We are officially one week through the NBA season, with the Miami Heat in the midst of a four-game road trip at 3-2! There is still way too much basketball left to be played, but what are a few of our takeaways? Let’s examine!
Pace, pace, pace!:
Erik Spoelstra-led teams have never finished top-15 in pace with nine bottom-12 finishes in transition frequency over the last 11 seasons. After three straight bottom-third finishes offensively, changes needed to be made.
The Heat were marginally slower without Jimmy Butler than they were with him last season. Now, they’re outpacing the rest of the NBA through five games. Even when Miami’s not generating deflections, it’s initiating offense with ~18-19 seconds left on the clock off misses, as opposed to ~14-16. It’s paid dividends, and I’m curious to see how sustainable it is — especially once the Heat continue to face better point-of-attack defenses.
Shooting has not been an issue for Heat:
A big question of mine — that still exists — heading into the new season was the team’s shooting. They lost Duncan Robinson, the greatest shooter in their franchise’s history, one who commanded unparalleled gravity, and would be without Tyler Herro for the first month of the season.
Never fear, Simone Fontecchio is now here! The fourth-year leads the NBA in 3-point percentage at 59.3 percent (min. 20 3PA) through five games, while Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith and Nikola Jovic are all knocking down at least 40 percent of their triples.
I don’t think the Heat’s 40.5 mark is sustainable, but they’ve done an excellent job generating open 3s off paint touches and superior ball movement.
Jaime Jaquez’s breakout may be legit:
I did a deeper dive on this here, but Jaquez has fit seamlessly into the Heat’s new up-tempo offense. He’s not thinking, he’s getting downhill and isn’t as predictable on his drives. He’s also finishing exceptionally well at the rim, which may regress back to the mean.
Nevertheless, a Jaquez breakout is huge for the Heat. It’s just five games, but he’s consistently stacked positive games together — whether he’s scoring, rebounding, playmaking or defending.
Dru Smith hasn’t missed a beat:
I don’t know how Smith keeps doing it. Coming off three major knee/lower leg surgeries in four years, he’s been quite impactful off the bench like he was never injured in the first place.
Through five games, Smith, 27, is averaging 5.8 points, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals on 48.0 percent shooting and 41.7 percent from deep. He doesn’t make poor decisions very often and knows how to excel in his role.
Miami’s bench has been best in the NBA:
Its bench has been the best in the NBA through the first week, posting a league-best 10.6 NET Rating (and a league-leading 66.8 TS%). Smith and Jaquez play into that, but they’ve also got valiant contributions, at different points, from Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic and Fontecchio.
The Heat’s bench has been the No. 4 offense among second units with the 12th-best defense. It’s a far cry from how it was last year. If they can sustain this productivity, they will be a tough out on a night-to-night basis.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
- Heat escape with 136-131 win over Trail Blazers behind Nikola Jovic’s career night
- NBA GAMETHREAD: Portland Trail Blazers (5-3) @ Miami HEAT (5-4)
- Heat must weather storm in this area amid Bam Adebayo’s absence
- Heat officially announce return of ‘Vice Nights’ uniforms
- GAME PREVIEW: Heat host Blazers on the second night of back-to-back
- Heat earn the bounce back win at home, beat Hornets 126-108
- NBA CUP GAMETHREAD: Charlotte Hornets (3-5) @ Miami HEAT (4-4)
that world series was as good as any sports playoffs ive watched in 60 years congrats sun
Thangya vera mush heat. What a series! Those last 2 games were exciting!
put in rojas for d game 6 7.put in pages 9th inn.doc looks like a genius,yamo ohtani snell glasnow come on now.we had the big three thats the big4 of sports.btw u live in sd not a padres fan?i know wifes from brooklyn
Less than 10 years in SD area. I lived 40+ years in L.A. and Orange Counties.
Just spitballin so don’t get your panties all in a bunch
I read an article about the Grizzlies loss to Lakers last night. It appears Morant is not a happy camper and may be a good trade candidate. Herro, Fontecchio and a pick matches up perfectly ($39.4M vs $39.3M). That would leave Miami 2 3-pt shooters short since Morant is a poor 3-pt shooter (15.8% this year and 31.3% career).
I still like the idea of exploring a possible trade for the Pelicans’ De Jounte Murray straight up for Herro. Murray (a career 34.0% 3-pt shooter) is currently recovering from an Achilles injury and is expected back in late December/early January.
There is no rush on a trade until Miami sees how well Murray recovers from his injury and how well Herro meshes with the new offensive system. Herro has relied heavily on the pick & roll in the past. However, with the Heat’s new offensive system, the team is now using p & r on a much more limited basis.
I watched that game, he was really bad.
The game story was two superstars (Luka and Ja) against each other.
There was no story there, Luka was in orbit, Ja in the cellar.
I m not sure if still belongs to the top tier, I believe its more of a Tylers class.
not really ty can get his own shot,
Its 5 games, everything is fine for now, but this is not the team we will see in 3-4 months from now, because:
-Herro will return.
-hot shooting from Simone is not sustainable.
-JJJ is not that effective against longer defenders
-Ware and Jovic will be better.
-JK will return.
-injuries
I believe the evolved version of the team will looks like that:
-point guard rotation as it is, with some minutes lost to starting Powell/ Herro together and JK getting some minute.
-Herro and Powell will start together, but they will play most minutes separatly. JJJ will lost some minutes.
-SF rotation will stay as it is, with Simone lost some minutes and JJJ playing more at SF.
-frontcourt rotation could change a little, with Ware playing more minutes with Jovic and less with Bam. There be another big added to the roster sooner or later, but not as insurance, a good big man coming in with the trade. Jovic and Ware will lost some minutes because of that.
Very good analysis. It sounds pretty right. I do so hope you’re right about that other big man trade. To me, that trade, if we get a good enough player, could make the Heat a viable contender.
Yes, it will be needed against bigger and stronger opponents in PO. Game will also slow down then.
Right now, there is not many big man in the league, which could run with the Heat right now.
If there are mobile/running PF’s/C’s, they are probably among the younger ones drafted in the past few years.
congrats sunman gl game 7 tomorrow
Great game.
i dont like reg season baseball to much but for me the best playoffs especially world series are baseball/ bonehead baserunning mistake.especially with springer coming up ex marlin miguel rojas defense was key to the win.dodgers hitting under 200 and are going to a game 7.all hands on deck for game 7.
It should be a good game. It’s going to come down to pitching.
doncic is back btw
Where’s LeBron?
the goats out.hopefully comes back monday doncic reaves smart ayton hachimura thats enough to give us a tussle throw inthe goat thats a dam good team.u can argue goat luka reaves best threesome in nba
They don’t have the depth or defense Miami has. Luka and Reeves are one ways and Ayton is flakey. Heat need to run…run…run. if James returns he won’t be in top game shape and will probably get reduced minutes.
Yep, and slim, 40 points a game version.
I predict Heat will win and he will drop 50. That would be the best outcome for me.
nba suks total bs not one game on friday nightv.so i see a game on prime (ppv) tv memphis lal fk that nba.
There will be growing pains this year, but I see Miami on the right trajectory. I’m wondering if the Heat can take their game to another level once they are fully healthy. They still need better rebounding. Mitchell is playing PG very well. I would like to see him around for years to come (whether as a starter of second unit player. Fontecchio looks like a keeper too. The jury is still out on a couple of other players.
We’ll have a very good idea where the team stands after 23 games (Dec 5th).
we need a yamamoto type player .
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the entire Japanese fleet?
dodger pitcher rc superstar
Oh, thought you were planning a surprise attack on the Lakers.
thats spos job.im just the old fart who likes to complain about our fav bball team.once in a while have a nice thing to say.
“Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. Bad habits can be broken, good habits formed.” Breathe in…Breathe out…(repeat about 150-200 times) and call rc in the morning.
It’s not a surprise now.
Nope, on the Havaii alohas.
the lebron james of pitchers.nowadays the wemby of pitchers
Commander-in-Chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet and the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was killed when American forces shot down his plane in April 1943.
Forgot. Powell looks like a keeper at a team friendly price
great player.clippers are losers betting on old james and kawhi to stay healthy.love zubac though.but just giving away norm for love and slomo what does that tell the fanbase.just a loser org
They bet on Beal on a cheap contract because they didn’t want to give Powell the contract extension he deserved. Penny wise and pound foolish.
beal as old as james and kawhi gl with old butler legs
5 games into this young season and the numbers are there and they can still adjust. A lot of wiggle room, mistakes to clean up, combos to try. This west trip and the next 15 games is a really good test for the new and improved Heat team to see how they measure up. If Tyler is just a month out, he maybe joining before Heat reach the 20th “threshold”.