3 Realistic Miami Heat Lineups To Look Out For This Season

The one major distinction between the current Miami Heat roster and the one that got swept off the floor in the first round of the postseason last April by the Cleveland Cavaliers is this: added lineup diversity for Erik Spoelstra to play around with. The systematic focus has, and will always, be revolved around defense.

Yet after another bottom 10 finish in offensive rating, the attention turns to increasing the scoring levels on this roster. With that said, here are 3 lineups you'll most likely be seeing this season:

1. Tyler Herro - Norman Powell - Nikola Jovic - Bam Adebayo - Kel'el Ware

If you want to check some boxes on extra scoring and positional size, this lineup will allow you to get creative. Taking Norman Powell out of this unit from last year, the remaining four only posted a total of 29 minutes together, with the majority chunk coming from a double OT win over the Orlando Magic last January where the big man front-court was debuted.

I asked Tyler Herro about the new Jovic-Bam-Ware lineup:

“I like that. I like that a lot.”

“Niko is so versatile. We can put him in different spots on the offensive end.” pic.twitter.com/qa8Y662Xnn
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) January 28, 2025

Defense holding strong will be biggest question here, but Bam Adebayo alone finds ways to keep units afloat on that end. The scoring punches from Tyler Herro and Powell force the spacing of Kel'el Ware and Adebayo to naturally appear cleaner. Add in Nikola Jovic as a 6'11 connector/play-maker and it'll make for an interesting offensive outlet.

2. Davion Mitchell - Tyler Herro - Pelle Larsson - Nikola Jovic - Kel'el Ware

Erik Spoelstra and his staff usually create a pretty strict staggered rotation when formulating a plan prior to the season. It used to consist of aligning the minutes of Herro and Adebayo to spam that highly effective pick and roll. Fast forward to a couple months ago, and it revolved around splitting the two up to anchor their respective lineups.

Moral of the story: these things are fluid. But when it comes to building these lineups out, it all comes down to fit. And the trio of Herro, Jovic, and Ware made it clear pretty early on that it would be hard to split them up. Those three ended up logging a total of 246 minutes together across the year, and that number should only rise.

Surrounding those offensive triggers with the perimeter defense and off-ball impact of Davion Mitchell and Pelle Larsson seems to be the only way. The next headlining duo of the coveted baseline pressure in the 2-2-1 press. This leaves the following shift, as Herro and company get a breather, to be left to Adebayo, Powell, and Wiggins to hold things down.

3. Davion Mitchell - Tyler Herro - Norman Powell - Andrew Wiggins - Bam Adebayo

This five man group is simply a case of being real. Being real about the natural direction Coach Spoelstra will lean in when it comes down to crunch time. There's a hope that Ware sees closing minutes more often as he limits mistakes and gains the trust of the staff, or even that Jovic puts them in a position where they just can't sit him. But these are the guys he will naturally trust.

Will there be nights when fans are calling for the Heat to match the size of the opponent late? Possibly. Are others going to want to see what their core young pieces have in the tank when the game is in the balance? Certainly.

But the defensive trust that Miami possesses in Mitchell, Wiggins, and Adebayo combined with the offensive load Herro and Powell will carry seems to be just enough to correlate to seeing this lineup quite often.