Heat's 5 Biggest questions one month before training camp

Bam Adebayo and Erik Spoelstra’s Olympic run is over and summer vacations are coming to an end. With the Miami Heat’s first training camp practice less than a month away, it’s a good time to answer the five biggest questions that still need to be answered.

1. Who are the starters?

Two of the Heat’s five starters are written in Sharpie: Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The rest is up for debate.

If Erik Spoelstra sticks to his preferred starting group to end last season, that would mean Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro and Nikola Jovic filling out the rest of the lineup. But nothing from last season indicates that Spoelstra or the Heat should be sold on that alignment.

There are questions about whether Rozier and Herro can hold up defensively or impact the game enough when off the ball. When Rozier and Herro shared the court last season, the Heat were out-scored by 4.8 points per 100 possessions, and Miami had a defensive rating of 121.4 in those minutes. That would have ranked dead last in DRTG for the season.

If Spoelstra splits them up, he could go with Josh Richardson or Haywood Highsmith in one of those spots. Both are better defenders and capable of hitting spot-up 3s. The other option is Duncan Robinson. Though not a strong defender, his chemistry with Butler and Adebayo is undeniable. 

Jovic doesn’t have as much competition at his position and is a safer bet to keep his starting job on opening night. Spoelstra has experimented with Kevin Love as the other starter next to Adebayo, but that hasn’t been viable defensively. Either Highsmith or Jaquez would leave the Heat undersized. 

The only other option is first-round pick Kel’el Ware, but it would be surprising for Spoelstra to open the season with a rookie in the starting lineup.