A calming presence in the chaos of the Miami Heat bench

A Josh Hart and-one pushed the New York Knicks lead to 6 with two minutes left in the third quarter. Yet when that buzzer sounded two minutes later, the Miami Heat found themselves with a one point lead.

Two words: Dru Smith.

With the momentum shifting away from Miami in their home building, he hit back to back wing threes that pretty much kept them alive in a key stretch to finish a quarter strong.

He's been as calm and collected in those spots as anybody on the team, as his scrappy defense and crafty offensive relief points continue to come up big.

As Erik Spoelstra described it after the game, he's pretty much the perfect fifth piece to that young and chaotic bench group.

"His confidence can be anything he chooses it to be, because he can do anything he wants out there," Spoelstra said about Smith postgame. "We're not going to pull the reins on him at all."

Talked to Spo about Dru Smith last night:

“His confidence can be anything he chooses it to be, because he can do whatever he wants out there.”

“When I talk about make a competitive impact, that’s what he does.” pic.twitter.com/GhRwfm9PHS
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) November 18, 2025

"When I talk about make a competitive impact, that's what he does," Spoelstra continued. "So all of a sudden if the game requires 'I have to knock down 3 threes,' he's going to do that. He might not do that the next game, it might be like the three steals."

Whether it's the two wing threes and a corner heave from last night, or the four steals in the win against the Portland Trail Blazers two weeks ago, Spo is right that he always finds a way to step up in any department.

The tough part about his role is that he's forced to do it in shorter spurts of playing time. Somebody that is able to make a high level of impact without needing to get into any type of rhythm in an extended stretch is simply a guy that NBA coaches like Erik Spoelstra want to rely on.

"He's really great for that unit," Spo said about his role with the bench group. "He keeps them settled. Everybody else can just be aggressive, hair on fire. He's just a calming presence, and super smart and disciplined."

When playing with the offensive chaos in this new system, plus the sporatic drives from guys like Jaime Jaquez Jr and Nikola Jovic, that under control point guard is definitely needed.

"Point guard" may be a stretch since most of his damage has come off secondary creation behind Jaquez Jr, but that's just another example of him wearing multiple hats on this team.

Norman Powell also was vocal about Smith's bench unit impact, stating, "He's a steady force for us in that second unit," while jokingly adding that his three big second half triples should've been four, as he passed a good look up off a nice snatch back cross-over.

Dru Smith is currently shooting 48% from the field overall, and 39% from deep on over two attempts a night. But his defensive reliability is the true standout factor, as he averages 1.5 steals a game along with consistent positional excellence on that end of the floor.

He's not the loudest guy, and may not generate the loudest numbers. But man Dru Smith deserves a ton of credit for the Heat's 8-6 start to the year.