The Heat are one trade away from becoming the team no one in the East wants to face

The Heat are already good, but they could be elite in the East.

Just over a month ago, I wrote about how the Miami Heat have a bright future, with a group of young studs and a some veterans led by Jimmy Butler. At the time, they had just blown out the Houston Rockets, and it felt like the team was an upstart that wasn’t quite full-blown contender yet.

Fast-forward to now, a night after a grind-out 108-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on the road, and it’s certain: this isn’t just about the future for the Heat. This is about the present.

This is a team versatile and well-coached enough to play zone against the Sixers, a move that stunned Joel Embiid and forced his teammates to hit from deep (they only hit 30.8 percent of their threes and 42.2 percent overall.). Brett Brown said (via The Sun-Sentinel) that it felt “like (the zone) put us on our heels.”

The Heat have been able to figure out how to beat contenders like the Sixers, Raptors, Bucks, Rockets, and they nearly defeated the Lakers earlier this month. It’s clear they’re already The Team No One Wants to Face in the postseason.

But to take the next step forward, it’s becoming clear they need to make a trade this year. When Jrue Holiday’s name came up — Chris Paul’s had been thrown around by NBA Twitter before that — I immediately thought of the Heat.

They could use a true point guard and a game-changer who also happens to be an elite defender. Pat Riley doesn’t even need to fully break up a core of tough young surprises — maybe he trades one of them (Justise Winslow?) and a few of the expiring deals he has in Goran Dragic and Meyers Leonard. Dion Waiters — suspended again by the team — has a contract that expires in 2020-21. As long as they keep together Butler, surprise find Kendrick Nunn, rookie Tyler Herro, Swiss Army knife center Bam Adebayo and sharp-shooting Duncan Robinson, the trade market is their oyster.

Suddenly, the already-dangerous Heat become contenders who could run with the Bucks and the Celtics. They don’t need to wait until the summer, which is convenient because the free-agent group shaping up isn’t the most impressive.

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be Holiday, although the fit is kind of perfect there. It could be Kevin Love or Danilo Gallinari, who would stretch the floor nicely. If Riley doesn’t want to pay top dollar, he could acquire Marcus Morris from the Knicks.

The point here is the Heat should shove their chips in now, when the East is more open than it would appear.