Love’s advice after debut, and why history suggests Love/Bam pairing could work for Heat
New Heat forward Kevin Love had some advice after his scoreless Heat debut on Friday, a dismal 128-99 loss at Milwaukee.
“We have to just throw that one away,” Love said after starting and missing all four of his shots - all three-point attempts - in 22 minutes. “All the way around, it was an ugly one for everyone, myself included.”
If you were looking for the glass-half-full perspective entering the Heat’s Saturday night game in Charlotte, there’s this: Love was a factor on the boards against the Bucks, with eight rebounds. He had four assists and no turnovers, plus a block and a steal. And history suggests that this Love/Bam Adebayo pairing has a good chance of working, provided the 34-year-old Love has something left in the proverbial tank.
Keep in mind that when the Heat has paired Adebayo with genuine stretch bigs (primarily Kelly Olynyk and Meyers Leonard), the team’s plus/minus metrics - and three-point shooting - have usually been very, very good.
For the first time since late in the spring of 2021, Adebayo on Friday started alongside a power rotation player who’s at least 6-8 and has historically been an above average three-point shooter.
Adebayo said he’s optimistic about his pairing with the 6-8 Love, primarily because of the spacing it creates offensively. Love is a career 37.2 percent three-point shooter.
“He’s such a high IQ guy,” Adebayo said. “He knows how to read the game. He’s been down 1-3 in the Finals and came back and won, so he’s had that experience.”
Asked how long it will take for the group to mesh, Adebayo cracked: “I’ll give it to March 5.”
Erik Spoelstra, choosing to focus on what went wrong in the 29-point loss, declined to offer a specific reason for Love starting after one practice with the team.
But Love said: “They wanted some of that spacing I bring, especially at the four position, be able to help Bam on the outside, guard Brook Lopez. I think they wanted to look at more size in there.”
Friday marked Love’s eighth start in the past 1 1/2 seasons; he started three games for Cleveland earlier this season but had been out of the team’s rotation since Jan. 24 before his buyout last week.
He conceded Friday night that “it might take a little bit of time. I was just searching [Friday night] offensively in particular. I’m just trying to make the game easier for other guys, share the ball.”
Spoelstra said before Friday’s game that Love is “a highly decorated, experienced veteran player and those are the types of guys you need, especially if you are going to inject someone into a lineup. He’s someone who knows how to fit in. His skill set matches what we’re looking for. Not saying it will be perfect; but it will be a great starting point.”
It was far from perfect on Friday. The Heat was outscored by 10 with Adebayo and Love paired together.
But historically, when the 6-9 Adebayo is paired with a power forward/center with legitimate size and superior three-point range, the results have been positive.
When Adebayo and the 6-11 Olynyk were on the court together over parts of four seasons (2017-2021), Miami outscored teams by 289 points in 2729 minutes, or by five points per 48 minutes. In three of those four seasons, Adebayo and Olynyk ranked among the Heat’s 10 best two-man combos, either in plus/minus or plus/minus per 48 minutes.
During three of Olynyk’s four seasons here, the Heat shot at least 37.8 percent on threes when Adebayo and Olynyk shared the floor, including 39.8 percent in 2017-18. Except for one season, the Heat shot far better on threes when those two players shared the court.
When Spoelstra paired Adebayo and the 7-0 Leonard during 54 games over two seasons, Miami was a plus 98 in 797 minutes (plus 5.9 per 48) and shot 42 percent on threes.
Anything close to that three-point shooting with Love on the court would be a godsend for a Heat team that entered Friday shooting 33.4 percent on threes, 28th in the league, and shot 9 for 40 on threes on Friday.
Sacrifices have been made defensively with all of those Adebayo/stretch big lineups over the past five seasons, and that likely will be the case with Love. But the Heat’s zone defense - and the defensive excellence of Adebayo and Jimmy Butler - could mask some of those defensive deficiencies.
Love had the worst field goal percentage against among Cleveland’s rotation players this season (48.3). But in Love’s defense, the players who shot 48.3 percent against him shot roughly the same (48.4) against everyone else.
In some respects, Love says he believes he will be used differently than he was in Cleveland.
“The biggest thing for me is passing, starting that fastbreak, closing possessions on the defensive end, using my shooting ability to help this team,” he said, adding the Heat has “smart players playing off one another. Nobody has to cater to me. I want to make the game easier for these guys.”
After watching the Heat from a distance for the past decade, Love said “you can tell there’s a lot of love in this building for one another,... a common purpose. ... This [experience] is breathing new life into me. I know I can still do it.”
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said Love “is someone they’ll figure out how to use. The ability to spread the floor, but also play on the block and offensive rebound” will help the Heat.
MARTIN ACCEPTING
Martin, who started his first 49 appearances this season, took no issue with returning to the bench. He thrived in that role last season, playing as a reserve in 48 of his 60 appearances.
“I prepared myself for something like that to happen,” Martin said. “It’s Spo’s job to figure out the best lineups, how guys fit in. He knows I’m one of those guys that’s willing to do what I’ve got to do.”
Was it difficult to go back to the bench? “Not really,” he said. “It’s my job to adjust. It’s great we have a decorated vet come in with the first unit to make that first unit flow and have size.”
Martin, 6-5, played well off the bench Friday, with 17 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes.
“Caleb played a really solid game, plays extremely hard and I respect the hell out of him for coming off the bench and doing that,” Love said.
▪ Four Heat players are on the injury report for Saturday’s game in Charlotte on the second night of a back-to-back: Nikola Jovic (back), Kyle Lowry (knee) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle) all remain out, and Love is listed as probable because of a hyperextended left knee.
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 10:15 AM.
