Robinson Spacing For Bam, Among Others, Could Bolster Miami Heat Offense
Now, there is also another side to that. With Bam being so aggressive now, that creates an urgency for defenders that hasn’t ever been there for the “Bam and Duncan” combination before.
For example, on their classic dribble handoff action, defenses had begun to cheat to take away Duncan’s shot, as they knew the point was, more often than not, to get Robinson a good look. Now, defenders can’t do that.
Not only is Bam drawing multiple defenders on his touches, will absolutely abuse the rim if that same cheating or leaving happened now, but Duncan’s increased penchant to do other stuff has even increased the expectation of success on passes and such for Adebayo, such as this one, though on the fastbreak.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1605376538668437505
So, while they still have a ton to figure out and it may be too early to say if Duncan is fully back or not, there are positives associated with him being on the court. Max Strus is a different type of range shooter, more of a spot-up or catch and shoot guy, than off of action.
Duncan’s movement shooting is different, always has been, and with Bam’s newfound willingness to be an offensive force—Duncan’s impact could turn out to be just that much more impactful now than it ever has been.