The Miami Heat may have one of the best players in the league with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but statistically, they're still a below-average team on both offense and defense. While their struggling defense has been a point of contention for much of this season, I can't help but wonder if their offensive struggles may be the bigger missed opportunity.
That's because there's one scathing offensive stat that could strongly suggest that the Heat may be wasting Giannis on that end of the floor.
The Heat are a good PnR team, but refuse to run it
According to NBA stats, the Heat are the fifth most efficient team in the pick and roll game, averaging 0.97 points per (pick and roll) possession. Unfortunately, they run the pick-and-roll with the least frequency (6.7 percent) across the league.
For a team that has not hit its stride with Giannis on the offensive end of the floor, that just feels like a huge missed opportunity. To a certain extent, there's an argument to be made that Erik Spoelstra is leaving a lot of offensive meat on the bone with his consistent refusal to spread his wings with the pick-and-roll game.
There was a moment this season when it felt as if Spoelstra was more open to integrating pick-and-roll back into the offense at a consistent rate, but that didn't stick. The Heat are back to more of a pace-and-space philosophy, and they've continued to fall into their same old struggles at times.
With just the 19th-best offensive rating in the league, there are certainly greater strides that this offense can make. But the evidence suggests that the only way the Heat may get there is with more pick-and-roll action.
The Heat need to use Giannis is more pick and roll action
In a very small sample size (of the Heat's own doing), Giannis has been one of the more efficient roll man in the game, averaging 1.79 points per pick-and-roll possession. Of course, the problem is the Heat just flat-out refuse to run it.
Part of that could be due to the fact that the Heat just doesn't have a pure enough point guard to utilize the pick and roll in a confident manner, but another part of it is just the idea that Spoesltra wants to play fast.
And while there was some evidence that the Heat were effective in the pace-and-space offense last year, the same results haven't shown up this season. From the onset, the Heat have had a pretty below-average offense, despite still playing with one of the fastest-paced offenses in the league.
Interestingly enough, the Heat have one of the better half-court offenses in the league. Think about that for a second.
If statistically, the Heat are good in the half-court set, and if they're one of the better pick-and-roll teams in the league, but refuse to embrace that style, what does that tell you?
Are the Heat completely mismanaging the start to the Giannis era? At the very least, this offensive evidence (in a 10-game sample size) should give the coaching staff something to think about as they attempt to right the ship after a rocky start.
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