The early portions of a new NBA cycle — I’m talking late offseason, training camp, preseason — usually arrive with the same platitudes.
Player A has either gained 15 pounds of muscle, or has lost 20 pounds, and finds himself in the best shape of his life. Player B has tweaked his jumper mechanics and now has a quicker, smoother release.
Team C wants to be more aggressive defensively this year, really set the tone. Team D wants to play with more tempo and incorporate more ball and body movement.
You’ve seen it, you’ve heard it, and you’ve likely joked or rolled your eyes about it at some point. Heck, you probably thought about some other examples while reading that.
Most times it's a blip on the radar before the vaunted norm settles in with a larger sample; but sometimes, players and teams actually mean it. We actually get an aggressive shift from the year prior. Something’s different. It’s tangible. Fresh. Effective.
Yes, I’m talking about Jaime Jaquez Jr.
OK, I’m not exclusively talking about Jaquez — he’ll get his flowers in a bit — but I could be.
We’re really here to talk about the Miami Heat as a whole, who look and feel much different than last season. They’re 3-2, coming off a 107-101 loss to the Wemby-led San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, but they’ve been one of the league’s most fascinating stories of the young season.
Picking up the pace
Long ago, basketball legend Pat Riley [Yes, Riley. And yes, LONG ago.] established a mantra for the Heat franchise he was looking to turn around. There wasn’t just a demand for excellence: They were to be *clears throat* the hardest-working, best-conditioned, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in the NBA.HISS PFFT-PFFT!What you don’t see mentioned, among all those terms, is anything related to speed.
The Riley-led Heat were fine grinding games to a halt and controlling the flow with physical defense. Erik Spoelstra has largely followed the same script; since becoming the head coach ahead of the 2008-09 season, the Heat have never had a top-10 finish in pace. They’ve almost always had a high-level defense, though.
As of this writing, not only are the Heat on pace (don’t yell at me) [:)] to finally crack the top 10, they lead the league in that category so far. Their average possession length is roughly 12 seconds, also tops in the league....
“I mean the game’s evolving,” Bam Adebayo recently said.
“Everybody’s trying to play fast. To be a part of a team with this much pace and this much speed, where we get that ball in transition...And we’re playing the right way. That’s what I love about it. We’re sharing the game. And everybody feels involved. We’re all bought into the system.”
“I mean the game’s evolving,” Bam Adebayo recently said.
“Everybody’s trying to play fast. To be a part of a team with this much pace and this much speed, where we get that ball in transition...And we’re playing the right way. That’s what I love about it. We’re sharing the game. And everybody feels involved. We’re all bought into the system.”
So, what is the system?
Getting the ball up the floor quickly is only the first phase of Miami’s attack. Similar to the Memphis Grizzlies early last season,
I VEHEMENTLY disagree that New Miami is playing similarly to the Memphibians "wheel" system.
the Heat have been deprioritizing — not to be confused with eliminating — traditional two-man actions.
Per GeniusIQ tracking, the Heat are averaging a shade over 20 pick-and-rolls per game (19.1 per 100 possessions), easily the lowest mark in the league. ...
There’s been a similar downshifting of dribble-handoff usage. After averaging roughly 22 per game, with Adebayo often at the center of those, the Heat are averaging a league-low 5.8 handoffs per contest.
Per GeniusIQ tracking, the Heat are averaging a shade over 20 pick-and-rolls per game (19.1 per 100 possessions), easily the lowest mark in the league. ...
There’s been a similar downshifting of dribble-handoff usage. After averaging roughly 22 per game, with Adebayo often at the center of those, the Heat are averaging a league-low 5.8 handoffs per contest.
Pause: All of this "GeniusIQ" data is in the weeds, too much in the weeds. I don't believe in sports "systems". I don't believe in tiki-taka in short-pants football; I don't believe in dump and chase in hockey; I don't believe in the West Coast Offense in tackle football; I don't believe in positionless NBA basketball. I don't like in the weeds. I like Big Picture. New Miami is playing jazz, letting the musicians take the lead on how the composition unfolds. There is no, or less of, a scripted score. Spo is calling fewer plays. Riley, and Spo after him, had a system. It was a classical composer's script conducted by the maestro in the Armani suit on the sideline. Every performer had a defined role--and you better not get out of that role! It's the PLAYERS, not the system.
--encomium to 3J and Davion--
While the offense is structurally different, it’s worth noting the Heat are sprinkling in *just enough* traditional stuff — particularly off the ball — to keep defenses on their toes.
We haven’t seen Norm Powell in the last two games as he recovers from a groin injury. But when he was on the floor, the Heat were intentional about setting a reasonable amount of wide pin-down screens — or staggers (two screens)...
...
There’s a complementary aspect to all of thisWhile the offense is structurally different, it’s worth noting the Heat are sprinkling in *just enough* traditional stuff — particularly off the ball — to keep defenses on their toes.
We haven’t seen Norm Powell in the last two games as he recovers from a groin injury. But when he was on the floor, the Heat were intentional about setting a reasonable amount of wide pin-down screens — or staggers (two screens)...
That's right! You mix in different tactics from "traditional" systems---based on your personnel!
Okay, that's enough. This is an excellent article. It highlights the sea change in under-the-radar New Miami.