Q to the Nine Teams: "Why Haven't You Adopted the Miami Way?"
A: "Because we don't want to go 44-38 for twelve fucking years."
That's a point, Barry.
The answers for Barry Jackson are the same no matter who is learning from whom: no "lessons learned" (save a little shuffling)
It was April 10, 2022 — the final day of the NBA’s regular season — that the Heat stood atop the Eastern Conference standings. It hasn’t happened a single day in four seasons since.
[Since then] a bunch of teams jumped the Heat. Nine teams finished ahead of them in this season’s Eastern Conference standings.
Those nine do not include the injury-riddled Pacers...
...
The Heat, frankly, could have schooled many of these teams on roster-building for the first 25 years of the Pat Riley era.
Twenty-five years are 1995-2020. Jackson does not include the last five years, 2020-2025.
But those teams who jumped Miami didn't want to attend Pat Riley U!
For the Heat, there’s no lesson to be learned from tanking. There’s no lesson to be learned from Cleveland acquiring Donovan Mitchell...
Jackson's (601 Biscayne's) answers become tautological as here. There's no lesson from tanking because we're not tanking.
So I’m not going to sit here and say that most of these teams that jumped the Heat have discovered the magic elixir.
But in our view, there are a few lessons that could be learned — or at least ideas worth considering — from what other teams did the past four years:
▪ Boston: There’s no lesson to be learned from landing generational talents high in the lottery...
Pause: Accepting Beans' offer of multiple draft picks to jump and draft non-generational-non-talent Justise Winslow is a lesson unlearned. Unpause
▪ Indiana and Toronto: We understand the Heat doesn’t like trading a good player for another good player unless it believes the move clearly improves the team.
But sometimes, simply shuffling the pieces can help, in our view.
Lesson 1: learn how to shuffle.
▪ New York: Let’s be real: The Knicks have risen to this spot mostly because they smartly projected that Jalen Brunson would be far better than he was......
As it was explained to me [by 601 Biscayne], the Heat doesn’t prioritize collecting a bunch of first-round picks (though it got one in the Jimmy Butler trade with Golden State) because it’s trying to win every year. We get it. It’s a noble approach.
Pause: Noble is not the word for it. Heads I win, tails you lose. Heads: Miami doesn't like first-round draft picks because it's trying to win every year. Tails: They're not winning every year because they don't have first round draft picks. Miami conclusion: We still don't like draft picks. Unpause
...
▪ Philadelphia: For the Heat or anyone else, there’s absolutely nothing to be learned...
▪ Atlanta and Toronto and Orlando. This can be summed in one word: Length! And adequate positional size.
Here I want to add the substance of a post that I drafted but didn't publish:
Erik Spoelstra invented positionless basketball. Pat Riley wasn't a particular fan but deferred.
That has resulted in roster homogenization. The ideal player for positionless is 6'6"-6'8". Tall enough to defend the post but not so tall that he's lumbering. Quick enough to defend Allan Iverson but not too small. A good shooter but not a ball hog. A good defender but not Dennis Rodman-inept at scoring. Every player is expected to be capable of playing all five positions and to be good at everything. Good but not great.
So Jackson's "adequate positional size" is really dumb.
Spoelstra had always wanted to play fast-paced. So he fitted a version of Memphis "wheel" offense to the "Heat" last summer. Riley said in his season wrap-up that in Spo's offense who gets the shot is not dependent on who is a great shooter (since there are no great shooters, only equally good shooters) but on who ends up with the ball in the last 8-second trimester. Riley thinks "you gotta get the ball to your guys" (the great shooters. Spo doesn't think he has great shooters).
Conclusion: Riley is not going to get Spoelstra to play positional basketball.
