Plenty of things can be taken away from the Miami Heat’s decision to sign Dru Smith after trading Haywood Highsmith to the Brooklyn Nets. The biggest one: Head coach Erik Spoelstra is planning to play small.
Potentially really small.
Yes, the Heat went from (an injured) Highsmith to bringing back Smith in part because it fit with their plan to get under the luxury tax. They also didn’t need to cut payroll. They have until the end of the 2025-26 season calendar to shave dollars and cents off the bottom line.
Signing Smith is more of a deliberate decision than incidental offshoot. It speaks to Miami’s enduring commitment to field as many players with fierce defensive motors as possible. It definitely proves the team will be playing it slow with rookie Kasparas Jakucionis.
Above all, this move amounts to the Heat and Coach Spo doubling down on smaller, guard-heavy lineups.
The Heat are very, very small, folks
Conventional size is not Miami’s strong suit. It has just three players standing 6’9”, or taller: Bam Adebayo (6’9”), Nikola Jovic (6’10”), and Kel’el Ware (7’0”). Only two of them can be considered centers.
Beyond that, Simone Fontecchio (6’8”) and Andrew Wiggins (6’7”) are the lone players who qualify as wings or forwards. Sure, guys like Jaime Jaquez Jr. (6’6”), Keshad Johnson (6' 6”), Pelle Larsson (6’5”), and Jakucionis (6' 6”) have solid positional size…for guards. Most of them can scale up to wing duty on the offensive end. Johnson and Jaquez are the only ones also fit to carry that torch on defense.
The sheer amount of talent among those who exclusively soak up guard minutes demands the Heat favor smaller lineups as well. Tyler Herro (6’5”) and Norman Powell (6’3”) are their two more important offensive players. Davion Mitchell (6’2”) is their most important perimeter defender. Dru Smith (6’3”) presumably isn’t returning to collect dust, and typifies Coach Spo’s penchant for disruptive, try-hard defenders.
Miami is entering new territory
Though the Heat are no stranger to smaller lineups, the roster as currently constructed takes their reliance on them to a whole new level.
Of the 5,292 non-garbage-time possessions Adebayo played last season, just 202 came without anyone else standing taller than 6’6”, according to Cleaning The Glass. That’s less than 4 percent of his court time. It was the same story for Ware. Out of the 2,785 total possessions for which he was on the floor, only 116 came without anyone taller than 6’6”. That’s just over 4 percent.
Failing a surprise signing or another move on the trade market, the minutes for these tinier arrangements stand to skyrocket. And that might be okay. The Heat won the minutes Adebayo or Ware played alongside mostly guards by a slight margin.
Positional range matters more than raw size—provided the right personnel are in place. Does Miami have the roster necessary to favor those smaller combos? From the looks of things, we’re about to find out.