One Heat player sees the Indiana Pacers as perfect offensive model?

The Miami Heat are trying to find their way to kick off the 2025-2026 season offensively, already missing Tyler Herro and some other guards picking up minor injuries.

Yet even with a fully healthy roster, Erik Spoelstra and company knew it was time to get to the drawing board offensively after finishing 21st in offensive rating this past regular season. More than just building new actions or philosophies, the key is finding a style that fits this new look Heat roster.

When going down the line of the Heat's projected rotation, there's one main thing that sticks out: youth. Plenty of guys such as Kel'el Ware, Nikola Jovic, and Pelle Larsson who will have huge roles for the team this season. Meaning it's time to lean into that young, fast, and athletic style.

Tyler Herro was asked about the Heat roster on Media Day, and he was pretty aligned on that thinking, saying: "Playing a little more athletic. We're younger, get out and run."

New @5otf_

Our sit down with Nikola Jovic prior to him signing the extension https://t.co/MW4oEGXwgW
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) October 2, 2025

In a sit-down with Nikola Jovic, he provided similar thoughts on the outlook of this roster, even taking it a step further to compare it to the reigning Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers.

"Look at Indiana," Jovic said when making his point on style. "The way they play is run, take advantage of every little thing, catch and go, easy baskets. Try to find your role that way and it's going to be easier for everybody."

No doubt that Jovic likes this style of play, even comparing it to the way he played in Euro Basket with Serbia, since any rebound by Nikola Jokic or Jovic was an immediate push down the floor combined with their elite front-court passing.

Nikola Jovic thinks the Heat need to take a Pacers like approach on offense this year

“We got to play fast. We don’t have a guy to say give me the ball and go score 30 every night… look at Indiana.. the way they play is run, catch and go, easy baskets. Try to find your role… pic.twitter.com/CIToobU33u
— Heat Culture (@HeatCulture13) October 3, 2025

He also referenced a main reason for not leaning into it in past years was Jimmy Butler. "That's how you play with him and he was our best player," Jovic said about his close friend during his time with the Miami Heat. And well, that's a true statement. The Heat leaned into their personnel then, and now it's time to lean into it differently now.

Will the Heat mirror the offensive style of the Pacers completely? Absolutely not, if I'm being honest. I don't see this team being a consistently high powered transition team for all 82 games like Indiana.

But the speed in which the Pacers flow into their actions is the piece to takeaway. Much of the Heat's offensive issues over the last few years have come due to getting into their first action with 12 seconds or less on the shot clock.

Playing faster doesn't just mean a ton of transition points. It means ball movement. It means off-ball cutting. It means early shot clock offense.

That's the stuff it's time to lean into.