GM Andy Elisburg speaks on podcast about Heat roster transformation, Adebayo, Butler, more
The Miami Heat’s approach entering every season is well known at this point: Win as many games as possible.
This year, that approach landed the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since the final season of the Big 3 era in 2014.
The Heat holds a 2-1 series lead over the Boston Celtics, with Game 4 of the East finals set for Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. (ESPN).
How did the Heat turn things around in just one season after losing the greatest player in franchise history, Dwyane Wade, to retirement and missing the playoffs for the third time in five seasons last year? It took a mix of smart roster moves and internal player development.
Heat general manager Andy Elisburg spoke about the roster transformation during a recent appearance on the “Scal and Pals” podcast featuring former NBA player Brian Scalabrine and former Suns general manager Ryan McDonough.
“Look, it’s well-known for our organization and we have not hidden the fact that we like to win and we don’t like to lose,” Elisburg said on the podcast. “I think we’ve always tried every year, the approach is can we put the best team we can on the floor and try to find ways to win. I think that has always been our goal. ... I think we’ve approached every year with the intention of being a playoff team, being as good a team as we can be and going as far as we can go.”
The Heat’s biggest addition last offseason came when it acquired the leading man it was looking for, five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, through a sign-and-trade deal.
Other moves helped round out the roster: Miami signed undrafted rookie guard Kendrick Nunn on the final day of the 2018-19 season and drafted guard Tyler Herro with the No. 13 pick in last year’s draft. Then the Heat traded James Johnson, Dion Waiters and Justise Winslow for veterans Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala and Solomon Hill in February.
But internal player development was just as important for the Heat this season, with third-year center Bam Adebayo making his first appearance in the NBA All-Star Game and second-year forward Duncan Robinson setting the franchise record for threes made in a season.
“I think there’s a tendency, everybody sort of looks at these things and says: ‘OK, these are the free agents this year. This is what you can do,’” Elisburg said. “I think Pat [Riley’s] thing and what he has always preached is the first thing is you have to have a player that wants to come to you. Once a player wants to come to you, then it becomes mechanics and how do you find a way to make it work. When Jimmy said that he chose us and said this is who he wanted to come to, then it became: ‘OK, well. how do you find ways to make that work because it has to work financially. In a salary-cap system, it’s not just a player choosing you. You have to be able to then find a way to have room financially.
“In this particular world where we were, it meant somebody had to go out and you had to make trades. Obviously, it bounced around a little bit. At one point in time, we had a trade in one direction and that didn’t work out. Then we had to do something in a little bit different direction and we were able to put together the trade with Hassan [Whiteside] and bring in Meyers Leonard, as well. Then you go into the season and you continue to look at your team and are there ways to continue to get better?”
That’s where the trade that brought in Crowder and Iguodala enters the equation.
“We’re not unaware of the fact that you don’t get very good players without having to give something up,” Elisburg said. “That’s always hard because sometimes there are things you don’t want to necessarily give up, but you have to make a decision of how something fits in. So a chance to get both Andre and Jae into the team we felt would add to the team that we had. Those guys have been terrific and huge contributors to this team that we put on the floor.”
Elisburg has been attending Heat playoff games alongside team president Pat Riley at Disney in Lake Buena Vista, but they are watching from a distance because they’re not residing in the league’s quarantine bubble.
Here’s some other stuff Elisburg touched on during his appearance on “Scal and Pals”:
▪ Elisburg said the Heat was not hesitant to pursue Butler because “his [previous] teams were successful.”
“You look at the the growth and the way they played at Chicago, you looked at the impact he had on winning in Minnesota, the impact he had on winning in Philadelphia,” Elisburg said. “You appreciate the fact that there are players who are able to impact winning with what they do, and Jimmy has always been that kind of a guy. Jimmy doesn’t like to lose? OK, I have some people in the office I can introduce him to.
“There’s nothing wrong with not being happy when you don’t win and wanting to win and demanding a lot out of your teammates. I think that’s something that we appreciate, and I think that has been part of our culture from the beginning. So I think we attract the players who like to win and don’t like to lose. That’s what you see with Jimmy. He plays the game with incredible passion, and I think he’s not scared of the moment. ... It has been terrific having Jimmy. He’s a guy we obviously tried to get him for a while, and we were able to get him.”
▪ Elisburg recalled the draft evaluation process that led to the Heat selecting Adebayo with the No. 14 pick in 2017.
“We liked him a lot in the draft, Chet Kammerer especially, who was running the draft at the time,” Elisburg said. “... Chet really loved his extraordinary footwork. That was the thing that really attracted him. He said this is a guy who is a big with an ability to move his feet and be out there legitimately defending the perimeter, and it was something he said was very unique in his ability to do that. ... As he has come into this league, Bam is the right kind of temperament and he adds to the people that like to win and don’t like to lose, and that has been part of the culture. And it has been terrific watching him grow and become a player.”
▪ Elisburg said the Heat “already knew [Robinson] had the extraordinary ability to shoot the ball, but the rest of the parts of the game were things where he needed to work on to get ready to be on the NBA level. So I think when Duncan chose us as the place where he wanted to start his career, the idea was to start in the G League and get an opportunity to play and work your way in.”
In Robinson’s second NBA season, he has become a Heat starter after going undrafted in 2018.
“It’s the organic step-by-step progression for a player as he transitions into it,” Elisburg said of Robinson. “... It’s a fantastic story to watch. It’s a testament to coaches in the G League who spent some time working with him. It’s a testament to the coaches in our development crew, the coaches who have been working with him here. The commitment from his agents and his people to be willing to sort of allow him to take the measured time of development, and most importantly it’s to him and all the work he has put in to become a better player.”
▪ When asked about Herro, Elisburg brought up the shooting drill the Heat put him through during his predraft workout last year.
“He did a shooting drill for us when he came on his draft workout that was one of the best shooting drills we have ever seen,” Elisburg said. “We have had a number of shooters around here. So when you see one of the best shooting drills you’ve ever seen, that’s not nothing. You saw just an incredible confidence from him and coming from [Kentucky]. I think there was just something about him that just said with his ability and his skill and his confidence and just the way that he carried himself, that he’s a guy that you saw had an ability to make an impact in the NBA. He came in from the beginning of it, he has not had any fear of anything.”
▪ Since Elisburg is not in the bubble, he has not been able try Butler’s “Big Face Coffee.” But Elisburg mentioned that he would be willing to pay for Butler’s pricey coffee if it were available to him.
“Since we’re still playing, I would certainly pay my $20 a cup very, very happily,” Elisburg said with a laugh. “Very, very gladly pay $20 a cup if you’re telling me that we’re still playing, that sounds like the best coffee in the world.”
▪ Elisburg said Heat players “embraced” the idea of resuming the season in the NBA bubble from the beginning.
“We never had less than 10 players on the floor every day, in the gym every day,” Elisburg said of the team’s voluntary workouts at AmericanAirlines Arena leading up to the restart. “... Sometimes we had 15 or 16, but there was never less than 10. Our guys wanted to play, wanted to find a way to play however. That doesn’t mean that everybody hasn’t had difficult times and everybody hasn’t had their frustrations because it’s hard what it is they’ve done and it’s hard what they’ve had to do because this has been an extraordinarily challenging season.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 9:25 AM.
