What Erik Spoelstra is considering. Wade bullish on Heat, and Miami calls more shooters
A six pack of Miami Heat notes on a Wednesday:
▪ Coach Erik Spoelstra would be sitting in his backyard, by the grill, in recent months, when the thoughts filled his head:
What’s his best second unit? What are his best five-man combinations? How do you fit in potentially as many as 13 rotation-caliber players?
“Probably every day,” Spoelstra said of such thoughts. “That’s where the mind of a head coach in this league will always go.”
The Heat on Wednesday remained without Bam Adebayo and Kendrick Nunn. But they’re expected back before seeding games begin on Aug. 1, and if the Heat is fully healthy, Spoelstra — for the first time all season — will be able to choose among 13 players who have been a part of NBA rotations at one point this season.
Only Udonis Haslem and KZ Okpala haven’t been in rotations this year, though both have been needed in a few games.
Of those 13, Solomon Hill (in Memphis’ rotation earlier this season) and Chris Silva (in the Heat’s rotation at times early in the season) would seem the most unlikely for regular minutes.
Jimmy Butler, Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and Goran Dragic will assuredly play and Tyler Herro, Nunn, Jae Crowder, Meyers Leonard and Andre Iguodala presumably will, too. That’s nine. The question then becomes whether Olynyk and Derrick Jones Jr. carve out regular minutes.
Even with Leonard and Herro out for an extended period before the NBA’s stoppage, Olynyk played between only 5 and 10 minutes in each of Miami’s final three games before the season was suspended.
Since Jan. 1, Jones has played in every Heat game, never less than 13 minutes. So he’s likely to play.
But for the first time since Crowder and Iguodala were acquired from Memphis, Herro will be available to play, barring something unexpected. And that could impact Jones’ minutes, though the two players have vastly different skill sets.
Spoelstra has said he will go deeper in his bench. And Spoelstra did go 10 and 11 deep in the Heat’s two most recent playoff games, in April 2018 against Philadelphia.
“I don’t know if there has ever been more of a need for depth and have players on your roster that you feel comfortable playing in a game than right now,” Spoelstra said. “What that will exactly be part of the rotation, I don’t know. But I’m open to it. And I just know we will play if not all of the guys, we will be pretty damn close to it.”
One specific question Spoelstra must reconcile: Whether to get back to a five-man bench unit that outscored teams by 60 points in 73 minutes since the Memphis trade.
That quintet of Dragic, Crowder, Iguodala, Olynyk and one starter (Robinson) scored 135 points per 48 minutes and shot 47 percent on threes. But Herro’s return from his ankle injury — likely to the second unit — probably will prompt changes to that second unit.
▪ Count Dwyane Wade among those bullish on the Heat’s chances.
“This is what the Miami Heat organization is about,” Wade said in his new role as an analyst in TNT’s studio.
“We always talk about the best-conditioned, most professional, hardest working. It gets no more challenging than this. The Miami Heat from day one have been putting these virtual workouts together. They have been making sure their guys have been on the grind. They have stayed connected. I think they are feeling very confident coming into this.
“It’s a very deep team, obviously getting Tyler Herro back gives them even more depth off the bench or in the starting lineup. They’re coming into this very healthy as well. I know they’re very confident coming into it, looking at other teams ahead of them, thinking they have a chance. They have a very good record against all these team they played against in the regular season.”
▪ If the Heat finishes fourth or fifth in the East and advances past round one, Miami would play Milwaukee in the second round. If they finish third or sixth and advance, Miami would likely play Toronto in the second round, presuming the Raptors hold onto their three-game lead over No. 3 Boston.
But even though the Raptors would be the easier opponent, it wouldn’t necessarily be enormously easier. The Heat staff has immense respect for the Toronto coaching staff, believing it gets the absolute best from that roster. (Miami’s coaches also respect the Bucks’ staff greatly, but that’s not the point here.)
▪ The Heat has told some of its G-League players in Sioux Falls to stay in shape should a COVID-19 outbreak on the team force Miami to seek reinforcements from that club. Among those players: center Trey Mourning, Alonzo’s son. Former UM and NBA guard Davon Reed also was on that team.
A team can replace any player with COVID-19, but that player then could not return to the roster for the duration of the postseason. And beginning in mid-August, players signed as replacements must have fewer than three years of NBA experience, thus limiting the pool mostly to G-League players.
Two G-League players who excelled for Miami’s team in recent years would be unavailable: guard Mychal Mulder (now with the Golden State Warriors) and forward Yante Maten (was with Boston’s G-League team this year and not permitted to sign with the Heat, according to his agent).
▪ Washington guard Bradley Beal expressed frustration with losing this season and previously told me that he considered Miami before signing a multiyear extension with the Wizards last October. But an associate said asking for a trade is not a consideration for him at this time.
He is committed to seeing how the Wizards play with the return of John Wall from injury next season. Beal is signed through 2022-23, with that final season a player option.
▪ The Heat is always on the lookout for shooters and has shown interest in meeting (virtually) with TCU guard Desmond Bane, one of the best shooters in the Oct. 16 NBA Draft. The 6-5 Bane, represented by South Florida agent Seth Cohen, averaged 16.6 points last season and shot 44.2 percent on threes (92 for 208), with that percentage ranking seventh in the country.
Though Miami has reached out to some prospects in its projected draft range (early to mid-20s), it has held off on yet contacting others, including Duke big man Vernon Carey Jr. Carey’s father, the former UM and Dolphins standout offensive lineman, told me his son isn’t yet doing Zoom interviews anyway, hoping for in-person contact at some point if the NBA permits that.
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 1:46 PM.
