Network analysts weigh in on Heat, Lillard, Beal and what Miami must do. And media notes

A six-pack of media notes on a Thursday:

▪ Following a tepid Heat offensive display in the NBA Finals (four games scoring below 100 points), national voices implored Miami to add scoring this offseason. And the Heat has dominated a lot of the discussion on ESPN studio shows the past 48 hours.

Some feedback:

ESPN’s Jay Williams, urging Miami to acquire Washington’s Bradley Beal: “What did Miami really miss? I know everybody is talking about Dame Lillard going with Miami. But it does feel like whoever can offer the most to Portland is probably going to have a better chance for Dame. So is that realistic? The one thing that team was missing was another dynamic ball handler. You are upgrading as it relates to an elite scorer, and that takes all the pressure off of Jimmy Butler. What Jimmy loves to do more than anything, being a lock down defender and clutch scorer when it matters the most. Bam Adebayo becomes your third option offensively. Miami Heat makes a lot of sense” for Beal....

ESPN’s Tim Legler: “They need more offense creation. Tyler Herro is probably the second-best player on their roster in terms of having a live dribble and creating some offense. But they need more. A lot of these [other] teams were derailed by injury. There are a lot of teams with a ton of offensive talent on their roster.

“In a league set up to score and put up numbers, they failed to get to 100 in four of the five games [in the Finals]. They need more size and they need more offensive creation as they head into the summer.

“I definitely think they need more offensive punch and more size and athleticism on the wings because one thing that stood out to me — man, did they look small against the Denver Nuggets. Any time they got a switch in any capacity they just beat Miami up relentlessly with their size. That’s something I think stood out to the Heat as well. They have to address that.

“You know it’s going to be a war when you play them. They need more talent, bottom line.”...

ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins: “I don’t really like Beal in Miami. They need someone that is going to get downhill and get a lot of pressure on the defense. I feel like you need a guy who is going to be able to play pick-and-roll. I believe the Heat can offer Russell Westbrook for this season a vet minimum. That puts them in better position. Bam is getting easier baskets.”

Perkins also said the Heat should pursue a trade for Memphis guard Ja Morant, who faces an NBA suspension after a social media post showed him holding a gun.

“That’s the culture and organization he needs to go. I know they have lifestyle down in Miami. But when it comes down to Godfather [Pat Riley], there is nothing that goes on in that city without him knowing about it. Nothing goes on without [Udonis Haslem] knowing. He’ll be well-protected and he can learn.”...

ESPN’s Richard Jefferson: “They maximized everything they could. They need more. They are one superstar away in addition to Jimmy Butler.”

▪ One of the fascinating aspects of any NBA offseason is the anticipation of the next big thing, the next star to ask to be traded.

“What we don’t know,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said, “is what star players watched the Heat on this two-month advertisement for Heat culture and might go to their teams in the next few weeks and say, ‘I want to be a Miami Heat.’ That has happened consistently through the Pat Riley era, including Jimmy Butler when he wanted to do that a couple years ago. This is the time for the Heat to go. The Heat are primed to make a big move.

“Things are lining up for the Heat to go star hunting, particularly this year. They have Tyler Herro coming onto a large new contact which can be used for a trade. Duncan Robinson totally rehabilitated his value during this playoff run. Caleb Martin became a player a lot of teams would really have interest in.”

Windhorst cautioned that even though the Heat has “been linked to [Damian] Lillard, everything I’ve heard about Lillard is he’s trying to get the Trail Blazers to improve that roster. I don’t get the sense Lillard is available or wants to be available. We’ll see.

“Bradley Beal, I think is a player the Heat would have interest in. I just don’t think the price for Beal is going to be that high. The market is going to be narrowed by his no trade clause. They have contracts they could trade. Dame Lillard might fit better with the Heat than Beal. Do the Heat worry about missing out on Lillard? The Heat is in the thick of it, and I expect them to emerge from this summer having upgraded their roster in a meaningful way.”

Legler said even beyond Lillard (who would be a realistic target) and Beal and Kyrie Irving and James Harden (who aren’t because sign-and-trades would hard-cap the Heat), “here’s the thing about the modern NBA. There’s going to be more guys that are going to come into this conversation over the summer and going into next year’s trading deadline. That’s when you will really start to see. Player dissatisfaction and restlessness creeps in at higher rate than we’ve ever seen before. One thing I trust is the [Heat] have great coaching and great toughness and they will take a more unorthodox approach to what they need to add.”

▪ The five Heat Finals games averaged a 14.8 local rating, which is equal to 14.8 percent of Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes with TV sets — or about 255,000 homes.

As perspective, the Dolphins-Bills wild card game in January on CBS had a 15.0 local rating.

The Heat’s highest ratings during this playoff run were 16.34 for Game 3 of the Finals and 15.97 for Game 5 of the series, when Denver won the championship.

Game 7 of the Celtics series had a 14.64 local rating.

Nationally, the five-game series’ ratings were down 6 percent from the Golden State-Boston six-game NBA Finals last year. Heat-Nuggets averaged 11.5 million viewers, compared with 12.4 million for Warriors-Celtics. Game 5 of Heat-Nuggets outdrew Game 5 of Warriors-Celtics.

▪ The first four games of the Panthers-Las Vegas Stanley Cup Final averaged a modest 3.26 local rating — less than a quarter of the average Heat Finals rating in Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

Those numbers (equal to about 50,000 homes) are combined ratings between TNT and TBS, which simulcast TNT’s coverage of most of the games.

Ratings progressively went down — starting with a 3.6 (about one-third of a typical regular season Dolphins audience) and dropping to a 2.67 for Game 4.

The lesson here; There is a really limited number of local viewers interested in watching hockey, no matter how great a story the Panthers are.

Nationally, TNT’s first ever Stanley Cup finals averaged 2.6 million viewers, down 43 percent from the 4.6 million on ABC last June for Tampa Bay-Colorado.

▪ Marlins ratings on Bally Sports Florida have been at their highest point this month, even with competition against Heat and Panthers finals games.

Last week’s opener of a series against Kansas City was the most watched of the season, despite opposing Game 2 of the Panthers-Las Vegas series.

▪ Quick media notes: Shannon Sharpe left his role as Skip Bayless’ sparring partner on FS-1’s “Undisputed”… The Dolphins at Texans second preseason game on Aug. 19 was moved from evening to 4 p.m. Eastern and will be televised live nationally on NFL Network and locally on CBS-4... Longtime anchor Neil Everett is leaving ESPN….

NBC’s streaming service Peacock not only gets exclusive rights to a wild card playoff game and Bills-Chargers on Dec. 23, but NBC also is putting one of its more attractive early season Big 10 games (Washington-Michigan State) on Peacock…. Devin McCourty is joining NBC’s “Football Night in America” studio show.