Four pressing Heat questions with Tommy Tighe of the Heat Radio Network

I had a chance to catch up with a former colleague of mine, Tommy Tighe, who enters his 14th season with the HEAT Radio Network, producing and co-hosting the pre-game, halftime and post-game shows:

Question: The player that intrigues me the most on the Heat is Kel’el Ware. I think he could be a top-five player from his draft class. How high do you think his ceiling is? 

Answer: I think the sky is the limit. It sounds like a cliche with Kel’el, but I think that’s definitely the direction you take because I’m with you — he could be a top five guy coming out of that class.

He almost was last year, because you remember, Andy, back in January he finally got the first chance to play. He sat out the first two and half months before he even got into the lineup and rotation.

And then he played really, really well for a good month, month and a half and after that it seemed like the league caught up to him.

I think he’s smart enough to make those adjustments this time and he’ll continue to improve and be better than he was last year throughout the course of the season. 

Q: The Heat have a really tough schedule for the first three weeks of the season when they’ll be without Tyler Herro. How well do you think they’ll be able to navigate that stretch? 

A: I get the feeling it’s not going to be easy for them, that’s for darn sure. It’s a brutal schedule. I think 12 of the first 21 are at home, and the last two years they haven’t played well in their building, which is quite surprising for the Heat franchise.

They need to do better at home for me to tell you that it’s gonna be a real good start to the season. And on the road that West Coast trip is never easy but it looks like a Murderer’s Row on paper to me.

How do I think they’re gonna do? I’d like to think they could come relatively close to .500, and if they do, then you might be able to think maybe they can crack the top six [in the East]. If they can do that I’d be very confident about what they’re able to do this year 

Q: How do you like the fit of Norman Powell and how prominently do you think he’ll be featured in the offense, especially with the early absence of Herro?

A: I think if you have to pick 1 and 1A, I’m going to say the offense is going to run through Powell and Powell. Tyler Herro likes to call himself this: a bucket. ‘I’m a bucket.’ He said that when he first came into the league.

Norman Powell, the way he’s played with this team so far in the limited time he’s been in there, he’s been a bucket. The man has been so consistent, with the exception of the game in Atlanta, shooting the basketball, so I had no problems with the trade when they made it.