The Miami Heat’s 2023-24 season had its memorable moments, but as a whole, it was one to forget. There was that historic seven-game losing streak; tying for the team’s longest since 2008. Unfortunately, this Heat build has shown inconsistencies across the board for the past two seasons.
If there wasn’t that miraculous underdog run from the play-in to the NBA Finals a year ago, the concern would be much higher. Maybe the core gets split up prior to the start of this season had they performed in that playoffs like a play-in team normally would. With all that success, came the infamous “run it back” style from the Heat front office in regards to the roster.
Outside of that 2023 playoff run, this team has had those inconsistency problems for two consecutive years. The problems here aren’t necessarily all to blame certain individuals. Instead, it is more team-wide, which is surprising coming from a franchise that puts pride on an organizational culture.
There are three glaring issues that this Heat team needs to address and fix if they want to get back to contender level.
Scoring
It is no secret that the Miami offense has struggled to score and keep up with opponents this season. The Heat ranked 21st in offensive efficiency -- a major statistic that needs to change. Teams that have had success recently, like last season's champion Denver Nuggets and the two teams in this year's Finals, the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, are lethal on that end.
The Heat witnessed first hand just how dominant Boston was in that facet of their first-round playoff games. Miami simply couldn’t keep up with their shooting pace and ran them off the floor during those four losses. A key to fixing that issue is confidence and shooting with that green light.
In the Heat’s lone playoff win in Game 2 inside TD Garden, the team’s shooters were letting it fly with no hesitation. This is a roster that is more than capable of shooting the ball efficiently, but they were noticeably over-passing throughout the series. There is a saying, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take," and that is something that applies to this season’s Heat offense.