The "Heat" bought out and signed Patty Mills, who is 35 and wasn't getting p.t. riding the Pigeons' bench. Sounds like a typical "Heat" bullshit move, like the Kyle Lowry Effect, and there are glaring similarities in age and position (not however, in salary), but the "Heat" don't make many bullshit moves. This reminds me more of the Gilbert Cadavers paying us to take K-Love. That worked out well. In an article that is no longer available Adrian Wojnarowski wrote for ESPN that Mills is one of the all-time greats as teammate and leader. That is a glaring dissimilarity with Lowry. Mills is going to be a back-up point guard for us, except we don't really have a point guard. Terry has played point guard, Tyler has played point guard, Jimmy is de facto floor general many times. Positionless, remember?
The "Heat" waived guard Dru Smith to make room for Mills. Poor Dru. Another G-League guy that we were making good. Hurt his knee on the Gilbert Cadavers' uneven floor and was lost for the season.
Josh Richardson is also lost for the season with shoulder surgery. Josh was coming around as a contributor on this team.
There are a couple of +/- stories on Spo's starting lineups. Spo really has been more than his mysterious self with his usage of Nikola Jovic. A G-League yo-yo at the beginning of the season Niko was suddenly starting. That didn't work well and the book was that Spo was showcasing him prior to the trade deadline. Then other GMs threw water on that take: they had called and Niko was practically untouchable. Then he was a nightly DNPCD. Then Spo started him again and he has been the starter in recent games. He was speculated as a playoffs surprise. Nos that's a yo-yo. In this uptake cognos are pointing to Jovic's +/-, e.g.,
The Heat have a net rating of +8.3 or better with Nikola Jovic on the floor...
He is the starter.
He makes EVERY lineup better.
The only meh combo was Lowry.
And then there is this:
The stunning data difference for Heat when Robinson starts.
Duncan Robinson has been a productive NBA bench player this season.
But he has been an exceptionally productive NBA starter this season.
The problem is:
...deploying Robinson as a full-time starter would be challenging because Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier are cemented as starters, and Erik Spoelstra has recently opted for a natural power forward (Nikola Jovic) [to round out the starting lineup]...
So there’s no realistic way to insert Robinson as a starter when starters Herro and Rozier are both available, even though the numbers suggest he’s better in that role.
...
Spoelstra typically doesn’t like discussing his rationale behind his starting lineup decisions. But it’s clear that he’s committed to starting Herro and Rozier and has spoken of the great possibilities of that backcourt tandem.
You go, Spo.
