By: Ryan Stein

The beginning of this NBA season has had its fair share of surprises so far. Among those has been the mediocre start to the season for the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat. While it's still early in the season, and a lot of the trends so far won't remain for the season's entirety, I do believe the Heat will show themselves not to be the fearsome threat they were in the bubble. With that, I see Miami being a team that disappoints and gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

Welcome back to Far-Fetched Friday, where every Friday we give you a bold prediction that we believe will come to fruition. Today we look at the state of last season's surprise NBA Finalists.

Without Jimmy Butler operating at a high level, the Heat will not be considered a serious threat to anyone. Early returns on Butler have not been great for him this year, averaging less than 14 points per game while shooting a mere 40.7% from the field. Considering the waves he made with his play doing last season's playoffs, he has been a major disappointment so far. 

Players like Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn have also underwhelmed, which leads to the question of whether the Heat are just in a slump, or if they just aren't as good as they showed last season. I tend to lean towards the latter, and could see the Heat having real issues doing damage in the playoffs, especially if they have to go up against one of the top-seeded teams in the East when the first round comes around. 

After the Heat saw massive increases to their stock last season, this past offseason and the start to this regular season should have the Miami Heat brass showing more urgency to right the ship. Don't be surprised if a major trade happens with the Heat if they continue to struggle, and don't be surprised when they get bounced from the first round of the playoffs this year.