The thinking behind Heat’s rotation tweaks, and why Jimmy Butler is at the center of it all
NBA teams need their top players to be at their best to have success in the playoffs.
Some might consider that an oversimplification of what’s needed to make a championship run, but the Miami Heat made significant tweaks to its rotation just three weeks before the start of the playoffs in an effort to accomplish just that with lineup combinations that could maximize the skill set of its best player Jimmy Butler.
In response to a season-long four-game losing skid in late March, the Heat played more shooters around Butler in the final weeks of the regular season to open more space for him to operate on the offensive end. Butler, who scored 81.2 percent of his points this season from the paint and free-throw line, has even been used as the de facto power forward in smaller lineups more often recently.
“Jimmy is one of the most unique, dynamic, versatile offensive players in the league,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat in the middle of its week-long break before opening the playoffs Sunday as the Eastern Conference’s top seed. “He does so many things well. We want to maximize all of those talents that he brings. That’s at the top of the floor, in the wings, in the post, in transition, as a cutter, as a guy with the ball making all the plays and as a guy who also can be a screener and rolling to the rim and putting a lot of pressure on the defense. That versatility that he can bring is not common in this league.”
Butler’s game is unique, but the Heat had another player at his position a decade ago who possessed a similar versatility. Some of the lessons Spoelstra learned from coaching LeBron James during the Big 3 era from 2010 to 2014 have made an appearance in the adjustments he has made around Butler in recent weeks.
The formula: One big, three capable shooters and let James, or in this case Butler, go to work.
“It’s more about trying to maximize the full skill set and versatility of a player like Jimmy Butler can bring to your team,” Spoelstra said. “... Guys like Jimmy and LeBron are just super unique because they have a full arsenal of skills and you don’t want to just limit it to him with the ball in a certain region of the floor. That’s what we’re trying to do is just maximize all of those strengths offensively.”
The results have been very positive for the Butler-led Heat. Miami bounced back from its four-game losing skid by winning six of its final seven regular-season games after the rotation changes were made, including all five that Butler played in during that span.
THE CHANGES
Aside from replacing Duncan Robinson with Max Strus in the starting lineup and moving Markieff Morris and Victor Oladipo out of the rotation, the changes have resulted in Butler spending more time playing as part of a lineup that includes two of the Heat’s best shooters in Robinson and Tyler Herro. The Butler-Herro-Robinson trio logged 18.6 minutes per game during their final five regular-season contests together, compared to just 8.5 minutes per game this season prior to the rotation tweaks.
The Heat’s late-season rotation changes also have Butler playing fewer minutes alongside forward P.J. Tucker, as they averaged 15.3 minutes of court time together in the final four regular-season games they were both available for. They played 25.3 minutes together per game before this new alignment was put into place.
Those minutes have been replaced with more time alongside the Heat’s best shooters — Herro, Kyle Lowry, Robinson, Strus and Gabe Vincent.
“Jimmy having an opportunity to operate in some open spaces makes sense for us,” Spoelstra said. “It makes sense for us to have him working off the ball. I think it just makes your menu a lot more diverse and difficult to prepare for. If you can always predict where guys are going to be, you can scheme it. If there’s eight to 10 different places a guy can hurt you like Jimmy can and then you add a level of unpredictability with it with the space, I think that just makes a ton of sense for the offense.”
As far as playing more minutes at power forward like James eventually did during his Heat tenure, Spoelstra stopped short of labeling Butler with a position.
“Jimmy has guarded one through four all season long and his offensive role hasn’t changed at all with some of these tweaks in the rotation,” Spoelstra said. “So I think it’s a little bit kind of conventional to say, ‘OK, he’s a four,’ or whatever. I think it’s more where is the ball going and what is our spacing. If I had to sum it up in the last 10 days, that’s what we’ve really worked on.”
Butler added that he’s “comfortable with whatever position, quote, unquote, he puts me out there at with the individuals that I’m out there with.”
THE RESULTS
It’s a small sample size, but the changes injected life into the Heat’s offense and Butler.
While Miami’s offense, especially in half-court situations, has been shaky at times, the Heat produced the NBA’s fourth-best offensive rating with 122.2 points scored per 100 possessions during the final two weeks of the regular season. The Heat’s half-court offensive rating has been just outside the top 10 for most of the year, but shot up to second-best during that two-week span, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Butler averaged 24 points while shooting an ultra-efficient 58.8 percent from the field in five games to close the regular season. The Heat posted an offensive rating 126.7 points per 100 possessions with Butler on the court during this stretch, which is a very high number considering the NBA’s best offense this season (the Utah Jazz) scored 116.2 points per 100 possessions.
Some of this recent success has come because of the Heat’s three-point surge. Miami shot an incredible 45.5 percent on 37.7 attempts from three-point range over its final seven games of the season, but that again comes back to improved spacing.
“I think it’s just continuing to play to our strengths, and for [Bam Adebayo and Butler] that’s giving them the ball in situations where they can put pressure on the rim and be successful,” Robinson said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship in that sense. Them putting pressure on the rim allows three-point shooters to get open. Once you hit shots then it creates more space for them.”
Strus’ goal is to make Butler “as comfortable and feel at home as much as he can.”
“Just get him into his spots, try to give him as much space as possible and just to really get out of his way,” Strus said. “He’s a special talent, he’s a superstar in this league. He’s special, so we want to put him in spots to succeed.”
The late-season changes came after a few discussions between Spoelstra and Butler.
“Jimmy and I have spent some time talking about ways we can maximize him better, the offense better, the team better and then we also have to have those conversations with everybody,” Spoelstra said.
The Heat needs its best player to be at his best in the playoffs, and the hope is the recent changes will help set Butler and the team up for postseason success.
“I like to play bully ball and I like to run into people and see who’s stronger,” Butler said. “That’s just the way that I play.”
Butler now has more space to play the way he wants to play.
“We all have to find ways to maximize his full skill set,” Spoelstra said.
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 12:11 PM.
