Undermanned and heavily criticized for having insufficient depth, the Miami Heat have defied the odds, and have once again found themselves trending upwards. This time though, it’s been accomplished without the efforts of their three premier scoring leaders in Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo.
Miami has now won four of their last six games while depending on four undrafted prospects (with the exclusion of Duncan Robinson) to contribute in extended minutes. However, the opportunity has never been larger for KZ Okpala, although not undrafted, but rather a second-round draft selection almost three years ago.
The Heat have been padlock attached to Okpala’s talents since they doubled down on him during the NBA draft night of 2019, sending three future second-rounders for him. They were even reportedly reluctant to include him in a potential trade for P.J. Tucker last winter.
Now, a season later, Okpala is reaping the benefits — and an earful of knowledge from one of the more vehement defenders in the NBA. But combining those benefits with the physical tools, it’s allowed Okpala to take his development to an even further level.
Though still working through impairment as an offensive player, Okpala has provided valuable minutes as a multi-positional defender, ascending to becoming another insertable option for head coach Erik Spoelstra. Though partially due to need, it comes at a time when Spo is working without his defensive anchor in Bam Adebayo.
Miami Heat: KZ Okpala Proving Valuable As Multiple Defensive Tool
At 6’8”, KZ has the length of a prototypical NBA forward, which is accompanied by a 7’2” wingspan. Recently, those attributes have allowed him to thrive in his most critical role yet.
It’s a clear strong suit if a player shows that he can be adaptable to defending anyone and anywhere on the court in this era. Let’s expand more into how he’s done it.
KZ OKPALA’S GOD-GIVEN PHYSICALS HAVE REPLENISHED THE HEAT’S FRONTLINE DEFENSE
In the visual evidence portion of the show, via NBA.com, this first segment begins with Joel Embiid fighting to seal off Dewayne Dedmon in the post and as Philadelphia swings multiple passes along the perimeter.
Dedmon continues to deny Embiid, leaving the 76ers’ star center to relocate for Seth Curry to successfully throw an entry pass.
Embiid finally shakes free from Dedmon and quickly rushes a layup attempt. Okpala then rotates over to spike Embiid’s shot off the side of the backboard.
Currently and for the latter half of the previous decade, the 76ers offense has revolved around Embiid’s dominant post proficiency. However, with the Sixers often having limited floor spacing around him, it’s resulted in a ton of conflict in their halfcourt offense and most especially in the postseason.
One of the very few solutions to deal with Joel Embiid is to send a double team his way on the catch. The more long and athletic those defenders are, the better.
In fact and for any variation of a zone defense, it’s seemed that Miami can reach new levels when they have a capable athlete on the floor. In recent weeks, Caleb Martin has epitomized that to a degree but naturally, there isn’t a player more capable of altering shot attempts while guarding the perimeter than Okpala.
That’s because his sheer length and quickness are factors.
Miami Heat: If He Can Keep Trending Upward, His Defense Will Keep Him In Play
On a lesser note, if Embiid decided to not immediately go up with the layup attempt, KZ would still be able to recover. Kyle Lowry would drop down to Tobias Harris and Robinson would rotate towards Tyrese Maxey.
It would have still worked out either way, but both would have had a ton to do with KZ’s athleticism there.
EVEN AS A SMALL BALL PIVOT, OKPALA CAN COVER TONS OF DEFENSIVE GROUND.
It was mentioned earlier that the Heat have been tasked with fulfilling the gap of Adebayo’s defensive versatility. They’ve probably found a good enough temporary solution with Okpala and not only as a help defender but as a drop defender as well.
In this play, Miami is running a man-to-man defense with Lowry, Herro, Martin, Max Strus and Okpala, as the Milwaukee Bucks initiate a screen and roll with Khris Middleton as the ball-handler and Bobby Portis as the screener.
Lowry fights over the first screen attempt from Portis and as Portis slips through after his second screen attempt, KZ stays connected, sending Portis’ shot attempt out of bounds.
Commonly, most defenders would’ve attempted to steal that pocket pass from Khris Middleton, as Okpala was in position to gamble. However, KZ refuses to bite, with the understanding that Portis could have an easy one as the roller.
This was just a terrific example of Okpala showing, not only, as an instinctual defender, but even being useful as a small-ball five.
Playing 21.6 minutes in his previous five contests before the Detroit game, Okpala averaged 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks, while converting on seven of his last 12 three-point attempts.
He’s also maintained a Defensive Rating of 102.3, which ranks second to Gabe Vincent at 101.3.
As for any player on Spoelstra’s active list, he’ll need to keep up that dependability, as we’re seeing a player earn his time on the floor. With what he’s showing, he’s finally, perhaps, starting to look like a major Miami Heat component for the next few years.
For KZ, it starts with hanging his hat on the defensive end and as it’s paying off, it doesn’t seem to be that he will ever shy away from wanting to improve.