The Miami Heat don't have elite talent, nor do they have one of the best defensive units in the league anymore. In many ways, their only competitive advantage over opposing teams was their depth. However, now that Erik Spoelstra has trimmed the rotation, in somewhat of a panic move, that is effectively gone.
Over the last three games, Spo has pretty much used a seven-man rotation. And the results have not been great.
Miami is just 1-2 in those games, and it took a complete collapse of the Philadelphia 76ers in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter to secure that victory. The only possible advantage the Heat had over teams is completely neutralized with this one decision from Spo.
Erik Spoelstra is trimming his rotation
And, sure, it's not that outlandish for teams to start cutting their rotation in the postseason. With where they are in the standings, the Heat are in playoff mode now. That's probably what we're seeing here recently with Spo.
He's playing the guys that he 100 percent trusts. That has made the rotation much smaller. However, in the process, it's eliminated the depth that they had before.
The honest truth is that without depth, the Heat aren't able to hold up against most playoff teams in the league. As we saw against the Boston Celtics, the Heat were no match.
I'm not sure if a bigger rotation would've made the difference against Boston, but that has been the only real advantage that Miami has held against teams this season. To completely forfeit that now is, at the very least, questionable.
Most recently, Spo has gone with a starting 5 of Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Pelle Larsson, Andrew Wiggins, and Bam Adebayo. Primarily, it's been Kel'el Ware and Jaime Jaquez Jr. off the bench. Kasparas Jakucionis, Dru Smith, and Simone Fontecchio have pretty much faded out of the rotation and have just gotten minutes sparingly.
The gamble hasn't paid off for thie Heat
This gamble hasn't exactly paid off for Spo just yet, but, especially at this point in the season, it'd be shocking if that suddenly changed. The only real adjustment that may come to the end-of-the-season rotation is when Norman Powell returns from injury.
It's at that point where the rotation may balloon back to an eight-man wheel.
For now, though, it appears Spo is going to keep it short and rely on the players that he trusts the most.
Still, I can't help but wonder if this could be a mistake.
In the end, it may not matter much. After all, the Heat are destined for the Play-In Tournament, looking for the opportunity to lose (perhaps respectfully, if they're lucky) in the first round of the NBA Playoffs against a much better team. And that is almost certainly to happen whether they play seven or 10 guys.
Yet, willing forfeiting your only competitive advantage at this point in the season is quite the decision.