Heat roster failure leaves Erik Spoelstra with no other choice but to go small

Opening the Miami Heat mailbag with this question about the rotation…

"Been a great showing from the bench. Spo not using Jovic much at all tonight, instead going with a smaller lineup of Richardson and Burks, which has paid dividends. Do you think Spo will use more of these rotations going forward? "

It’s hard to tell what Erik Spoelstra will do with his rotation going forward. After using the same starting lineup for the first eight games of the season, Spoelstra was forced to change things when Jimmy Butler sprained his ankle earlier this month. That prompted changes and a chance to experiment.

The latest injury-related experiment happened Monday night with Terry Rozier (foot) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (right ankle sprain) out of the lineup. That prompted Spoelstra to use his third starting lineup of the season, opening with Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Bam Adebayo.

Following a breakneck, 12-day trip and home game on the second night of a back-to-back, Spoelstra and his staff will get a long break to take a breath and evaluate the state of the roster. The Heat are off Tuesday and Wednesday before returning to practice on Thursday. Their next game isn’t until Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks at Kaseya Center.

The Miami Heat are tinkering with their rotations, and Monday's win provided a hint as to what will happen next.

Rozier should be back by then, but Spoelstra should bring him off the bench. The Herro-Rozier backcourt hasn’t worked this season. The Heat are getting outscored when they share the court and posting a defensive rating of 116.7, which would rank 23rd in the NBA. The Heat are aware of these numbers. Benching Rozier is under consideration.

But let’s get to the question here. 

Spoelstra has toggled through a bunch of front court options already this season. Thomas Bryant started the season as Adebayo’s backup. He lost the job to Kel’el Ware, who lost his minutes. Nikola Jovic started as the power forward and lost his job to Kevin Love, who is now the backup center after Spoelstra shook up the starting lineup. After trying to force functional size onto the court, Spoelstra determined it isn’t working. Now the Heat are going back to playing small with Highsmith at the 4 and Jovic playing some backup 5. 

Spoelstra often gets criticized for falling in love with small ball. He wants to play bigger. For three seasons, he has tried to make Kevin Love at power forward happen like fetch, but it never sticks. Jovic struggled. Ware isn’t ready.

So when going big fails, Spoelstra has to find other ways to create an advantage. Enter going small. Put more shooters on the floor, space the opponent out and try to dictate the terms of engagement that way. I think we’ll see Spoelstra do more of that going forward, at least until a better option emerges.