Tough Road Ahead For Heat

The Miami Heat will play 16 more games before the NBA's trade deadline and will face some stiff competition along the way.

Entering this stretch of games, Miami sits at only 15-21 on the year. The Heat have lost seven of their last ten games and are clinging to the eighth seed in the conference. In addition, the team that was dominant on the road to begin the year is only 8-9 away from Miami now. The Heat will play 11 of these 16 games on the road.

During the next 16 games, the Heat will travel to take on several title contenders. It begins with the Los Angeles Clippers and continues with the likes of the Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers. All of those contests will come on the road leading up to the trade deadline.

The Heat will not be safe at the American Airlines Arena either where a couple of more powerful teams will visit. Over the next month, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks will both travel to Miami. Thus far this year, Miami is only 7-12 on its home court.

While the season is far from over, the hopes of a title run could begin to fade away. The Eastern Conference is not known for its strength which means Miami could potentially make the playoffs even as a losing team. Heat president Pat Riley and the team will need to decide if a likely early playoff exit is worth the trouble.

Miami is lacking in young talent and in draft picks. After trading away several selections to form the "Big Three", the Heat are in a position where they are unable to pick up necessary pieces from the collegiate level. Miami's first round pick is partially protected through 2016 but in 2017 that pick will become unprotected.

Trading away a player such as Luol Deng could help Miami restock its supply of picks. There was reported interest in Deng earlier this week by the Memphis Grizzlies. Those talks apparently went nowhere but it is an concept that the Heat could elect to re-visit down the road.