2025 Miami Heat Regular Season Thread

[Lennyzinho]

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I like Davion plenty, was really happy with how hes played for us since the trade. But saying hes providing all-defense type play for us is non sense. His defensive rating is 112... Caruso, the best in the league, has a 93.
Davion has the worst rating of all heat players getting significant minutes other than Wiggins. But I think Wiggins is constantly asked to guard dudes much bigger than him so its not really fair. Davion hustles but I never see him steal balls, block shots, hound guys into turnovers or bad shots.

Its funny how some guys get a reputation, and it just sticks. Kind of like herro being bad on defense but honestly played amazing defense these past two games. Would be ranked 3rd if he kept this up. Ofc bad competition but still. 95.5 rating. Behind edey and Caruso. Its also just insane how okcs entire team is all top 20.

You know who else is playing good defense? Dru Smith. If you filter is to minimum 10 games played, hes 7th. And that confirms the eye test. JJJ 17th and Bam 33rd.

Not here to s h I t on Davion, but he should be coming off the bench. Yes his assists are up but our pace and offense is insane. So of course with his usage high, this offense is a rising tide that raises all boats aka his counting stats.

[Lennyzinho]

Optimal choice is rozier as soon as the nba gets off their arse. But that's a big IF. There's alot of options for 26M cap relief.

Second choice is Wiggins. Not a consolidation deal, but could fill a need elsewhere. If powell is the starting SF moving forward, it's best to use wiggins to bring back big man depth and hopefully some draft compensation.

Third is to consolidate the guard room. But if herro, powell, and Davion are untouchable, theres not much salary to work with it. Pelle and dru are too good a value to trade away.

Fontecchio isn't worth much.
Jovics byc makes him too hard to trade.

If Powell is starting SF moving forward, we're cooked

Norm's positional breakdown by season reveals it all:

Yeah Powell aint an option at the 3 and Wiggins isn’t an option at the four for that matter. Herro will need to either slide in at PG or Spo is going to have to determine whether Herro is the future at SG for this team. It’s not a bad problem to have, but this super small lineup is not the solution.

The entire lineup is small.

Davion is a tiny PG at 6ft. So many teams have massive PGs like Giddey Cade Luka Lamelo Amen all 6'5-6'7

Herro is 6'5 and Powell 6'4. Whoever is the 2 is fine. But whoever is the 3? Pretty small.

Wiggins 6'6-6'7 200lbs... at the 4. Tiny AF.

Even Bam at the 5 being 6'9 is small.

Sliding in Ware 7ft into the 5 and slotting everyone down a spot fixes everything.

Lets see how many games it takes spo to realize this.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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I like Davion plenty, was really happy with how hes played for us since the trade. But saying hes providing all-defense type play for us is non sense. His defensive rating is 112... Caruso, the best in the league, has a 93.
Davion has the worst rating of all heat players getting significant minutes other than Wiggins. But I think Wiggins is constantly asked to guard dudes much bigger than him so its not really fair. Davion hustles but I never see him steal balls, block shots, hound guys into turnovers or bad shots.

Its funny how some guys get a reputation, and it just sticks. Kind of like herro being bad on defense but honestly played amazing defense these past two games. Would be ranked 3rd if he kept this up. Ofc bad competition but still. 95.5 rating. Behind edey and Caruso. Its also just insane how okcs entire team is all top 20.

You know who else is playing good defense? Dru Smith. If you filter is to minimum 10 games played, hes 7th. And that confirms the eye test. JJJ 17th and Bam 33rd.

Not here to s h I t on Davion, but he should be coming off the bench. Yes his assists are up but our pace and offense is insane. So of course with his usage high, this offense is a rising tide that raises all boats aka his counting stats.

To be fair individual defensive rating isn’t that great of a way to gauge defense either. I like his activity hounding the ball and drawing moving screens and such, he’s very active defensively. Dru is a very good defender as well like you said, that and his ability to hit the 3 have given him a current spot in the rotation

[Crazy-Canuck]

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We haven't seen this the last 2 games. Team needs to go back to it. The opposing players, media, etc..are all aware how disruptive pace and rim pressure can be.

Spo is going to get his due if the heat can keep winning.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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We haven't seen this the last 2 games. Team needs to go back to it. The opposing players, media, etc..are all aware how disruptive pace and rim pressure can be.

Spo is going to get his due if the heat can keep winning.

There’s no reason for this, strictly coincidence!

[Crazy-Canuck]

Read on Twitter

I like Davion plenty, was really happy with how hes played for us since the trade. But saying hes providing all-defense type play for us is non sense. His defensive rating is 112... Caruso, the best in the league, has a 93.
Davion has the worst rating of all heat players getting significant minutes other than Wiggins. But I think Wiggins is constantly asked to guard dudes much bigger than him so its not really fair. Davion hustles but I never see him steal balls, block shots, hound guys into turnovers or bad shots.

Its funny how some guys get a reputation, and it just sticks. Kind of like herro being bad on defense but honestly played amazing defense these past two games. Would be ranked 3rd if he kept this up. Ofc bad competition but still. 95.5 rating. Behind edey and Caruso. Its also just insane how okcs entire team is all top 20.

You know who else is playing good defense? Dru Smith. If you filter is to minimum 10 games played, hes 7th. And that confirms the eye test. JJJ 17th and Bam 33rd.

Not here to s h I t on Davion, but he should be coming off the bench. Yes his assists are up but our pace and offense is insane. So of course with his usage high, this offense is a rising tide that raises all boats aka his counting stats.

To be fair individual defensive rating isn’t that great of a way to gauge defense either. I like his activity hounding the ball and drawing moving screens and such, he’s very active defensively. Dru is a very good defender as well like you said, that and his ability to hit the 3 have given him a current spot in the rotation

Yeah, def rtg is really poor to grade an individual players defense. Its like looking at boxscore points to determine offense.

For defense, I like to use shot contests, deflections, and contested defensive rebounds. And the eye test. I like to watch off ball stuff. Any defender worth his salt is going to grade well there within the team context.

Imo, dru is a better defender than mitchell.

Another thing that I've noticed is that herro is giving more effort on that end.

Powell otoh is a mess.

[greg4012]

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I like Davion plenty, was really happy with how hes played for us since the trade. But saying hes providing all-defense type play for us is non sense. His defensive rating is 112... Caruso, the best in the league, has a 93.
Davion has the worst rating of all heat players getting significant minutes other than Wiggins. But I think Wiggins is constantly asked to guard dudes much bigger than him so its not really fair. Davion hustles but I never see him steal balls, block shots, hound guys into turnovers or bad shots.

Its funny how some guys get a reputation, and it just sticks. Kind of like herro being bad on defense but honestly played amazing defense these past two games. Would be ranked 3rd if he kept this up. Ofc bad competition but still. 95.5 rating. Behind edey and Caruso. Its also just insane how okcs entire team is all top 20.

You know who else is playing good defense? Dru Smith. If you filter is to minimum 10 games played, hes 7th. And that confirms the eye test. JJJ 17th and Bam 33rd.

Not here to s h I t on Davion, but he should be coming off the bench. Yes his assists are up but our pace and offense is insane. So of course with his usage high, this offense is a rising tide that raises all boats aka his counting stats.

To be fair individual defensive rating isn’t that great of a way to gauge defense either. I like his activity hounding the ball and drawing moving screens and such, he’s very active defensively. Dru is a very good defender as well like you said, that and his ability to hit the 3 have given him a current spot in the rotation

Davion is a very good defender and a great 1-on-1 PG defender. He just doesn't have a ton of positional range as a defender and isn't that disruptive off the ball. Which is perfectly fine for a PG, but is just another reason not to overweight his importance as a defensive presence in the starting lineup IMO.

I'm perfectly content with keeping Davion in the starting lineup, if 1 of Herro or Powell were willing to come off the bench. But, (1) I just don't think that's a realistic ask at this juncture; and (2) even if Davion starts, I'm still convinced it's in Miami's best interest to have all Herro and Powell minutes slotted at Guard (and none forced at the Forward position), so Herro will still need to log some time as the de facto PG to maximize this. We're only talking like 12 minutes per game.

One of Herro or Powell should remain on the floor at all times.

[SA37]

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We haven't seen this the last 2 games. Team needs to go back to it. The opposing players, media, etc..are all aware how disruptive pace and rim pressure can be.

Spo is going to get his due if the heat can keep winning.

He wants to come back so badly.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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We haven't seen this the last 2 games. Team needs to go back to it. The opposing players, media, etc..are all aware how disruptive pace and rim pressure can be.

Spo is going to get his due if the heat can keep winning.

He wants to come back so badly.

Stay tuned.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Read on Twitter

We haven't seen this the last 2 games. Team needs to go back to it. The opposing players, media, etc..are all aware how disruptive pace and rim pressure can be.

Spo is going to get his due if the heat can keep winning.

He wants to come back so badly.

No green font, I kinda get the feeling that he'd love to play in this offense.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I’m with you all on Davion, don’t think he’s an all defense level defender but I do like what he brings 1 on 1 and his ability to not only navigate screens but draw a lot of offensive fouls on them as well. Hes definitely not the greatest off ball defender.

Offensively im liking his playmaking and maybe still league leading assists to turnover ratio and the rim pressure he provides. He’s turned out to be a very solid PG with us and that’s a steal considering I think we traded the corpse of PJ Tucker for him lol.

Herros defense, I guess we’ll see how it continues to trend. Maybe being called out by the opposing team in the media like garland did and being cooked and flexed on by bench players on the biggest stage changed his mindset on that end

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Read on Twitter

We haven't seen this the last 2 games. Team needs to go back to it. The opposing players, media, etc..are all aware how disruptive pace and rim pressure can be.

Spo is going to get his due if the heat can keep winning.

He wants to come back so badly.

No green font, I kinda get the feeling that he'd love to play in this offense.

I’ve actually felt like his time was ticking in LA since all the rumors this last summer, we’ll see what happens

[greg4012]

I like Davion plenty, was really happy with how hes played for us since the trade. But saying hes providing all-defense type play for us is non sense. His defensive rating is 112... Caruso, the best in the league, has a 93.
Davion has the worst rating of all heat players getting significant minutes other than Wiggins. But I think Wiggins is constantly asked to guard dudes much bigger than him so its not really fair. Davion hustles but I never see him steal balls, block shots, hound guys into turnovers or bad shots.

Its funny how some guys get a reputation, and it just sticks. Kind of like herro being bad on defense but honestly played amazing defense these past two games. Would be ranked 3rd if he kept this up. Ofc bad competition but still. 95.5 rating. Behind edey and Caruso. Its also just insane how okcs entire team is all top 20.

You know who else is playing good defense? Dru Smith. If you filter is to minimum 10 games played, hes 7th. And that confirms the eye test. JJJ 17th and Bam 33rd.

Not here to s h I t on Davion, but he should be coming off the bench. Yes his assists are up but our pace and offense is insane. So of course with his usage high, this offense is a rising tide that raises all boats aka his counting stats.

To be fair individual defensive rating isn’t that great of a way to gauge defense either. I like his activity hounding the ball and drawing moving screens and such, he’s very active defensively. Dru is a very good defender as well like you said, that and his ability to hit the 3 have given him a current spot in the rotation

Yeah, def rtg is really poor to grade an individual players defense. Its like looking at boxscore points to determine offense.

For defense, I like to use shot contests, deflections, and contested defensive rebounds. And the eye test. I like to watch off ball stuff. Any defender worth his salt is going to grade well there within the team context.

Imo, dru is a better defender than mitchell.

Another thing that I've noticed is that herro is giving more effort on that end.

Powell otoh is a mess.

Powell has been rock solid when playing guard on defense in Miamis system this season. Funny you mention prioritizing looking at defensive hustle metrics then contend that Powell is a mess, when hes second on the team to only Dru Smith in deflections, has a very strong steal rate of 1.9%, has an excellent defensive loose ball recovery percentage, has a positive DBPM on the season, and I haven't seen him being a liability in onball defense.

Can you expand as to how you think he has been a mess this season?

I agree that Smith may be a better overall defender than Mitchell.

DRTG has some value for individual players on defense when you add proper layers of context.

[greg4012]

I’m with you all on Davion, don’t think he’s an all defense level defender but I do like what he brings 1 on 1 and his ability to not only navigate screens but draw a lot of offensive fouls on them as well. Hes definitely not the greatest off ball defender.

Offensively im liking his playmaking and maybe still league leading assists to turnover ratio and the rim pressure he provides. He’s turned out to be a very solid PG with us and that’s a steal considering I think we traded the corpse of PJ Tucker for him lol.

Herros defense, I guess we’ll see how it continues to trend. Maybe being called out by the opposing team in the media like garland did and being cooked and flexed on by bench players on the biggest stage changed his mindset on that end

I think everyone likes Davion. I just don't think he should be the foundation upon which greater team lineup decisions should be based. He should be a plus to slot in to add benefit to the greater rotation. Keep him getting his 25+ mpg. Have him get time running with Herro. Have him get time running with Powell. Not both at the same time. Have him log good time with Jaime off the bench (one of the better 2-man lineups on the roster to date).

Herro's defense has been less of a liability through 2 games. I will be very interested to see if he can hold up. Regardless, we're in a position to run Herro with less other weak defenders than maybe any season to date (as long as we don't run Norm at SF, I believe Norm is a neutral/plus defender at SG).

[Lennyzinho]

To be fair individual defensive rating isn’t that great of a way to gauge defense either. I like his activity hounding the ball and drawing moving screens and such, he’s very active defensively. Dru is a very good defender as well like you said, that and his ability to hit the 3 have given him a current spot in the rotation

Yeah, def rtg is really poor to grade an individual players defense. Its like looking at boxscore points to determine offense.

For defense, I like to use shot contests, deflections, and contested defensive rebounds. And the eye test. I like to watch off ball stuff. Any defender worth his salt is going to grade well there within the team context.

Imo, dru is a better defender than mitchell.

Another thing that I've noticed is that herro is giving more effort on that end.

Powell otoh is a mess.

Powell has been rock solid when playing guard on defense in Miamis system this season. Funny you mention prioritizing looking at defensive hustle metrics then contend that Powell is a mess, when hes second on the team to only Dru Smith in deflections, has a very strong steal rate of 1.9%, has an excellent defensive loose ball recovery percentage, has a positive DBPM on the season, and I haven't seen him being a liability in onball defense.

Can you expand as to how you think he has been a mess this season?

I agree that Smith may be a better overall defender than Mitchell.

DRTG has some value for individual players on defense when you add proper layers of context.

Agreed, I think Powell has been fine. The only times ive been "oy vey" with him are a few mental lapses. Missing a rotation or a close out on a shooter or letting someone cut behind him. But its not often. I also think he carried our offense multiple games and he was tired.

Also any commentary about herro or Powell coming off the bench is a non starter and wishful thinking unfortunately imo. Clippers sent him to us cuz they didnt wanna pay him. We bench him and he'll ask for a trade. Both dudes are fringe all star type dudes wanting to get paid. You bench davion and you stagger the herro Powell duo and sprinkle in some dru. Those four guys should get all our guard minutes.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I’m with you all on Davion, don’t think he’s an all defense level defender but I do like what he brings 1 on 1 and his ability to not only navigate screens but draw a lot of offensive fouls on them as well. Hes definitely not the greatest off ball defender.

Offensively im liking his playmaking and maybe still league leading assists to turnover ratio and the rim pressure he provides. He’s turned out to be a very solid PG with us and that’s a steal considering I think we traded the corpse of PJ Tucker for him lol.

Herros defense, I guess we’ll see how it continues to trend. Maybe being called out by the opposing team in the media like garland did and being cooked and flexed on by bench players on the biggest stage changed his mindset on that end

I think everyone likes Davion. I just don't think he can be the foundation upon which greater team lineup decisions should be based. He should be a plus to slot in to add benefit to the greater rotation. Keep him getting his 25+ mpg. Have him get time running with Herro. Have him get time running with Powell. Not both at the same time. Have him log good time with Jaime off the bench (one of the better 2-man lineups on the roster to date).

Herro's defense has been less of a liability through 2 games. I will be very interested to see if he can hold up. Regardless, we're in a position to run Herro with less other weak defenders than maybe any season to date (as long as we don't run Norm at SF, I believe Norm is a neutral/plus defender at SG).

I’m with you, let Davion run point for the bench unit and get Ware in the starting lineup. Let’s lean on this versatile size. That’s 2 lob threats on the court and everyone can shoot the 3 as well, actually think Herro could put up some huge assist numbers like this considering we’ll be getting little to no playmaking from Powell and Wiggins.

Yeah I had mentioned a few weeks ago it seems like the first time in awhile where every night we have a rotation full of guys who can at least somewhat play defense and not be a major liability, it’s been refreshing

[greg4012]

I’m with you all on Davion, don’t think he’s an all defense level defender but I do like what he brings 1 on 1 and his ability to not only navigate screens but draw a lot of offensive fouls on them as well. Hes definitely not the greatest off ball defender.

Offensively im liking his playmaking and maybe still league leading assists to turnover ratio and the rim pressure he provides. He’s turned out to be a very solid PG with us and that’s a steal considering I think we traded the corpse of PJ Tucker for him lol.

Herros defense, I guess we’ll see how it continues to trend. Maybe being called out by the opposing team in the media like garland did and being cooked and flexed on by bench players on the biggest stage changed his mindset on that end

I think everyone likes Davion. I just don't think he can be the foundation upon which greater team lineup decisions should be based. He should be a plus to slot in to add benefit to the greater rotation. Keep him getting his 25+ mpg. Have him get time running with Herro. Have him get time running with Powell. Not both at the same time. Have him log good time with Jaime off the bench (one of the better 2-man lineups on the roster to date).

Herro's defense has been less of a liability through 2 games. I will be very interested to see if he can hold up. Regardless, we're in a position to run Herro with less other weak defenders than maybe any season to date (as long as we don't run Norm at SF, I believe Norm is a neutral/plus defender at SG).

I’m with you, let Davion run point for the bench unit and get Ware in the starting lineup. Let’s lean on this versatile size. That’s 2 lob threats on the court and everyone can shoot the 3 as well, actually think Herro could put up some huge assist numbers like this considering we’ll be getting little to no playmaking from Powell and Wiggins.

Yeah I had mentioned a few weeks ago it seems like the first time in awhile where every night we have a rotation full of guys who can at least somewhat play defense and not be a major liability, it’s been refreshing

I'll remain cautiously hopeful that a Herro-Powell back court can hold up OK defensively so long as the 3-5 running with them are up for the task of doing something like 75% of the defensive work (ie keep Bam in with this pairing). The hope is that if Norm can be a neutral on his defensive matchup, then Herro is really the only one that we need to worry about trying to "hide"

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I think everyone likes Davion. I just don't think he can be the foundation upon which greater team lineup decisions should be based. He should be a plus to slot in to add benefit to the greater rotation. Keep him getting his 25+ mpg. Have him get time running with Herro. Have him get time running with Powell. Not both at the same time. Have him log good time with Jaime off the bench (one of the better 2-man lineups on the roster to date).

Herro's defense has been less of a liability through 2 games. I will be very interested to see if he can hold up. Regardless, we're in a position to run Herro with less other weak defenders than maybe any season to date (as long as we don't run Norm at SF, I believe Norm is a neutral/plus defender at SG).

I’m with you, let Davion run point for the bench unit and get Ware in the starting lineup. Let’s lean on this versatile size. That’s 2 lob threats on the court and everyone can shoot the 3 as well, actually think Herro could put up some huge assist numbers like this considering we’ll be getting little to no playmaking from Powell and Wiggins.

Yeah I had mentioned a few weeks ago it seems like the first time in awhile where every night we have a rotation full of guys who can at least somewhat play defense and not be a major liability, it’s been refreshing

I'll remain cautiously hopeful that a Herro-Powell back court can hold up OK defensively so long as the 3-5 running with them are up for the task of doing something like 75% of the defensive work (ie keep Bam in with this pairing). The hope is that if Norm can be a neutral on his defensive matchup, then Herro is really the only one that we need to worry about trying to "hide"

I really like the mix of high motor Ware rim protecting, Bam roaming and causing chaos everywhere, and Wiggins using his size wingspan and athleticism to disrupt things as well. Like you said if the Powell/Herro pairing can just be net neutral defensively we should be good there. Then just need to find the rhythm on offense again after integrating Tyler, hopefully practice helps today and we see a better looking offense on Saturday against the Pistons

[3ammy3uck3ts]

I could’ve swore Wiggins was 6’8 for some reason lol, he’s only 6’6? 7 foot wingspan is elite though

[Crazy-Canuck]

To be fair individual defensive rating isn’t that great of a way to gauge defense either. I like his activity hounding the ball and drawing moving screens and such, he’s very active defensively. Dru is a very good defender as well like you said, that and his ability to hit the 3 have given him a current spot in the rotation

Yeah, def rtg is really poor to grade an individual players defense. Its like looking at boxscore points to determine offense.

For defense, I like to use shot contests, deflections, and contested defensive rebounds. And the eye test. I like to watch off ball stuff. Any defender worth his salt is going to grade well there within the team context.

Imo, dru is a better defender than mitchell.

Another thing that I've noticed is that herro is giving more effort on that end.

Powell otoh is a mess.

Powell has been rock solid when playing guard on defense in Miamis system this season. Funny you mention prioritizing looking at defensive hustle metrics then contend that Powell is a mess, when hes second on the team to only Dru Smith in deflections, has a very strong steal rate of 1.9%, has an excellent defensive loose ball recovery percentage, has a positive DBPM on the season, and I haven't seen him being a liability in onball defense.

Can you expand as to how you think he has been a mess this season?

I agree that Smith may be a better overall defender than Mitchell.

DRTG has some value for individual players on defense when you add proper layers of context.

For me, hes got the attention span of a beagle. If his man and ball is in front of him, he's fine. When his man doesnt have the ball, his eyes are still on the ball. If you watch, he'll give up a few open looks a game just by losing his man. Its why he needs guys like wiggins and bam, those guys cover ground and try to get out to shooters. Imo, most don't notice and think it was their cover, but more often then not they just react faster and just get to help spots.

Back to powell, the inability to track his man also leaks into him giving up offensive rebounds. I dont mean the weird carom types. I mean the ones where his man goes straight to rebounding position while Powell just watches the shot and loses his man.

And considering the bulk of defense in the nba is team defense, I consider him a mess. If Davion is primary poa, his job as the sf is to switch and cover 1 through 4. The SF is kinda like the perimeter protector on defense. Thats also why I would put him on opposing point guards. It minimizes his weakness and plays to his strengths and it also allows wiggins, bam, and ware track the ball in help. Then hide herro.

I appreciate and value off ball/team defense alot more than on ball, so that sways my outlook.