Podcast: Miami Heat’s starting lineup issues, plus the debut of the listener mailbag

It has now been exactly a month since the final win of the Miami Heat’s longest winning streak of the season. Last month, the Heat rattled off a five-game winning streak — its only winning streak stretching longer than two games all season — to climb to .500 for only the second time all season. It capped a 9-3 stretch for Miami, which seemingly found a winning formula with a starting lineup of combo guard Josh Richardson, swingman Rodney McGruder, point forward Justise Winslow, forward James Johnson and center Hassan Whiteside.

The Heat has essentially rolled with the same starting five ever since, only making changes when a player has missed a game here or there for illness, personal reasons or minor injury. Only for the last month, the Heat (22-23) has been stuck right around .500. Losing streaks have come more often than winning streaks for Miami, which has slipped to seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

After losing three games on a four-game road trip, the Heat has to figure out whether this starting lineup is still the best option. The same group of four posted a plus-minus of minus-45 in Miami’s last eight games, cratering with a minus-17 against the Boston Celtics on Monday.

For starters, the Heat Check podcast this week looks at whether it’s finally time for Miami to change up the starting lineup. David Wilson and Heat beat writer Anthony Chiang discuss the merits of adding swingman Dion Waiters to the lineup, further expanding small forward Derrick Jones Jr.’s role or even — and this is a crazy one — moving swingman Wayne Ellington from outside the rotation into the starting lineup.

After plenty of lineup discussion, Wilson and Chiang finish the show by answering some listener questions. Will Whiteside ever fix his free-throw shooting? Is Waiters finally on track? Should Miami go get Jimmer Fredette? (Spoiler: No.)