This is how the Miami Heat is adjusting to the new ‘freedom of movement’ rules
The whistles stopping play come a bit more frequently at Miami Heat practice this season. NBA rules are more beneficial than ever for offenses, which means every little bit of touching and grabbing can lead to Erik Spoelstra stopping play for a moment.
This offseason, the NBA revamped its so-called “freedom of movement” rules, placing an emphasis on perimeter defense without contact. Any holding, grabbing, bumping or “re-routing” can draw a whistle.
“It’s something that Coach stresses every day in practice,” Rodney McGruder said after practice Friday in Miami. “You grab someone and he says, ‘That’s a foul.’ He just lets it be known, even the smallest grabs because he’s just trying to prepare us for game-like situations where they might call those fouls.”
It could be one of the biggest reasons for the NBA’s increase in scoring this season, an increase which finally hurt the Heat (3-4) in a pair of losses earlier this week.
First, the Sacramento Kings hunt 123 on Miami on Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena. Then, the Charlotte Hornets dropped 125 on Tuesday in North Carolina to deal the Heat a second straight loss. Miami will get a chance to snap out of its funk Saturday when it hits the road to face the Atlanta Hawks (2-6) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Spoelstra insists the recent blip isn’t the product of any rule change or stylistic change in the league this season. Miami’s most reliable perimeter defenders, however, can’t help but notice a different in the way they’re now required to play.
“I still try to defend the same way, but just try to change my technique,” McGruder said.
“It’s just different,” wing guard Josh Richardson said Friday.
The new rule is, in theory, extremely straight forward. As stipulated by item No. 12 (B), Section 1 of the NBA rulebook: “A player shall not hold, push, charge into, impede the progress of an opponent by extending a hand, arm, leg or knee or by bending the body into a position that is not normal. Contact that results in the re-routing of an opponent is a foul which must be called immediately.”
In practice, it’s once again changed the way defense is played in the NBA. Richardson and McGruder are often tasked with defending opponents’ top offensive guards or wings, which traditionally has required aggressive, harassing defense. No longer.
McGruder tries to defend with his lower body the same as he always has. The change has come with his arms. Now the shooting guard makes a point to hold his arms up and away from the offensive player, hoping to show officials he’s not grabbing or tugging a jersey. Both he and Richardson said they feel they’ve been called for fouls this year they know wouldn’t have been called last season.
“You’ve got to back up a lot. It’s hard to beat people to spots now,” Richardson said. “It’s just pretty hard. It’s going to be an adjustment.”
Spoelstra doesn’t feel it’s an excuse, though. The coach expects the Heat to have a top five defense every year and Miami was on its usually track for the first five games of the year. Until the last two games, the Heat was allowing only 105.4 points per game, which would currently place them as the fifth best defense in the league. Instead, Miami has slipped to 12th.
If the Heat hadn’t been fazed by faster pace or more strict rules for the first five games, there’s no reason to use it as an excuse for the last two.
“Either you’re going to make an excuse or you’re just going to get the job done. That’s it,” Spoelstra said Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena. “We’re capable of defending much better than we did the last two games. We were defending up until the Sacramento game and for two games we took two nights off and we paid the price dearly for it.”
Dragic misses practice again
The Heat held out Goran Dragic from practice for the second consecutive day Friday. The guard is dealing with some lingering pain in his right foot and received a cortisone shot earlier this week. Miami is officially calling Dragic questionable for Saturday and Dragic hopes to go through shootaround in Atlanta. If all goes well, Dragic could be back in the lineup against the Hawks.
Meanwhile, center Hassan Whiteside returned to practice Friday after missing the Heat’s Thursday practice due to a migraine. He’ll be good to go in Atlanta. Dwyane Wade and Tyler Johnson, however, both sat out practice Friday, although both expect to play Saturday. Wade missed practice because of a headache, while his fellow guard was battling dehydration.
Neither wing Dion Waiters and forward James Johnson will make the trip to Georgia. Neither has played yet this season.