2025-26 Miami Heat Regular Season Thread 3.0

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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[greg4012]

While I still want to dedicate gameplay to developing the Bam-Ware frontcourt, IMO winning now calls for the following:

Start Herro-Powell-Larsson-Wiggins-Adebayo

Close with Herro-Powell-Jaquez/Larsson-Wiggins-Adebayo

Keep one of Herro or Powell in the game at all times (resulting in them playing about 12 minutes on the floor together).

Have all ~12 minutes of Herro+Powell consist of them at the 2 guard spots (not at SF!) and have Bam on the floor with them for all those minutes.

Fun facts with the idea of moving Davion to coming off the bench: (1) he can still get 25-30 mpg as warranted; (2) the Mitchell-Jaquez 2-man lineup has the highest net rating on the team among any pairing that has logged at least 200 minutes together this season (+12.6 in 435 minutes).

Let's supercharge our starting unit and our bench rotation at the same time. A core bench mob with Davion+Jaime+Ware+Kas+Niko (good Niko pls?) shuffled with 1-2 starters has some real juice imo.

[shanedude]

Is anyone else frustrated as fcuk with Spo like I am? Midget Dru smith has a leash long enough to wrap the earth twice over and is allowed to step out of bounds, clanks shots and tunnel vision drive into 7ft defenders at the rim, turn the ball over, not pass to bigs over and over again? This 6'0 tall g-leaguer get the ultimate trust from spo because he hustles and 'plays the right way'.

Meanwhile Kel'el , the only one with any size or talent is benched and never allowed to play through his mistakes. How the fcuk is he supposed to improve when he gets his minutes slashed and yanked from line ups?He was doing awesome in his role as a starter, was consistently playing well, and spo immediately benches him when his usual favorites return from injury.

Que Spo's shocked pikachu face when he start's to suck. No fcuking wonder he's jacking up 3's the moment he gets a look, he gets frozen out of the offense and not a single play design for our 7 footer to get easy looks in the paint. And Spo has the balls to roll his eyes in disgust at an airball. Motherfcuker have you looked at the trashcan that is your son Dru Smith and how he's playing? I don't give AF about his steals and defensive positioning. He averages like 4 points and 2 assists dude.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

While I still want to dedicate gameplay to developing the Bam-Ware frontcourt, IMO winning now calls for the following:

Start Herro-Powell-Larsson-Wiggins-Adebayo

Close with Herro-Powell-Jaquez/Larsson-Wiggins-Adebayo

Keep one of Herro or Powell in the game at all times (resulting in them playing about 12 minutes on the floor together).

Have all ~12 minutes of Herro+Powell consist of them at the 2 guard spots (not at SF!) and have Bam on the floor with them for all those minutes.

Fun facts with the idea of moving Davion to coming off the bench: (1) he can still get 25-30 mpg as warranted; (2) the Mitchell-Jaquez 2-man lineup has the highest net rating on the team among any pairing that has logged at least 200 minutes together this season (+12.6 in 435 minutes).

Let's supercharge our starting unit and our bench rotation at the same time. A core bench mob with Davion+Jaime+Ware+Kas+Niko (good Niko pls?) shuffled with 1-2 starters has some real juice imo.

The East is honestly begging us to come snag a top 4 seed but we just refuse to. I mean hell, the 2nd seed has a 4 game lead on us. God forbid we run off a good stretch of games where everyone is just locked in from top to bottom

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Is anyone else frustrated as fcuk with Spo like I am? Midget Dru smith has a leash long enough to wrap the earth twice over and is allowed to step out of bounds, clanks shots and tunnel vision drive into 7ft defenders at the rim, turn the ball over, not pass to bigs over and over again? This 6'0 tall g-leaguer get the ultimate trust from spo because he hustles and 'plays the right way'.

Meanwhile Kel'el , the only one with any size or talent is benched and never allowed to play through his mistakes. How the fcuk is he supposed to improve when he gets his minutes slashed and yanked from line ups?He was doing awesome in his role as a starter, was consistently playing well, and spo immediately benches him when his usual favorites return from injury.

Que Spo's shocked pikachu face when he start's to suck. No fcuking wonder he's jacking up 3's the moment he gets a look, he gets frozen out of the offense and not a single play design for our 7 footer to get easy looks in the paint. And Spo has the balls to roll his eyes in disgust at an airball. Motherfcuker have you looked at the trashcan that is your son Dru Smith and how he's playing? I don't give AF about his steals and defensive positioning. He averages like 4 points and 2 assists dude.

I was frustrated at first but honestly it’s kind of becoming warranted. Everything I’m seeing just points to the team flat out not being good when Ware is on the court and his defense is horrible. If anyone wants to educate me on that being wrong, feel free to. I haven’t looked into much myself but I’m seeing tons of lineup stats that show we lose majority of Ware’s minutes played. Even Jovic at center has a much higher impact

[VaDe255]

The East is honestly begging us to come snag a top 4 seed but we just refuse to. I mean hell, the 2nd seed has a 4 game lead on us. God forbid we run off a good stretch of games where everyone is just locked in from top to bottom

Just a bit of patience, after the OKC game they have by far the easiest schedule in the East (whole NBA actually).
I'm very confident they'll make a run. They just need to stay healthy, they will likely play for for 4-6 seed, it'll be within a few wins.

Top 3 seeds are likely gone, because that'll need 50+ wins and they'd have to be very consistent, which is difficult for any team (unless you're like top 3 team in the NBA).

[shanedude]

Is anyone else frustrated as fcuk with Spo like I am? Midget Dru smith has a leash long enough to wrap the earth twice over and is allowed to step out of bounds, clanks shots and tunnel vision drive into 7ft defenders at the rim, turn the ball over, not pass to bigs over and over again? This 6'0 tall g-leaguer get the ultimate trust from spo because he hustles and 'plays the right way'.

Meanwhile Kel'el , the only one with any size or talent is benched and never allowed to play through his mistakes. How the fcuk is he supposed to improve when he gets his minutes slashed and yanked from line ups?He was doing awesome in his role as a starter, was consistently playing well, and spo immediately benches him when his usual favorites return from injury.

Que Spo's shocked pikachu face when he start's to suck. No fcuking wonder he's jacking up 3's the moment he gets a look, he gets frozen out of the offense and not a single play design for our 7 footer to get easy looks in the paint. And Spo has the balls to roll his eyes in disgust at an airball. Motherfcuker have you looked at the trashcan that is your son Dru Smith and how he's playing? I don't give AF about his steals and defensive positioning. He averages like 4 points and 2 assists dude.

I was frustrated at first but honestly it’s kind of becoming warranted. Everything I’m seeing just points to the team flat out not being good when Ware is on the court and his defense is horrible. If anyone wants to educate me on that being wrong, feel free to. I haven’t looked into much myself but I’m seeing tons of lineup stats that show we lose majority of Ware’s minutes played. Even Jovic at center has a much higher impact

I acknowledge Ware has been ineffective if not straight up detrimental. My beef is more with Spo and his playing favorites lol. Bench Dru man. Kas has 3x the ability and our actual 1st round pick. Give our actual talent the minutes and grace to work through mistakes. We're a .500 ball team. We are playing through g-leaguers AGAIN. On any given night we are at a talent deficit because of it.

[Lennyzinho]

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Ware hasn't been good off the bench. At all. I don't see him fighting for rebounds, he just kinda grabs them when they fall to him. He's not GETTING them. He's easily boxed out by smaller guys. He's out of position a ton. Hes definitely christian wood esque off the bench.

He was already questionable in terms of motor and movement and engagement. Then you bench him when he actually was playing well. Him and niko are giant kids, mentally soft. Idk if that'll ever change. Hes been pretty dam mediocre ever since the benching. I'm more annoyed about that than anything else. Also when hes in the game they dont try to involve him AT ALL. I get it.

We should and will 100% include ware in any giannis trade. Because spo just doesn't like how ware plays. And doesn't like size. Unless its bam and giannis.
I doubt we trade Kas, rookie and cheap. We have years of him as a combo guard.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

The East is honestly begging us to come snag a top 4 seed but we just refuse to. I mean hell, the 2nd seed has a 4 game lead on us. God forbid we run off a good stretch of games where everyone is just locked in from top to bottom

Just a bit of patience, after the OKC game they have by far the easiest schedule in the East (whole NBA actually).
I'm very confident they'll make a run. They just need to stay healthy, they will likely play for for 4-6 seed, it'll be within a few wins.

Top 3 seeds are likely gone, because that'll need 50+ wins and they'd have to be very consistent, which is difficult for any team (unless you're like top 3 team in the NBA).

How many wins do you have us finishing with?

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Is anyone else frustrated as fcuk with Spo like I am? Midget Dru smith has a leash long enough to wrap the earth twice over and is allowed to step out of bounds, clanks shots and tunnel vision drive into 7ft defenders at the rim, turn the ball over, not pass to bigs over and over again? This 6'0 tall g-leaguer get the ultimate trust from spo because he hustles and 'plays the right way'.

Meanwhile Kel'el , the only one with any size or talent is benched and never allowed to play through his mistakes. How the fcuk is he supposed to improve when he gets his minutes slashed and yanked from line ups?He was doing awesome in his role as a starter, was consistently playing well, and spo immediately benches him when his usual favorites return from injury.

Que Spo's shocked pikachu face when he start's to suck. No fcuking wonder he's jacking up 3's the moment he gets a look, he gets frozen out of the offense and not a single play design for our 7 footer to get easy looks in the paint. And Spo has the balls to roll his eyes in disgust at an airball. Motherfcuker have you looked at the trashcan that is your son Dru Smith and how he's playing? I don't give AF about his steals and defensive positioning. He averages like 4 points and 2 assists dude.

I was frustrated at first but honestly it’s kind of becoming warranted. Everything I’m seeing just points to the team flat out not being good when Ware is on the court and his defense is horrible. If anyone wants to educate me on that being wrong, feel free to. I haven’t looked into much myself but I’m seeing tons of lineup stats that show we lose majority of Ware’s minutes played. Even Jovic at center has a much higher impact

I acknowledge Ware has been ineffective if not straight up detrimental. My beef is more with Spo and his playing favorites lol. Bench Dru man. Kas has 3x the ability and our actual 1st round pick. Give our actual talent the minutes and grace to work through mistakes. We're a .500 ball team. We are playing through g-leaguers AGAIN. On any given night we are at a talent deficit because of it.

Absolutely no reason for Kas to not get all of Drus minutes going forward

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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Ware hasn't been good off the bench. At all. I don't see him fighting for rebounds, he just kinda grabs them when they fall to him. He's not GETTING them. He's easily boxed out by smaller guys. He's out of position a ton. Hes definitely christian wood esque off the bench.

He was already questionable in terms of motor and movement and engagement. Then you bench him when he actually was playing well. Him and niko are giant kids, mentally soft. Idk if that'll ever change. Hes been pretty dam mediocre ever since the benching. I'm more annoyed about that than anything else. Also when hes in the game they dont try to involve him AT ALL. I get it.

We should and will 100% include ware in any giannis trade. Because spo just doesn't like how ware plays. And doesn't like size. Unless its bam and giannis.
I doubt we trade Kas, rookie and cheap. We have years of him as a combo guard.

A lot of the lack of involvement is related to something I’ve been pointing out for years, we don’t have high level playmaking from the perimeter. People think I just use it as an excuse but no, it’s a real thing and it absolutely makes it harder for your bigs.

MAYBE Kas can fix that, he’s showing signs of being an advanced passer but he’s also still only a rookie.

[greg4012]

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Ware hasn't been good off the bench. At all. I don't see him fighting for rebounds, he just kinda grabs them when they fall to him. He's not GETTING them. He's easily boxed out by smaller guys. He's out of position a ton. Hes definitely christian wood esque off the bench.

He was already questionable in terms of motor and movement and engagement. Then you bench him when he actually was playing well. Him and niko are giant kids, mentally soft. Idk if that'll ever change. Hes been pretty dam mediocre ever since the benching. I'm more annoyed about that than anything else. Also when hes in the game they dont try to involve him AT ALL. I get it.

We should and will 100% include ware in any giannis trade. Because spo just doesn't like how ware plays. And doesn't like size. Unless its bam and giannis.
I doubt we trade Kas, rookie and cheap. We have years of him as a combo guard.

A lot of the lack of involvement is related to something I’ve been pointing out for years, we don’t have high level playmaking from the perimeter. People think I just use it as an excuse but no, it’s a real thing and it absolutely makes it harder for your bigs.

MAYBE Kas can fix that, he’s showing signs of being an advanced passer but he’s also still only a rookie.

SOme will want to point to Davion Mitchell as a counter to that claim. But, he's really just a Norm merchant. He just has a good 2-man game where he gets in the paint well (with minimal threat to actually score) and works in coordination to get Norm some space for him to take a shot or create some offense. It's useful. But, it doesn't help our bigs (the players on every roster that are always most reliant on playmaking).

[VaDe255]

The East is honestly begging us to come snag a top 4 seed but we just refuse to. I mean hell, the 2nd seed has a 4 game lead on us. God forbid we run off a good stretch of games where everyone is just locked in from top to bottom

Just a bit of patience, after the OKC game they have by far the easiest schedule in the East (whole NBA actually).
I'm very confident they'll make a run. They just need to stay healthy, they will likely play for for 4-6 seed, it'll be within a few wins.

Top 3 seeds are likely gone, because that'll need 50+ wins and they'd have to be very consistent, which is difficult for any team (unless you're like top 3 team in the NBA).

How many wins do you have us finishing with?

Right now I would say around 45 wins, I'm going slightly optimistic with 47, could be enough for the 4 seed.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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[3ammy3uck3ts]

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[3ammy3uck3ts]

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[Lennyzinho]

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Lmao. Jfc.

[twix2500]

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/2026/01/16/nba-intel-ja-morant-jaren-jackson-jr-anthony-davis-kyrie-irving-peyton-watson-jonathan-kuminga/88210035007/

[HeatFanLifer]

Honestly at this point, I am fine with the team resetting the roster and building for next year. This team has a ceiling and it’s not very high. Second round exit at best with minimal room for growth.

[wadenation305]

I'm getting tired of this FO, almost wish Giannis loses his love for basketball and retires to look at the FO and be like "what you going to do now?".

Dude literally has been coming out saying HE WILL NEVER ASK FOR A TRADE. He will make sure that the Bucks get as much as possible for him to try to save face. And that's IF they even move him. And if they were to I highly doubt we have enough and, if we do then we have Bam, Giannis and a while bunch of nothing. I'm not even sure a trade for him is worth it. We'd be the Bucks of the south with worse shooting. 1 in the hand 2 in the bush situation perpetually with this FO.

But then refuse to get a high draft pick too in a loaded draft.