Heat vs Magic film session: Butler uninvolved, Banchero and Wagner go hunting

What a way to tip off the new season. The Miami Heat didn’t exactly come to play, falling to the Orlando Magic in blowout fashion, 116-97 (116-84 before the rookies checked in) on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center. So much for the new offense. It didn't even crack 100 points.

The worst part is that it’s a lot of the same issues showing up time and time again. But on the bright side, there’s also an easy fix for some of those issues and it starts with the best player.

On the other hand, they also didn’t show up defensively either. The Magic’s offensive rating with Paolo Banchero on was 147.7! For comparison, the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, the team that hit 29 3s had a 145.1 ORTG. A lot of that had to do with them having a 39.0% offensive rebounding percentage.

Let’s go through some of the issues from the game!

The Heat Can’t Have Their Best Player Be Uninvolved

These pieces are meant to mostly be a film session where I can pick out some actions and plays or themes from the game. But with this, I can’t do that because there isn’t much film to begin with and that’s the biggest issue.

Jimmy Butler had 37 touches. That ranked, not first, not second… not sixth, but seventh on the team. Haywood Highsmith had more touches and almost had the ball in his hands almost the same time as Butler.

Butler had 1.8 time possession with Terry Rozier leading with 4.8 and Tyler Herro second with 2.9. That is never going to work offensively, nor should it. It’s not overcomplicating anything. Can you imagine how different this game would be if instead of Banchero taking 24 shots, he took eight and sat in the corner?

That’s change number one. Nothing else matters. No amount of tweaks, five-out alignment, screens, cutting, player, or ball movement will change that. He is still the only player capable of forcing the defense to react or make them panic.

Official numbers may differ, but from personally tracking it, I had Butler with 10 possessions involved in the action whether as a screener or the ball handler. This isn’t counting any off-ball cuts or catch-and-shoot shots. Out of those 10 possessions, I had four possessions with him handling the ball.

To start the third quarter, there was an emphasis to try and get Butler more involved but the results weren’t that much better. It was still living and dying by the three, though some better 3s. But you still had similar issues with Butler not creating separation or putting the defense into rotation.

Yes, it’s Butler handling the ball, which is a step in the right direction, but if the looks are similar to what a Rozier action will get you, is there any benefit?

They also tried to involve him as the screener, but the results again weren’t great.

In the clip with 7:15 left in the second, they run a Herro-Butler PNR that did force the switch they wanted. What do they do next? Butler went to the corner then looked to spot up for 3pt after no one else did anything. Or he gets the switch against Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and bricks the good hook inside the paint.

This is the simplest improvement the team can make and it’s the best player playing like the best player regardless of what the new offense is.

How both Banchero & Wagner went hunting

The Magic’s offense was very simple for the most part and it was simple because the best players were involved. It involved both Banchero and Franz Wagner going hunting… and it was hunting everyone through isolation, post-ups, cross matches, or screeners.

To start off, the easiest way they attacked was in isolation or in transition. That’s when either of the wings had the 1v1 they wanted and there was little to no resistance to get to the rim. On some of those plays, Banchero made Highsmith look like he’s not even there.

I did like that approach from the Magic to be selective in pushing the pace to get those cross matches.

When it comes to Banchero hunting, to start the game, he had Herro show on the screen a couple of times and ended up going for a pull-up 2 instead. I thought that was going to be the trend going forward. I was wrong.

They did at times look to go under his screens that gave him the pull up, but even as a poor off dribble 3pt shooter, they gave him wide open looks. That was still bad defense even considering the level of a shooter that he is.

You can see how they made the Heat pay exactly in the second clip. It was attacking Herro, Rozier and Robinson every single time, just taking turns which one of their defenders will be screening. That’s all it was for the most part. It was one of Pope, Gary Harris, Jalen Suggs, or Anthony Black screening for either one. That was the ultimate pressure point because of how many options that gave them.

Switching wasn’t even in the cards. Period. You do not switch that by any means. That alone makes it more difficult because that’s one option already taken out. The only thing left is showing and looking to recover.

But all that did is put on the ball and both players are smart enough to make the defense pay by finding the open man immediately and get the ball moving.

If that didn’t work, Banchero was also used as a screener that pressured them in a different way if the first option didn’t get anything. Wagner was used in the post.

Even if the defense did look to recover, that time of scrambling to do so meant the offense could exploit that by taking advantage of where the defensive focus is. That’s where you got Wagner capitalizing off of cuts.

Things That Caught My Eye

I talked about this issue twice now. The first time in the pre-season game against the San Antonio Spurs and then again in the game against the Atlanta Hawks. The issue was with how the Heat were getting their 3s because the how matters the most.

Generating 3s off rim pressure and from an inside-out approach that puts the defense in scramble mode is perfect.

How many 3s here would you say count as that? The Heat do generate a handful of quality, open looks. Some of the looks in the video aren’t an issue in itself. Having the offense when you can up the volume of 3s in those ways is also helpful, but not when you rely on it consistently. That’s a good way to be “live and die by the 3.” Had the Heat been on fire, this is probably a win. But banking on variance isn’t good.

Rozier was pretty bad on defense. No one was perfect. I wouldn’t even say anyone was good. But Rozier’s lapses stood out the most. He was getting beat off the dribble, dying on screens, losing his man off-ball, and not getting back in transition.

So far, with pre-season included, I’ve been impressed with Herro, especially with his change in approach or even mindset to attack. He has looked better in that area to be more aggressive and beat guys off the dribble more reliably.

Unfortunately, another Rozier criticism, but all of that has to change. If he is going to handle the ball a lot, the decision-making has to be up to a much better standard. This may not hurt you as much in a lesser role with fewer touches. But a player who leads you in time of possession and makes so many poor decisions with the shot selection will.

This is something to monitor. Only one Adebayo isolation in the post. He ends up going at Banchero with the side cleared and goes for the shot fake that has Banchero off his feet for the foul.

Finally, one lineup stat that stood out was Butler, Robinson, and Adebayo played 3.7 minutes together. That’s… noteworthy and something that shouldn’t happen at all going forward.