This may be a new-look Miami Heat team with an up-tempo style and some changes in their personnel, but what the start of this season is showing us is that they are still building their success on one of the things that has always defined the Erik Spoelstra era: being a defensive force that everyone dreads playing.
Heading into Wednesday night's game against the Denver Nuggets, the Heat held the third highest defensive rating in the NBA. This is a good indicator that no matter how modernized or retooled this team might become, their foundation is always going to be toughness and discipline under Spoelstra.
Spo's system is always going to demand effort, communication, and taking pride in doing all of the little things that lead to success. These qualities have outlasted plenty of personnel changes for well over a decade.
No matter the era or style of play, the Heat's head coach constantly adapts to his personnel while preserving overall defensive principles. This season, Miami's ability to force turnovers, protect the paint, and contest without fouling has remained Elite. It's this type of consistency across multiple rosters and time periods that is what separates Spoelstra from the other great coaches in the league, and his philosophy never changes.
The Heat are still among the league's top defensive teams
The Heat are certainly playing a quicker style and getting shots up earlier in the shot clock more than fans are used to, but the defensive intensity hasn't slipped a bit. The coaching staff has struck a balance between tempo and toughness, getting the players to run opportunistically but always resetting with discipline on the other end of the floor.
It's usually pretty rare for a team to be ranked near the top in both pace and defense, but Miami has certainly managed to find that balance so far this season. And as always, the Heat's success is stemming from collective buy-in rather than from star power by itself.
Watching this team on a nightly basis, you can see how all across the roster guys are embracing their defensive assignments and playing with intentionality. Very few coaches in the association are able to instill this kind of identity that outlives their roster or lineups, but Spo has been doing it seemingly forever now.
Defensive consistency continues to be one of the non-negotiable traits of Miami Heat basketball. And at the end of the day, strong defense is a great stabilizer for a team that's still trying to find its rhythm offensively. Long-time fans of this team shouldn't be surprised at all by what they're seeing unfold so far this season.