Raptors: 3 Eastern Conference rivals who got worse this offseason

1. Miami Heat

While the Raptors decided to keep their young team together, Miami faces more immediate pressure to compete for a championship due to having an older team led by names like Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. Miami kept trying to swing trades for Mitchell and Durant, but they came up short.

Miami, who was beaten by Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals, appears to have been trying to offload two very poor defenders in Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson, the latter of whom has become an albatross contract. The Heat don’t have the benefit of time on their side.

The Toronto Raptors could match up well with the Miami Heat.

With Lowry having struggled with injuries and Butler turning 33 a few days ago, Miami is one of two unlucky breaks away from seeing most of their infrastructure crumble away into dust. Bam Adebayo is great, but has he proven he can be a trusted primary scoring option on a contender?

Toronto has already proven that they can play Miami as well as any team, as their style of play is very similar to what the Heat like to do. The Heat are going to be a playoff team again, but the Raptors should by no means dread their days in South Beach.