Barkley’s unusual request to Robinson. And Spoelstra explains why so many alums on staff
A six-pack of Miami Heat notes on a Wednesday:
▪ After a season that exceeded all expectations, what’s the next area of growth potential for Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson?
A couple of former NBA players have some ideas.
Former Heat guard Jim Jackson, now an analyst for NBA TV and TNT, would love to see Adebayo add a three-point game. He was 2 for 14 on three-pointers this past season and 5 for 36 (.139) in his career.
“Now that 15-foot jump shot is going to expand,” Jackson said. “Now he’s going to come back with that three ball to be more of a threat in the pick-and-roll.”
Adebayo famously hit more than 60 threes in 100 attempts in his predraft workout at AmericanAirlines Arena. Whether he can add that to his offensive arsenal remains to be seen; that might be more of a long-term than short-term project.
Also in question is Erik Spoelstra’s willingness to allow Adebayo to shoot more threes. It’s difficult to envision Adebayo becoming a high-volume three-point shooter this season — with an abbreviated offseason — but nothing should be ruled out for a player who has improved in virtually all areas.
The other issue would be this: Would shooting more threes pull Adebayo away from the basket and less likely to corral offensive rebounds? Very likely yes.
As for Robinson, continuing to improve his defense obviously remains the priority, and there was growth there.
But TNT analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has something else in mind:
“Duncan Robinson is arguably one of the top five shooters in the NBA, [but] I don’t even know if he can dribble,” Barkley said. “You make yourself half of a player [if you don’t dribble]. I challenge guys like Robinson to learn how to dribble the damn basketball so you can help your team more.”
Most of Robinson’s threes come off catch and shoots, often after he makes several cuts. NBA.com estimates that he ran about four miles per game last season.
▪ Asked about getting new Heat assistant coach Caron Butler up to speed without having an offseason around players (due to COVID-19), coach Erik Spoelstra said the summer is “usually where we can fast track our coaching staff. But he’s got such a great deal of experience, you know, the 13 years in the league, his two years with us, understanding what’s important in Heat culture. The profession and craft of coaching is different, but he’s very committed.
“He’ll make big strides as the months go by. I’m not expecting it to be a complete final package by Game 1. And that’s what’s exciting, is he has a lot of growth ahead of him. But it was cool, right after practice, the two guys I see pulling Precious [Achiuwa] aside are UD [Udonis Haslem] and Caron, going through individual defensive technique. It’s like going back to the future, that kind of thing. It was a nice moment for me to observe.”
▪ The Heat coaching staff now has four former Heat players: Butler, Chris Quinn, Malik Allen and Anthony Carter.
Asked about that, Spoelstra said: “It does matter for us. It is a little bit different, playing in this uniform and being part of this culture. Not for better or worse, we just have a certain way of doing things here. And guys who truly understand what’s important and have played in that uniform, have been in that locker room, have been though these kind of practices, been through these kind of training camps, I think it just helps our players feel a level of comfort and trust.
“They can go to them and trust that our staff is here and competent in the right areas to be able to help them get better. It is really unique. These guys have either played for Coach Riley . . . I think Quinny is the most unique because he’s played for Coach Riley and for me. But these guys have a lot to give, and they are all really committed just to the craft of coaching, which is cool.”
▪ Spoelstra said this week that 6-3 Avery Bradley cannot only defend guards but also small forwards and power forwards. And Bradley has experience guarding stretch-fours who are three to six inches taller.
“I do think the way the league is going now, most fours [power forwards] are playing outside, anyway,” Bradley said. “So I do think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities. You see fours switching on to ones now. Most teams are switching one through fours, anyway. So I think there will be some opportunities there. And I do like the challenge. My whole career, I’ve been guarding guys taller and bigger than me, and I’ve been taking the challenge. I think that’s what makes me the defender that I am, being able to guard multiple positions.”
▪ We hear more than 10 teams called Mississippi combo guard Breein Tyree, expressing interest in him joining their team as an undrafted rookie. He picked the Heat partly because the organization has had such good success developing players, according to an associate.
It didn’t hurt that Pat Riley called him on draft night to emphasize the Heat’s interest.
Udonis Haslem praised Tyree’s energy this week.
▪ Quick stuff: ESPN’s list of the top 100 NBA players — as voted on by its panel of experts and released this week - includes Jimmy Butler at No. 12, Bam Adebayo at No. 13, Goran Dragic at No. 58, Tyler Herro at No. 59 Duncan Robinson at No. 75... Spoelstra gave his team the day off Wednesday... All 72 Heat games will be televised this season, including two preseason games on Fox Sports Sun (Monday against New Orleans and Dec. 18 at Toronto).
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 2:11 PM.
