Miami Heat’s deep roster is key to an Eastern Conference run

The Miami Heat can receive healthy contributions this season from players up and down its roster.

The Miami Heat are intimately familiar with its Southeast division rival, the Charlotte Hornets.

Charlotte nearly dismantled Miami in the 2016 NBA playoffs, and is usually hot on Miami’s heels for playoff seeding.

Last year, the Heat swept the Hornets, shooting down the team’s chances at another disruptive tiebreak situation as was the case in 2016. That should mean that Miami is well equipped to fumigate the Spectrum Center of any lingering Hornets.

And that logic largely held up on Tuesday night (even though Miami fell 122-113).

In the span of a summer, Charlotte enlisted a new, former San Antonio Spur head coach in James Borrego, plucked the stinger from incongruous center Dwight Howard, and pledged to take the team’s pace up a notch.

Lacking Howard’s presence and trying to adjust to a new speed, played into Miami’s hand from the jump. The Heat punished Charlotte in the paint, preying on mismatches whenever possible.

Starting the tandem of Hassan Whiteside and Kelly Olynyk took immediate advantage of Charlotte’s light weight interior, but more importantly, the early run illuminated Miami’s greatest strength entering 2018-19: the power of friendship.

Too cheesy?

Sure, but the level of familiarity Miami has within its roster is its biggest strength.

The Heat injected the first quarter with a 12-0 run, compounded by out-rebounding the team 16-8 through the first 12 minutes.

Throughout the night, Miami looked like a team that had improved on its telekinetic communication, filling lanes and finishing passes in an attempt to make Sunday’s 20 turnovers look like a bad dream.

That momentum was drenched with molasses however, when in the second quarter Derrick Jones Jr. fell square on his right shoulder, leaving the floor for the remainder of the game.

The injury, diagnosed as a bruised right shoulder, opened the door for Marcus Lee to earn some second quarter play time.

42 seconds was enough for Lee to procure four points and two rebounds, a testament to his limber frame letting him squeak into the paint and do some dirty work.

Lee’s quick contributions beg the question: how often can you say that everyone on a preseason roster should be on the full team?

Duncan Robinson clearly has the most clout among Miami’s potential players, having earned early first half minutes within the team’s core rotation.

But Miami didn’t miss a beat by inserting any of its lesser known names. For a team that had the chance to gut its core for a lone year of Jimmy Butler, the choice to play hardball and run with its homegrown group, could prove best in the long run.

And that’s the story Miami should continue to write this season.

Last year, the team was in-between injuries and in-between players, with core pieces like Dion Waiters missing ample time, while trying to make sense of acquisitions and departures like those of Luke Babbitt, Okaro White and Jordan Mickey.

Even with six players signed to part-time, preseason contracts, the Heat have established a culture that has created a roster 20 players deep. Shedding salary is always on the table for Miami, who, at this point, could only acquire a player like Butler in a trade.

But knowing the organization has a deep pool to draw from, should ease the journey to the top of the East.