As opening night nears, Heat offense remains work in progress: ‘It’s a tricky offense’
The Miami Heat’s offense is a work in progress. Heat coaches and players aren’t afraid to admit it.
After finishing with one of the NBA’s 10 worst offensive ratings in each of the past three seasons, the Heat is trying something new in hopes of producing more efficient results. That meant fewer pick-and-rolls, fewer handoffs, fewer play calls, more paint attacks and an uptick in pace this preseason.
But it didn’t mean more efficient production, as the Heat closed this preseason with the NBA’s second-worst offensive rating (scoring 102.6 points per 100 possessions). In first halves when most of the regulars played, the Heat posted the league’s seventh-worst offensive rating (scoring 106.2 points per 100 possessions) this preseason.
“I think our offense is operating at probably like 65% to where we can get to,” Heat guard Norman Powell said after Miami finished as the NBA’s only winless team this preseason at 0-6. “The good thing is that we’re operating that low, so there’s a high ceiling for us on that end of the floor.”
The Heat hopes to find its offensive stride soon, as it prepares to open the regular season Wednesday against the Magic in Orlando and begin a challenging early season stretch. Not only does the Heat play six of its first eight games on the road and embark on a West Coast trip during the second week of the regular season, but 11 of Miami’s first 15 games come against opponents that made the playoffs last season.
“It’s for sure not going to be easy to get the offense going,” Heat forward Nikola Jovic said. “Like Norm said, we’re nowhere close to I think where we can actually be. So that’s the thing that kind of excites me because I feel like we can be a lot better.”
Among the toughest adjustments that come with this new Heat offensive plan has been finding structure within the chaos, as coach Erik Spoelstra is calling fewer plays from the sideline and players are being urged to push the pace.
“It’s a tricky offense, you know,” Jovic continued. “I think we’re still kind of figuring out who’s going to do what with playing more like open court and not as much pick and roll, not that many play calls. So it’s more like, OK, go out there and use your talent as much as you can.”
With fewer play calls from the sideline and no clear-cut No. 1 scoring option — especially with guard Tyler Herro (ankle surgery) sidelined for at least the first month — the Heat has to figure out where the ball should go each possession.
“The thing that we’re still trying to figure out is you have three guys right now — when Tyler comes back, four — who are in a similar range of points per game,” Jovic said, referring to Bam Adebayo, Powell and Andrew Wiggins. “So those three somehow got to figure out what is the shot profile going to look like. That’s all I’ll say. Us other guys like me, Jaime [Jaquez], Pelle [Larsson], Dru [Smith], Davion [Mitchell], we just somehow got to find a way to be the glue guys. Is the ball going to come to us a lot? Probably not. But the way we play our offense, we’ll be able to be open and get some shots up.”
It doesn’t help that the Heat is without a pass-first facilitator on offense, as the only player on Miami’s current roster who averaged more than five assists last season is Herro (averaged 5.5 assists per game). Kasparas Jakucionis is the closest player the Heat has to a pass-first point guard, but it remains to be seen how much he will play in his first NBA season.
“I think it’s an adjustment, but I think it’s honestly better for us because you can’t really scout and figure out who’s bringing the ball up,” Powell said of playing without a pure playmaker on offense. “We’re playing in a lot of random, open offense, reading defenses and seeing what they’re giving us rather than having a set play. I feel like when you have a true point guard, somebody that’s ball -dominant like Chris Paul or James [Harden], it’s more them dictating the action and getting the guys where they need to be and a lot of pick and roll. With this offense, it keeps the defenses off balance because they don’t know what we’re going to do.”
The offensive numbers in the preseason were rough, as the Heat recorded the league’s fifth-worst team field-goal percentage (42.7%) and 11th-worst team three-point shooting percentage (31.7%) on its way to an underwhelming offensive rating this preseason. The Heat also put up an NBA-low 28.7 three-point attempts per 100 possessions in the preseason.
But the Heat was successful in picking up the pace this preseason after finishing as one of the five slowest-paced teams in the NBA in each of the past six regular seasons. Miami played at a pace of 106.1 possessions per 48 minutes during its six-game exhibition schedule for a pace that would have ranked as the fastest in the NBA last regular season, but the challenge is now sustaining that speed in the regular season.
“I think, honestly, our pace is great,” Powell said. “Now it’s just increasing our IQ and understanding space and movement, rotations, cutting, pulling behind, finding open space and making those plays. We want to be a team that attacks the paint and is aggressive. But with our aggressiveness comes being able to make the right decisions once we get down in the paint.”
Amid all the changes with the Heat’s offensive plan, that’s at the center of what coaches are trying to emphasize this season: Maximize paint attacks and make the right play from there.
“I think Spo makes it easy for us,” Mitchell said. “He just wants us to get in the paint, play for one another. Just always play on two feet, and if you’re open, just shoot it. So it’s not really that hard.”
The hard part for players is making the right decision once they’re in the paint, as Spoelstra said during the preseason that “we’ll continue to have to make better decisions once we get into paint. Some of that is in our spacing.”
Jovic described it as a drive-and-kick offense, noting that “it’s a more open” scheme.
“Get two feet in the paint, kick it out, drive again, pass, open shot, shoot it, drive again, you know, find an open space, use your IQ a little more,” Jovic said of the Heat’s offense. “But, yeah, it looks like we’ll just have to be one of those teams. If you see how the NBA was played like Indiana last year — a team like Indiana, they go out there and try to use their talent and IQ as much as they can.”
The Heat’s offense isn’t where coaches and players want it to be yet. But they just hope it gets there soon.
“I really hope it ends up looking good because we’re really emphasizing it a lot and giving everything we can into this offense right now,” Jovic said. “So we’ll see.”
LOCAL 10 TO CARRY SELECT HEAT GAMES
Miami’s Local 10 (WPLG) will carry 12 simulcast Heat games from FanDuel Sports Network this regular season. This over-the-air broadcast won’t require a cable package or streaming service.
The 12-game Local 10 package begins with the Heat’s Nov. 8 home matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Local 10 will also carry select simulcasts of FanDuel Sports Network broadcasts for 12 regular-season games of the Heat G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
“The relationship with WPLG Local 10 will enable more Heat fans to watch our games and enjoy additional Heat programming, all for free,” said Heat executive vice president and chief marketing officer Michael McCullough said in a statement.
KEL’EL WARE UNABLE TO PRACTICE
Heat center Kel’el Ware did not practice on Tuesday because of neck spasms.
Herro and Jakucionis (right groin strain) also didn’t practice Tuesday because of their injuries.
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 10:30 AM.
