The Miami Heat have a flexible roster moving forward.
Last season, the Miami Heat had at least one lineup that was hypothetically prodded by fans, media and even the team itself.
Running the floor with Hassan Whiteside and Bam Adebayo in tandem was touted as a potential defensive wall. Their efforts were guided by friendly competition and the possibility of redefining how centers can play the game together.
"“I feel like we try to wrestle each other for rebounds,” Adebayo said last February. “But I love playing with H. Two shot blockers, two athletic bigs and we both can facilitate.”"
But in hindsight, the Adebayo-Whiteside pairing played just 52 minutes together across 11 games all season.
Sure, Whiteside missed nearly 30 games to injury. But for comparison, Whiteside played 75 minutes with Luke Babbitt, a forward who was on Miami’s roster for a total of 13 games last season.
Obviously, the problems of an Adebayo-Whiteside pairing are apparent – poor spacing and little shooting are the immediate deterrents.
Still, that head coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t experiment more in a season where Miami had little to lose, was the biggest missed opportunity of all.
Whereas teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics had their rotations locked in entering the playoffs, Miami was running 10 guys deep in the post-season.
"“This is about — contribute whatever your role may be, and that might be not be in concrete right now,” Spoelstra said of the lineup issues last February. “We have to move, it’s time. I mentioned that before — there’s no time to mess around or walk on eggshells and people will be bent out of shape about minutes. No, there’s no time for that right now.”"
Despite his authoritative approach to determining minutes, Spoelstra never fully settled on a clear rotational identity. Some games, he let Dwyane Wade take the wheel, while for others he deferred to the collective contributions of the Platinum Group.
Now, with a new season ahead of them and a fully healthy roster, what combinations does Spoelstra have?
Here’s a look at a few that could shake up the Eastern Conference.