making it a time about something new and something old, because ...
— Aug. 15: ... days after word leaked, the Heat made official the signing of veteran power forward Udonis Haslem for a 19th season with the team, despite only a single, 2-minute, 40-second appearance in 2020-21.
That essentially finalized the Heat roster for a 2021-22 schedule ...
— Aug. 20: ... that was released a weeks later than during a typical offseason, with the league to revert to an 82-game alignment for the first time in three seasons.
The release of the schedule showed just how significant coalescing will be, with 13 of the Heat’s first 20 games to be on the road, amid ...
— Aug. 26: ... ongoing concern with the pandemic, leading the Heat on the final Thursday of the month to hold yet another public vaccination event at FTX Arena, just days after an announcement requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a term of employment.
Because with another shortened offseason, the reality is that ...
— August 28: ... we are now one month away from the Sept. 28 start of NBA training camps, with the Heat’s preseason to open Oct. 4 and regular season to start Oct. 21.
No, no August exhale this time around, only the reality that we’re almost back at the starting line.
