We Break Down What Isn't Working for the Miami Heat

All right, let's talk about the Miami Heat, who are in, I think, a world of trouble.

This team, I think, has some real problems right now.

Heat start the season 0-3.

They're gonna play Dallas on Monday, what has become like kind of a must-win regular season game in October if that actually exists.

Uh, the Heat are 27th in the NBA in offensive rating as we record this.

They are 24th in defensive rating .

They've been beaten by double digits in two of the three games.

They lost to Charlotte.

They went to Charlotte and lost, and, uh, Giannis had some foul trouble in that game.

Uh, they almost pulled it out down the stretch, but they still lost in Charlotte.

Uh, this team's got a lot of problems, Rachel.

How concerned are you about Miami?

I, I'm concerned.

I, I thought that they would start a little better.

And look, I think the regular season, even though the standard in the East has been risen, the floor has been risen in the Eastern Conference, I still think there are some easy wins out there.

You would have thought Charlotte would have been a win for them.

Um, certainly, when they play Western Conference teams, there's, there's more easy wins, um, out of the West than there used to be.

So, I, I, I think there are places they can get right, you know, mentally healthy kind of with, but I do think right now.

Um, I'm more concerned.

I thought that with sort of the gravity Giannis and Bam created, some of the weaknesses in their offense could be covered a little bit, not as weak, and, and that just has not been the case, and they, the comfort level with the whole team, you know, that's what I look for with an Erik Spoelstra team, and it, it just doesn't seem to be there right now.

I have a lot of faith in Spo, but I, I am way more concerned than I was a week and a half ago, which is a bummer.

I, you know, I, I worked in Miami.

I, I want that team to succeed.

I hate how they're playing.

I hate the style with which they're playing.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I said all during the preseason, like this team is built to be a grind it out, win games in the 90s, early triple or high, low triple digits.

And be the best defensive team in the league.

You've got arguably the best defensive front court in basketball, two-man front court, putting aside Wemby in San Antonio.

You've got Daveon Mitchell, who's a proven defender at the point guard position, Andrew Wiggins, who has been a decent defender over the years.

This team should be grinding out wins.

Instead, they are 10th in the NBA in pace right now.

They are.

Playing the high possession game and they're losing.

They're losing these high possession games.

It's crazy to me how this team is playing.

They're not an uptempo team.

Like Klay Thompson, not having a bad start to the season, but he's not Klay Thompson anymore.

He's not.

He's a mid-30s, 3-point shooter at this stage of his career.

He's probably better suited being 1/6 man off the bench.

Mitchell.

is not an offensive point guard.

That is not his strength.

It is driving me crazy, and I watched the first two Heat games, missed the, the Charlotte one, but it is driving me crazy watching this team go up and down fast, try to get an early shot up, and it's mostly for the 1st 2 games anyway, just Giannis going to the rim, just attacking the basket on his own like.

I, I, I, I thought they would, you know, look, last year, they revamped their style to be more free-flowing, high possession.

I thought they would toss that in the bin and go with a more, you know, slug it out type of style.

They haven't done that.

They are instead trying to beat you with scoring, and that's not gonna work because you have two big men who are not 3-point threats.

You've got a point guard who is not a 3-point threat.

You've got a sharpshooter who's not the 3-point threat he used to be in Klay Thompson.

I just, I hate the way they're playing.

If they would play, if they would try to look like more like the 1990s Miami Heat, the Pat Riley Miami Heat early 2000, that would be the kind of team I think could have success even in today's free-flowing NBA.

But the way they're playing right now, it ain't gonna work.

It is not going to work.

They're not gonna be able to outscore teams and have that kind of success.

I, I, I completely agree with you.

I do think Spo is the kind of guy who's not afraid to change things significantly midstream, so you might get your, you might get your wish there.

My concerns.

Have been more defensively, I mean, this team, given their sort of limitations offensively, needs to be one of the top 5 defensive teams in the league, and they are not.

I mean, I think they, they've given up 115 points or more per game so far.

Is that right?

I mean, do you have the numbers of where they've ranked defensively?

Yeah, yeah, I'll pull it up, but it's a chicken and the egg thing though.

Like if you're playing high possession, you're giving up a lot of possession the other end.

Like you could be a, yeah, you could be a solid defensive team in the half court, but if you're getting possession after possession, if it's gonna be up that high, then.

You're gonna have problems like this team should be walking the ball up the court, running kind of running offense through Giannis and Bam in the post or the midpost wherever.

They're just not playing the right way.

They're not playing the right way for me.

So, when you are more limited with shooters offensively, sometimes you're playing the way they're playing now to try to hide that, right, to try to get guys in position in a place where the defense isn't as set up and you can try to get a lesser player, more opportunity, but clearly that's not working.

It, it's not working.

It's not working.

I'm not sure what the fix is other than changing the style.

Like all the problems that we believe this team was going to have in the preseason have become problems in the regular season.

They don't have enough perimeter shooting.

They don't have, uh, the, the kind of wing playmaking, shot creation that you're gonna get from anybody outside of Giannis.

When Giannis goes down, um, they're just not a very functional offensive team.

Now, yeah, I, I didn't, I only saw the highlights of the 4th quarter against Charlotte when they started to make a comeback.

Giannis was dealing with foul trouble, um.

It seemed like they went back to and tried to rediscover a defensive identity for that stretch, but that's the kind of way they've got to play.

If they keep trying to play a, a fast-paced game, high possession game, they're gonna miss the playoffs, miss the playoffs.

Like that's what's gonna happen.

Defensive rating right now and where they are here.

The defensive rating overall they're 24th in defensive rating overall.

They're, they're very bad.

Yes, yeah, yeah, it's not good when I keep scrolling like this, it's not a good sign.

27th actually this morning as I'm looking at it right now.

So that's, that's even worse, worse, yes.

There you go.

So yeah, I, I don't, I don't have a lot of confidence.

I don't have a lot of confidence in this team.

I didn't have confidence in the team coming into the season, you know.

People were trying to convince me that Mitchell could do it, that.

The bigs would figure it out.

Klay Thompson was the celebrated signing, even though every time you get a guy at nickels on the dollar, every time it doesn't pan out the way you think we say it all the time.

There is a reason guys are available.

It's not like every other talent evaluator in the league doesn't know what they're doing, but I will say this, and I said this preseason as well when we were doing our over-unders.

To me, Miami is a work in progress team.

And look, you and I live in LA.

We heard it from the.

Lakers for years when they were saying like, oh, just wait, just wait till next season when we have our roster out here because then we'll really have the offseason to tinker and look to an extent, it's what happened with Luca, right?

They got Luca kind of dropped in their lap in the middle of the season and they were like, OK, this isn't the team we're gonna have.

And in Miami with Giannis, obviously, they went after him.

He was not dropped in their lap, but they had to give away enough of the farm to get him, um, who was available.

And at what they could get this past offseason was not a lot, which is why they ended up with Klay Thompson, the exact point you're making.

So they are a team to me that is going to need a season or two to get the roster around Giannis and Bam to really maximize having Giannis and Bam.

The question is, is Giannis going to be healthy enough, sort of when that roster, you know, when that road meets that road, um, will he be healthy enough?

Will he still have enough left?

Not.

Because he's not that old.

I mean, that's what we all forget.

He's been, I don't think it's, I, I don't think his body has the miles.

I don't think it's a fit issue though.

I think they're just not very good.

Like they, they've got great, two great big men, serviceable point guard, um, a faded former all NBA guard, but I , I don't think this is the kind of group that if they grow together they're going to get significantly better.

My point is they need other players.

It's not, it's not how do they get him though?

Like the cupboard's bare like the.

The cupboard is bare.

Cupboard renews every June 1st or whatever, whatever it is.

Yeah, yes, well, OK, but still, you know, you, you have at least some more purchasing power and everybody else is, you know, has their own priorities.

So I am disappointed.

I thought they would start better than they've started.

Um, I think they need to win, to your point.

By the time people are listening to this, you'll know whether they've had it or not against Dallas, but I, I, I.

I've never, I never picked them to finish, you know, in the, in the top of the top 4 or whatever the Eastern Conference or maybe even the top 6, because I think this roster still needs at least another offseason of seasoning, but it's gotta be better than this.

It's got, it's just gotta be cause fans in Miami expect more, and then they deserve to expect more.

Bam Adebayo looks lost out there.

He's averaging 13 points per game through 3 games, shooting around 42% from the floor, low 20s from 3.

He looks completely lost on the offensive end.

The style of play is change there.

What's your evaluation?

I think it's style of play.

I think you're running up the floor and you're, I think the style of plays gotta change.

I think they've gotta be much more of a half-court focused team and slow the game down.

Now that may not be the solution because the shooting problems, as you pointed out, are still gonna be there.

This style of play ain't beating.

Top teams, not consistently.

It is the wrong style of play for the roster that this team, uh, currently has.

Go ahead.

But I'm asking you, I was asking you about Bam.

What, what, what are you learning about Bam as he evolves through these seasons?

What do you think, sort of when you see him in this moment, what do you think?

Um, he's still an elite defensive player, um.

He's still a guy that can get you a bucket in certain situations, but he's not a 3-point shooter, and that is to me, when you're pairing someone with Giannis, the other guy next to Giannis has got to be a 3-point shooter.

That's why it was Brook Lopez for so many years.

It was Miles Turner or supposed to be Miles Turner recently.

Um, I, I think you've got to have a floor spacer playing that 5 spot , and they don't have it in defenses.

Even if you're not a great defensive team, you're gonna figure that out.

Like you're gonna figure out a way to game plan around stuff like that.

So I mean, look, interesting, maybe they'll figure it out, but uh right now it doesn't look good.