Is Miami Heat’s positionless basketball their best strategy?
The Golden State Warriors might be the NBA Champions, but the Boston Celtics have the league’s highest upside.
After a second-place Eastern Conference finish, only a pair of injuries and the human wrecking ball known as LeBron James kept Boston out of the NBA Finals (though those circumstances are unlikely to repeat).
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens championed a lineup that made every match-up volatile.
Jayson Tatum was a rookie standout and according to the playoffs, Rookie of the Year. Terry Rozier had a few thousand fans saying “Kyrie, who?” when he took over the helm in March. And then there was Al Horford.
Horford, whose game is astonishingly unsexy by most reports, was the lifeblood of a team that held the NBA’s lowest defensive rating (101.5 points per 100 possessions) through the regular season. Calling him a jack-of-all-trades is a misnomer – he’s a Swiss army knife donning Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility. Rarely do Horford’s stat lines enchant, but his ability to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time fuels Boston’s successful version of positionless basketball.
Stevens acknowledged his reduction of on court roles last July.
"“I don’t have the five positions anymore,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens told the Associated Press. “It may be as simple as three positions now, where you’re either a ball-handler, a wing or a big.”"
Running the traditional five-man game through a strainer was their best possible plan, until the Celtics met James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Still, Boston was as competitive as any team in the league, taking games off the NBA-best Houston Rockets and Warriors.
Positionless basketball is conceptually better left on the chalkboard for some teams, but not the Miami Heat. Head coach Erik Spoelstra incorporated his own brand of position-lenient ball, powered in part by his flexible roster.
Miami’s second unit was the most notable supporter of a free-flowing lineup, with any of Justise Winslow, James Johnson or even Kelly Olynyk facilitating the offense. Olynyk, a product of Stevens’ Celtics, gave the Heat an option at center that kept defenses guessing (at least offensively).
When LeBron James was on the roster, Miami was able to trade off between he, Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade and others at point. But when Goran Dragic earned the starting point guard position in 2014-15, Miami had to take on a new identity. Dragic became the floor general, and it wasn’t until Johnson’s arrival at point-forward that the Heat’s traditional setup took a turn.
Having the ability to rotate ball handlers this season kept the Heat fresh, especially considering the lack of primary offensive options. The team built trust in having someone other than Dragic lead, and the lineup’s fluidity even translated to defense, with Bam Adebayo picking up flight hours, covering a variety of non-centers, and Josh Richardson flexing up and down the court in a career defensive year.
Considering Spoelstra didn’t “care about positions” this season anymore than he did in the James years, where did Miami falter?
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Too big to fail?
Phrasing this in a way that makes Hassan Whiteside the victim is sure to draw the ire of Heat Nation, and to some extent it should.
Whiteside’s effort was at times laughable, and Spoelstra more than adequately made him aware of his wavering contributions.
However, in the 54 games Whiteside started, the Heat ran with a positionless game plan that was the anthesis of Whiteside’s formula for success.
Using Olynyk and Adebayo as centers gave Miami a flexibility that made Whiteside’s career defining skill set appear to be a hindrance.
In Whiteside’s breakout season, he starred along Wade in their two-man production of Lob City: A Dunking Extravaganza. As Miami’s fifth-most played two-man combo, the Wade-Whiteside connection was good for a bundle of easy buckets and interior engagement.
Even after Wade’s exit in 2016-17, Whiteside’s production continued its upward trend, thanks to Miami’s roster maintaining its one-through-five, position-based identity.
This season leaves the Heat in a difficult spot however, with Whiteside’s incorporation looking more like an afterthought than a well-executed plan. Whiteside’s post dominance was undermined by a roster that could do a bit of everything, except play through the post.
Thus, the Heat need a solution. Lobs and posts-ups can be successful when they aren’t a mere addendum to the primary strategy.
Miami’s idea of positionless basketball needs to apply only when Whiteside is on the bench.
Forcing a 7-foot behemoth to play in a lineup that can’t cover his deficiencies is a death sentence without a trial. Whiteside is Miami’s best interior scorer and defender by far, but forcing him into an ill-equipped lineup is a tough deal.
The Celtics long-term success is reliant upon their ability to keep their players in the best situations. Aron Baynes isn’t Horford any more than Whiteside isn’t Olynyk. Positionless lineups aren’t free-for-alls.
The freedom they give is rooted in similar capabilities and shared responsibilities.
Next: Miami Heat: Is Hassan Whiteside trying to change his narrative?
The Heat can charge ahead with positionless basketball, but they need a Whiteside-sized reminder that it’s not one size fits all.