It has been a rarity to see a team coached by Erik Spoelstra have a losing record, but that happened with the Heat last season as they had to deal with the whole drama around Jimmy Butler until he was finally traded to Golden State in February.
The Heat were for the 10th season in a row a top 10 defensive unit in the league (#9) and a huge credit needs to be given to their coaching staff. That should have been enough for them to be a winning team in the East, however they were so incredibly bad in close games as they blew some leads in epic ways. So, it wasn’t a surprise for them to have the worst record in the league in games decided by 3 points or fewer: 3-11!
Nevertheless, they finished the season on a good run and then they eliminated Atlanta and Chicago in the play-in while becoming the first #10 seed to reach the playoffs. However, they immediately got crushed by Cleveland in the first round in four games.
In this offseason, Miami tried to improve their offensive talent, something that has been a problem for them recently: they finished #25, #21 and #21 on offensive rating over the last three seasons. In order to achieve that, they got Norman Powell on a three-team trade with the Clippers and the Jazz, while sending out Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love. Powell was one of the most underrated players on offense last season: 48.4% FG | 41.8% 3pts | 80.4% FT. His perimeter shooting skills will be a much needed attribute for this team.
Miami is also counting on the development of both Nikola Jovic and Kel’el Ware who will form with Bad Adebayo a competitive frontcourt unit. However, can Ware and Adebayo play together? In limited minutes last season, the numbers with both of them on court at the same time were good: +6.45 net rating in 541 minutes.
Unfortunately for Miami, Tyler Herro got injured and he will miss the first 2-3 months of the season. Considering their limited talent on offense, Herro’s absence is a big deal. The Heat also drafted Kasparas Jakucionis and they would like him to have an immediate impact on the team’s offense to compensate for Herro’s absence, but that looks improbable as he will likely need some time to develop first.
We can count on Miami to be once again a very good defensive team because that’s who they are under Spoelstra. They might end up being a dangerous team in the East with Herro and Powell on court, but until Herro comes back from injury they will need to survive via defense as their offense should be quite mediocre.