One thing has become crystal clear two games in Norman Powell’s tenure with the Miami Heat: The team’s faster-paced offense is ideally suited to helping him generate Eastern Conference All-Star buzz.
This isn’t meant to be an overreaction to the 32-year-old dropping 18 points in 16 minutes during a preseason loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Sure, that detonation is part of it. But you could see the outlines of Powell’s glove-like fit even as he struggled in Miami’s preseason opener against Orlando.
And it all starts with the Heat’s new-found need for speed.
Norman Powell is built for Miami’s dizzying pace
In the absence of both Tyler Herro and a true-blue superstar ball-handler, the Heat are ramping up the pace at which they play. Last year, 12.9 percent of their points came from fast-break opportunities. The season before that, 11.6 percent of their scoring was generated in transition. And in 2022-23, just 10.5 percent of their points came in transition.
Miami has completely turned the tables to start 2025-26. Over 17 percent of its scoring is happening in transition. It isn’t just the fast-break frequency, either. The Heat are operating noticeably faster in the half-court, and pushing the ball even after opposing offenses make shots at the other end.
This play style is going to work wonders for Powell’s impact. While he has the capacity to create some of his own looks, he is at his best when making quick decisions off the catch. His spot-up efficiency is forever through the roof, he is a terrifyingly effective grab-and-go driver, and his bandwidth for breaking down set defenses off the dribble increases tenfold when he’s given the ball as he’s coming around screens, or trailing a semi-transition play.
Herro’s ankle injury coupled with the Heat’s limited collection of experienced ball-handlers elsewhere theoretically threatened to undermine Powell’s most electric traits. Head coach Erik Spoelstra could have decided that he needed to run more of the offense as a primary ball-handler, at least in the interim. Miami is so far avoiding that pitfall.
More than 87 percent of Powell’s made baskets are so far coming off assists. That is noticeably higher than last season’s 67.6 percent share.
Don’t rule out another career year for Powell
Going forward, the Heat should strive to get Powell more paint touches. He is more reliant on jumpers than usual at the moment.
For the time being, though, figuring out how to deploy him in a plug-and-play capacity is all that matters. If they are managing that without Tyler Herro, just imagine how much easier things will get for Powell when the two play together.
Rest assured, they should play together. There’s a case for both of them to start upon Herro’s return. The defense will suffer, but the half-court offense would be absurdly menacing with Herro spacing on the wing around Powell drives instead of Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Regardless, Miami’s revamped offense is hard-wired to maximize Powell. At the very least, he should be just as good as he was last season, when he cleared 20 points per game while burying over 50 percent of his twos, and more than 40 percent of his threes. And lest we forget, just five other players hit those benchmarks: Kevin Durant, Darius Garland, Nikola Jokic, Zach LaVine, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
It still wasn’t enough to get Powell an All-Star nod in the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference, though? Now that’s a different story.