The Miami Heat's offense has changed, but so have how their top players score

Duncan Robinson

Arguably the biggest change out of anyone was Robinson because of where he started. Everyone else has already shown some level of what they’re doing now. With Robinson, a lot is completely new.

Look at those differences in offensive involvement rate and on-ball action share in 2020 and now. That is simply not the same player period. Not only is he more involved in the offense in general, but his on-ball usage skyrocketed to levels that you’d expect from an average secondary creator.

A lot of this remains the same for him. He’s used just as much and is just as deadly without the ball as he has been in any other seasons(except that handoff in 2020 where it’s historic).

He has been used in different ways off-ball with having a good split between spot ups, handoffs, cuts, and off-screen. Four different ways of being used and being effective in each of those areas.

One fun stat is the roll man. It takes only around 2-3% of his possessions but it works with him being a screener at times. That’s a lot of him being an active screener and ghost screens.

What has changed the most is the PNR:

• 2.2% → 6.7% → 7.5% → 6.8% → 17.2%
  

Going from 2% to 17% is, again, a completely different player. Even when he was being used more in that the last three years, he almost tripled that usage.

What’s also been fun seeing is him not being overly reliant on 3s. His rim frequency being at 15% is huge. That’s a real part of someone’s game then. That’s a considerable volume that makes a difference, especially if you’re shooting almost 70%. That’s another shot in your arsenal that’s highly efficient on top of another highly efficient shot.

The short mid-range counter is also nice to see. Having those counters are huge and he also shoots 48.3% within 4-14ft with 13.4% of his shots.

Overall, he has changed his game the most from when he started. As a result, his offense isn’t simply being a 3pt specialist overly reliant on others.

So, those are all the changes for each player. We saw both Adebayo and Butler transition for more isolation based offense, Herro remaining roughly the same, and Robinson completely re-defining his game.

Adebayo has fallen in love with the mid-range, but has also been toying with the idea of becoming a 3pt shooter. Butler has moved completely away from PNRs and made himself a more active, effective off-ball player. Herro has got better at everything he does from top to bottom, whilst remaining consistent at everything he was doing well. Robinson has added counters and made himself more versatile with the shot profile.