The Miami Heat enter training camp with many of the same faces from last season that produced a .500 record. What do they need to address to ensure playoff positioning this year?
Much like many of their fellow teams in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat opted to bring back the majority of their core from the previous years. Aside from the Boston Celtics, the same can be said for key players in the conference including Toronto, Washington and Cleveland, so the Heat will need to find new ways to use familiar faces and that process starts in training camp.
Because much of the core is the same, there aren’t a lot of questions in regard to personnel fit. Instead, the Heat will be tasked with sorting out their depth. Granted, a great problem to have and one a number of teams in the league would like to be dealing with, but it yields a number of questions.
Along with the re-signing of Dion Waiters and James Johnson, the Heat also brought in former Celtic Kelly Olynyk, drafted Kentucky big man Bam Adebayo and will also regain the services of Justise Winslow, who missed a majority of last season due to a shoulder injury. While that looks like a fairly uneventful offseason, it bolsters a roster that turned in one of the best records in the league after the All-Star break.
With these new additions, Erik Spoelstra is armed with one of his most versatile rosters during his tenure, with the ability to match any style of basketball. With his positionless approach, the early stages of the season starting with training camp will be the most exploratory period as Spolestra puts every player into a number of scenarios and tries out various lineup combinations.
Much of the remaining questions for the Heat heading into camp revolve around the central idea of how they will gain an advantage on the top tier in the East. The goal this year is playoffs, not just an admirable fight from the depths of the standings. To do that, they’ll have to answer these questions.