Iguodala loves and respects what Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and everybody else has created in Miami, he also believes players can “overthink it” and “fight things as opposed to just like, dive in.” His prime example is Duncan Robinson.
Team Tight--Team Loose
Once Iguodala embraced the Heat’s tight regiment, he saw how and why it
clicked on the court and couldn’t argue Miami plays harder than any
other team. There also can be side effects to that style, and Iguodala
noticed how many players missed wide-open shots – including himself. He also has seen the Heat back off a little from afar.
You miss an open shot in Miami you "overthink it", maybe "back off" on the next one, not "just like, dive in."
“If Duncan missed a wide-open shot, he would think the world was about to end,” Iguodala said. “He’s like, “No, I’m out here to shoot. I can never miss.’ Now I love that mindset, but I’m like, ‘Duncan, if you miss a shot that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop passing to you.’ But I think there’s some correlation there.”
Put in my own words: Robinson knew two things: 1) he was there to shoot. Erik Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler have said a zillion times, we want Duncan to keep shooting. There is no doubt that Duncan got that message. But, 2) literally the next sentence, "I can never miss." So he can't really just keep shooting. There's a mixed message there. As there is here: 3) ‘Duncan, if you miss a shot that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop passing to you.’ Next sentence by Andre: "But I think there’s some correlation there.” In my words, "We'll still pass the ball to you, Duncan" but they don't: "there's some correlation there" between Duncan missing shots and teammates continued willingness to pass him the ball.
Robinson signed a five-year, $90 million contract in the summer of 2021 but has seen his play and role regress ever since.
Then, there’s the Warriors and the much different approach Iguodala had to take as a leader.
“On the other side of it, sometimes with the Warriors coming into halftime in the locker room I’d be like, ‘Yo, will y’all tighten up please,” Iguodala said. “We got our total-game turnovers at halftime. We always had a turnover problem. We were last in the league last year in turnovers. We turned the ball over the second-most in the league.
“It’s like, ‘Yo man, stop giving the other team the ball and the game
would be over.’ So now I got to do the reverse, like, ‘Lock in!’ At one
place it’s ‘Relax, we worked hard, we’re good.’ But on the other side
it’s like, ‘We know we’re going to win, but c’mon – let’s lock in.’ We
had to have those conversations a lot.”
