Erik Spoelstra's Lineup Tinkering Fails To Bear Fruit ...

Head coach Erik Spoelstra is clearly trying to find the right formula to lift his team out of its brutal funk, but he looks like he’s fumbling for answers and pressing the wrong buttons at this point.


...Highsmith and Duncan Robinson, which is arguably Miami’s strongest defensive lineup...

WOW. Didn't know that!

Put his awful night [D-Ro in Memphis] squarely on Spoelstra.

No.

Blame the coach’s meddling,

No.

because at this point, it’s clear the Heat’s problems have had very little to do with starting games. They can’t close,

Both true. CAN start; can't close. Good point. Well...How'd we start against Beans? Against Grizz? I think overall a decent point.

struggle in second halves and seemingly have little confidence when it matters most, but opening stretches have largely been solid.


That is the key to this.

...

Spoelstra will undoubtedly have a different rotation in place when Alec Burks returns from his back issues, but at this point, he’s got to strive for consistency...

I, of all "Heat" observers, cannot dispute that point, or Tony Mejia's characterization of Spo's lineup moves as "tinkering" and "meddling". (Publocc search term "tinker") But. What is spo'sed to do? Pat Riley chased off the team's motor, leaving a team reeling in drawn-out emotional chaos, brought in three new guys, the best of whom is no Alpha, and threw them in Spo's tool box with intent that he use them. Spo did, he used them, started Wig-o and D-Mitch first game. It didn't work out. Then Wig-o gets hurt and misses several games. Wig-o, according to one GSW beat writer was "uncompetitive". There were reports all season long of defeatism and shoulder-slumping body language on GSW. That all changed, according to Draymond Green "1,000,000%" for the better, when JBIII arrived. 

Wig-o has started games well. And not finished. He seems to me to shrink in the spotlight. He's not a go-to. The "Heat" right now are a team of sixth men and role players. There is not a superstar on the roster. That is my perspective on the team's talent and I think it's the chalk. Andrew Wiggins? No. Tyler Herro? No. Bam is the team's best player, the captain, and the team's motor. Bam is fabulous. But he cannot dominate a game.

Spoelstra has a vision for this team, said he had the same vision after the trade, that finally he had a positionless team that could "run". But he doesn't have the horses.

I thought that Spoelstra would stick to a starting, and finishing, lineup with Wig-o and D-Mitch until the end of this season. I agree with Mejia's point that the team needs "consistency". But with Wig-o getting hurt Spoelstra couldn't.  601 Biscayne is never going to give up on a season and when the results aren't there Spo has a mandate to tinker. 

 

Imo, Spo should ride with the first post-trade lineup, but this is all lineup shit and tinkering about his tinkering plays right into his weakness. It ignores the central issue to me: defeatism. This team, no matter who starts and who finishes, does not believe that it will win the game. Any game. Charlotte or Boston, Chicago or Cleveland. Get off to a hot start? "They'll come back and beat us." Get off to a bad start? "It's over, we're gonna lose again." 

 

...Jaquez has shown flashes of coming out of his season-long sophomore slump over the past few weeks, but shuffling between starting and coming off the bench is unlikely to benefit him finding a rhythm.

I was 3J's biggest champion when he arrived. A draft steal. Then he got hurt. History tells that if players are going to make a big jump, they do it in their second season. 3J has not. It's not a slump. It's a low ceiling. 3J is 24. That's OLD for a second-year NBA baller.

(Tony Mejia, SI)