The Miami Heat season came to a close when they were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. As the NBA Finals begin without the Heat involved, we look to next season to see what it might have in store for the Heat.
Although Miami was not one hundred percent healthy in the series against Boston, you have to give credit to Boston’s defense. They exposed some major weaknesses of the Miami Heat, which often led to them trailing in games in the series.
If the Heat want to continue to contend for a title and return to the NBA Finals, these weaknesses will need to be addressed this offseason. Here are the three biggest things that the Heat will need to improve for next season.
1. Ball Security
Turnovers were a problem for Miami all year. In the regular season, they ranked 28th in the fewest turnovers per game. In the playoffs, the numbers were slightly better, but they still had many careless turnovers.
What made the issue worse is that teams like the Celtics were effective at scoring in transition off of Miami turnovers. This, essentially, lost them the game in the first quarter of Game 7.
This should be an easy one to fix. It starts with Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler.
There are too many skilled playmakers on this team for this to be an issue. Even Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro are comfortable taking the ball up the court and making plays for others.
Particularly with Lowry on the floor, the Heat like to play with pace. Next year, the Heat will need to do a better job of controlling the tempo of the game, while also making smarter decisions with the ball.
Miami Heat: 3 Biggest Improvements Needed In Offseason – Size
One of the things that makes the Miami Heat defense work so well is that they are able to switch on practically any matchup. Their combination of speed and strength makes nearly every player capable of defending practically any position.
2. Size
The issue with that is that by focusing on speed, you often risk height or size. That was the case with the Heat against the Celtics, who were a much bigger team.
Bam Adebayo is only 6’9” and was the tallest player on the floor for the Heat for the majority of the series. P.J. Tucker, standing at only 6’5”, took minutes at center.
This is the hardest one to fix because you can’t teach a player size. The only way to improve size is to find players.
The Heat do have some seven-footers on their team. One is Omer Yurtseven, who was a rookie this season and was not in the playoff rotation.
The other is Dewayne Dedmon, who struggled early in the series and is a free agent this offseason. The Heat have two options here.
They can develop the talent they already have or make moves to find players, via free agency or trade. There are players out there that would fit into the Heat system in which they can still switch everything but maintain more size.
The Celtics are basically doing that right now. The Heat just need to find the right fit so they can be flexible in situations where size is necessary to win.
Miami Heat: 3 Biggest Improvements Needed In Offseason – More Offense
This was probably the most glaring issue in the postseason. For most of the season, it looked as though the Miami Heat had drastically improved their offense.
3. Offensive Consistency
They had the number one bench scorer in the NBA in Tyler Herro and they were the best three-point shooting team in the league.
That all changed in the postseason, particularly against the Celtics. Their field goal percentage took a huge hit and there were multiple games in which the team shot below 20 percent from three.
Percentages are expected to drop in the playoffs because there are usually fewer calls, while teams ramp up their defensive effort. But those marks are dismal.
The team often looked lost in the half-court without Jimmy Butler scoring.
The Celtics series showed how important Tyler Herro is to the Heat’s offensive consistency. He missed several games in the series.
In the games he did play in, he was hardly a factor and did not shoot the ball particularly well. Not only does Herro create different types of shots for himself that Miami would not be able to create elsewhere, but he provides a contagious scoring spark.
Without that, the Heat can go on stretches where it is very difficult for them to score, especially if they are also unable to force the other team to turn over the basketball. The Heat will need to rely on Herro to continue working in the gym, with a focus on his durability.
He will need to be more consistent next season, as will the rest of the team. Unless the Heat pull off a miracle trade to add another star to the roster, it will take a collective effort to have enough offensively on a given night to win important games. These are the three biggest improvments needed in the offseason.