Miami Heat: What can they learn from the Toronto Raptors?

The Miami Heat can look to the best team in the Eastern Conference as the benchmark for how to play a pair of centers.

During the Miami Heat’s fourth victory in their now five-game win streak, the team’s efforts were rewarded by a pinch of fortune.

Against the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami rolled sevens each time the Bucks sauntered up to the 3-point line, where they shot an abysmal 9-for-43. Milwaukee usually fires from the hip relentlessly and accurately, but the second night of a back-to-back plugged the rim in Miami’s favor.

However, the Heat also imposed their will on Milwaukee, employing zone defense that shifted Bucks’ weight on offense.

This season, the Bucks are shooting a league-leading 68 percent within the restricted area, a stat bolstered by Giannis Antetokounmpo and his tree trunk limbs. But on Sunday night, Miami held the Bucks to just 60 percent, while limiting Milwaukee’s interior attempts to 23, 11 shy of the Bucks’ usual mark of 34 such attempts per game.

A similar event happened against the Orlando Magic.

Miami, once again employing a flexible zone, steered the Magic away from the rim, limiting them to just 10-for-22 in the paint. In tandem with man-to-man, Miami forced the Magic into 19 turnovers, with guys like Justise Winslow and James Johnson benefiting early and often from the Heat’s team defense.

In addition to Miami’s pliable wing coverage, the Heat have the benefit of fielding a pair of centers who build out Miami’s game plan in different ways.

Whiteside is the perennial interior blockade, using his length and size to edge potential rim-rockers off course, while piling on points in the paint. During this win streak, Whiteside recorded the team’s second best defensive rating at 94.4 points per 100 possessions.

Adebayo, however, is the smaller, more agile defender, who is equally capable of steering Steph Curry out of bounds as he can contest Aaron Gordon at the rim.

Both saw utility during this win streak, and the way head coach Erik Spoelstra used them (Whiteside’s 25 minutes per game versus Adebayo’s 23), was akin to the Toronto Raptor’s usage of Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka at the five.

Ibaka is the primary option, a stretch-five whose 3-point ability lends itself to the modern NBA, while his athleticism shades closer to a well-rounded forward than a clunky center.

Still, Valanciunas has a defined role.

He regularly matches up against post threats like Jarrett Allen and can play in spurts to jump start the game with a jolt of interior scoring, like when he shot 4-for-5 from the floor in 15 minutes against the Golden State Warriors earlier this year.

Moving Valanciunas to the bench was arguably the best move Toronto has made is recent years.

(Well, except for getting Kawhi Leonard, but that’s another story for a different article.)

Lacking a respectable outside game, head coach Nick Nurse and the Raptors found a way to put Valanciunas and his bully ball style to use, without leaving him out to freeze in the Canadian winter.

Sure, he plays less than he did is years past (just 18 minutes per game), but he is also boasting the second highest net rating of his career, due to his decreased exploitability in Toronto’s defensive schemes.

Miami could learn from Toronto’s center situation, flipping Adebayo into an Ibaka-lite while funneling Whiteside into a Valanciunas-like role.

Unfortunately, neither of Miami’s bigs boast a reliable 3-point shot, which is key to running Toronto’s style. But there is one caveat that leans in favor of Adebayo as the starting center: passing.

He can dish it out

One of Miami’s longest works in progress, longer than Dion Waiters’ ankle injury, has been getting Whiteside to play the inside-out game.

The NBA is loaded with centers who can catch at the high or low post, turn, and hit the opposite wing or corner with a ball reversal for a wide open 3.

Nikola Jokic is the obvious model for a versatile center, but even roll men like the Brooklyn Nets’ Jarrett Allen can swing the rock to the open shooter.

Whiteside hasn’t embraced that role. Just last night, Whiteside’s first shot came came on a Nikola Vucevic contested hook shot, even though James Johnson was in the clear for a corner 3.

Anchored to the paint, part of his reluctance to pass stems from not knowing when he’ll get the ball back. In 2015, he justified his lack of passing by calling himself the team’s resident finisher.

"“Yeah, yeah. I told the guys, ‘I’m trying to pass it to you, it’s just I can’t get a lot of assists because a lot of the times I’m the one that’s dunking,’ Whiteside claimed. “I’m the one getting assisted to. But I’m a willing passer.”"

Look closely at that shot and you’ll see that Johnson, after half-heartedly gesturing for the rock, quickly starts hopping up the sideline when he realizes that there is no chance for an outlet. Whiteside has never averaged more than an assist per game, and Johnson’s body language is telling of the low marks.

Now, consider that interaction against what happened with Derrick Jones Jr. and Adebayo, who is averaging four assists per game during this latest stretch.

Almost immediately, Adebayo looks for the corner kickout. Jones misses the 3, but the intention was there.

For all the good that Whiteside can and does bring as an unstoppable post scorer—his near 66 percent shooting within the restricted area is on par with Jokic, Anthony Davis and Steven Adams—he lacks utility in creating offense for his teammates.

Conversely, Adebayo’s willingness to pass tends to wall him out of developing  his own shot for himself, even if he is making the right move in the moment.

The Whiteside-Adebayo problem is a spitting image of that Rugrats Christmas episode (which was adapted from O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi).

Phil gets Lil a coloring book and Lil gets Phil some crayons. Or vice versa; I don’t know, they were twins. The point is, neither gift is particularly great on its own, but combined, the pairing is unstoppable.

The Heat have two parts of a whole at center (three if you include Kelly Olynyk as the team’s floor stretching big) and figuring out how to manage their talents could go farther than packaging them up in a trade.

Adebayo and Whiteside have already bought into Miami long-term.

With a spoonful of sugar and some elbow grease, the Heat can surely make their unique skill sets work for the good of the organization.