What Happened to the Miami Heat?

[picc]

They looked like a buzzsaw on the way to the one seed, full of two way players and a scoring spark off the bench. They've just lost to the Sixers B-team, the Warriors C-team, and now the Knicks at home after having a large lead in the second half.

They had what looked like an insurmountable lead on the first seed and are now looking like they'll be in the 4/5 slot.

What's changed from earlier this season to now?

[baldur]

They are just back down to earth.

[Kingdibs19]

10 year end of the bench warmer Haslem threatening to fight their star player is messing up the culture.

[Ursusamericanus]

Jimmy, PJ, Kyle all getting old and tired.

[Zeno]

I still think they will be okay, but I'm not sure that I'd say they are full of two-way players. Butler, Bam, Lowry, PJ are good defensive players but not really pillars of easy offence. Herro, Robinson are not good defenders.

[Ckay]

Read on Twitter

[Ayt]

Are we seeing the patented Jimmy implosion?

[picc]

I still think they will be okay, but I'm not sure that I'd say they are full of two-way players. Butler, Bam, Lowry, PJ are good defensive players but not really pillars of easy offence. Herro, Robinson are not good defenders.

Yeah, apparently not.

It all seemed to fit so seamlessly earlier this year. They just so look so discombobulated now.

[Antinomy]

Their best offensive & defensive lineups are composed of almost entirely different players.

If they want to score consistently, 2-3 of Herro, Robinson & Strus have to be on the floor, which leads to them getting dusted on defense.

If they want to have solid defense, 2-3 of Tucker, Butler & Lowry have to be on the floor which leads to them having droughts on offense.

Besides that, Bam is a natural 4 & has been playing out of position for a long time.

- They can’t rebound consistently.

- Butler simply can’t score anymore against elite defenses.

- Tucker is a non-factor offensively.

- Oladipo is done.

- Lowry isn’t a difference-maker anymore.

- They’re paying Robinson $90 million to be a starting bench player.

- Herro is a bright spot but isn’t a true designated scorer against playoff defenses.

I closely follow a few of teams outside of my own for scouting purposes — the Heat need an overhaul.

[celticfan42487]

If they want to win they gotta shoot better than 50% :p

But no I have no idea what's going on. There's still time to figure it out and they can likely figure it out in the first round even as long as they don't play the Nets.

But it's the wrong time to have a rough patch as a team.

[picc]

Their best offensive & defensive lineups are composed of almost entirely different players.

If they want to score consistently, 2-3 of Herro, Robinson & Strus have to be on the floor, which leads to them getting dusted on defense.

If they want to have solid defense, 2-3 of Tucker, Butler & Lowry have to be on the floor which leads to them having droughts on offense.

Besides that, Bam is a natural 4 & has been playing out of position for a long time.

- They can’t rebound consistently.

- Butler simply can’t score anymore against elite defenses.

- Tucker is a non-factor offensively.

- Oladipo is done.

- Lowry isn’t a difference-maker anymore.

- They’re paying Robinson $90 million to be a starting bench player.

- Herro is a bright spot but isn’t a true designated scorer against playoff defenses.

I closely follow a few of teams outside of my own for scouting purposes — the Heat need an overhaul.

Thanks. I havent been watching them consistently so this is a good scouting report. I do see that Jimmy is shooting 20% from three this season. That's brutal from your best player these days. And from what I have seen, its worse because he kind of refuses to shoot from outside anyway.

Oladipo looked good in his first couple games, but I guess it hasn't continued.

Herro being a defensive liability I assumed would hurt them in the playoffs, but didnt expect it to be a regular season factor considering how many defenders they have on the floor with him. But like you said, if those defenders (Tucker, Jimmy) aren't scoring threats, you've got a whole other set of problems.

[Lilseb93]

It's a flawed team with a stubborn coach. Small ball has done nothing for this franchise since LeBron left outside the bubble run. It puts SO MUCH strain on the defense only for them to give up an easy offensive rebound anyways. Then they also don't have the talent of like Curry and Klay to effectively run it. They have smaller old guys playing against bigger teams so they are playing with 110% effort only for it to be meaningless because the other can just get a rebound. This team refusing to trade or focus on getting a stretch 4 will DOOM them even when they will play better. A lot of us Heat fans were not happy they did nothing to address this at the trade deadline. Even when Bam is playing center, they have him guarding the perimeter. There's nobody who can get a rebound.

Then the offense has nobody besides Herro who can generate his own shot. 90% of the cap is tied to people who can't score. Jimmy has to manufacture points by diving to the basket and throwing his body at people for a call. Bam is just not that guy and Lowry is old. He doesn't even look to score. Duncan gets paid big bucks to do absolutely nothing but waste space. So the bench has to carry the team and even then, they aren't amazing either and it's really just Herro that carries that unit.

Then throw in Spo just being really poor with his adjustments and being too stubborn to keep the bigs in. They look so much better when they have bigs in the game.

They have absolutely zero chance of doing anything with this current roster. This small ball crap needs to end. They aren't this bad and they will give people a tough series, but they can't make a run at a title with stars who can't score and no size.

[Balls Deep]

Jimmy Butler has always been a poor-man's Kawhi that think's he's a once in a generation player.

[DreamTeam09]

Their best offensive & defensive lineups are composed of almost entirely different players.

If they want to score consistently, 2-3 of Herro, Robinson & Strus have to be on the floor, which leads to them getting dusted on defense.

If they want to have solid defense, 2-3 of Tucker, Butler & Lowry have to be on the floor which leads to them having droughts on offense.

Besides that, Bam is a natural 4 & has been playing out of position for a long time.

I thought Bam was the prototypical modern day 5 that any team would want ??? Why is he out of position...

I haven't checked his BPG but if his only downfall is rim protection, you can get that at the 4 spot too...

But why should Bam be a PF in your eyes?

[Black Mage]

Read on Twitter

What he meant was... I took a massive discount so Pat could stack LBJ's title teams and now I have a lifetime "Player's contract" even if I don't set foot on a court for more than 1 minute each season and the NBA won't dare investigate this blatantly obvious backroom agreement.

[BigDan245]

Offense is just too stagnant to win anything in the playoffs....Don't know if it's on Spo or just personnel. Just my observation being at the last 2 games.

[picc]

It's a flawed team with a stubborn coach. Small ball has done nothing for this franchise since LeBron left outside the bubble run. It puts SO MUCH strain on the defense only for them to give up an easy offensive rebound anyways. Then they also don't have the talent of like Curry and Klay to effectively run it. They have smaller old guys playing against bigger teams so they are playing with 110% effort only for it to be meaningless because the other can just get a rebound. This team refusing to trade or focus on getting a stretch 4 will DOOM them even when they will play better. A lot of us Heat fans were not happy they did nothing to address this at the trade deadline. Even when Bam is playing center, they have him guarding the perimeter. There's nobody who can get a rebound.

Then the offense has nobody besides Herro who can generate his own shot. 90% of the cap is tied to people who can't score. Jimmy has to manufacture points by diving to the basket and throwing his body at people for a call. Bam is just not that guy and Lowry is old. He doesn't even look to score. Duncan gets paid big bucks to do absolutely nothing but waste space. So the bench has to carry the team and even then, they aren't amazing either and it's really just Herro that carries that unit.

Then throw in Spo just being really poor with his adjustments and being too stubborn to keep the bigs in. They look so much better when they have bigs in the game.

They have absolutely zero chance of doing anything with this current roster. This small ball crap needs to end. They aren't this bad and they will give people a tough series, but they can't make a run at a title with stars who can't score and no size.

Yeah Jimmy not being able or willing to shoot is a big problem. Noticed how much it crippled them vs Milwaukee last year.

Question. Tucker is shooting 42% from three this year. Does that not qualify as stretch big? I know he's an offensive zero otherwise, but at the very least a 42% shooter from deep has to be adding some value?

[Antinomy]

Their best offensive & defensive lineups are composed of almost entirely different players.

If they want to score consistently, 2-3 of Herro, Robinson & Strus have to be on the floor, which leads to them getting dusted on defense.

If they want to have solid defense, 2-3 of Tucker, Butler & Lowry have to be on the floor which leads to them having droughts on offense.

Besides that, Bam is a natural 4 & has been playing out of position for a long time.

I thought Bam was the prototypical modern day 5 that any team would want ??? Why is he out of position...

I haven't checked his BPG but if his only downfall is rim protection, you can get that at the 4 spot too...

But why should Bam be a PF in your eyes?

I really like Bam’s game.

He’s mobile, passes well, runs the floor, can switch all across the floor, etc.

But the telltale sign of a guy who isn’t a natural 5 is that he can’t hold his own against legitimate 5s for long stretches — which forces the Heat to play these weird defensive schemes.

Sure, he’s a versatile defender but he isn’t really a true rim-protector & isn’t a *great* rebounder.

For example, if he played 10-20 years ago, he’d be a full-time PF no question.

He’s a small-ball 5 but not a true 5.

[Lilseb93]

It's a flawed team with a stubborn coach. Small ball has done nothing for this franchise since LeBron left outside the bubble run. It puts SO MUCH strain on the defense only for them to give up an easy offensive rebound anyways. Then they also don't have the talent of like Curry and Klay to effectively run it. They have smaller old guys playing against bigger teams so they are playing with 110% effort only for it to be meaningless because the other can just get a rebound. This team refusing to trade or focus on getting a stretch 4 will DOOM them even when they will play better. A lot of us Heat fans were not happy they did nothing to address this at the trade deadline. Even when Bam is playing center, they have him guarding the perimeter. There's nobody who can get a rebound.

Then the offense has nobody besides Herro who can generate his own shot. 90% of the cap is tied to people who can't score. Jimmy has to manufacture points by diving to the basket and throwing his body at people for a call. Bam is just not that guy and Lowry is old. He doesn't even look to score. Duncan gets paid big bucks to do absolutely nothing but waste space. So the bench has to carry the team and even then, they aren't amazing either and it's really just Herro that carries that unit.

Then throw in Spo just being really poor with his adjustments and being too stubborn to keep the bigs in. They look so much better when they have bigs in the game.

They have absolutely zero chance of doing anything with this current roster. This small ball crap needs to end. They aren't this bad and they will give people a tough series, but they can't make a run at a title with stars who can't score and no size.

Yeah Jimmy not being able or willing to shoot is a big problem. Noticed how much it crippled them vs Milwaukee last year.

Question. Tucker is shooting 42% from three this year. Does that not qualify as stretch big? I know he's an offensive zero otherwise, but at the very least a 42% shooter from deep has to be adding some value?

That percentage feels very misleading. Dude can't score or rebound. He really can't do anything. He's running on fumes by this point in the season.

[Lilseb93]

Their best offensive & defensive lineups are composed of almost entirely different players.

If they want to score consistently, 2-3 of Herro, Robinson & Strus have to be on the floor, which leads to them getting dusted on defense.

If they want to have solid defense, 2-3 of Tucker, Butler & Lowry have to be on the floor which leads to them having droughts on offense.

Besides that, Bam is a natural 4 & has been playing out of position for a long time.

I thought Bam was the prototypical modern day 5 that any team would want ??? Why is he out of position...

I haven't checked his BPG but if his only downfall is rim protection, you can get that at the 4 spot too...

But why should Bam be a PF in your eyes?

I really like Bam’s game.

He’s mobile, passes well, runs the floor, can switch all across the floor, etc.

But the telltale sign of a guy who isn’t a natural 5 is that he can’t hold his own against legitimate 5s for long stretches — which forces the Heat to play these weird defensive schemes.

Sure, he’s a versatile defender but he isn’t really a true rim-protector & isn’t a *great* rebounder.

For example, if he played 10-20 years ago, he’d be a full-time PF no question.

He’s a small-ball 5 but not a true 5.

Spot on.