The Miami "Heat" are 11-15. One of the reasons for that is that opposing teams have had a covid-shortened but good look at what was an entirely new roster last season. Who the hell were Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson at the beginning of last season? Nobody knew. I remember looking at a publicity photo of no more than five players put out by the "Heat" and having to guess which was Duncan Robinson and which Meyers Leonard. And I guessed wrong. Other coaches, other players, had no fucking idea how to defend these new "Heat." This season teams are game-planning for Robinson; they know his tendencies, know which plays he likes best to get the ball off, know his sweet spots on the floor and are taking him out of his most comfortable zone. Picks can rattle a jump shooter, they knock some parts loose; it's not even mostly picks, it's ball denial, space denial, spot denial, and it all is having an effect. His conversion on threes is down from an absurd 44.6% to a still very good 39.7%. And there's that record. Spolestra is using Kendrick Nunn less this new season than he did the beginning of last, but Nunn's minutes also fell in the playoffs, I noticed. There's not having Leonard. His minutes were spotty though last year. Eric Spoelstra said, I think it was in training camp 2019, "Duncan Robinson is one of the best shooters on the planet." That he proved sniper shot after sniper shot last year against team after team after team. Duncan says now:

“It’s similar coverages to what we saw in the playoffs last year. A lot of the stuff that I was able to get away with during the regular season last year isn’t working anymore. [They’re] just more tuned in, trying to limit my catches and limiting my ability to come off stuff freely.”

NBA basketball is more like chess than is any other sport, it seems to me. You use pieces you have at different times.The possibilities are virtually endless. Spoelstra's positionless system adds to the complexity by having everybody able to play positions one through four at any time. It's like playing chess and using rooks like they're bishops, knights interchangeable with pawns . Spoelstra doesn't have a king and uses his queen all over the board, fearlessly, as pawn, rook, or bishop. His opponents are catching on to the ways he uses these pieces in his unique system. As in the evolution of species, you adapt or you die.