The three biggest Miami Heat questions ahead of Media Day

The first taste of the season is in less than a fortnight and there hasn’t been too much reason to be excited in Miami for a while until this summer — maybe since the offseason they brought in Kyle Lowry or depending on who you ask, the arrival of Norman Powell in 2025. Things are different now with Giannis Antetokounmpo being a new face, which has caused coach Erik Spoelstra’s smile to radiate like it did during the Big Three years.

The Miami Heat are still in the honeymoon phase with their new build and those vibes will continue through Media Day. Notably, when Jimmy Butler came aboard, those lasted until the 2020 Finals.

This year, there will probably be fewer seats on Media day now that the national media has a reason to care about Heat business. Let’s review the most important questions facing the team.

How will the Heat preserve Giannis Antetokounmpo?

The 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs are one of the top models for how a team can preserve their best players. Of course, a stacked outfit is required, but factor how no one on theirs averaged more than 29.4 minutes per game in the regular season, and their best weapon for most of the year was a 37-year-old Tim Duncan, who turned 38 in April.

There’s a lot others can learn from those Spurs, particularly about how they sacrificed individual shine for a greater purpose. Currently, Antetokounmpo is entering year 14 and calf injuries have plagued him the last few years. It wouldn’t be a surprise if coach Erik Spoelstra kept his minutes in the low 30s instead of the mid 30s which he has normally logged, thinking of the big picture. There could even be an opportunity to play him less against the basement teams, too, which would make end-of-the-rotation guys pleased to see extra time.

Yet the playoffs are when he'll average likely in the high 30s in minutes.

How will they compensate for a lack of traditional playmakers?

Don’t expect Spoelstra to show his hand at media day regarding the playmaking situation, or ever, even if he was ordered to under oath. Still, now that the shooting department has been stocked, the big hole outsiders are pointing to is the lack of traditional playmakers. Naturally, not all rotations and experiments work throughout a season, but this could be when Spoelstra is seen at his most creative.

After Davion Mitchell, it seems that Bam Adebayo, Antetokounmpo and Pelle Larsson will help with playmaking reps. If Nikola Jović turns out to be salvageable, perhaps he could be a help in this department, particularly in the open court.

Additionally, expect to see the Heat run lots of motion in the half court, like they did last year, as well as slowing it down by working with dribble handoffs, which was a feature in 2021-22. The latter option can make the shooters like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Klay Thompson decoys like the offense use to disguse Duncan Robinson for a quick give-back to the roller.

What is the level of urgency?

Teams will say every year that they badly want to win the championship, yet not many recently have come out as hellbent as the 2011-12 Heat, 2013-14 Spurs and 2016-17 Golden State Warriors. Of course, the Heat were not the runner ups last year, but think about how they haven’t won a Finals game in Miami since the night they went back-to-back.

Championship builds don’t last that long, so there isn’t time to waste. Adebayo, who is arguably the best pound-for-pound defender in the NBA, needs to give a little more on the other side this year so that Antetokounmpo isn’t working too hard. Additionally, they need to be good so Antetokounmpo doesn’t think about some place else while he hasn’t extended.

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