Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra spent most of the preseason using hockey-style line shifts to handle his rotations, but he revealed Sunday that he doesn’t play to use that approach when the regular season begins with Wednesday’s home opener against the Orlando Magic.
In four of five preseason games, Spoelstra subbed out all five starters at the same time as the second unit checked in.
No, the Miami Heat won’t continue their hockey-style line shifts in the regular season.
Those starters – Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo – would sub in together during the second quarter.
Depending on the game, the second unit consisted of a five of Dru Smith, Duncan Robinson, Alec Burks, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Haywood Highsmith, Kevin Love and Thomas Bryant.
These line shifts aren’t typical of Spoelstra’s approach to substitutions. When asked if it was just a preseason experiment, Spoelstra indicated that it wouldn’t continue in the regular season – for the most part.
“If you’re asking me whether I’m doing to do that in the regular season, I don’t know. Maybe,” Spoelstra said with a smile. “It won’t be a regular thing. I’m also not opposed to that if it can change the tempo of the game.
“I think the units accomplished what we wanted to accomplish in the preseason,” he continued. “A little bit more comfortable in understanding how we want to play.”
The benefit of the line-shift strategy was that it ensured the five starters – who did not log a single minute together last season – got as much time together as possible. Miami’s projected starting lineup played 62 minutes together across three games and had an impressive net rating of plus-15.9.
To compete in the East this season, the Heat need better health and greater continuity than they showed last season. The preseason set the tone for a more stable regular season. It was a good start.
How Spoelstra goes about his rotation now remains to be seen. Will he stagger Herro and Rozier? Will he ensure, as he did last season, that one of Adebayo or Butler are on the court at all times? Will Jaquez, Robinson, or someone else be the first player off the bench?
We’ll get our answer on Wednesday, but, as Spoelstra implied, things can always change.