Miami Heat: Second Unit Will Be Among The Best In The League

The Miami Heat played their third preseason contest on Friday night. In a tough and hard fought game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat would emerge victorious to keep continuing along their 3-0 preseason start.

Here’s the thing though. While the Spurs played a lot or most of their regular guys for much of the game, the Miami Heat were far from that.

For instance, check out the injury report prior to Friday’s contest.

Starting the game for the Miami Heat were a slew of guys who are sure to have major impacts this season, but guys who will do so in their reserve unit.

Throughout an entire game of play though and with just eight available players that went in the game, they go it done and again, against most of the Spurs’s regular guys and on a regular allotment of minutes for them.

The two big guys for the Miami Heat on Friday were two guys that have big expectations in front of them for the season. One is still a bucket and the other still has that Summer League juice.

Miami Heat: Second Unit Will Be Among The Best In The League

Tyler Herro is coming back with a vengeance and as he has across his first two games, while Max Strus is coming into this year brimming with the confidence he was able to acquire and display across the NBA summer circuit of play.

Herro would finish with 26 points, two rebounds, and three assists on 12-25 shooting and 1-5 from three. Though his three point shooting wasn’t magnificent on Friday night, he made up for that with his overall efficiency of near 50 percent from the floor and plus, he had shot the three-ball decently throughout the first couple of games up until then.

Strus would finish leading the game in scoring for both sides with 28 points, five rebounds, and two assists on 9-18 from the floor and 6-11 from range. He would display his confidence in his ability and his athleticism on several occasions throughout the evening and in example, this open-floor jam.

It all boils down to one thing here. These are the Miami Heat’s top bench threats.

If this is any indication of what to expect during the regular year and mind you, against mostly reserve guys, then the Miami Heat can be special with each wave.

Miami Heat: Second Unit Could Be A Real Weapon For Them This Season

With Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and potentially, P.J. Tucker on your first unit, you have a chance to be a terrorizing bunch there on both sides of the ball. Literally.

When you think about second units and though you don’t want or need them to be totally non-existent defensively, you tend to think about the offensive production or boost that they can provide. At the very least, you want them to be able to hold things neutral and keep them where they are, to not kill you.

Well, this Miami Heat second unit may be able to be a weapon. Not only will they have Strus and Herro’s potency on offense, but they’ll have Markieff Morris and Dewayne Dedmon’s toughness, which gives them a strong chance of being able to compete… or better on defense every night.

This isn’t mentioning the fact that Gabe Vincent has become a pretty decent defender in his own right and looks like he is finding that stroke again. He can also make a few things happen as a playmaker and off the bounce for himself.

Mix in doses of KZ Okpala, Omer Yurtseven, Caleb Martin, Marcus Garrett, and… Victor Oladipo when he comes back and you have, potentially, the best second unit in the league. Even prior to Oladipo’s return, they’ll have a chance to be that.

He only makes those chances greater, while adding quite the boost, overall, to the team. At the very least though, all of these guys give them a chance to be among the top second units in the entire league and again… if not the very best.

Minimally.