Miami Heat Roundtable: Reviewing the first 10 games
The Miami Heat are 10 games into the season, and it hasn’t been pretty. The team is 2-8, people are frustrated and the team has already gone through multiple starting lineups and dealt with injuries to three of five starters. Still, even in a small sample size the All U Can Heat staff has learned a lot about this team.
What is the main reason for the Miami Heat’s struggles so far?
Frank Urbina (@frankurbina_): Gotta be the offense. I’ve harped on it before, but when you look at the numbers, they’re pretty jarring. As I’m sure most Heat fans have noticed, the team really struggles to make layups (particularly Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters). Via synergy, Miami is now shooting 52.5% from within five feet of the basket, which ranks dead-last in the NBA. Further, the Heat only draw 19.7 FT’s per game, which is the 3rd lowest total league-wide. Sure, you could choose to blame the refs to a certain extent, but Miami’s lack of star power could also be at fault. When Miami gets to the foul line, they shoot 68%, another number that is worst in the league. You can’t be that bad at two vital areas and expect to have a respectable offense. Shouldn’t be too surprising Miami averages 94.4 points per contest, a number that is second-worst in the NBA. Not good enough.
Simon Smith (@SimonABenedict): Clearly it’s the team’s offence, which currently ranks 29th in the league in points per game and 27th for field goal percentage. Breaking that down, starters Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters are shooting 33.1 and 34.8 percent from the field respectively. Further, the Heat are 29th in the league for offensive rating (points per 100 possessions). No matter which way you break it down, the Heat’s offence has been completely unproductive, with poor shooters taking far too many shots.
Allana Tachauer (@AllanaTachauer): You mean besides the fact that they lost Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh? Look, the Heat have had to completely restructure their strategies this offseason. And something like that takes time. At the very core, they’re still trying to play Miami Heat Basketball, but it’s a little harder to do when up until this point, that’s been synonymous with Wade period. So that’s it, first and foremost. But aside from that, our shooting has been questionable. Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters, both of which who start, may be finishing games with decent stat-lines, but the number of shots it takes to get there…yikes. Guys in general, haven’t been consistent. The Heat were missing Josh Richardson up until a few games ago. Now they’re without Goran Dragic. Our offense is rough. Plain and simple.
Cory Sanning (@sanningnba): I think it’s quite clear it’s the offense, and crunch time scoring has been a tremendous issue. Miami has yet to find a “go-to” guy in the fourth and if it’s not going to be either of the players currently earning max pay on the roster, Pat Riley may need to look elsewhere.
Ivan Mora (@moraivan): They aren’t on the same page. So many rotation changes and they are still lacking that chemistry. Offensively they are missing easy shots. I see so many missed layups, horrible passing, and even worse play calling. You have to remember this is a completely different team than last year in the sense that they ran their whole offense through Wade. They don’t have that reliable closer this year. It’s too early to start judging them because regardless of their 2-8 record, I see a lot of potential individually. Young athletic talent that need to mesh together. They will get it together, but it might take them longer than we’d like. Injuries aren’t helping either.