3 Miami Heat lineups Coach Spoelstra should lean more into
By Isiah Curry
As the Miami Heat have fallen to 2-4 on the season, there are negatives—but most certainly positives to take away from their rigid start. While the final score of Thursday’s, 110-123, defeat at the hands of the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors doesn’t provoke much positivity, a moral victory is that the Heat are a team that can compete with the NBA’s best.
No one realizes this more than Erik Spoelstra, as the Heat’s long-tenured head coach has retained his championship core of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Kyle Lowry for at least one more season.
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Now with a newer, more versatile, and (supposedly) more dynamic style of play, the challenge lies for Spoelstra to experiment and discover lineups that will complement each of those four players.
And with that, here’s a look at which Miami Heat lineups have faired well thus far throughout the first six games.
3. Gabe Vincent, Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Max Strus, Bam Adebayo
- +17.1 Net Rating (Per 100 Possessions) in 27:02
In the early season, Spoelstra has made an effort to stagger Butler and Lowry’s minutes, especially between the first and second quarters. It makes sense to keep a veteran ball handler on the floor as much as possible, with Jimmy being an underrated player in that area.
Though there have still been some positive turnouts with having both players off the floor. Herro, as well as Gabe Vincent, have returned to this Heat team with added experience as ball handlers and high screen-and-roll options.
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Their abilities to get to the midrange or feed the roller is something we should see more of from this second unit-based lineup. But for Herro specifically, this allows him to dip into what earned him the Sixth Man of the Year award last season.
For Tyler to comfortably be the primary ball handler, as he was with the second unit last season, allows him to make the most of his usage. It has always been and remains to be about reign over rock for Tyler Herro.
As Victor Oladipo is yet to make his regular season debut, there’s no reason for Spoelstra to shy away from testing the Herro-Vincent combination going forward.