Boston Celtics: 3 east teams that Rudy Gobert would make a contender

Miami Heat

The Houdini sees the Miami Heat as a franchise that will be aggressive this offseason in improving considering how close they have been to the NBA Championship in the Jimmy Butler era.

There’s been some big-time trade-dreaming going on around here regarding the Heat, namely a blockbuster mock deal involving Joel Embiid and James Harden going to South Beach in the same transaction.

If the 76ers don’t want to let go of their MVP candidate big man in order to get out of a potential long-term deal for Harden, Miami can aim for a home-run instead of a grand slam and make a deal happen with Utah for Rudy Gobert instead.

Gobert is not the distributor that Adebayo is, and he scores several buckets less per game. But he is a former DPOY that cleans the glass at a much different level. Gobert is a far more efficient offensive player, one whose presence, by default, puts the ball more in the hands of Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Tyler Herro.

Miami would be on a different level defensively with Gobert in tow, and that could be the pendulum swing needed by the Heat to close what was a very slim margin between them and the Boston Celtics this past season.