Without bringing up a lot of what happened last season, it is worth noting that this is a big change. However it ended, Butler changed the trajectory of this team over the past six years. Even in the years they underperformed, you still had a top fifteen caliber player, especially in the playoffs. The expectations were different. There were reasons to fear the zombie Heat.

That’s all gone. Without Butler, the Heat transition into a different era, and that’s where we’re starting this season.

The new era kind of was showing post deadline last year, where they did go more into their young players and were led entirely by Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. They, once again, managed to sneak into the playoffs via the play-in, but had a rather disappointing short trip in the playoffs — calling it disappointing is also an understatement; that was horrendous.

Come the off-season, they did make one solid move that I actually liked a lot. Getting Norman Powell for essentially nothing was the biggest win in the offseason. It didn’t cost you anything, but it still gets you a player that can be effective without making it all about him or requiring major changes. Having those kinds of players helps whatever the goal is — whether that’s develop, compete, or a mixture of both.

One other addition was the rookie, Kasparas Jakucionis, whom I’m excited to see. If I remember correctly, he was meant to be a much higher pick earlier last year, but continued to drop. That’s a good pick to bank on higher upside.

Outside of that, this team is going to be the same team we’ve seen at the end of the playoffs. Everything going into this season is banking on internal growth and development.

So, let’s just go through some of the things to look forward to, watch out for, predictions, and any other thoughts for this season.

I want to start with what the goal for this season should be.

This season should be all about development, pushing your young players to grow in different areas, tinker with all kinds of rotations to see what you have in each player, and be smart when considering what should be the long term goal for the team.

I don’t believe this is a contender by any means. I don’t think they should be looking to make the playoffs. I also don’t want them to deliberately tank. But at the same time, I also wouldn’t want them to make decisions based on what gives them a better chance to win.

By that I mean, not prioritising certain veterans who may be better or more suited in certain roles over letting the young players play through their mistakes. If they compete with their young players, so be it.

I wouldn’t want anyone to be overly emphasised or have something revolve around a player because I don’t believe there is anyone on the roster that would warrant that, certainly not anyone above the age of twenty seven. If you’re closer to thirty, they shouldn’t be pushed into being the focal point.

No one should be the focal point.

It should be experimenting with everything and anything and constantly changing and evolving as the season goes on, with the veterans helping to maximise that — i.e. Powell helping that with spacing.

Off the court, this is wishful thinking, but I would want them to sell at the deadline. This isn’t a team that is going to compete, and it’s foolish to believe you may even have a puncher’s chance at anything — even if they realistically have what it takes to win a playoff round, what’s the point?

Ideally, players like Powell, Andrew Wiggins, and Terry Rozier aren’t on the team. In a perfect world, Powell does get flipped to a contender for picks or young players. That to me should be a must, considering where the team is.

When it comes to the top players in Bam Adebayo and Herro, I don’t know how to feel about this because it is likely a very different view from what the Heat believes. I don’t think either player should be safe on the team. At this point, I don’t think there’s anything that you could do in terms of role change or development that would change anything. I think at this point, for the right price, they should be part of the group when considering selling.

Staying on those two, I just don’t know what else there is to see about them. I think for the most part, we know what they are.

There are things both players could improve in, but in terms of their ceiling, I find it tough to believe there’s more to unlock, whether that’s because of physical limitations or just how they’ve developed the last few years.

We did see Herro make a jump last year, and that was an impressive feat to make the All-Star game. But the issues with his role, his flaws, and limitations that are around him when it comes to being the primary ball handler are still there.

I do wonder how this season plays out for him because this will now be teams gearing up for him and him only. He’s the best on-ball player on the team now.

With Adebayo, I don’t know what else can be said about his offensive game. The same points have been rehashed each season. He had one of his worst starts of his career. And even as the season went on, there were many red flags showing up. I really have no idea about his potential development at his point or how he should be used offensively given what he’s shown the last few years.

But combined with their contract situation, I’m struggling to find a reason why this shouldn’t be the beginning of the end for this core this season.

Some may call this too negative, but this does happen with so many teams, even at this age. More often than not, the ceiling for a duo like this gets recognised quickly, and not everyone will have their breakouts later in their career. A lot of the times, the core hits their ceiling soon.

That’s kind of what makes it tough to buy into the season, knowing that the core’s ceiling may be just this. It feels like the Toronto Raptors, Sacramento Kings, or Utah Jazz in the past.

To be blunt, this season isn’t about either Adebayo or Herro to me.

What this season is about is all the young players potentially. There’s Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic, and Kasparas Jakucionis that I’m probably more excited and intrigued to see this season.

I don’t know what the ceiling or potential is for either player, but that’s where you have these kinds of seasons to find out. Those three players should be more of a focus because that is the stage that this team is at.

They need to hit on a player reaching a higher ceiling or even develop into high-quality starters. They don’t need to be top fifteen superstars, but if they can continue to develop into highly impactful players, that’s a big win in itself.

I think Jovic has the highest upside here, especially offensively. I’d want to see more of Jovic being used in various ways.

No. This isn’t a case for point Niko because I don’t think pushing players into creator roles is always the right thing, especially early on. But I want it to be higher. I want it to be diverse and see where he plays better or what he’s more suited for.

With Ware, I want to see a lot of improvements, brushing up on stuff from his rookie season. Understandably so, he did struggle in many areas. He was a rookie. That’s nothing against him. That’s not a sign of anything bad. But he wasn’t highly impactful. I want to see jumps in those areas. I don’t want to see those same mistakes constantly being made because he’s no longer a rookie.

Rookies, to me, get a very different treatment, and any criticism is a lot more lenient. But once that sophomore year starts, I’d also expect those red flags from the first year to disappear. It also doesn’t mean he needs to exceed expectations. Development isn’t linear, so I don’t expect big leaps — just small jumps in areas of improvement.

That’s why with Jakucionis, he has all the free rein to do whatever. I want to see him experimenting the most. I already liked a lot with his passing and IQ, and on defense, too.

Then, there’s the rest of the young-ish players in Jaime Jaquez Jr and Pelle Larsson. I think with both of them, you also have seen what you’d mostly get. I’m still hoping for gradual improvements in some of their most needed areas to improve, particularly with both of their shooting. That’s their swing skill that I need to see be much better.

I do like them as glue guys. Larsson has already shown a lot in that area, and I think he can grow into that role.

I was high on Jaquez, and I’m still a believer. Players don’t forget the easy stuff they were doing. Even in his down year, there were still signs that he could be effective in the right role.

We have the rest of the veterans.

I already mentioned Powell. I do love his game, and I think he’s going to be as effective as he has been in his career. I don’t expect major changes in his game or role, even with Herro out. There may be some increase in his on-ball creation, but not to a drastic difference.

I’m hoping that’s the case. I assumed the same with Wiggins, and that turned out to be entirely wrong.

But with Powell, he has been that all his career. He’s been a deadly shooter and has been expanding his game as the seasons have gone on. But he’s also now thirty-two. Age is a big factor in how much and in what ways I’d want him to be emphasised in the system.

Now, with Wiggins. Unfortunately, I’m as out on a player on this team as I can be. I didn’t like his offensive game at all in his short time with the Heat so far. I assumed he was going to be an uber-charged Haywood Highsmith.

I wasn’t expecting Timberwolves Wiggins eating up so many on-ball roles that was basically the same, or at times, more than both Adebayo or Herro. He should never be the focal point of an offense that relies on him creating his shot.

I genuinely don’t see a reason for that. That’s not a good thing if the Heat simply want to compete for the playoffs, nor is it good if they want to develop players. There’s no upside for this whatsoever.

Terry Rozier. Oh, Rozier. The bar is in hell, so I’ll take any kind of positive play from him. He can only go up from here.

I’m also excited to watch Davion Mitchell. I do like that they re-signed him. I enjoyed his game a lot with the Heat. There’s not a lot to say about him. He brings defense. He helps the team in many ways. He’s still young enough to be part of the core. He’s on a good deal. He doesn’t take away from anyone. He’s the kind of role player that are needed on this team.

With all this said, I’m still not entirely checked into this team because until I see it, I already think I know what the direction of the team is going to be and what that’s going to include.

It will likely be emphasising both Wiggins and Powell to win games. It will add more to their plates. It will still have Adebayo play his usual offensive game as he has done. It will be a lot of Herro-ball.

They may say it’s about development, but until I see that change, it’s tough to look forward to anything. Like, honestly, why would I care about a bunch of thirty-year-olds who will play when they shouldn’t care about anything other than young players’ growth?

Everything with the Heat’s goals is to what end?

Because even with Herro or Adebayo, I don’t see a future with them two as the top two players on this team. This duo should also be broken up this season.

This isn’t a team to me like the Detroit Pistons, where you have high-potential ceiling players while developing a young core that can win with a mix of veterans. This is mostly the opposite, with more solid enough veteran players but not high ceiling surrounded by young players that also, at the moment, haven’t shown star potential to take over the core.

Now, some predictions.

I see this team as a 35-42 win team. I do expect this team to be better than last season. A lot of that is blind faith in Spoelstra.

Yes, he had a bad season or two. But at this point, he has earned one of the biggest benefits of the doubt. This is the same way I felt with Butler in the past. I will bank on Spoelstra turning things around and doing his magic.

That alone gives me faith for even a sixth seed.

There’s been far too much talk on Twitter about potentially moving on from him. He’s been the best coach in basketball for a while, and I will continue to trust him to change, adapt, and make things work one way or the other.

The East being the way it is, I can see this team landing anywhere between the sixth seed and out of the play-in entirely. It’s a wild range, but the Heat are in the same tier as the Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, and Boston Celtics.

There are only three teams that are clearly above, and that’s the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets. That’s it

That leaves seeds twelve through five basically up for grabs, which will depend on health and weird season luck. It wouldn’t surprise me if the wins are so close that they might be a win or two away from being a lock for the playoffs or having another play-in battle with the Bulls.

But seeding and record don’t matter as much to me.

I want to see improvement in their offense. Per Cleaning the Glass, their offensive rating was 21st, 21st, and 25th. That needs to change. They will continue to be mid if they have a bottom ten offense. Something has to change, and I don’t believe this is just a lack of talent. That definitely is a factor that hinders them. There’s only so much that you can do.

But that just means you need to win in the margins elsewhere, and that’s where I think they, and mostly Spoelstra, have been disappointing. If you’re lacking a creator, there are ways to offset that. You can be better on the glass — The Heat have been bottom five the last two years. You can get out in transition and have a higher pace. There’s still a lot that you can do in changing your approach, especially when Spoelstra has had a history of making an offense work with subpar talent.

That’s what’s frustrating. The Heat have done more with less before.

Now, to finish up, here are some quick points, takes, and tidbits:

• We’ll still see Ware-Adebayo lineups, but not used as much as last year

• I’m wary about their defense. They have changed their approach to make things work with the personnel, but that has been slipping. Their defense isn’t as good as the raw DRTG tells you

• I’m very curious, then, what their approach to defense is going to be

• Jakucionis will finish top three in ROTY

• Powell will continue to have the same kind of season, if not better, but I do think there will be an increase in on-ball creation that may drag some of the efficiency numbers overall

• Unfortunately, I think we’ll continue to see Wiggins be put in a role as he was in Minnesota

• I need to see a complete change in Adebayo’s approach offensively. The offense the last three years, mainly with his shot diet and decision making, has been ugh

• Rozier will have a much better season and will actually help the team

• Jaquez will have a bounce back season

• Both Powell and Herro should be on the market by the deadline

• Wiggins shouldn’t be on the team by the deadline. Period

• I have no faith in them playing faster until they do. I am NOT getting fooled again

• I wonder what the approach offensively is going to be without Herro to start the season

• Herro’s season is going to be interesting, considering the jump that he had last year in various areas. This will also be his first season with Butler, which is a story in itself

• They will, once again, be a top five defensive rebounding team. Contrary to belief, they haven’t been bad on the glass

• The starters on opening night: Mitchell-Powell-Wiggins-Jovic-Adebayo

• The starters with everyone healthy: Herro-Powell-Wiggins-Jovic-Adebayo

• I do hope that they sell at the deadline for something. I don’t even know what other moves they could make outside of selling

• Final record prediction: 40-42, seventh seed. Make the playoffs and lose in the first round

It’s fun seeing how wrong you can be each year when making these predictions. Some of my biggest Ls:

• I had the 6ers second in the East

• The Pistons were just a play-in team and possibly missed it altogether

• The Mavericks were at the top of my tiers in the West

• The Rockets missed the play-in altogether

• I thought the Suns were able to go on a deep run

We’re doing it a bit differently this year. Due to some time constraints, everything is going to be in this post — standing predictions, team tiers, and awards.

Apologies that this is mostly just surface level thoughts and barely any analysis. These will mostly just be picks without any explanation.

Standing, tiers, playoff predictions

Before getting into the standings, there is a rough, small difference between this and the team tiers. 82 games is a long time. A lot can happen during that time that may not necessarily matter as much in the playoffs. Injuries can happen early. There’s load management. There’s tinkering with rotations and seeing what works. There’s integrating new players. Things can be hell in the first part of the season, but vibes change, and things turn around later on.

To put it short, it’s a long damn season, and anything can happen.

Whereas with the tiers, it’s mostly looking at the team’s chances at competing for a championship. That’s the goal of those tiers. A bunch of teams will be grouped together because, for the most part, a lot of the teams can really go either way, and it will depend on the particular matchup. But that’s why I like doing it in tiers because it’s easier to then separate teams that are clearly above another.

Let’s start with the East:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers(1-2 range)

2. New York Knicks(1-2)

3. Detroit Pistons(3-6)

4. Philadelphia 76ers(3-7)

5. Orlando Magic(3-8)

6. Milwaukee Bucks(3-8)

7. Indiana Pacers(4-10)

8. Atlanta Hawks(4-10)

9. Miami Heat(5-10)

10. Toronto Raptors(8-12)

11. Boston Celtics(8-12)

12. Chicago Bulls(8-13)

13. Charlotte Hornets(10-13)

14. Brooklyn Nets(14-15)

15. Washington Wizards(14-15)

Starting from all the way at the bottom, we obviously have both the Wizards and Nets as the likely two worst teams in the East. I don’t really see any path where either team can make a jump further, even ahead of the Hornets or Bulls. They are in their own little tier of being young, full of projects, and just straight up bad. They will be gunning for the worst record here.

Next, we have the weird range of teams that includes the Hornets, Celtics, Raptors, Bulls, Heat, Pacers, and Hawks. Pick and choose which order these teams will finish in because it’s tough to predict, though there are certain teams that would have a higher floor/ceiling than the rest.

Outside of the Celtics and Pacers, all of those teams I feel will be better, or at least, they have reasonable reasons to be trending upwards in their own way. But that still basically means in the same range they were last year.

The Celtics obviously will be a lot worse without Jayson Tatum, which is why they have slid all the way down to this group. It’s going to be tough to win games without Tatum. What makes it worse is that they never really experienced this either. Tatum has missed a total of 32 games across four seasons, and I’d bet many of them are load managing or games that didn’t really matter. They will have a lot of experimenting to do throughout the season. This is going to put a lot on Jaylen Brown’s shoulders, and I have no idea how to feel about a team led by Brown through 82 games.

The Pacers face a similar issue with Tyrese Haliburton being out for the season. It’s going to be tough winning games without your best player for the entire year. I do still like the Pacers being a really solid team. They are led by a great coach and have a good system, and have improved on both ends the last couple of seasons. We’ve seen this with the Heat teams and Erik Spoelstra lifting those teams, and I feel like Rick Carlisle could do the same. And a big part of it is trust in Pascal Siakam. I do like him being a solid floor raiser.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pacers were the best team out of this bunch and possibly win closer to around mid forty games.

With those two teams out of the way, everyone else just falls in the same group. If you ask me who’s better, my answer is yes. With the exception of the Raptors, those three teams were separated by three games. And as mentioned, they all have reasons to be better. I expect this range of teams to again be in that mid 30s to low 40s again.

Then we have the playoff teams. I feel comfortable with that top six. I still have the Cavaliers and Knicks as the top two teams by a good margin. They will again be near the top in winning fifty plus games. They are my locks for the top two teams.

I’m high on the Pistons. They already won forty four games and that’s with Jaden Ivey missing games. Though they have lost key players and also had incredible injury luck everywhere else. But with a handful of additions like Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert on top of the reasonable improvements from Cade Cunningham and the rest of the young squad, they should be better. I can see a world where they are a near fifty win team.

That’s pretty much the same argument for the Magic and I should probably have them higher than the Pistons. I just have more of a question mark on them on offense. Yes, they did get Desmond Bane, which will immediately help through the season offensively, but that one shooter doesn’t fix a decade worth of bad offense. They had negative spacing and Bane isn’t Stephen Curry.

Everything still relies and depends on Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, which at the same time is a big sign of optimism. Wagner missed twenty-two games, and Banchero with thirty-six. Their two best players were eighth and thirteenth in games played. You also add Jalen Suggs missing a lot of time. They had disgusting injury luck. That alone is a big factor that they can easily win fifty games with just improvement in health.

The Bucks and 6ers are in a weird group, especially in the regular season. They clearly have health issues. That was a big reason why they both fell short in the previous seasons. That is likely to be the case yet again. That’s the number one reason why I’m lower on them in the regular season.

But at the same time, both their top players are top five when they are healthy. BUT, particularly with the case of Joel Embiid, health is the biggest red flag, having played fifty-eight games across two seasons.

The Bucks are more locked to be good because Giannis isn’t that injury prone and I will always bank on him carrying the team. This is, however, a very different team. There’s no longer Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Damian Lillard or Jrue Holiday. This is completely fresh for Giannis and that can be a reason why they may drop to a play-in.

Both teams can easily fall into the play-in because of health issues.

Now, onto the West:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder(1-4)

2. Denver Nuggets(1-4)

3. Houston Rockets(1-6)

4. Minnesota Timberwolves(1-6)

5. Los Angeles Lakers(3-6)

6. Los Angeles Clippers(3-6)

7. Golden State Warriors(7-9)

8. Memphis Grizzlies(7-9)

9. San Antonio Spurs(7-9)

10. Phoenix Suns(10-13)

11. Dallas Mavericks(10-13)

12. Sacramento Kings(10-13)

13. New Orleans Pelicans(10-13)

14. Portland Trail Blazers(10-13)

15. Utah Jazz(15)

The Jazz will be the worst team. They join the Nets and Wizards in that sense.

After that, God. That’s also a wild range. Five teams where it can honestly go in any single order. Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Mavericks, and Suns will be the ultimate play-in battleground. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pelicans or Blazers make the tenth spot. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if they’re both the worst out of this group. Each team have their own question marks.

Then we have the play-in group with the Warriors, Grizzlies, and Spurs. The Warriors likely will be one of the most load managed team in the league. Their entire team is old and that’s going to make a difference through the season. They have the top end talent, but I don’t see how they can reliably beat out the rest of the teams at least in the regular season.

With the Grizzlies and Spurs, I just don’t see them having the talent to be better than the play-in range. The Grizzlies lost out on Bane, which is going to hurt. Spurs will definitely be better with all of the additions and I’m probably lower than I should be. I can see this biting me and making me look stupid at the end.

At the very top, you have the Thunder, Nuggets, Rockets, and Wolves. I think they are easily the four best teams and should cruise through the regular season. I don’t see much debate there, and I can honestly see each of those teams end up being the number one seed. It will go down to a handful of games.

Finally, we have both the Los Angeles teams. They have a high range. I can see them being in the top three-ish or almost creeping into the play-in if things fall apart.

Now, for the tiers:

Tier one. Clear favourites: Thunder, Nuggets, Cavaliers

Tier two. Top tier contenders: Knicks, Wolves, Warriors, Clippers

Tier three. Dark horse contenders: Lakers, Rockets,

Tier four. The middle, playoff edition: Bucks, Pistons, Magic, Hawks, 6ers

Tier. The middle non playoff edition: Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Celtics, Suns, Bulls, Raptors, Mavericks, Heat, Pacers, Grizzlies

Tier. Favourites for lottery: Wizards, Jazz, Hornets, Nets

And the playoffs:

ECF: Cavaliers in six vs Knicks

WCF: Thunder in seven vs Nuggets

Finals: Thunder in seven vs Cavaliers

Awards predictions

MVP: Luka Doncic

DPOY: Ivica Zubac

COTY: Rick Carlisle

ROTY: Cooper Flagg

MIP: Andrew Nembhard

And that is it for this year’s predictions. There’s not a lot of analysis or thoughts but I really just wanted to get the actual pick and predictions out to have that as a reminder.

And for now, it looks like they are done with any major moves… unless a too good of an offer shows up.

But let’s just go through some thoughts on those moves and what else could or should happen for the rest of the off-season.

Losing Duncan but getting Fontecchio

It was somewhat expected, but I really didn’t want to believe that it was going to happen until it did.

There were constant jokes around Robinson over the last few years, and also a lot of criticisms about how he’s been on this horrible contract that was a liability, inconsistent, and should’ve been traded a long time ago. But yet, he still has, somehow, been arguably the third most important player in this entire era.

I have tweeted so many stats and clips and threads, and articles about Robinson. Since 2020 with the Heat, he is:

• 2nd in games played

• 3rd in minutes played

• 4th in points scored

• 1st in 3pt made(1st in 3pt made per 100)

• 5th in assists

• 4th in rebounds

• 3rd in total plus minus

• 4th in steals

• 5th in blocks

• 2nd in charges drawn

Then there are a lot of tweets like these:

• Since 2020, player’s stats with and without Duncan

• His 3pt shooting stats in the playoffs

• Bam and Duncan lineups stats

• On/off stats in 2024

• A deep dive thread last year

• More 3pt stats since 2020

There was just way too many tweets about his game and his impact — it is probably in the thousands of tweets at this point.

Despite all of that, I still think his time here has gone severely underappreciated.

He was one of my favourite players to watch over the years. A lot of that was because of simply his game. I always enjoy watching players who I would be similar to. Obviously, I could never emulate anything close to what he was doing but he was probably one of the players that I have watched as a way to study to improve my game at university in local leagues. I was his film to work on off-ball movement and footwork. That’s why there’s a bit of a connection to him over the years.

On top of that, his overall journey was also something that was so interesting to see. He was one of the worst players on the team in 2019 when he was only getting garbage minutes on a non playoff team. I had no idea that he was going to turn out this way. He was already going up against the odds before he stepped into the NBA.

So, it really is a damn shame seeing him depart like this, but hopefully, he will have more success in Detroit.

Now, they did get Simone Fontecchio for him. Not sure how to feel about this other than being indifferent. I mean, if they were going to trade Robinson, I would’ve hoped that they were going to get someone significantly younger — Fontecchio is 29 years old and 220 days, and Duncan is 31 years old and 86 days. Not a big gap. Whereas there’s a significantly big gap in their overall game and 3pt shooting. My thought was if they were going to move on from Robinson and downgrade, it would be to at least get a young player you can buy on and hope he improves.

Fontecchio is going to be 30 going into his fourth season and his third team. He’s had one mainly solid season in the 2023-24 season. That’s where he shot 40.1% on 9.8 3s per 100 possessions. But in his rookie year, he shot 33.0% and this year he shot 33.5%.

Looking deeper at his shooting splits:

It’s still a question of how effective he can be. He’s definitely one that you can’t leave wide open, though.

His overall impact metrics are a bit glaringly bad, too:

Digging more into his offense, it really is going to be a significant downgrade from Robinson. That’s going to be matter and be obvious. And for a team that wants to remain competitive or have a good environment for their young players.

It’s still a question if he might even be on this team but I don’t see that big of a difference if he is or isn’t.

Drafting Kasparas

This is going to be quite a short thought, mainly because I haven’t been watching summer league or much of his game in college.

But after a brief look at his strengths and weaknesses, some highlights, and watched a couple of YouTube videos on him, this is definitely going to be a project for the entire year. He is still 19 years old and will be for the whole of the season(he’ll turn 20 on 29th May).

Going off my timeline, he’s had a rough summer league start but again, I don’t think that is something unexpected or something to raise an eye at.

He’s not going to be starting day one. He’ll likely won’t be coming off the bench getting actual minutes right away either. I expect this to be another case of what happened with Nikola Jovic or Kel’el Ware.

A reminder. Jovic came in as a 19 year old and only appeared in 15 games as a rookie. His second year? He played 19.5 minutes per game in 46 games. Even Ware this year hasn’t had consistent playing time period until end of December.

I’m not expecting this to be any different with Kasparas.

Overall, though, I do like what I’ve briefly seen from him. Yes, the turnovers are a bit of a flag. But that does come with extremely high usage, being a teen, and having the offense run through you, especially when you’re a high-risk passer. That’s what I liked a lot. I like that confidence to make key plays, even if they are difficult — being able to recognise there is a window, there is a plus in itself to me.

I do hope that he will get more playing time than both Jovic or Ware in their rookie seasons, at least more consistently. This team isn’t and shouldn't look to compete or make decisions based on that. I also don’t think he needs to be playing 20 minutes per game and be a regular bench player, but I don’t want to see a whole bunch of DNPs or getting three minutes in garbage time.

I will enjoy seeing how this pans out with him because I do like the skillset.

Trading for Powell

Okay, this was so unexpected. That really caught me off-guard because of what they gave up. Getting an elite well rounded shooter for just Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson was a steal. Unrelated, but this move also annoyed me because this should’ve been the kind of move being made 2-3 seasons earlier.

I love this trade, though, even outside the cost that it took. Powell is a damn good player. I have loved Powell for a while, and after looking at his career stats, I feel like he has been underrated.

I will like to try to go through his game and fit in more detail, in terms of what he could bring here, in a separate piece. But for now, let’s look at some of the key stats that immediately stand out.

He’s a career 40% 3pt shooter on just under 9 3s per 100. He’s had four seasons(all in the last five years) shooting over 41%. He also has a career 60.0% TS. That’s just wildly efficient for a guy who’s been in the league for 10 years and carries over 22.1% usage. This isn’t just some low-minute player doing this.

That’s another point. He’s had three seasons playing over 30 minutes per game and being capable as a starter. In fact, for his career, he averages 18/3/2 on 61.1% TS as a starter in 259 games. Better than off the bench.

The efficiency comes from everywhere. He’s obviously a damn good shooter, but he’s also been shooting 53% from 2pt since 2020. And an underrated part is the foul drawing. In that time, he’s also shooting 83% at the line on over 6 fta per 100 — he has a career .280 FTr and .302 since 2020.

These are also his impact metrics:

There is a bit of a red flag when it comes to his defensive impact(I’ll have to dig deeper there), but he hasn’t been liked at all as a defender in all of the metrics over the last few years. His main impact will come through his versatile offense.

And speaking of his offense, it’s his versatile on and off ball efficiency that just makes all of this work.

He’s been consistently near the top as a scorer in the PNR(85th percentile in four of the last five seasons. The volume has also been there, with it being at least 70th percentile in three of those seasons. He can handle the responsibility as an on-ball guy.

But then check his spot ups:

Insane. The volume and efficiency are right at the top.

That’s where I see the fit being so well here. He isn’t a dominant on-ball player, even in a year like this that had him step up a lot more after Paul George leaving. Despite that, he still only had 2.1 time of possessions and 2.62 average dribble per touch, which isn’t high at all. That would rank seventh for the Heat amongst rotational players.

The Heat desperately needed shooting, and they got it. He’ll add the spacing, the off-ball shot making, coming off-screens, and some additional fire power on-ball.

I’m not sure what the future for him is here. I know this may not exactly be the Heat’s way of doing things, but he should definitely be looked as a short term player looking to make life easier for everyone until the deadline, where they should shop him, considering his age.

But that’s an issue for later. Right now, he’s going to make this team better and a much more helpful environment for whatever the

Where do the Heat stand now?

So, right now, it does look like the team is set. The big questions remain what they do with both Wiggins and Rozier, with it feeling likely that Wiggins will definitely be back.

I still think that would be the bad route. Neither player should be on the team, though for different reasons.

I’m not even sure what you do with Rozier, especially with the gambling investigation also going on. I have no idea how they can salvage this either as a way to trade him or incorporate him into playing.

Because the idea of Rozier before this year, could still somehow, somewhat be turned around, especially as a spark off the bench. If we had no recollection of what happened this year, I wouldn’t see it as a big need to get him off the team if he was the bench guard until you trade him at the deadline.

But that’s not the case. He had one of the worst seasons in the league:

Surely, it can’t and won’t be this bad:

But how do you even look to incorporate someone that had this bad of a season? How do you look to come up with what role he should serve on the team?

I just see way too much emphasis on banking on that jump to start, and then having way too many questions on what route you go with here. With Powell, Herro, Kasparas, and Davion Mitchell, I just don’t see where he’d fit in any shape or form.

At the same time, I also have no idea what the trade would even be.

Now, getting to Wiggins. He’s also one of the players that I don’t see the fit on the team. I don’t see the need either. And I also don’t see some of the reluctance from moving him, or that he had a good season with the Heat.

I’ve touched on Wiggins a bit previously, mainly to do with his offense, and not seeing the fit there. I would view him as a player and how the Heat should approach him if he was seen as an uber charged Haywood Highsmith. That was my assumption when the Heat got him, and they really went the other way.

This is where I don’t see his kind of archetype of a player(if used in that way) as one that helps anyone else or the team. In games he played with the Heat, the Heat were -3.1 net with him on with a 111.3 ORTG and +7.3 with a 117.1 without him.

Even his time with the Warriors felt overrated, especially on offense, but that was also in a limited, different role. That made a lot of sense. But this is reverting back to what he was doing with the Wolves when it really wasn’t impacting winning.

He’s also not 24 anymore(when he got traded to the Warriors) that you could at least bank on some development. He’s now 30 with huge holes in that part of on-ball game. If that is the role he’s going to play in, I just don’t see a single reason he should be on the team, given their context.

It makes some of the lineup construction a bit messy when considering the goals for each lineup. I’d much prefer something like Herro-Powell-Jovic-Adebayo-Ware or even Mitchell instead of Ware.

Neither Wiggins’ age nor skill set helps the team. This definitely should be a priority to get someone else. I would love to have that Rui Hachimura trade, especially if there is a pick involved.

These two are likely the last questions for the team in the off-season. Maybe Highsmith would be flipped elsewhere. Maybe they pull off another unexpected trade.

But it does also feel like the core is safe for the most part, and that this is the team heading into training camp.

So, I guess that is where the Heat stand. Get themselves a solid player that can help them in both being competitive and help development, have some more flexibility, go under the tax, and see where things go later. That’s only as good as it could’ve been. My main concern was them using assets — they haven’t.

This is the time when we see the trade machines being fired up and used more than ChatGPT during exam season. Every trade package that you can think of has already been sent on Twitter. Giannis Antetokounmpo to Toronto. Maybe Bam Adebayo for Karl-Anthony Towns? Darius Garland for Jalen Suggs? How about Kevin Durant to countless destinations?

But what should the Heat look to do in their trade machine? Should they even hop on Fanspo or Spotrac to look to trade for Durant?

So, that’s what we’ll be talking about here. Here are my thoughts on pretty much everything related to the Heat’s potential off-season plans, any moves they should make, any moves they shouldn’t consider, and just what the overall focus going forward should be.

Contrary to what some may think, I don’t believe this is a year that they should blow it up. This isn’t the off-season for a fire-sale that involves everyone. There are some “untouchable” players, and it shouldn’t be the Heat having an Oklahoma City Thunder off-season in 2019 or the Utah Jazz off-season in 2022. This shouldn’t be the time when you sell everything and go into a full rebuild.

Now, I say that, but there are exceptions, though, not entirely likely. If someone offers a bunch for Bam Adebayo that it would be too good to pass on, it would be difficult to rationalise their decision if they didn’t do that. If there are 4-5 picks offered(there are dumb teams, hello, New York Knicks), that should be an easy yes.

Outside of that possibility, the Heat should remain to continue to approach things in a similar way they always have.

I have been team “rebuilding and blowing it up”, but a fan in me just doesn’t want to see that happen anymore. I’d still probably lean that it was the more optimal way of restarting over, especially to get a jumpstart on the assets. The Heat could get a bunch just from flipping both Adebayo and Herro, which could help them get set up for the near future quicker.

But at the same time, I do want to watch Heat basketball be somewhat competitive. Selfishly, I also want to have fun creating content about the Heat. This is where selfish reason does come in because I am not about to watch, rewatch, and do more specific rewatches to see the Heat go 20-62 with so many games being blowouts.

Give me mid. Give me 35 wins at least. Give me more games that are somewhat competitive. Give me something worth tuning into and looking forward to. I’ll take that even if it means having a lesser chance of getting a top prospect.

After thinking about it(this might also be a discussion in itself for a different time), I don’t think I have much of an issue with the Heat’s approach of just constantly looking to be competitive, picking in the mid lottery whenever they’re bad and looking to develop a core in that way.

There are some specific issues with that approach that can definitely be improved on. I do still believe their “competitive at all costs” or always thinking that they have a chance has and does hurt them.

Thinking moves like trading your expiring and a first-round pick for Terry Rozier because you believe you have a puncher’s chance once everyone is healthy is a big issue. Or not wanting to pull the plug on certain builds until it’s too late, like they did with Butler. There are others, like the reluctance to take a slight step back in the short term, where circumstances push you to.

But as the overall strategy that guides them, I like that and think that is the way to go. That’s why that is the way I’m thinking of these potential moves.

This might then be contradictory, but I don’t think they should be making moves for Kevin Durant or DeMar DeRozan or any aging “better” player. That’s where always thinking you have a chance and so you look to always make these kinds of moves can backfire.

Right now, my view on the moves they make is simple.

Do not look to improve by trading any assets.

Do not look to trade Kel’el Ware or Nikola Jovic.

Do consider lateral moves if they give you more flexibility or banking on a player.

Do prioritise trades that can get you assets.

Do make winning moves as long as the goal is to continue to develop a core.

I think those points are ones that would guide me with what the Heat should do or prioritise.

But let’s start with just talking about the Durant trade. A lot of that depends entirely on the package and how many picks it would take to get him. Outside of Pat Riley finessing them, I just don’t see how that move would have those four points apply to this.

I have seen ones that do exclude both Ware and Jovic and only give up one pick, but I don’t know how realistic that would be. Most of the trades, one of Ware or Jovic is gone, or multiple picks are sent.

Starting with the latter, that goes against trading assets, which the Heat are lacking. And the thing about trading for Durant is that it won’t be the only move they’ll look to make.

Simply getting Durant isn’t turning this team into a contender(even in the weak East). A core of Tyler Herro, Adebayo, and Durant isn’t one that I’d even put that much ahead of most teams to have them safely out of the play-in.

Even if they look to make other moves or are able to attract other key role players… or even if they somehow also manage to flip Herro for other assets to get better players, I don’t see a way out of making this team significantly better enough to warrant such moves.

I am not one to be championship or bust when it comes to deciding what moves to make. This is more of a thought that it’s adding a 37-year-old Durant to a 37-win team that was the 10th seed. The age being a key factor here — this is turning this core into a two-year window at best.

There will be no patience for any other young player to look to develop. They won’t have any other major assets that they could flip to turn the team around.

This is the kind of move you go all in on when you are a set borderline contender. These gambles are ones that already established playoff teams that are trending upwards make, depending on how much they want to accelerate their build. I don’t see that kind of build here with the Heat. The only way you could see this move as an option is if you believe they weren’t as bad as they were this year. That’s the only way.

I think back at the 2019 team that looked to add Jimmy Butler because I feel like that’s the closest comparison. But this is where Butler’s age makes a big difference, top players’ contracts(that was the beauty of having your top players contributing on rookie contracts and having undrafted players), and players’ unlikely development.

A very big reason why that team was immediately better to that extent was Duncan Robinson suddenly emerging and having the second-most efficient, high-volume 3pt shooting season behind Stephen Curry. It was also Adebayo turning himself into a DPOY-calibre player, whilst making significant jumps on offense. This would be as if we get Durant and somehow Pelle Larsson has a Klay Thompson-like season and Jovic turns himself into a top ~30 player and a top five wing defender.

Kind of a long shot.

With the Durant trade, sure, you do get better(hard not to when you add Durant), but to what end, though?

That is my main issue with this. The end is only a two-year window at best, but at the same time, you’re kicking the can down the road when it comes to retooling, gaining assets, and looking to round out a core.

Although the approach should still be to remain competitive, it shouldn’t be the driving force at all costs. They aren’t in any kind of position to be making those types of moves, whether that’s because their top players aren’t good enough, the rest of the team needs a lot of work, lack of additional picks, or lack of high upside players that could be flipped.

It shouldn’t be the extreme in either direction every single year.

So, this is what I believe should be the plan for this off-season.

The first step is recognising and accepting that you are entering the 2017-19 Heat era of mid. This is their version of a rebuild, and it shouldn’t be skipped or accelerated. This is where the Heat should learn from past mistakes in previous builds and look to build on that. It’s also accepting that this isn’t going to be or shouldn’t be turned around in a season or two.

Once that is decided, it makes some of the roster decisions easier to think about. This is the current team, sorted by age.

• Kel’el Ware

• Nikola Jovic

• Keshad Johnson

• Pelle Larsson

• Jaime Jaquez Jr

• Tyler Herro

• Davion Mitchell(RFA)

• Bam Adebayo

• Haywood Highsmith

• Andrew Wiggins

• Terry Rozier

• Kyle Anderson

• Kevin Love

The first thing with this is that in most realistic scenarios, Ware, Jovic, and Adebayo should most definitely be on the team. That’s not saying that they are untouchable in a vacuum, more just untouchable in this particular situation under these circumstances.

Both Ware and Jovic are the youngest on the team, with the highest upside out of anyone else. They have already shown enough flashes to warrant keeping.

Adebayo is in a strange place here. He would be a big reason why the Heat are constantly good enough to be better than the worst teams. He’d now be the typical vet for the Heat who is always there, keeping them mid. He still hasn’t reached his 30s, so that’s also a bonus. But at this point, I’d also wouldn’t be considering him in any major future plans for a different build — that’s on the Heat for fumbling this as badly as they could’ve.

I don’t think he’s a hindrance to a team with championship aspirations, but he’s also not one of the players that I’d be looking to build around either. His game does come with limitations that kind of make that tougher than it needs to be. And unfortunately, the Heat are just too many moves behind from being able to comfortably win with Adebayo being the top-three-paid player on the team. The rest of the team would have to be completely overhauled for that to happen.

It is frustrating that it has worked out that way, but again, that is just the front office fumbling with how they transitioned into this build. The “Bam build” should’ve gone entirely differently; that would’ve already featured someone like Donovan Mitchell or even Trae Young.

That’s why, for the time being, I feel like the comp would be Pascal Siakam on the Raptors — the whole approach feels very similar to ours, too. A good enough player to carry the team to being in playoff contention until you probably have to sell on him for whatever package(hopefully, it’s better than what the Raptors got) and use that to continue to build on the roster or be in the position to use Bam for win-now players.

But realistically, these three players should be the ones to stay, focusing and prioritising the youngest development.

Mitchell kind of also joins that group that I’d love to bring back. He showcased enough already that he fits right here and has been great, and still fits with the timeline being only 26. And the big deciding factor is that his contract shouldn’t be something that is outrageous either. It likely isn’t something that will be too expensive.

He has shown he can play the role of a ball handler off the bench so well on both ends of the floor. It’s tough to look at any silver linings in a series that they were losing by 50 points, but I felt like Mitchell was one of the better players for the Heat, given the circumstances.

Everyone else should be moved one way or the other for various packages.

Rozier, Highsmith, Wiggins, Robinson, and Anderson all fit that. I’m not expecting miracles. I’m not expecting to flip any of them for key players or picks. These moves will likely be lateral moves, and I think that will be good enough for them. The goal should just be a reshuffle whilst aiming to go younge,r and players that can at least be playing on the court.

The big issue with these players is also their contracts:

• Wiggins: 28.2m(19.3% of the cap)

• Rozier: 26.6m(17.2%)

• Robinson: 19.9m(12.9%)

• Anderson: 9.2m(6.0%)

Rozier, specifically, has been a clear negative all year long, and that is taking up 17% of the cap. The team was -4.5 with him on in 1658 minutes and +4.3 without him in 2328. That’s a big swing.

Wiggins had health issues, and similar to Rozier, the team was doing better without him. In games he played in, they were -3.1 net in 546 minutes with him on and +7.3 in 275 without him. In a much smaller sample, if you include Herro and Adebayo on, they were +14.3 without him in 87 minutes.

That’s two players combining for ~36% of the cap that you’re literally significantly better without them. That’s more than a third of your cap dragging you down.

Flipping that for any neutral player would be a huge win. If that also works out contract-wise, even better.

Robinson, Highsmith, and Anderson are a different case. They make up around ~22% of the cap. I would say they have been more helpful than not, but also not for that much cap, and with that age. They are all either over 30 or close to it. I’d much rather spread that cost for younger players that you may bank on for some more upside(exactly someone like Mitchell!).

These five players should be somehow reshuffled, focusing on contract flexibility, getting neutral role players, and getting young players that you can bank on.

Then there are the rest of the group with other younger players, with Larsson, Johnson, Stevens, Christopher, and Jaquez Jr. I feel indifferent to these players. I’d ideally keep both Larsson and Jaquez — still a believer.

They are all on rookie contracts and are at that age where it makes sense. They all have something in their game that I wouldn’t mind just taking another chance on and continuing to give them minutes.

Jaquez is the one who you ideally still look to develop a lot more. I don’t believe he suddenly hit this kind of wall, and that is it.

But if push comes to shove and you need to include either of them to make money work or entice the other team to take on the former players, there’s no reluctance there.

Love is untouchable because of his vibes and IG memes.

Obviously, this leaves the one player I haven’t touched on yet because I know that this is the one move that will get the most pushback, but it’s selling high on Herro for whatever the best package you think you can get.

I struggle figuring out what his value could be around the league and what kind of package he could get you, especially in today’s landscape. Whatever it is, whether a couple of picks, a young prospect, or some combination, they should take the best available offer.

This is one of the things that I feel strongly that they need to do this rather than keeping him on the team(and possibly extending him) for any reason. I don’t see the big benefit over getting anything else they can get. If they can flip him for a package similar to one that either of the Dejounte Murray trades got, that should be a no-brainer.

Keeping him leaves the same question I have with getting Durant: you keep him for what exactly?

I don’t see the upside in either direction of keeping him just because he’s young, especially when this is likely now the highest value he can have. Keeping him just prolongs the build for no reason.

He’s in a worse boat than Adebayo(who, I also believe they should move in the right moment for the right package), where in these circumstances, it just doesn’t make sense to keep him because we know he’s not in the right role, asked too much of him, is seen as someone higher/better, and just needs a lot around him to be a good team.

That’s not what the Heat should be prioritising, though. And it just is the way it is that for them to make any significant change, one of them has to go. You’re not making a significant change by flipping Andrew Wiggins!

Before the argument that the prospect or the picks may not turn out to being what Herro has become, that’s also the point. I don’t think the package that you’d trade him for, you’d also be hoping that they turn out in a similar way as he did. The aim is to hope those picks or stars can take a bigger leap, or are giving you a different 2-way impact, and are more suited to the right role on a better contract.

Overall, my long-term vision is:

• Keeping Adebayo, Jovic, Ware, and Mitchell

• Flipping Wiggins/Rozier for neutral, better players(preferably younger)

• Flipping Robinson/Highsmith/Anderson for anyone younger that you can take a chance on

• Drafting at #20(maybe getting another late first round pick through trade)

• Trading Herro for a combo of prospects to take a flier on or as many picks as you can

The goal is then to prioritise the years to come beyond 2026. This isn’t a vision that makes them a contender in the short term. It’s to round out your team with higher upside young talent, acquiring assets, maintaining flexibility, building the right culture, continuing to develop and improve, and hopefully, you get lucky in some area at the right time.

So, to wrap all of the season up, here are just all thoughts from the series, but looking at it through the lens of general themes for the player and the Heat going forward, and any other questions. It’s looking at some of the takeaways from the series and seeing how that can apply to everything else around the team. Plus, some overall thoughts on anything else that stood out to me.

This team isn’t close

As mentioned, this really wasn’t a series. They were outmatched on both ends of the floor. The Cavaliers did a great job exploiting their weaknesses. They pushed all the right buttons. When they finally leaned forward and took control, it was wraps.

That’s because the team isn’t close. This was a 37 win team for a reason. It wasn’t because of some unfortunate situation. It wasn’t just because Terry Rozier played. It wasn’t because Nikola Jovic was injured. It wasn’t because there was the Jimmy Butler drama. It wasn’t because Spoelstra was bad. This was just a bad team. Good or average teams don’t go 12-20 post deadline and go on 10 game losing streaks.

This also shouldn’t have been a team that could’ve flipped a switch or be one that you wouldn’t want to see in the playoffs. There was no reason to think otherwise. One big red flag that has consistently shown up in the last two years was that they were one of the worst teams against better competition. Both their offense and defense dropped off the cliff when they faced a competent team.

These aren’t signs of a dark horse team. This shouldn’t have looked like they could match up with a team or that they’d have a puncher’s chance. The only reason they were in this position because they could easily beat bad teams when the switch is flipped by Spoelstra and he whips out a game plan. They aren’t a terrible team.

This series just showed how far behind they were, even in areas they looked to be good at, like the defense. They were top 10 in defense in the regular season, and the Cavaliers put up an offense that would rank fifth overall in the regular season, only in the half court — they had a 120.5 half court offense, which is just something that you can only laugh at.

This team isn’t a couple of role players away. Even if you replaced with Rozier, Wiggins, and Highsmith with some semi-realistic options, I don’t see how much different this would be. You could’ve given them Josh Hart, PJ Washington and TJ McConnell instead, and it’s still Cavaliers in four.

This team also isn’t just one star away either. Hell, adding Durant without sending any player away would have the same results.

This team also, also, isn’t a few young players development away.

They just got their asses kicked and as many players have said it, one way or the other, they got humbled. Spoelstra even said they always have that irrational confidence, and having a team absolutely demolish you, especially on your home court in such a fashion, can Litt(IYKYK) stuff up. This team needs as much change as possible. Everything needs an overhaul.

Herro’s Offense

I just wrote about Herro’s offense and the change in his role, where it was primarily being an off-ball player, which you can check it out here:

That did leave me kind of disappointed, confused, and it did raise a whole bunch of questions. Everything to how he was being used and the impact of it raised alarms going forward, especially if they look to retool.

The first thought was that this was the first time in his career that he wasn’t primarily a PNR guy. For the first time, his most-used play type wasn’t PNR, but a spot-up. Even as a rookie, he was still a PNR heavy guy. That changed for this series, and you can immediately see that the impact wasn’t the same from him, where it felt like he was invisible and easily taken out of the game.

But that also got me wondering what was the point of that? What was Spoelstra’s thought process to use him in such a way that also had his touches drop significantly?

He was treated like a role player, which is absolutely wild considering how the last few years have gone, and also where it was needed before. Having him be mostly used as a spacer and off-ball is something you do with role players. He was finally playing the Duncan Robinson role.

The extent that it did and the lack of on-ball responsibilities against this defense for whatever reasons is what made this a bit eye-raising for me, though.

I’m kind of concerned that your all-star guard was able to be taken out like that, nor had any counters for it. This wasn’t being locked by Jrue Holiday or having an insane game plan that schemed against a specific player to perfection. All it was was a simple top lock by Max Strus or Sam Merrill with some more physicality. And a bunch of face guarding in the corner when spacing.

That is the standard for role players being taken out. That defense was played against the actual Duncan Robinson on the team, which also denied his handoffs or prevented him from getting open on screens.

Everyone always says, your first and second things that you want to do on offense are gone. Your main way of getting open or getting into sets? Gone. Your sweet spots? Gone. Everything is schemed against to take away your most effective ways of getting stuff done. That is easier against some players, and it’s also why many role players go to die in the playoffs. And that is because of a lack of counters.

Herro touched on this and talked about the defense being tough to get anything going. But the counter to that should be there for a player like Herro. Top locking, denying, and faceguarding should be something that he should at least attempt to counter. It was easy to do, and it was to handled the ball himself from the start.

For whatever reason, whether it was him or Spoelstra, it didn’t happen.

Looking at it, the alternatives aren’t great either, because if we do say that he brings up the ball, that means more PNRs to actually have him initiate. But with the Cavaliers’ general defense of icing every pick and sending so much help in the paint early and aggressively, that was also a bad option. That is something that Herro has struggled with, too. He wasn’t great scoring in the PNR, opting to go for quick pull-up 3s early

That just kind of raises the question, what do you even do going forward? Even if you bring in Durant, does that mean Herro will suddenly learn to beat Strus off-ball?

Is this something that can continue to happen against elite level defenses where he can be this schemed out and make him have this little of an impact on offense?

I see two alternatives.

Either becoming an actual effective off-ball player, where his value isn’t solely tied to being a PNR guy, as he has been all these years and where he had the most impact through 82 games this year. This means better conditioning, better mentality, attitude, approach to playing off-ball. I feel like that general attitude and willingness plays a big part to being effective. But then it’s also just being more skilled in that area by learning more counters(which is also tied to better conditioning).

Or it’s becoming a better player on-ball, where that is the better option than being off-ball.

Something has to give because he needs to have a much better impact on offense against better defenses. I wasn’t expecting a monster series or make this series to be competitive. But I don’t think he’s shown much to be encouraged about.

Last year, there were at least valid excuses for his poor play. He was overly tasked in a bad role against even better defenders. That wasn’t the case this year, and it was just as bad.

So, I’m just left questioning what is the offense going to look like for him in such a setting even if the team is better around him. This matters a lot because of what we’re gonna talk about below.

Herro being hunted on defense

The Cavaliers made it a mission to pick on Herro and it was bad.

So bad that it genuinely made me question my overall basketball philosophy on how much a guard can hurt your overall defense. It made me feel different about the worst defender on the team. Before, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal as a guard and that it can easily be hid.

Respectfully, the way Herro got targeted flipped that upside down.

I guess there are levels of a defensive liability and in what ways. What made this so bad with Herro was the fact that this wasn’t a mismatch hunt.

This wasn’t Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown coming to get Herro on a switch to flow into isolation to pick on him. That is where I think you can scheme against, especially with a good defensive team. I’d also be encouraged to force a team into more stagnant basketball with help showing.

This wasn’t even Garland or Mitchell specifically hunting Herro in any big way. It was involving him in everything by everyone. Even Jerome had a go at him in the PNR.

And that was the main thing. It wasn’t hunting him in isolation or simple blow bys in drives. This was all targeting and hunting in their usual flow of their offense but simply forcing him to defend more.

In game one, they trusted Herro to hold his own and that didn’t work well. They got good looks after good looks. Their double drag screens torched them. Then in the fourth quarter, Jerome happened. All of that was just picking on Herro in ways you’d expect just a competent defender to simply defend.

It’s the simple stuff that they exploited. You shouldn’t have to worry about a player not holding his own on a screen against Ty, freaking, Jerome.

What happened after that in the following games was just picking on him even more, because the Heat didn’t just leave him to hold his own. The amount of changes they made to try not get exploited was something. They tried everything for everyone. He showed, recovered, even dropped on Strus. They tried to limit him on defense as much as possible.

That just put more of a burden on everyone else because he literally was hidden to the max. There were so many plays against the double drag where he stayed dropping off Strus, that forced Mitchell to do more work in screen navigation. It much so much pressure on everyone else because there was only thing that Herro could do and it was to hide.

What’s worse is that it wasn’t just that. It was also exploiting him in off-ball awareness situations. There were so many lapses and mistakes that made things easier for the Cavaliers.

I do think the fact that he was targeted in multiple ways that wasn’t solely mismatch hunting or in isolation that made this a big thing to think about. Mismatch hunting, I felt like came with a potential downside of stagnation and not being as effective if the player hunting is doing his job well. But being attacked on defense in the flow and in a variety of actions, whether in isolation, post up, PNR, or off-ball, I don’t know what you do with that.

All of the double drag screens for either Garland/Mitchell worked to perfection. Any isolation worked. There were sprinkles of size mismatches, too, with Hunter. The shooters got open because he lost track where they were off-ball. Players attacked off cuts because he was out of position. Even a simple PNR that looked to keep things 2v2 was effective. His peers just attacked him and not some elite star wing.

At some point, that kind of defense becomes the biggest detriment.

That’s how I felt about this series. This has genuinely made me value the defense now a lot more across the board. This was something that has been talked in general when it comes to being a weak link sport. That has been a topic, but recently Owen Phillips of The F5 talked about it here!

I think that does change how you should look at roster construction. That’s really been my takeaway from the series.

As far as individually from Herro. He has to be better on defense. It’s one thing to be picked on by a size advantage in isolation. It’s another thing to just be hunted by your peers in every possible action that has them call you out by NAME in an interview.

General thoughts from everyone & everything

Finally, some general thoughts from the series. This is just a ramble here, looking to touch on the whole bunch.

The offense really needs to get better at exploiting this kind of defense. This isn’t made easier with the talent but this has been a recurring issue with all iterations of this whole build in the last few years. Pack the paint and shut everything of.

Players getting doubled or seeing help obviously have to make the reads in the first place, but everyone else isn’t making their life any easier by not doing anything.

The Cavaliers did what they wanted to do, and there was no attempt to even counter that. I’m not saying that they had something up their sleeve to make this a series but I don’t recall them looking to do anything that exploited some of the defense they went against.

There wasn’t much hunting for their players. There wasn’t anything that tried to exploit their weak links.

Ware had his first playoff experience, and it wasn’t great. It was rough. That was to be expected. He is a rookie, and I’m not reading much into this. There’s no sweeping conclusions being made about his ceiling, his floor, or his future development. But just to acknowledge what has happened, he was flat-out bad.

He ended up getting yanked at certain points in the games early. He didn’t even crack 20 minutes in any of the games. The shooting wasn’t there either as he only went for 3/11 from deep. Had 0 free throw attempts. The packed paint didn’t help.

The defense was the most annoying part. The game was too fast for him. The PNR defense let every roll behind him and that’s where you can see him trying to process everything but not being able to do.

A bunch of the same concerns from the regular season showed up when it comes to his rebounding and box outs. That is the one thing I don’t care about that he’s a rookie. He needs to put more of an effort in hustling for boards. Allen, a couple of times didn’t do anything special to get the boards, it just wasn’t hard to do so against Ware.

Still, it was the first playoffs in a role that was facing two elite big men. Nothing happened that probably shouldn’t have been expected.

Now, something that wasn’t expected. Mitchell was used a lot. And I mean a lot. He played over 35 games, became a starter in three games and led the team in touches and time of possessions. He averaged 15 points and 6.3 assists and was one of the top leaders in potential assists.

He was the primary ball handler for the Heat. I was surprised to see such an increase in role and responsibility. This also ties to Herro being more off-ball.

This obviously wasn’t effective for the series, as they didn’t crack 90 in two of the games. But I liked what he gave them. In his previous playoff run, he wasn’t doing any of that. There was progress for him individually. He continued to have the hot shooting on relatively low volume. He had so many good drives in isolations.

Everything that he did well in the regular season, he continued to do so in the playoffs.

As mentioned, he did have a lot of assists. He had a 30.4% AST to 15.4% TOV. That was a bit high. The turnovers were an issue in the PNR, which had the TOV freq in the 30s. That’s an issue. That was one of the problems for the Heat in the series with their turnovers.

The defense was hmm. I felt like that wasn’t hitting as it should’ve been. I found him rather disappointing on many occasions, where he trailed so many screens quite badly. He too often found himself in positions that he shouldn’t have been because how did he wind up being behind the play so bad!

Overall, given the responsibility, he did what was asked of him. There weren’t many issues or concerns there. The turnovers need to be cleaned up, though. But there is a path for him to be a reliable point guard on a contending team off the bench.

Wiggins. Sigh. That was a disappointment. I don’t even know what to say here. This was not what I expected from him, and it was worse than I could’ve imagined. Shot 39.1% from 2pt, 35.0% from 3pt, and had more turnovers than assists.

He was the most disappointing player of the series.

The shot selection. The decision making. It was rough.

Defensively, he had his moments, and there were more good than bad. He did his job better on that end than on offense.

But man, the offense was extra rough.

Bam. I don’t know what to say about him. He had a quiet series, averaging 17/11/4. He was used as a hub a lot, which I do like and underappreciate that he can and has flipped through whatever is necessary from him.

Some will say he can be too passive or whatever. But sometimes, you don’t need guys hunting shots and I do feel like being able to step back is an underrated part.

But the effectiveness wasn’t there. He had a 50.8% TS. Shot 48.8% form 2pt, and 33.3% from 3pt. A lot of that was the defense taking away everything easy. He wasn’t doing any work in the post or in isolation.

Some of the low percentages comes from the inconsistent long shooting. He only shot 2/9 from long mid and that was 14% of his shot diet. He did his thing closer to the paint at 48% with 39% freq. He got what he usually gets in that area.

One thing that stood out the most is the PNR efficiency, which is tied to the 3pt shooting. He scored 1.25 points per roll man poss and shot 46% but had a 61% eFG. He took over 7 3s per 100 poss. That’s a high volume. That reaches players like Al Horford level — for comparison, in the regular season it was around 4, which is in the range of Dyson Daniels and Josh Hart. That’s quite the difference.

I do like that he is becoming more and more willing.

Not gonna lie, though, this has felt like a series from Bam that I can’t tell you what he’s done. That’s how quiet it’s been for me on both ends.

Last year, it was because of unfortunate circumstances that had Jimmy Butler miss the entire run. He was forced to be the best offensive player against a juggernaut team in the Boston Celtics. In five games, he averaged 18.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per 75 possessions on 48.1% eFG and 51.0% TS. That was a bad series for him, and he said that it was a big reason for his change and development for the season.

During the regular season, he did improve his game and has addressed many of his weaknesses. He had a career year across so many different metrics. That was a whole year’s worth of samples. He closed out the season very well and had two very good play-in games, where he responded when the team needed it.

But now came the playoffs. His second one as the guy, and the first following his rise to being an All-Star this year. That didn’t turn out to be great… on either end of the floor.

Against the Cavaliers, he averaged 19.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per 75 on 48.5% eFG and 51.2% TS. Almost identical to his Celtics series, except he cut his assists in half.

Although the stats are almost identical, this was coming in completely different. He was being used very differently from how he was against Boston, which made it interesting to see. Some of the struggles were directly because of that, too. And related to that, it also came as a result of an elite defense from the Cavaliers, which also has to be credited.

Herro has spoken recently about how the Cavaliers have been defending and how it wasn’t easy to get free with the defense top-locking and face guarding you, basically every single possession. Honestly, if there is big takeaway from this is that both Max Strus and Sam Merrill deserve a lot of credit.

But even before the defense from the Cavaliers gets talked about, how he was being used allowed that kind of defense to be played.

Here are some tracking stats for this year compared to last year:

• Touches per 36: 56.5 vs 69.1

• Front court touches per 36: 27.0 vs 34.4

• Time of possession: 4.0 vs 4.5

• Average sec per touch: 4.29 vs 3.78

• Average drib per touch: 3.61 vs 3.03

• C&S freq: 21.5% vs 28.2%

• Pull up freq: 53.8% vs 50.0%

• Less than 10ft: 23.1% vs 21.8%

So, pretty much all the same when it comes to the shot profile and how he handled the ball, but what changed the most is the touches dropping significantly. To put that number in perspective, in 2020, as a rookie, he averaged 56.2 in 33.6 minutes.

In comparison to the team, he was also first in touches and time of possession last year. He was third and second this year. We saw Davion Mitchell a lot more as the ball handler initially before Herro got into his actions.

Against the Celtics, he was the lead ball handler and was treated as such. He dominated the ball and also got a lot more shots with the ball in his hands for much longer. He was tasked to create for himself on-ball. In that series, he averaged 7.8 possessions in the PNR, with 40.6% of his offense being that(he scored 0.92 points per and shot 51.6% eFG). He also had 3.4 handoffs, which were 17.7% of his offense(scored 0.65 points per and shot 39.3%). When it comes to his off-ball, he only had 2.0 spot ups, and that was 10.4% freq(1.2 & 60.0%). That’s why he was much higher in touches and was more directly involved with the offense and could’ve had much more of an impact, even if it wasn’t effective.

For this series, it was completely different. His PNR went down to 4.0 possessions and was 20.3% of his offense(0.69 & 32.1%). He did have 3.0 isolations, which were 15.2% of his offense(0.83 & 50.0%). But those two actions combined still don’t even match the amount of offense that he had as a PNR ball handler last year. Instead, he had 4.8 spot-ups this year, which was 24.1%. That was his most-used play type. He was primarily an off-ball player for the first time ever. Again, just using 2020 as a reference, he had 24.4% PNR frequency then and 4.0 possessions.

All of this is significant in how much he was involved, period, and played a big part in how the defense could’ve taken him out of the game. This shift towards a primarily off-ball role was a big reason why the defense was able to play him in such a way and make him less effective in the first place. And even before the effectiveness, the volume of being directly involved in the offense makes it easier to limit because he rarely started with the ball.

That’s also where I tweeted that I’ve been down on his offense in general a lot more than I was against the Celtics, and also have more questions going forward. For that series, the struggles were more valid. He was tasked with a huge offensive workload, and he was the primary option on the ball. There’s also the fact that the Celtics had Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Jayson Tatum as the defenders. That is hell for any player.

With this series, I have just been more confused and came away feeling worse about his offense because of how little he was felt in the game, how he was taken out, and against the kind of defenders.

Some will say that he was treated like the number one option. Was he really, though? I saw the exact scheme defended by Strus, Wade, or Merrill against Duncan too. Top locking and face guarding shooters who primarily want to come off screens is a common play. Sure, not having an elite ball-handler that can create the shots does lower what the shooters can do if they can’t get open.

But why was that the primary option for Herro to go about his offense? I do agree with his comments that it was tough to get open against such a defense. That is kind of why off-ball shooters that are role players may drop off in the playoffs. It takes effort constantly trying to get free through so much physicality because they were very physical. My issue is why couldn’t he do something else?

The easiest counter to such a defense is to start with the ball and bring it up yourself. You cannot get denied the ball when you’re starting with it. These weren’t defenders that should’ve put any kind of fear or reluctance to handle the ball, especially when the off-ball stuff clearly wasn’t working.

He wasn’t bringing up the ball as much, barely ever. Based on my tracking, in totality, he brought up the ball 45 times in four games. That’s including every time he simply started with the ball in the backcourt, regardless of what he did after. Some were in just early offense, pushing pace, and transition. But a lot of the time, he simply brought up the ball that followed a quick pass or swing, or just had someone else flow into a different action, as he looked to be off-ball. It wasn’t many instances where he simply brought the ball up into an action, whether it’s to drive, PNR, or anything else.

Not doing that already limits how much he can be involved in the offense. Because what mostly happened is he was simply spacing where there wasn’t any plays or actions run for him. A lot of the possessions were spacing in the far corners, on the wing, above the break, way beyond the 3pt line, or not even on the screen:

In a lot of those clips, he’s also not being guarded tightly, top locked, or face-guarded. A lot of those possessions were simply him being a spacer who looks to shift here and there or just stand in one spot. This was one of the most annoying things to watch. This was borderline James Harden-level off-ball offense. It was these possessions that made him not be felt at all. You could’ve replaced him with any kind of respectable shooter, and it wouldn’t have made a difference.

One point on this is that this is also a team issue, as he wasn’t maximised in this area. There were many possessions where he wasn’t tightly guarded, but certain players instead took contested shots at the rim, challenging 7-footers rather than making a kick to Herro for an open 3pt or simply not recognising the help coming.

This is where not having a reliable offensive player create shots hurts. Herro would’ve had more opportunities as an C&S shooter if he still had Butler.

This is also where I’m just confused by the team’s and coaching’s decision to have Herro in this role at this volume. There were a lot of these possessions, and that was a big reason why he only averaged 56 touches in the first place. I should add that this particular point is less about Herro specifically, but the overall team’s decision to think this was the way to go in using him.

Then there were these possessions, where he was seeing very aggressive and physical defense. A lot of these possessions are ones that either looked to get Herro going off-ball one way or the other. And this is also the part where you do credit the Cavaliers for doing one hell of a job. That’s where that scheme and the individual defense come into play, which allowed such plays to happen.

Just check out some of that defense. Whether it’s Merrill, Strus, Wade, Hunter, or Okoro, a lot of the time, their goal was simply to not let Herro out of your sight or get free. You can see the top-locks any time a pindown comes down or any potential staggers. Those have been very common actions for the Heat to get guys open. I really don’t think he ever came off a stagger fully.

The physicality also played a part. Take this play:

Or this play. This does end in a foul but it just shows what was going on when he tried to get open:

This is where it makes sense why his numbers were lower than usual. It is tough to get open seeing that kind of defense just focused on you and only you.

But that’s also not an excuse that takes any accountability of the player. Because, at the same time, look at how many times he gets denied and does nothing. He looks to move but does so without any intention. He tries to half-assedly get open before just looking to space, doing nothing. That goes back to the previous point where he was spaced out, doing nothing when he could do something.

Standing like that in the corner just bails the defense out. You can’t use the excuse of the defense scheming out when he’s not doing anything to help himself. There were many possessions like this, especially in game three and four.

Being a smart off-ball player is a skill that requires a lot, particularly physically to have the stamina to be constantly moving. It’s not easy trying to get open every single time like that. But this is also where some of the areas come in when it comes to off-ball movement. I didn’t see many counters from him. No jabs. No fakes. No misdirection or using any movement to put defenders out of position. Even when he tried to move, I didn’t see much of a hard intent to get open.

The Heat did look for him to be used as a screener more, but that also became less effective given how he was guarded.

I actually liked the willingness to be constantly used as a screener. The volume was quite up there, whether it was guard screening, ghost screens, or most often, used as a backscreener. But just notice how he’s defended here. The defender doesn’t care about anything else. He’s here to stick with Herro on the screen, and that is it. Nothing else matters. You can see how many times on that backscreen, he has the defender all glued to his body. Even when he looked to screen early, the defense was ready to just prevent that from happening.

There were also other counters that worked, and that was with him constantly looking to move. Him being more active,e combined with having additional screens being set on the other side of the floor worked well. There were these four plays that stood out the most for countering that help.

The physicality is there. He’s getting denied. He even saw two defenders around him. But you continue to move, and eventually you get open, and now you have the advantage against an aggressive defense.

Similar thing here. He’s looking to come off screen but everything is aggressive and he never stops moving. It ends up flowing into a handoff with Strus looking to recover. All of that is just stamina and conditioning to be that active 247.

I liked this the most because this could’ve happened more. Herro gets top locked on the initial pindown from Highsmith, so he decides to backcut and now he can go flow into another pindown from Jovic, where Strus is now trailing. This was a great counter to that kind of defense.

Finally, we also have this play that also just had him be constantly active and never relaxing. Defenders will also get tired of playing this defense. Herro doesn’t resort to just curling around to being a spacer, instead he continues to move into the right space and gets rewarded for it.

This was all of the off-ball stuff. That did make up most of his possessions. A lot more than anything involving him with the ball. But let’s go through his on-ball stuff.

His on-ball scoring also wasn’t great, even when considering the low volume. As mentioned, he only scored 0.65 points per possession in the PNR. That’s not great at all. He had a couple of solid isolation possessions that ended in a tough stepback against Allen and Garland. But outside of that, there wasn’t really much else going.

A big part of the PNR and handoffs being an issue for him was the fact that the Cavaliers were icing every single PNR. I don’t think there were many instances where they let someone use the pick that wasn’t done because of a breakdown. Without the ability to come off the screen, that does limit what Herro could’ve done.

He shot 41.7% from the floor(45.8% eFG) on shots with at least 6 seconds of touch time. He also shot 33.3%(37.5% eFG) on shots with 7+ dribbles. The self-creation scoring was not there. He only went 3/9 on 3s with at least 2 dribbles and 13/29 on 2s with at least 2 dribbles.

The Cavaliers did a good job at running him off the line, where he had a 44.6% 3pt rate, which would’ve been the lowest since 2022. His free-throw rate also dropped from 0.237 in the regular season to 0.154(only up from 0.128 last year vs Celtics).

The main positive is that his touch is still elite. He shot 54.2% within 4-14ft. That space was by far the biggest portion of his shots inside the arc. He took 24 shots there and 12 everywhere else. That was due to the Cavaliers’ defense, and his shot-making made them pay for that. All of that early help in the paint takes away the rim and deeper drives, but for him is a legitimate weapon that is highly efficient.

That was one of the reasons why he had some good, late isolation plays. He managed to get some open looks and had that floater at his disposal. A lot of those looks were late clock with someone needing to get something, and he did manage to get the best shot available in that moment.

But also, too many times, any time he ran an action, it had no advantages either. No beating anyone off the dribble or forcing much help, and it all just resulted in swinging the ball.

Combine that with the lack of volume, and his playmaking was non-existent. He only had a 13.5% AST to 11.5% TOV. He averaged 35 passes and only 4.0 potential assists — for comparison, he had 6.2 in 2020 and 10.8 in 2024. The turnover was also a concern. On his isolations, he had a 16.7% TOV freq. Third worst in the playoffs out of 30 qualifying players.

Last year, I just came away from the Celtics series with what’s already known. He isn’t suited for an on-ball role that is the primary ball handler responsible for creating for himself and for others.

But after this series, I’m just left more confused and with more question marks around his offense. The split between him being on-ball and off-ball has been the biggest question mark. Why was he even averaging fewer touches than he did as a rookie? That part specifically is more on the coaching.

Beyond that, when it comes to him, despite the kind of defense that he was seeing, I’m also left disappointed that there weren’t many counters to that. Too often, he just didn’t try to get free after the initial move from the defense that took away an action. Being able to get taken out of the game by a simple top-lock raises an alarm.

All of that made his impact on offense very quiet. But again, how much of that was just him and the coaches’ game plan is something we won’t know. Though when addressing his comments about needing to counter such a defense, the easiest way was to get him starting with the ball, and we didn’t really see that.

The on-ball stuff wasn’t particularly different from what he’s done in the regular season. The turnover was a bit of an issue, and the a decline in playmaking. He’s had some good reads when he did drive… but that was on very low volume. The PNR was limited, and that was because of the Cavaliers’ defense simply not allowing to have the screen to be used. That is another alarm being raised.

Overall, this series just raised more questions about his role on offense and how effective he could be if he’s not primarily an on-ball guard or if the defense schemes against him(we’ll have more of a general discussion about that in a separate piece).

These are my personal notes. This isn’t written up as an analysis or a piece, so the actual write-up may not be in proper sentences or make total sense. It might have a couple of words missing, but they are just notes. Still, it shows all of the actions that each team have run.

I have also put actions resulting in a made shot or free throw in bold.

Also, be sure to check out the edits throughout the series because I will be adding more notes to this whenever I do a different rewatch for a different purpose. I will indicate what will be new or extra.

This won’t have clips as my other previous notes have because for the playoffs, the notes are every possession highlighting everything that has happened. Each video would have ~25 clips and it would be far too long.

Offense

1st Quarter

11:50 — Bam hub. Herro off Davion screen. Both Merrill/Strus stick with him. Allen also helps off Ware. Flows into Davion hub and Herro off Bam screen. Strus still all over him. Forces him baseline. Mobley shows help off Bam strong corner and it’s a swing for 3pt

11:05 — Bam brings ball. Quick ISO drive vs Mobley. No help anywhere. Early shot too. Misses the floater but gets the ORB putback

10:40 — Davion pushes pace. Cross matched with Mobley, he stops the drive in the paint. Just hands it to Herro, he sees a stunt from Mobley making him pass TOV

10:20 — Herro brings ball, quick ISO drive vs Merrill. Strus gives a slight stunt off Wiggins 1 pass away. Herro quickly picks up dribble, looks to euro in the paint and goes for a paint floater

10:00 — Davion pushing pace. Defense not fully back(Allen wasn’t). Mobley was left covering Bam/Ware. Davion quickly finds Ware at dunker and goes for a quick floater

9:32 — Bam brings ball. Quick Herro off Ware screen. Strus goes over and prevents using the Bam screen on the handoff and ices it. Herro looks to drive, gets to the paint but Allen is ignoring Ware in the strong corner completely, that probably should be a kick from Herro but he doesn’t even recognise it. Mitchell is helping off Wiggins at the rim early. Herro gets a jump stop in the paint to kick to Davion but travel TOV

9:06 — Davion-Ware empty PNR. Didn’t even get to use the screen. Merrill jumped him and Allen was also near the level. Ware did have the roll but Mobley is just ignoring Bam 1 pass away and sits in the paint. Ware on the short roll sees help and quick kick to Bam 3pt

8:42 — Wiggins ISO post vs Mitchell. Side cleared. Bam in dunker. Davion 1 pass away. Ware on the other wing, both Allen/Merrill feet in the paint. Mobley rotates early and Wiggins just forces the tough floater. Defense also collapsed, there easily could’ve been a better look

8:15 — Davion quick ISO drive vs Merrill. Draws Allen 1 pass away from Ware to sink in the paint. Mitchell also swiping from Wiggins strong corner. Every player is below the half circle and opens up a kick to Ware 3pt

7:53 — Bam pushing pace. Creates cross matches with Strus on Ware in the paint, don’t go to him, he goes to the weak corner. Flows into Wiggins-Bam PNR. Switch with Allen/Mobley. Wiggins just dribbling doing nothing. There is help in gaps from Mitchell off Davion. Herro in strong corner.

Flows into Wiggins-Herro ghost PNR but no advantage. Wiggins still just dribbling vs Mobley. Gets stopped and does nothing

Late clock Herro ISO vs Merrill. Gets a step beats him but goes into the paint with Mitchell perfectly peel switching and Strus looking to contest the floater

7:18 — Transition. Davion pushing pace quick drive kick Wiggins 3pt

6:52 — Wiggins-Davion pistol pitch handoff into Wiggins-Davion-Bam PNR. Merrill switches 1st screen and goes over well. Stays attached. Wiggins hits him with a stepback 3pt

6:25 — Ball swing. Wiggins finds Ware cutting with Allen not fully on him. Gets some space and Ware goes a very quick floater over Allen

Herro in the strong corner with Strus face guarding him

5:55 — Ware hub. Herro off Davion screen. Top locked and Merrill dropping off Davion before recovering. Just flows into Davion ISO drive vs Merrill goes for stepback middy

5:25 — Davion-Bam PNR. Hunter on Bam. Merrill jumps the screen. Help is shown. Jerome at the elbow off Wiggins. Allen ignoring Ware in the weak corner to help in the paint early. Davion makes the skip to Ware. Ware gets the 3pt with Allen looking to contest

Herro is just off ball getting face guarded by Strus

5:00 — Strus pressuring Herro in the backcourt before getting the ball. Herro-Larsson PNR. Jerome switches but just passes it off to Wiggins and goes to the corner. Flows into Bam off Larsson pindown in paint. ISO ft vs Allen. Drawing 3 defenders inside off Wiggins 1 pass away and Highsmith the other side. Lost ball TOV

4:27 — Wiggins-Bam-Herro Spain PNR. No switches. Drives and just travel TOV

3:46 — Bam hub. Herro screens Wiggins. Strus top locks and denies. Strus being aggressive foul PF

3:38 — Jovic hub. Herro off Wiggins screen but Wade top locks and aggressive. Flows into Wiggins-Herro ghost PNR. Wade/Hunter switch. Wiggins can’t create vs Wade foul PF

3:28 — Wiggins-Jovic-Herro Spain PNR. Bad pass TOV

3:00 — Herro-Jovic PNR. Mobley switches. Herro-Wiggins empty ghost PNR, pops. Jerome helping off Highsmith completely at the elbow. Wiggins just holds vs Hunter, sees Mitchell help off Larsson strong corner. No advantage swing

Herro late clock ISO vs Mobley lost ball TOV

2:23 — Wiggins-Larsson empty PNR. Draws a blitz with Mitchell. Finds Larsson slipping pop for 3pt. Mobley looked to rotate earlier off Jovic to come contest

2:05 — Heat pushing pace. Larsson brings ball, quick swing twice. Herro off catch drive draws a foul on Hunter FTA

1:33 — Jovic-Bam empty PNR. Just a switch with Mobley. Swing. Herro ISO vs Wade just goes for a quick early fade in the paint

1:08 — Bam hub. Duncan top locked by Wade, physical, no advantage. Flows into Davion-Bam PNR. Jerome ice it. Just a quick drive, pocket pass Bam goes for a pu 2pt with def already in the paint. That probably should’ve been a kick to Highsmith with Mitchell ignoring him

0:37 — Davion-Bam PNR. Jerome ice again and presses, no advantage, swing. Jovic looks to attack off catch but sees help from Hunter strong corner off Highsmith. Great closeout, no advantage. Swing back late clock Jovic ISO drive lost ball TOV

2nd Quarter

11:33 — Haywood just holding the ball with Davion unable to get open vs Wade. That just wastes clock.

Davion-Jovic PNR. Strus switches. Looks to ISO drive no advantage and can’t get anything. Davion-Duncan ghost PNR. Mitchell switches. Davion still can’t create and 24s TOV

11:10 — pushing pace but Cavs recover. Bam ISO post vs Mobley side cleared. Some off-ball screening next to it. Bam finds Haywood 3pt after drawing def in the paint

10:21 — Jovic brings ball but Mitchell pressures him and can’t get by. Forced to pass it off. Davion-Duncan PNR. Drive vs Wade no advantage. Mobley showing help off Bam in strong corner, kick. Flows into Davion-Bam PNR. Mobley switches. ISO drives kick back to Bam in strong corner again late clock 3pt

9:38 — Davion-Duncan quick empty PNR. Miscomm on the switch. Davion has open pu 3pt

9:05 — Bam cross match with Strus. Good post entry from Jovic. Strus fouls PF

8:57 — Bam ISO post vs Mobley side cleared. Wade showing help off Davion 1 pass away. Kick swing twice, Jovic corner 3pt

8:47 — Bam-Duncan PNR. Brief show with Mitchell but just picked up the dribble quickly. Tried a skip pass but TOV

8:10 — Bam quick ISO drive vs Mobley as Duncan clears the strong corner. Attacks and just goes for a stepback middy as Wade comes to show help too

7:40 — Bam brings ball but early pick up for no reason. Now he’s stuck with no one else getting open. Manages to find Davion flashing up to get open. Davion able to attack off the catch draws Okoro helping off Highsmith, easy kick 1 pass away open 3pt

6:58 — Davion looks to push but sees a wall inside the paint early. Reset. Wiggins-Bam PNR. Okoro ices, Allen drop. Bam pops but Jerome just rotates early ignoring Davion. Swing Davion attacks off catch before Jerome recovers, he draws def inside, kick, swing Highsmith 3pt

6:08 — Davion-Bam-Herro Spain PNR. Okoro really physical vs Herro, foul PF

6:03 — Davion-Herro PNR. Merrill doesn’t want to switch and sticks with Herro. Davion gets a drive but Allen helps off Bam from top to be in the paint early. Bam Rolls but Hunter helps off Wiggins strong corner. Bam kicks bad pass TOV

5:42 — Herro brings ball but quick swing. Flows into Herro-Bam handoff, as Strus overplayed him before. Quickly goes for a pu 3pt

5:12 — Herro brings ball vs Merrill pressure but just passes it off to Wiggins. Merrill switches. Looks to drive with no space. Allen looks to help off Bam. Wiggins makes the pass and Bam just settles for a quick CS 2pt

4:50 — Wiggins-Herro ghost PNR. Wiggins drives, gets to paint Allen helping off Bam weak corner. Open kick Bam 3pt

4:15 — Wiggins-Herro PNR. Merrill switches. Wiggins just ISO drive gets deep to paint foul FTA

3:42 — Larsson hub. Off-ball actions going nowhere. Herro can’t get free from Merrill. Swing Jovic off catch drive, Allen peel switch off Bam, kick Wiggins 3pt

Bam ORB kick Jovic 3pt

3:08 — Herro brings ball, flows into Jovic PNR. Merrill jumps the screen, prevents using it. Mobley switches, Herro looked for pu 3pt but no shot. Swing Larsson off catch drive. Help inside, Bam cut and looks to attack TOV

2:46 — pushing pace, Davion quick drive kick Wiggins, attacks off catch draws PF FTA

2:24 — Davion-Bam PNR. Allen/Mobley switch(cross matched). Davion ISO drive vs Allen. Goes baseline Mobley helps off Bam early in the corner. Kick, swing Herro 3pt

1:38 — Transition, off a steal. Jovic quick outlet Davion rim

1:20 — Herro brings ball vs Hunter pressure. Herro-Jovic PNR. Mobley switches. Looks to ISO goes nowhere seeing help swing Wiggins OOB SLOB

1:06 — Herro-Bam handoff. Allen switches. ISO pu 3pt late clock

0:40 — Davion quick ISO drive vs Jerome. Beats him off dribble, Mobley helps off Jovic in dunker quickly. Dumpoff to Jovic floater but blk

0:06 — Davion ISO drive vs Jerome. Sees Mobley helping in the paint off Jovic. Kick, Jovic stepback 3pt

3rd Quarter

11:40 — Herro brings ball vs Strus pressure in backcourt. Pitches to Bam and comes off Ware screen. Allen great switch. Mobley peel switches to Ware and Strus rotates to Bam. Herro ISO drive vs Allen, beats him to paint and floater as Ware helps off. Had a lob or a kick to corner

11:10 — Bam brings ball vs Strus. Just quick ISO drive to paint for a tough early floater. No help sent

10:52 — Davion-Ware PNR. Mitchell under. Drive to rim

10:15 — Ware hub on the empty side. Herro off-ball vs Strus. Running around goo move to get open then attack off the catch on the empty side. Both Bam/Ware on the break. Merrill is the low man. Herro goes for the floater

9:36 — Ball swing to Davion corner. He attacks Allen off catch gets to rim. No help after he beat Allen

9:00 — Herro brings ball vs Strus. Flows into Herro-Ware PNR. Allen at level. Good burst drive and goes for a tough shot over Allen at rim

8:30 — Davion-Bam empty PNR. Merrill jumps the screen, ice it, Allen drop. Bam rolls gets deep but travel TOV

8:10 — Bam looks to drive early. Sees Mobley/Allen inside. Reset. Davoin-Bam PNR. Drive kick Ware corner 3pt

7:20 — Bam very slow getting to stuff. Late clock Herro-Ware PNR. Splits the def drive goes for the floater with Strus quickly rotating off Davion. Mobley also helps off Bam.

6:45 — Transition. Off a miss. Davion pass Ware cut rim

6:20 — Davion hub. Bam off screen into hub into Wiggins handoff just goes for 3pt. Def went under

5:50 — Early off. Davion just ISO drive rim. Great speed

5:18 — Bam hub. No off ball. Herro face guarded by Strus goes to corner. Wiggins-Bam PNR. Allen switches just goes for long pu 2pt

4:20 — Davion-Duncan ghost PNR. Wade switches. Duncan off Ware screen. Looks to drive but Hunter cut him off, good def. Herro just in the corner standing with Strus face guard. 2nd in a row

Ends in late clock Davion ISO drive, goes nowhere kick Haywood tough late 3pt

3:50 — Transition. Off a steal. Highsmith drive kick Davion corner 3pt

3:30 — Bam hub. Off ball negated with top locks. Herro again just in corner. Bam ISO drive vs Mobley. Stops, goes nowhere. Jeromed helped off Davion. Flows into Davion-Bam PNR. Just drive into tough floater

2:56 — Transition. Off a miss. Herro quick ISO drive rim

2:30 — Herro with ball vs Wade. Herro-Bam PNR. Deflect another screen. Mobley switches. Drive draws def kick Duncan lifts 3pt

2:00 — Bam push pace, flows into Duncan-Bam handoff. Jerome under. Rescreen, over. Mobley switch. Mitchell kicks out mismatch on Bam. Swing, Davion finds Bam cut floater as def looked to recover

1:30 — Davion hub. Duncan off Bam screen top locked. Swing, Bam off catch quick drive floater, ORB putback rim

1:03 — Davion hub. Duncan again top locked. Swing Bam ISO vs Mobley side cleared. Help comes early OOB

0:55 — Bam hub. Herro screening Duncan, switches. Herro-Bam PNR. Mobley switch. Jus drive into long pu 2pt late clock

0:10 — Davion-Herro PNR. Wade switches. ISO drive almost stripped OOB

0:04 — BLOB: Bam just off catch quick stepback 3pt

4th Quarter

11:50 — Wiggins ISO drive before Duncan can come screen. Struggles taking Hunter off dribble and goes for a tough floater

11:16 — Bam hub. Herro screens Wiggins, top locked so backcut. Bam bad pass TOV

11:00 — Semi Transition. Off a steal. Davion quick push pace ISO drive rim vs Jerome

10:30 — Wiggins ISO post vs Jerome side cleared. Just a quick blow by but Strus perfect low man rotation. Saved the play

10:07 — Wiggins hub. Herro off screen top locked and switched backcut. Flows into late clock Bam ISO post vs Jerome. Side cleared. 3 def in the paint. Just drives and settles for a pu 2pt when he 4 def inside and a kick open

9:30 — Davion hub. Wiggins off screen into Bam PNR. Mobley Switch. Just a quick long pu 2pt. Bam ORB putback

8:56 — Herro brings ball vs Strus. Looks to attack for pu 3pt no shot. Swing, Wiggins looks to attack Hunter off catch. Mobley straight up ignoring Bam

8:23 — Davion-Bam PNR. Mobley switches. ISO drive beat shim off dribble clean look at rim

7:50 — Davion-Larsson PNR. Mitchell switches. Herro in corner with Strus top lock him. He backcuts but pass deflect OOB

7:42 — Davion ISO drive vs Wade gets to rim. ORB Herro off catch drive vs Strus can’t create space, sees help and kick to Bam after Allen helping off him, Bam 3pt

7:00 — Davion brings ball just handles, does nothing. Strus denying Herro and sticks with him. Davion ISO drive vs Wade. Kick Bam tough cont 3pt in corner

6:34 — Herro brings ball quick ISO drive vs Strus blow by to rim

6:00 — Bam handles ball nothing. Swing Larsson, dribbles nothing drive kick back Bam ISO elbow vs Allen just middy

Defense

1st Quarter

11:24 — SLOB. Wiggins pressing Strus in corner. Strus-Allen empty PNR. Ware drop, Wiggins fights over, pocket pass Allen roll rim, poor Ware def

10:51 — Mitchell-Allen PNR. Davion trails, no contact made, Ware drop. Mitchell drive open paint floater

10:28 — Allen hub. Ware off Merrill screen quick 3pt

10:08 — Mitchell-Merrill empty PNR. Hunts Herro show. Herro shows. Merrill slips and pops off Allen screen. Ware steps up as Herro recovers. Wide open roll lob for Allen, bad pass TOV

9:45 — Mobley-Strus PNR. Herro shows. Bam recovers. Mobley ISO post in paint vs Bam

9:18 — Mitchell-Allen PNR. Just a quick skip to Strus 3pt. Seemed like he first looked to bait a foul

8:53 — Mitchell-Strus-Allen PNR. Hunts Herro on show. Miscomm Herro/Davion on the switch/show. Ware switches on Mitchell. Mitchell drive, paint, draws def from Wiggins off Merrill. Open kick Merrill 3pt

8:30 — Transition. Mobley quick drive draws def inside open Allen cut to rim behind Ware

8:01 — Mitchell-Strus-Allen PNR. Davion trails. Herro dropping off Strus. Ware drop. It’s also a pitch handoff from Allen. Mitchell gets wide open 3pt

7:27 — Strus-Allen PNR, but before he sets it’s quick swing to Mitchell 3pt with no one matching up. Miscomm with Bam/Ware in early off. Mitchell gets open 3pt

7:10 — Mitchell-Merrill PNR. Herro shows, doubles. Merrill pops to corner. Bam has to rotate. Def recovers. Ball reversal into Mitchell off catch drive. Wiggins great peel switch to take the drive. Ware for no reason at all just goes for the block and that leaves Allen wide open on putback foul FTA

6:40 — Jerome-Allen-Merrill PNR. Ware hard show. Draws 2 on ball. Turns the corner on Ware. Gets to the rim. Bam doesn’t help as the low man. Not sure why. Allen great pin in screen just in case too

6:13 — Jerome-Strus PNR. Herro hard lunge show. Recovers. Ball swing to Hunter, he attacks Ware off catch. Ware jumpy bit on his fake. Hunter gets the drive. Bam looked to rotate and help but too late

5:41 — Jerome-Allen-Strus PNR. Davion shows. Miscomm and Jerome draws 2 on ball. Strus just slips the screen to pop 3pt. Ware in drop. Looked to rotate to Strus but good look

5:10 — Jerome-Allen quick empty PNR. Davion trails, no contact. Ware in drop but lets Allen roll rim. Herro not aware to rotate as low man with Merrill at dunker

4:40 — Semi transition. Jerome brings ball just swing into Hunter quick 3pt

4:14 — Jerome-Allen empty PNR. Larsson under, hustling to get back. Another PNR. Over drive into paint tough floater. ORB Jerome-Strus PNR. Herro switch. Larsson showing help at nail, swing. Strus off catch drive vs Larsson, draws Bam up open Allen cut rim

3:17 — Jerome-Wade PNR. Herro switch. Into Jerome-Mobley PNR. Jovic steps up to take away the pu 3pt. Puts 2 on ball briefly. Swing Wade finds Mobley cutting to rim. Jovic looks to recover but too late

2:41 — Cavs pushing pace. Jerome quick off catch drive vs Highsmith. Goes baseline. Draws Wiggins low man. Herro splitting the difference but not aware at all and allows Hunter to cut rim

2:13 — Semi transition. Quick Hunter just pu 3pt

1:53 — Zone def. Just ball swing open deep Jerome 3pt. ORB. Herro allowed Wade to get the loose ball. No one matched up with Mobley open 3pt

1:20 — Mitchell quick ISO drive vs Highsmith rim foul FTA

0:55 — Mitchell-Hunter PNR. Davion switches. Jerome ISO vs Jovic. Drive easily to the rim

0:12 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Davion ices it. Rescreen. Jovic switch. Draws a double from Davion. Swing Strus 3pt

2nd Quarter

11:50 — Mobley hub, into swing reversal. Jovic out of position and bumps into Davion. That gives Mitchell the space off the relocation 3pt

10:46 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Hunts Duncan on show. Davion recovers. Jovic rotates to Strus. Duncan takes Wade. Strus off catch drive kick Hunter 3pt

9:57 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Duncan switch. Mitchell ISO drive draws def kick Strus strong corner 3pt

9:26 — Davion pressing Mitchell. All pressure vs dribbling. Ball kicking, rotations. Jovic good def vs Wade drive. Ends in a late clock Okoro 3pt

8:34 — Davion pressing Mitchell again. Being more aggressive. Mitchell-Wade PNR. Highsmith switches. ISO drive gets to the paint floater. Help comes late

7:54 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Duncan switches. ISO drive Highsmith helps stunts and open kick Strus 1 pass away 3pt empty side. ORB Okoro putback over Jovic

7:16 — Strus-Mobley PNR. Highsmith over, no adv foul later

7:06 — Jerome-Allen empty PNR. Bam drop, open pu 3pt

6:30 — Jerome-Okoro PNR. Highsmith switching. A lot of switching up top. Swing Strus ISO 3pt over Wiggins

5:53 — Jerome-Allen-Merrill PNR. Larsson over fights and recovers on drive. Forces a tough shot in paint

5:25 — ball reversal into Hunter off pindown into Allen handoff. Herro dropping off Merrill. Hunter drives goes for pu 2pt vs Jovic

5:00 — Transition. Jerome push pace open Allen lob rim

4:38 — Merrill-Allen empty PNR. Herro over trails. Merrill drives baseline. Kick reset. Jerome-Merrill PNR. Herro switch. Jerome looks to attack but Larsson peel switches and forces tough floater

4:03 — Mobley-Hunter PNR. Wiggins switch. Mobley ISO drive vs Wiggins no adv kick back. Mitchell-Mobley PNR. Wiggins switch. Mobley slip roll. Draws Bam rotating open Allen dumpoff cut rim

3:22 — Merrill-Allen empty PNR. Herro over, trails. Bam steps up open Allen roll rim. Jovic late low man rotation

2:56 — Mobley-Merrill PNR. Herro shows. Mobley quick drive in traffic to rim. 4 def collapses

2:40 — Hunter ISO vs Herro, he doesn’t want to be matched up. Lets the drive. Mobley has the open cut with Wiggins looking to help

1:56 — Mitchell-Merrill PNR. Herro show. Mitchell-Allen PNR. Herro stunting off Merrill. Fly by contest, no adv. Mitchell-Allen PNR. Bam steps up puts 2 on ball. Bad pass to Allen roll. Jovic good early help TOV

1:30 — Hunter-Allen PNR. Wiggins fights over but gets beat turns corner foul FTA. Herro low man doesn’t look to help. Thinks about it then just goes away

0:52 — Hunter ISO vs Herro post. Quick drive before help comes paint foul FTA

0:30 — Jerome-Mobley quick PNR. Jovic switch. Jerome-Allen PNR. Bam switch. ISO drive kick Mobley corner. Mobley ISO vs Wiggins, drive and no resistance clean hook

3rd Quarter

11:51 — Mobley off screen. Bam recovers well. ISO drive but lost ball TOV

11:25 — Semi transition. Strus swing quick Mitchell 3pt. ORB another kick Mitchell 3pt. 2 open looks

11:01 — Semi transition. Strus just walks into pu 3pt

10:43 — Semi transition. Mitchell ISO drive vs Ware at rim. Smokes a layup. ORB. Strus-Allen PNR. Davion caught on screen. Bam switches, no adv. Swing. Merrill off catch drive, Wiggins shows help at nail kick Mobley 3pt

9:57 — Mobley-Strus PNR. Herro shows. Bam recovers and Wiggins stunts off Merrill strong corner. Kick, no adv. Mitchell-Strus PNR. Herro shows but allows the drive, turns corner to rim. Ware good use of length to contest

9:21 — Strus-Mobley empty PNR. Wiggins stays attached no adv. Strus-Mobley empty handoff. Bam hard shows and deflects pass to roll OOB

SLOB: Mitchell ISO drive vs Davion. No adv. Great def Davion

8:47 — Mitchell-Allen empty PNR. Davion trails. Bam steps up. Open Allen roll. Bam recovers well. Flows into Strus-Allen PNR. Herro trails, Strus goes for lob but Bam blows it up. Strus ORB putback

8:18 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Herro shows. Davion looks to recover. Wiggins helping off Merrill strong corner. Open swing Merrill 3pt

7:47 — Strus-Allen handoff. Wiggins under recovers. Merrill off screen. Herro recovers. Strus-Allen PNR. Draws Ware level puts 2 on ball. Allen short roll. Bam rotates to paint but Allen short floater

7:06 — Mobley pushing pace. Merrill off screen catch drive vs Ware. Kick. Strus off catch drive no adv on the dumpoff. Reset

Mitchell-Merrill PNR. Ware showing until Davion recovers. Merrill just pops wide open 3pt. Mobley ORB putback

6:33 — Mitchell-Merrill PNR. Herro switches. Just quick stepback 3pt

6:04 — Jerome-Merrill-Allen PNR. Herro switches 1st, over 2nd. Jerome drives, Herro stays attached. Davion stunts off strong corner open kick Hunter 3pt

5:41 — Jerome-Allen empty PNR. Turns into ISO vs Herro, side cleared. Gets to the paint for floater but PF

5:30 — Jerome Allen PNR. Davion trails badly pu 3pt

4:52 — Zone def. Ball swing. Jerome ISO drive vs Highsmith, easily beats him to rim

4:00 — Semi transition. Quick off swing Wade 3pt

BLOB: Mobley quick post lost ball TOV

3:40 — Transition. Off a make. Mobley outlet to Jerome rim

3:05 — zone def. Mitchell Wade empty PNR. Herro shows pu 3pt

2:42 — Zone def. Mitchell-Allen PNR. Highsmith switch. Drive PF FTA

2:10 — Jerome Wade empty PNR. Drive baseline. Wiggins solid def on the drive gets blk

1:40 — Mobley ISO post vs Wiggins. Help comes from Bam but late. Just gets to his spot for hook

1:19 — Jerome Mobley empty PNR. Over trails, gets a drive and goes for floater foul FTA

0:36 — Hunter ISO vs Herro side cleared. Bam comes to double, kick skip, Wade corner 3pt

0:21 — Mitchell-Jerome PNR. Herro show until Davion recover. Goes for a stepback 3pt

4th Quarter

11:40 — Hunter-Strus-Wade horns PNR. Duncan shows. Turns corner but def all ready in the paint stopped the drive. Kick Mobley. Mobley off catch drive vs Bam beats him off dribble to rim

11:05 — Hunter ISO post vs Duncan side cleared. Drive lost ball TOV

10:44 — Strus-Allen empty PNR. Herro trails. Bam drop. Strus drives rim

10:20 — Jerome-Mobley PNR. Bam hard show. Swing to Strus off Wade screen. Herro/Wiggins not aware at all. Strus gets open 3pt

9:47 — Mobley-Strus PNR. Herro shows but Bam switched, miscomm. Mobley is wide open. Give go with Jerome. Mobley gets open cut. Davion also ball watch lost Jerome

9:14 — Jerome-Strus PNR. Herro switch. Jerome-Mobley PNR. Herro trails skip Wade travel TOV

8:35 — Jerome quick push pace. Swings Mobley trail 3pt

8:05 — Hunter hub. Into Hunter-Allen PNR. Bam switch but tough pu 2pt

7:20 — Hunter-Allen PNR. Bam switch. Swing. Ball finds Allen ISO post vs Wiggins. Draws help from Herro strong corner. Kick Strus 3pt. ORB Strus finds Allen cut FTA

6:46 — Mitchell-Allen empty PNR. Bam switch. Swing. Strus off catch drive vs Herro, no adv. Quick Strus-Hunter handoff. Herro/Bam miscomm on switch, Bam didn’t, Herro wanted to, open pu 3pt

6:15 — Strus-Allen-Mitchell PNR. Miscomm again Herro/Davion. Neither knew if to switch/show/recover. Give go with Allen-Strus then, Strus gets a cut rim

5:34 BLOB. Strus-Allen PNR. Ware drop. Strus drives finds Allen cutting. Herro also trailed foul FTA

These are my personal notes. This isn’t written up as an analysis or a piece, so the actual write-up may not be in proper sentences or make total sense. It might have a couple of words missing, but they are just notes. Still, it shows all of the actions that each team have run.

I have also put actions resulting in a made shot or free throw in bold.

Also, be sure to check out the edits throughout the series because I will be adding more notes to this whenever I do a different rewatch for a different purpose. I will indicate what will be new or extra.

This won’t have clips as my other previous notes have because for the playoffs, the notes are every possession highlighting everything that has happened. Each video would have ~25 clips and it would be far too long.

Offense

1st Quarter

11:35 — Davion-Herro PNR. Switch on Strus. Flows into Wiggins handoff with switch on Strus. Flows into Ware PNR. Strus is trailing, forcing Allen to step up. No tag Mitchell and open lob Ware

Good action to get Wiggins downhill

11:10 — Bam pushes pace. Goes to corner quickly flows into Herro handoff reject screen into 3pt

10:43 — Similar play to 1st. Davion-Wiggins handoff switch on Garland into Ware PNR. Doesn’t get screened. Good defense no advantage. Bam has been in the corner both poss with Mobley helping off

Wiggins has Garland on him in the corner but they don’t go to him

Ends in Herro late clock ISO vs Strus. Gets a step on him to the paint but it’s a tough shot in the paint with traffic with Allen ready to help and Strus recovering to contest

9:57 — Bam brings ball into Davion-Bam PNR. Garland good job getting skinny but better burst from Davion, turns the corner. Forces help from Mobley to switch. Herro strong corner, Mitchell doesn’t want to fully dig. Allen does also help off Ware in the dunker

Bam aggressive attack vs Garland off the roll. Draws foul

9:30 — Transition off a steal. Herro ISO drive rim

9:10 — Davion-Wiggins PNR. Wiggins gets Garland switch ISO. Just settling for a long 2pt. Allen also helping off Ware on the break. Bam in the corner with Mobley looking to help too

8:32 — Davion-Wiggins PNR. Wiggins gets Garland to switch. Flows into Wiggins ISO at the elbow. Bam in the strong corner. Drive kick open 3pt. Not sure why Ware also relocate to the dunker spot

7:56 — Herro-Ware PNR. Reject drive. Bam in the weak corner. Mobley helps early off it to tag. Mitchell on Wiggins in the strong corner stunting hard. Ends in a Wiggins 3pt off a lift

ORB then Davion ISO drive vs Strus kick to Herro 3pt

7:16 — Davion-Wiggins PNR. Gets Garland on the switch. Wiggins ISO near the ft. Bam in strong corner. Allen in dunker off Ware. Has the drive but Allen just easily rotates to block it. That should be a kick to Herro, who’s wide open in the corner

6:53 — Bam hub. Herro off Davion screen into Bam handoff. Curls vs Strus trailing. Bam quickly slips well. Herro has the drive baseline. Allen helped off Ware in the dunker to tag Bam. Herro makes the kick but bad pass from Wiggins TOV

6:30 — Wiggins ISO vs Jerome. Allen looks to over load the side off Ware just floating around. Great decision to attack middle. Has the drive and kick after drawing the def but Bam got in the way. Had to reset

Bam ISO post vs Strus with the side cleared. Allen looks to over load the side. Hunter takes Ware inside. Jerome splits the difference. Finds Wiggins for 3pt after pushing the defense to Herro

5:45 — Herro missing two looks on a potential pass inside to Ware or a kick to Wiggins. He can’t then create space vs Garland. Reset

Davion ISO vs Strus. Sees help in gaps from Allen off Bam 1 pass away in the corner. Easy swing to Bam 3pt

5:00 — Davion hub. Herro running around off-ball, looking to screen then comes off a screen. Davion finds him on the cut and he just goes for the floater. Jerome was also already ready to help off of Wiggins who was relocating. He forced the floater

4:30 — Herro-Ware handoff. Merrill goes over. Mobley at level. Defense recovers, no advantage with early pick up, just swings it. Wiggins ISO drive challenges Mobley, who helps off Ware. Had the open kick to Haywood

3:53 — Herro-Haywood PNR. Gets Jerome on switch. ISO drive and gets a step. Has to pick up early with Merrill helping off Pelle 1 pass away. Lost ball TOV

3:31 — Herro-Wiggins handoff into Ware PNR. Merrill switches then ices it. Draws 2 on the ball made the pass to Ware short roll but Mitchell fouls from behind. He helped off Pelle

3:23 — Pelle hub. Herro screens Wiggins then comes off Bam screen. Merrill top locked. Herro flows into the handoff but aggressive def from Merrill denies it all and presses him. No advantage. Bam late 3pt. Mitchell was helping off and ignoring where Pelle is

2:55 — Herro running around. Forces Mobley to switch. Herro-Pelle PNR ghosts into pop. Defense switches. Pelle attacks Mobley off the catch to the rim

2:20 — Wiggins-Bam-Herro PNR. Merrill stays attached to Herro. Mobley switches. Flows into Herro off Bam screen. Merrill trails, forces Hunter to help. Draws 2 on ball. Bam short roll. Mitchell tags open kick to Haywood 3pt

1:45 — Davion-Duncan PNR. Gets Merrill switch. Davion-Bam PNR. Ice. Pocket pass to Bam. Tag comes from Jerome off Duncan far 1 pass away. Hunter helps off Haywood too. Haywood baseline cut but defense resets

Ends in late clock Davion ISO drive vs Merrill. Gets a drive but traffic in gaps and Mobley early help at rim. Forces a kick TOV

1:10 — Davion-Bam-Duncan Spain(ish) PNR. Turns the corner. Mobley dropping and helps on the drive. Davion deep inside, engaged 2 open kick back to Bam 3pt. Duncan also cut to take away a stunt

0:50 — Duncan-Herro pistol. Flows into Duncan-Herro-Bam PNR. Turns the corner on Merrill. Has the drive and lob to Bam. Great design. No tag at all

0:30 — Pushing pace no advantage. Reset. Herro ISO vs Mitchell. Sees help in gaps off Haywood. Swings it to Haywood 3pt

2nd Quarter

11:48 — Herro-Duncan PNR. Gets Merrill on switch. Flows into Duncan off Bam screen. Another switch.

Flows into Bam ISO post vs Hunter with side cleared. Mitchell looks to overload the side from behind. Gets double kick to Haywood after Pelle cuts to set a pin in screen. Swing Herro gets a 3pt but TOV 24s

11:16 — Bam pushes pace. Quick Duncan-Bam corner handoff. Merrill goes under but good recovery tough 3pt

10:50 — Bam pushes pace. Quickly goes to post vs Mobley. Jerome looked to help early behind

Herro-Bam PNR. Mobley switches. Flows into Herro-Duncan ghost PNR pops for 3pt

10:10 — Herro-Bam handoff. Reject gets a drive and engages 2 inside. Hunter ignores Haywood 1 pass away to help in the paint on the tag. Good kick from Herro to Haywood lift 3pt

9:40 — Herro-Duncan PNR. Gets Merrill switch. Flows into Herro-Bam handoff but bad pass TOV

9:20 — Duncan off screen into Davion PNR. Hunts Merrill switch. ISO drive baseline. Jerome tight on Duncan. Wiggins in strong corner with Hunter showing strong help. Kick. Good closeout. Wiggins beats it, drives baseline. Mobley immediately looks to help off Bam. Bam cuts, Merrill tags, opens up Davion for 3pt. Poor kick allowed a contest

8:45 — Davion brings ball, pitch to Bam into Wiggins-Davion handoff into Bam PNR. Great slip that forces switch. Mobley takes Wiggins and just a pu 3pt. ORB

8:33 — Davion ISO drive vs Jerome. Has a step but drives into Mobley helping off Bam in the strong corner. Bam also just stays in the dunker for no reason. Ends in tough 3pt. Also, Merrill tight on Duncan on the strong side

7:55 — Davion hub. Duncan off screen forces Mobley switch. Swing to Wiggins. Bam vs Jerome draws def inside. Great skip from Wiggins to Jovic 3pt

7:41 — Davion ISO drive vs Okoro. He’s giving him that lane. Allen does help off Bam but a bit late. Good finish at the rim

7:15 — Davion push pace into Davion-Bam PNR. Allen quickly switches. Flows into Bam ISO post vs Wade. Allen immediately helps, kick. Davion off catch drive floater

6:42 — Davion off screen into Bam PNR. Ice drive bad pass TOV. Paint packed. Wade helped off Jovic

6:15 — Bam quick ISO post vs Wade. Side cleared. Allen showing help inside. Strus was helping. Open kick to Duncan 3pt

5:50 — Herro-Ware PNR. Hard show with Allen. Draws 2 on ball. Broken play. Herro gets the CS 3pt off Davion pass

5:20 — Jovic-Herro PNR. Okoro switches. Good quick drive, draws foul

5:00 — Semi transition off a make. Jovic push pace drive, deep in paint kick Herro trail 3pt

4:37 — Davion-Jovic early PNR. Jovic gets Garland switch. Draws Allen to help quickly. Open lob to Ware. Strus glued to Herro weak corner

4:15 — Semi transition. Jovic quick drive rim

3:44 — Jovic-Herro PNR. Okoro switches. Herro off Ware screen draws 2 on the curl. Open Ware swing 3pt

3:00 — Wiggins ISO drive vs Wade. Allen already looking to help. Just poor decision on the drive. Doesn’t create space and just throws up a pass TOV

2:40 — Herro pushes pace. Gets to the paint no advantage. Kick to Bam trailing. Quickly flows into handoff. Allen switches goes for ISO stepback 3pt

2:05 — Bam hub. Herro off Jovic screen. Gets Mobley switch. Just gets to the paint for a quick pu 2pt

1:48 — Transition. Quick Herro pu 3pt

1:20 — Wiggins ISO post vs Mitchell. Side cleared. Bam entry then looks to cut inside. Allen ignores him and looks to help. Mobley sinks from Haywood to Bam. Wiggins just goes for a post fade

ORB. Ball finds Jovic on the kick for open 3pt

0:56 — Jovic brings ball with Herro being denied by Hunter. Gets it in the end. Flows into Herro-Wiggins PNR. Good reject and has the drive for the floater. Allen rotates early off bam in the dunker. Feel like Herro killed the dribble far too soon and had the kick

0:24 — Herro-Wiggins PNR. Mitchell switches. Drive but Mobley and Allen both have feet in the paint and Hunter drops off from Wiggins. Herro makes the kick for Wiggins 3pt

3rd quarter

11:50 — Wiggins-Ware PNR. Blown coverage. Good reject from Wiggins. Gets the drive to the paint but just goes for a tough floater over Mitchell. Both Mobley and Allen looked to help inside to force a further look

11:00 — Davion hub. Looking to get Herro off screen but no advantage. Strus sticks with him. Allen also helped off Ware to wall Herro off.

Flows into Bam hub with Herro coming off Davion screen. Strus doing a hell of a job preventing Herro. Finally gets the pass and attacks on the rip through. Gets to the paint and goes for the floater with Allen helping off Allen in the paint. Mitchell also stunt off Wiggins, that probably forced the early pick up

10:16 — Herro-Ware quick PNR pu 3pt. Strus was pressing in the backcourt. Goes over and got hit. Open look but early shot

9:52 — Davion hub. Herro off Bam screen. No advantage with Strus recovering.

Flows into Davion ISO drive but he goes into traffic. Mobley ignored Bam from the top that had him occupied. Allen helped off Ware in the weak corner. Open kick for 3pt

9:15 — Herro-Ware empty handoff. Strus does a good job pressing. Broken play on the tip. Ends in Ware trying to create something. Gets the drive for a pu 2pt with Mobley also already being on that side taking away the rim

8:45 — Wiggins-Ware PNR. Another reject no advantage then looks to attack. Bam in the strong corner. Davion in the weak corner. Garland able to tag. Wiggins looks to attack ISO, not much space gets to the paint foul

8:17 — Quick Herro lost ball TOV. Stripped on the catch

8:12 — Herro open CS 3pt. Off that same TOV, broken play. Wiggins has the drive kick, Davion swings it to Herro

7:36 — Wiggins hub. Herro pindown Bam no advantage. Flows into Bam elbow hub. Ware in the far corner with Allen. Herro comes off Wiggins screen. Strus great denial

Flows into Herro-Bam handoff. Strus jumps it, prevents it. Herro looks to drive. Mitchell stunts off Wiggins 1 pass away. Allen helps off Ware completely but Herro missed the kick. Reset

Wiggins late clock ISO vs Mitchell 3pt

7:04 — Quick Davion-Bam PNR. Mobley drop, Garland over, Allen 1 pass away off Wiggins. Very early pocket pass, Bam gets it but Mobley able to recover. Poor foul

6:30 — Ware hub. Flows into Wiggins off Davion screen into handoff. Also, initial Bam pindown for Ware to get Allen navigating screens first. Jerome looks to go under both screens. Wiggins able to turn the corner and get downhill. Good strong drive foul

6:06 — Davion-Bam quick empty PNR. Ice. Hunter in drop. Jerome tags Bam of Wiggins. Allen in paint off Ware dunker spot. Garland walls off the drive. Reset

Flows into Wiggins-Ware PNR. Again ice it. Hunter in drop(he switched with Allen off ball). Doesn’t look to drive at all or even think about it. Just swung the ball once Strus stepped up a bit

Herro has to create off catch goes for stepback 3pt

5:40 — Bam dumb pass TOV

5:12 — Ware quick trailing 3pt vs Garland. Not sure if I like this, even if it’s open. That’s Garland on you

4:50 — Ware hub. Herro off Davion screen into handoff. No advantage. Good slip from Ware. Herro attacks Merrill the other way, gets a step. Gets a drive but early pick up. Garland was lunging off Davion 1 pass away. Allen also helped early off Ware. That should be a dumpoff. Makes the kick to Haywood after Jerome sunk inside.

Haywood doesn’t take the 3pt. Swings it. Ball finds Herro again, attacks off the catch into the floater. ORB BLOB

4:32 — Herro-Bam PNR. Allen switches. Has the ISO drive and again early pick up with Garland stunt off strong corner off Davion. Still gets a layup

4:08 — Herro-Bam PNR. Everyone else spaced to corners. Attacking the single side. Cavs blown coverage with Allen on the wrong side and Merrill allowed a screen. Herro draws 2 on ball. Bam short roll. Hunter tags off Haywood. Haywood good baseline cut and it was Garland low man

3:29 — Wiggins-Bam empty PNR. No advantage just swing. Flows into Davion-Bam PNR. Allen stops the drive. Jerome both feet in the paint early. Davion makes the kick to Haywood 3pt.

2:56 — Semi Transition. Herro pushing pace swing. Jovic quick off catch drive vs Merrill. Gets a contested floater. Bam ORB putback

2:15 — Herro wasting time. Slow getting to it. Herro-Jovic PNR. Hunter switches. Drive and engages 2 with Merrill inside too. Mobley at the rim off Bam in the dunker. Jerome strong corner showing help. Only 1 kick available to Jovic back. Jovic has to stepback 3pt

1:36 — Herro just ISO vs Merrill. Solid defense. Gets to the paint. Draws a stunt from Jerome off Jovic strong corner. Mobley looked to cut off the rim off Bam in the dunker and Hunter sunk. Herro ends up drawing a foul

1:20 — Semi transition. Jovic pushes pace. Quick outlet Larsson 3pt. ORB but Haywood lost ball TOV

1:00 — Herro brings ball, quick ISO drive vs Merrill. Just goes for the open floater. That’s the only shot available. Rim is fully packed

0:32 Larsson-Bam PNR. Just holds it. No advantage vs Hunter swings it Jovic cont 3pt

4th Quarter

11:38 — Duncan-Bam handoff, under. Into Duncan-Bam PNR. Ice + Hunter helping off Jovic strong corner. Jerome early help in the paint off Haywood + Mitchell early tag off Davion. Duncan skip pass to Haywood but defense recovers

Late clock Davion ISO vs Mitchell, he’s giving the drive and stops it near the paint for the floater

10:50 — Duncan-Bam empty PNR. Draws 2 on ball. Bam short roll. Okoro early tag off Davion. Swing it. Davion attacks off catch, gets to the paint for another floater. Mobley also sitting near the rim

10:15 — Bam ft hub with Mobley on him. Everything denied off ball. He just goes for ISO drive into post fade

9:34 — Jovic hub. Off ball actions going nowhere into Jovic-Duncan PNR. Merrill switch. Jovic ISO drive vs Merrill gets to the paint for a tough finish. Mobley helped off slightly off Bam in the corner. Bam was just spacing for the whole poss

9:05 — Davion pushes pace but blown transition. Defense recovers. Just swing and Jovic takes a deep 3pt for no reason

8:23 — Davion-Bam PNR. Okoro goes under, then attack. Great Gortat screen from Bam, Davion gets a deep drive and foul

7:53 — Bam brings ball hub. Herro can’t get open vs Merrill. Reset. Flows into Davion-Bam PNR. Poor defense Merrill allowed the screen. Davion gets Mobley to switch. Bam has Merrill.

Bam ISO post vs Merrill. Mobley looks to help quickly. Open Davion kick 3pt late clock. ORB

Ball kick swing Haywood 3pt

7:04 — Davion brings ball. Herro ghosts screen pops nothing. Davion looks to ISO drive vs Garland but Allen helps off Bam to be in the paint. That leaves Bam wide open but he doesn’t look to shoot

Flows into Herro-Bam PNR but Allen recovers. Ice, just goes for stepback 3pt.

ORB Jovic kick, swing Davion 3pt

6:19 — Transition. Off a steal. Davion ISO drive foul

5:58 — Jovic ISO post vs Jerome with the side cleared. Allen showing help strong off Bam 1 pass away. Stagger for Herro but Strus denies it, no backcut either. Reset

Flows into Bam hub with Herro coming off Jovic screen. Great Herro movement. Curls off the screen but Allen again helped off Bam to stop the drive. Bam doesn’t look to shot but immediate pass to Davion 3pt. Hunter was also in the passing lane

5:20 — Herro-Davion PNR. Garland switches. Whole side cleared. Allen doesn’t care about Bam and sits at the nail early. Herro ISO drive but he goes nowhere because there isn’t anywhere to go. Ends in a late clock Jovic ISO 3pt. ORB

Kick Herro stepback 3pt. Had an open swing to Jovic corner

4:30 — Semi transition. Herro quick drive beats closeout to the rim

3:47 — Davion-Herro PNR. Just touch and go no advantage. Davion ISO drive vs Garland. Bam starts in the corner. Jovic on the high wing. Allen helps and open lob. No sink from Mobley. Good spacing

3:22 — Davion-Herro same PNR. This time Strus switches. Garland on Herro. Davion looks to ISO drive same play, but Mobley helps off Jovic. Herro looks to come off Jovic flare screen but no advantage

Flows into Herro ISO vs Garland tough middy

2:50 — Davion-Herro PNR. Tough and go no advantage. Off a Jovic screen. Reset, swing Jovic bad pass TOV

Bam has been in the weak corner all these poss

2:15 — Davion-Bam PNR. Herro looks to curl around it, Strus sticks with him. Poor Mitchell defense, hits on the screen. Allen steps up, open Bam roll. Draws strong tag from Garland open kick Haywood 3pt

1:47 — Davion-Bam PNR. Mitchell ices it this time(also, Garland no longer on Davion like before since the ISO play). No advantage. Bam hub and Herro just constantly runs around. He manages to get free from Strus and attacks off the catch to rim. Garland low man

1:15 — Davion-Bam PNR. Ice. Mobley early tag on Bam. Swing Jovic 3pt

0:46 — Herro-Bam handoff. Allen switches. Herro ISO drive vs Allen gets a step into pu 2pt

0:34 — Davion-Bam quick PNR. Has the drive draws def kick Jovic open corner 3pt

Defense

1st quarter

11:53 — Garland-Allen-Mitchell PNR with the side empty. Davion trails. Ware shows. Allen slips. Swings it to Mitchell who finds Allen cutting on the slip. Bam perfect rotation as the low man to be early and contests

11:23 — Mitchell-Strus empty PNR. Herro shows. Mitchell rejects and drives baseline vs Wiggins. Great job from Wiggins, cut his drive off completely. Ware also made sure to show help, Davion sunk then to Allen. Good rotations. Nothing else needed. Herro briefly lost Strus on the relocate kick CS 3pt.

11:00 — Cavs push pace with outlet. Mobley rim runs and just goes through Ware with ease. No one stopped Ware running. That’s on Ware being too deep early. Mobley gives him a little shoulder and gets to the rim dunk

10:20 — Mitchell-Strus-Allen PNR. Herro shows on 1st, but Wiggins recovers. Ware in drop. Davion showing a lot of help off Garland 1 pass away. Wiggins doing a good job staying attached. Reset

Mitchell-Strus PNR again. Hunts Herro switch. Just goes for a stepback long 2pt

9:45 — Mitchell-Allen PNR. Wiggins over, Ware drop. Wiggins gets caught on a screen a bit. Bam in strong corner on Mobley stunting. Bam recovers on Mobley on the kick and bumps him off the drive. Kick, reset.

Flows into Strus-Allen PNR. Herro stays attached no advantage. Kick back to Mobley. Bam closes out and gives up nothing. ISO drive and bad pass TOV

9:20 — Garland pushes pace, flows into Garland-Allen-Strus PNR. Strus doesn’t really set a screen, he just ghosts into a pop. Davion trails. Herro looks to hard show and lunge. Garland splits it. Bam completely ignoring Mobley to be in the paint. Ware in drop. No drive or roll available. But Garland makes the kick to Strus, with Herro out of position initially

Strus not making contact confused the whole action with Davion and Herro

8:53 — Garland-Allen-Strus early PNR again. Ware looking to drop back early. Davion also overplayed this badly and allowed Garland to reject the screen and go the other way. Strus doesn’t set a screen again and just pops, curls around. Another miscomm with Davion/Herro and Garland gets a wide open pu 3pt

Ware has been dropping a lot back on that initial screen

8:14 — Garland-Strus PNR. Davion under, Herro shows. Another brief miscomm and defensive lapse. Strus was open again but Garland missed him. Ware a big higher up and now switches on Garland. Herro switched on Allen. Swing to Mitchell, Herro on Allen forces rotations inside from Bam off Mobley. Mobley cuts in to set a pin in screen for Strus on the skip

That’s three straight similar actions all getting good looks

7:30 — Mobley brings ball flows into quick Mobley-Mitchell PNR. Hunts Herro on the show. Mitchell had the pop but great anticipation from Davion on the rotation and prevented a shot but foul PF

SLOB: Garland poor pass unforced TOV

7:06 — Transition. Off a miss. Garland pushes has the lob to Mitchell rim

6:36 — a bit of full court pressure. Forces a 8s violation TOV

6:03 — Jerome-Strus-Allen PNR. Don’t want to switch with Herro on the 1st screen. Wiggins fights over and recovers on the drive. Ware also dropping, engaged with the drive. Bam good tag on Allen off Hunter and then able to closeout on Hunter in that corner. Bit of a fly contest, don’t think it warranted him off his feet, but Wiggins was there to peel switch and forces a floater

5:23 — Garland-Jerome PNR. Looking to get Herro involved. Davion doing a good job getting closer to him and stays on the drive. Wiggins in the strong corner off Hunter showing strong help, he’s completely in the lanes, early. Davion recovers and still pressing

Flows back into another Garland-Jerome PNR. Herro now switches. Goes for an ISO stepback 3pt vs Herro

4:52 — Garland-Jerome quick PNR. Gets Herro on the show or switch(Davion seemed to just switch). Poor defense, not in good position, Garland able to split it. Gets the drive and foul PF

SLOB: Jerome-Mobley handoff into Merrill PNR. Larsson goes over but trails. Mobley with a great slip, exploits Ware being higher up. Herro switches the Merrill screen. Larsson goes on Merrill. Highsmith great job at covering Mobley slipping with the tag that allows Ware to recover. Probably saved a layup.

No advantage and reset to Garland ISO vs Highsmith. Just goes for a tough long 2pt fade

4:20 — Semi transition. Off a miss. Jerome pushing pace. Garland drives, kick. Larsson great help to deter. Wiggins poor foul from behind as a trailer PF

4:10 — Garland-Merrill PNR. Getting Herro on the show. Lunges and switches. Miscomm with Haywood. Brief moment 2 on the ball and open Merrill on the pop 3pt

3:45 — Transition. Off a steal. Mobley just goes ISO drive coast to coast to the rim

3:05 — Mitchell pushes pace and quick ISO drive vs Larsson gets to the paint for a very early floater

2:35 — Jerome just a quick ISO stepback vs Larsson goes for 3pt. Early shot

2:01 — Jerome-Merrill-Mobley PNR. Larsson goes over but trails. Bam ready to show and hard blitzes. Pushes Jerome all the way to the corner. This was just a great read pass from Jerome for the cross court pass to Mitchell. Mitchell able to beat the closeout from Highsmith, he had to step up to help on Mobley flashing up. Wiggins took the drive from Mitchell and Mobley was left wide open on the cut as the defense looks to recover. Herro was also on Merrill way beyond the 3pt line, could’ve seen Mobley cutting

1:26 — Larsson pressing Jerome full court. Took a lot of time off clock. Flows into Jerome-Merrill PNR. Duncan on Merrill but rejects it and goes at Larsson on the drive for a tough floater but also foul FTA

1:00 — Mitchell brings ball into a Merrill PNR. Looks to involve Duncan. Rejects it and Davion gets beat, fouls PF FTA

0:43 — Transition. Off a miss. Mitchell ISO drive to rim

0:08 — Jerome-Hunter PNR. Gets Haywood switch. ISO drive into another tough floater

2nd Quarter

11:25 — Larsson again pressing Jerome a bit in the backcourt. Took time off. Looks to flow into Jerome-Hunter PNR. Duncan looks to prevent a screen being set by fronting him. Hunter is able to slip easily then. Bam does look to rotate but that wasn’t enough to stop the cut already and got fouled from behind by Duncan FTA

11:06 — Mitchell brings ball. Quickly looks to drive vs Larsson. Draws strong help from all sides. Herro stunting hard off Hunter in the strong corner. Larsson dropping back on the drive. Bam helping off Mobley 1 pass away to be in the paint. That opens up Mobley on the kick as the trailer 3pt

10:30 — zone def. Ball just swinging with Highsmith and Larsson up top. Ball reversal into Mitchell-Mobley PNR. Defense shifts to the left. Open kick to Hunter 3pt

9:55 — zone def. Hunter brings ball, reverses, defense shifts and it’s another quick reversal for Hunter 3pt again

9:32 — Transition. Off a steal. Merrill quick 3pt

9:05 — Hunter brings ball. Quick ISO drive vs Wiggins. Drives middle. Not much of a stunt or help from Davion from 1 pass away off Jerome. Hunter gets both feet in the paint. Bam help off strong from Mobley and forces the kick to Mobley 3pt

8:15 — Jerome quick ISO stepback 3pt vs Duncan

ORB. Mitchell looked to tip the ball over Wiggins to Merrill, who was freely walking about

Defense scrambling. Jerome cuts, draws the defense kick, swing Merrill open 3pt. Davion just ball watching when he could’ve rotated earlier to Merrill. Everyone just casually strolling around on the scramble after the ORB

7:30 — Mitchell-Strus-Allen PNR. Duncan doesn’t want to switch. Davion goes over but trails badly. Bam in drop. Jovic did a good job taking Allen on the tag after Merrill cut along the baseline. Davion able to recover and cut off the drive. Wiggins also being able to stunt a bit off Okoro in strong corner

Mitchell kicks to Strus then quick ghost PNR and pops for 3pt

6:59 — Mitchell-Strus-Allen PNR. Wiggins matched with Mitchell. Duncan looked to push Strus, no call but also no advantage. Flows quickly into another Mitchell-Strus PNR. Duncan shows and looks to recover but before Wiggins can get back, it’s an open pu 3pt

6:30 — Cavs look to push but Bam quickly showed help in the paint to prevent any potential drives, ball swing into Strus-Allen empty PNR. Duncan over, trails badly out of play. Drives middle with no nail help. Davion on Mitchell at the logo. Bam in drop has to step up. That opens up the pocket pass to Allen and can get downhill before Bam can recover. Good drive to the rim

6:07 — Transition. Quick outlet Strus 3pt

5:39 — Garland-Allen quick PNR. Davion trailing a bit but no contact was made. Wiggins showing help 1 pass away off Strus, so easy swing Strus 3pt

5:14 — Garland-Strus pistol pitch handoff in the handoff. Goes at Herro on the show. Herro looked lost where to go after then was trailing as Strus comes off the flare screen. Herro gets beat on the closeout by Strus. He drives and requires Wiggins to help off the strong corner and it’s an open kick to Okoro 3pt

4:48 — Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Davion trails, just no reason he should immediately start behind the play like that. Garland doesn’t use the 2nd screen and just curls around. Herro drops but as Davion looks to recover, it’s an open Strus 3pt

4:28 — Cavs push pace. Okoro quick ISO drive vs Herro. No advantage there kick back to Strus trailing. Strus looks to attack but Davion takes everything away being aggressive. No drive or 3pt. Swing back to Okoro and he attacks Herro again off dribble baseline. Gets a drive but Wiggins is there to help too

4:02 — Strus-Garland handoff(similar to pistol but this time Strus keeps it) then flows into Allen PNR. Quick pocket pass to Allen cutting to the rim. Ware in drop but had to step up a bit with Wiggins trailing but that also allowed the roll. Herro should be tagging here, there’s no reason to be so on Okoro in the corner.

3:31 — Okoro-Allen PNR. Jovic switches onto Allen. Allen post, looks to drive but decent defense from Jovic stopping him. Kick back and reset

Flows into Garland-Allen PNR. Jovic switches again. And just goes for a late clock ISO stepback long 2pt

2:47 — Garland-Okoro-Allen PNR. Herro dropping back from Okoro, doesn’t want to switch. Davion trails badly, again. Allen quickly slips to take away Bam. Garland has the open pu 3pt

2:25 — Garland-Allen quick early PNR. Poor def from Davion again and just allows the reject, drive. Bam wasn’t in position, was expecting the screen used. Herro barely stunts from OKORO. WHY? So, it’s a wide open drive for Garland to the paint with Jovic stepping up late to contest

1:57 — Mitchell-Mobley quick empty PNR. Jovic switches. Attacks him quickly and drives baseline. Good staying with the drive to contest.

1:40 — Garland-Allen quick PNR. Jovic on Allen in drop but he got there late a bit coming back. Highsmith also trailing. Wiggins stationed at the elbow to deter a drive. But that opens up a kick to Mitchell 3pt

1:07 — Hunter pushes pace. Quick ISO drive, gets to the rim but another decent contest from Jovic inside. ORB but Allen travels TOV

0:39 — Mitchell-Hunter PNR. Goes at Herro switch. Looks to drive but is drawing strong help and digs from Highsmith off Garland in the strong corner. Highsmith really stepped up to help on the potential drive early. That forced the pass but bad one TOV

0:03 — Garland-Hunter PNR. Herro switch, goes to ISO stepback 3pt

3rd quarter

11:36 — Mobley-Strus PNR. Herro dropping back, doesn’t want to switch it. Bam stays on the drive. Absorbs the contact well. Wiggins at the elbow off Mitchell helping and stunts. Davion looked to rotate but that could’ve easily been Wiggins making that rotation, so now it was 2 on the ball because of the miscomm

Defense recovers, flows into Mitchell-Strus PNR. Hunts Herro on the show. Engages 2 with the drive, open Strus pop. That forces Bam to rotate and that opens up Mobley on the cut. That forces Ware to help off of Allen, which forced Wiggins to sink to Allen. And that opens up another kick to Garland, as Herro is slow to rotate to someone and stays in no man’s land. Garland gets a 3pt

ORB. Mobley gets it over Wiggins. Defense scrambles on the kick. Garland beats closeout with Herro again not in position. Just watching no one after the ORB. Def in rotation. It finds Mobley post up vs Herro

10:41 — Garland-Strus PNR. Davion slow to react and trails again. Herro in drop, shows but then switches, which has Davion rotating to Strus on the pop. That allows Strus to attack the closeout, drive kick to Mobley 3pt. Bam was on the elbow looking to help. ORB

BLOB. Garland off screen quick CS 3pt. Davion taking long routes

10:08 — Semi transition. Mitchell just quick pu 3pt vs Wiggins not fully up

9:36 — Mitchell-Strus-Allen PNR. Herro dropping. Mitchell doesn’t use the 2nd screen and Allen slips. Mitchell snakes around and forces Herro to show, that puts 2 on the ball and it’s an open Strus pop. That forces Wiggins to rotate over. Bam has to rotate on Garland, and it’s another swing to Mobley corner 3pt

9:02 — Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Wiggins on Garland. Herro dropping off Strus. Garland looks to reject but Wiggins does a good job cutting him off. Flows back into the same screens. It forces Herro to switch and now it’s Garland-Allen PNR with Ware drop, Herro letting the drive. He looks to recover but foul FTA

8:34 — Garland-Strus pistol pitch handoff. Flows into Strus-Allen PNR. Goes over and recovers. No advantage. Swing to Garland. He beats Wiggins on the closeout with a quick rip through. Has the drive baseline kick Mobley 3pt. Bam was looking to help

7:58 — Garland-Mobley empty handoff. Wiggins over, does a good job recovering back. No advantage. Flows into Garland-Mobley empty PNR. Bam switches on Garland, Wiggins on Mobley. Good defense inside, manages to poke the ball loose. Deflection, scramble play. Mitchell looks to drive vs Davion but good defense not giving anything up, he looked to bait a foul on the shot

7:14 — Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Herro just standing dropping off Strus. Davion caught on screen is trailing. Ware has to step up and Allen just slips. Has the open roll but great defense from Wiggins as the low man. Good rotation and gets the block

6:55 — Garland-Allen-Strus PNR. Wiggins able to recover fully. Ware in drop. Herro sticks with Strus. Great recovery from Wiggins in the end and stays with the drive. Nothing there. Ends in some handoff to Mobley lift 3pt.

6:35 — Garland-Allen PNR. Allen offensive foul TOV. Davion draws it

6:20 — Garland-Strus PNR. Gets Herro in drop, showing. Puts 2 on ball before Davion can recover but that just flows into Strus coming off Allen’s flare screen. Herro goes under and it’s open 3pt.

ORB. Bam takes the roll to box out but then no one takes Hunter who just cuts from corner on the putback

5:45 — Garland pushes pace into Allen PNR. Davion gets caught on the screen. Bam in drop late to react. Wide open pu 3pt

5:32 — Garland-Merrill handoff. Good off ball to go the other side forcing Herro to switch. Flows into Garland-Allen PNR. Ware at level. Herro trailed. Looks to drive. Davion great help from strong corner but risky off Merrill. Ware doing a good job swallowing the drive. Paint was packed. Highsmith helped off Hunter and recovered on the kick. No advantage anywhere. Good effort

Ends in late clock Jerome off catch stepback 3pt. Wiggins gets the block. Really good possession in the end

5:04 — Cavs push pace with outlet. Ware cross matched with Garland after his trailing 3pt. Garland waits and finds Allen rim running. Cuts through. Herro doesn’t want to take him so tells Wiggins to but bad awareness. He wasn’t going to be ready and someone needed to stop him. Wiggins rotated a bit late and open hook for Allen at rim

4:20 — Jerome-Allen PNR. Bam hard blitz. Puts 2 on ball. Allen has the empty roll into all the space with Herro being the sole defender in the paint. Herro splits the difference poorly looking at Merrill and Allen gets an open cut and Herro has to foul

3:50 — Jerome-Merrill-Allen PNR. Herro switches the 1st screen. Trails the 2nd and forces Bam to step up. Allen rolls and draws the tags from Highsmith and Wiggins. Wiggins rotates back to Merrill and advantage is gone

Flows into Hunter-Merrill handoff and ghost pop. Hunter drives vs Highsmith. Cuts him off and forces a pass inside. Davion lost Garland lift and it’s an open kick. Highsmith quickly rotates smartly to closeout but it’s a tough 3pt

3:13 — Garland-Merrill PNR. Davion caught on screen. Herro dropping and switches. Loose ball deflect OOB

SLOB: Zone def. Ball swinging. Hunter cuts middle for a quick fade

2:44 — Zone def. Ball swing and Jerome quick off catch drive vs Larsson. Open gap in the lanes up top allowed the drive. Goes for the tough floater. ORB scramble Mobley finds Hunter cutting to rim. Defense thought they had the ball and run.

1:55 — Zone def. Just a couple of ball swings with defense shifting but no advantage. Hunter flashes elbow vs Herro. Draws the defense inside. Kick to Jerome. He beats Highsmith closeout but cuts off the drive, still managed to get a clean floater after Highsmith jumped initially

1:33 — full court press. Mitchell gets from Jovic and gets the runway. Mitchell just looks to attack. Bam deters the shot at the rim and switches. Just goes for ISO pu 3pt

1:10 — Transition. Off a steal. Quick swing Jerome 3pt

0:45 — zone def quick swing Hunter open 3pt. Early shot

0:06 — Zone def. Mitchell ISO stepback 3pt vs Highsmith

4th quarter

11:50 — Mitchell-Mobley PNR. Davion over, Bam in drop no advantage swing twice. Hunter off catch drive vs Jovic. Gets to the rim and blows a layup

11:16 — Jerome-Merrill-Hunter PNR. Highsmith over. Jovic at level. Ends in a switch with Jovic on Jerome. Duncan took care of Hunter first then recovered to Merrill and Highsmith rotated to Hunter. Flows into Jerome ISO drive vs Jovic, goes nowhere, stops and sees Duncan help kick to Merrill 1 pass away 3pt

10:33 — Mitchell-Merrill PNR. Davion under, so rescreen. Forces Duncan to step up and switch. Just goes for ISO pu 3pt

10:05 — Jerome looks to push pace. Bam early in position in paint to deter drive. Swings it to Okoro strong corner. Davion bit on the fake(why, it’s Okoro). Swing back, Jerome attacks Jovic off catch but no advantage, he cut the drive off well.

Duncan is cross matched with Mitchell. He comes to get the ball foul PF

SLOB. Zone def. Jerome-Mobley PNR. Haywood over recovers well. Feeds Mobley ISO post vs Bam. Travel TOV

The defense vs Jerome has been good on his drives

9:16 — Mitchell seeing early help to deter drives. ISO drive vs Davion. He beats him off dribble but he’s shading him right to attack(not sure why). Highsmith is at the nail looking to help. Duncan is in strong corner off Merrill offers little stunt. Bam with a good rotation from Mobley off dunker to force the floater. Jovic also good tip to prevent ORB

8:50 — some kind of zone def or matchups. Garland-Mobley PNR. Switch with Highsmith on Garland and Davion on Mobley. Garland looks to attack Highsmith. Duncan stunting off Merrill in strong corner and loses him. That meant he was out of position and had to closeout. He stays on the drive and cuts him off. Jovic shows too much help near the elbow off Mitchell, so it’s an open kick 3pt

8:10 — Garland-Merrill PNR. Ghosts into pop. No advantage. Garland ISO vs Highsmith, he’s doing a really good job staying with him. No help anywhere else needed at all. Just forces him to a tough paint floater

7:16 — Garland-Mitchell PNR ghosts pop. Davion switches on Garland. Highsmith on Mitchell. Just a Mitchell ISO vs Highsmith. Gets a step on him driving middle for a foul FTA. Davion doesn’t look to provide much help off Garland 1 pass away but does lose track of him relocating. That easily could’ve been a kick for a wide open corner

6:37 — Herro pressing Strus in backcourt. Looks to pass it off foul PF on the entry pass from Bam

6:30 — Jerome-Strus PNR. Hunts Herro on switch. Dropping, doesn’t want to switch but Highsmith caught on screen. Forced a switch with Herro. Flows into Jerome ISO vs Herro near the elbow. Davion with perfect timed help to force a TOV off a strong corner off Garland. Good gamble

6:12 — Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Herro dropping off Strus a lot. Davion got caught on the screen and is trailing badly. Bam in drop but had to step up. Davion still looking to recover on the screen. Highsmith stunted from the strong corner off Jerome but a late call on the foul FTA

5:38 — Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Herro again dropping off Strus. Davion under and recovers. But now it’s Allen PNR and gets caught on the 2nd screen. Bam in drop had to step up again. Slight stunt from Highsmith off strong corner Jerome this time. Garland drive kick once Jovic was in the paint helping to tag Allen. It’s a kick to Hunter 3pt

4:43 — Garland-Allen PNR. Jovic switches on Garland. Davion on Allen. Flows into Garland ISO vs Jovic. Stays with him pretty well. Tracks all of his moves. He’s on his feet not getting beat and forces a tougher fade

4:17 — Mitchell brings ball vs Davion press. Had to give up the ball to Strus off screen. It flows into Garland-Strus PNR. Herro reluctant to switch but does so in the end. Picks up the ball early and had to pass it off. Then Herro denies him well

Flows into late clock Mitchell-Strus handoff. Highsmith switches but gets beat slightly into the paint for a floater

3:34 — Garland-Strus PNR. Knocks over Strus fighting through it foul PF FTA

3:02 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Herro dropping. Davion over but poor reaction and is out of the play. Mitchell snakes and forces the Herro switch. Mitchell just quickly attacks Herro and gets to his spot for a pu 2pt

2:38 — Off a steal. Mitchell cross matched with Jovic. Mitchell tells Strus to be in strong corner. Mitchell ISO vs Jovic. Just goes for stepback 3pt. No help coming until a late potential double Davion.

1:58 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Herro switches until Davion comes to look to recover. Mitchell just goes for the pu 3pt in that opening

1:30 — Mitchell-Strus PNR. Herro shows, Davion recovers well and takes the 3pt away. Goes into a rescreen with Strus. Gets caught on the screen and open Strus pop

These are my personal notes. This isn’t written up as an analysis or a piece, so the actual write-up may not be in proper sentences or make total sense. It might have a couple of words missing, but they are just notes. Still, it shows all of the actions that each team have run.

I have also put actions resulting in a made shot or free throw in bold.

Also, be sure to check out the edits throughout the series because I will be adding more notes to this whenever I do a different rewatch for a different purpose. I will indicate what will be new or extra.

This won’t have clips as my other previous notes have because for the playoffs, the notes are every possession highlighting everything that has happened. Each video would have ~25 clips and it would be far too long.

Offense

1st Quarter

11:18(L) — Bam coming off a screen from Ware but this is just a play for Wiggins ISO post vs Mitchell with the side cleared. Bam is one pass away. Burks 2 passes & Herro in the corner. Ware is in the dunker spot with Allen helping off early. Mobley also has both feet in the paint, helping off Bam.

Bam does look to cut, which takes Mobley’s attention and opens up the pass. But Wiggins also takes his time and that does allow Garland to recover. The passes have to be sharper and quicker. This poss also ends with Wiggins travel TOV

10:55(L) — Off a steal. Herro pushes. Quickly flows into Herro-Bam PNR. 2 corners filled with Ware in the weakside dunker. Garland on Herro. Mobley in drop. Strus is also stunting quite a bit off of Burks in the corner. That probably forced Herro to pick up the dribble early and Garland recovers. No advantage because of it and defense resets

It turns into a Herro ISO vs Garland with the side whole cleared. Burks 1 pass away, Wiggins on the other wing, Bam in the corner and Ware in the dunker. Allen looks to help early again by going to the other side. Strus also has feet in the paint. That should be a kick to Burks at some point. Instead Herro forces a mid-range shot over Garland

10:19(L) — Burks-Bam-Ware PNR. Garland ices it and Mobley ends up taking Burks on the switch. That leaves Garland on Bam.

Bam looks to attack Garland in ISO with Burks 1 pass away(he doesn’t move). Wiggins in the strong corner(Mitchell soft digging) and Herro in the weak corner. Ware relocate cuts to the opposite corner and we see Allen again helps off Ware and forces Bam into a floater over him. There could’ve been a kick available to Herro in the same weak corner

Common theme so far is Allen helping off Ware a lot and early

9:50(L) — same action but Herro brings ball into Herro-Bam-Ware PNR with both corners filled. There’s also a kind of screen with Ware-Bam before Herro comes. Strus looks to ice it. Allen drops back. Mobley shows on Herro enough to allow Strus to recover. Bam is open on the pop and attacks Mobley on the closeout but a quick pick up after Strus digs in strongly

9:18(W) — Wiggins-Bam empty PNR. Mitchell ices it and Mobley is dropping(starts above the 3pt line). He has the baseline drive and forces the rotation from Allen off of Ware in the dunker, that also allows Mobley to be ready to recover to Bam just in case. Strus sinks in. That opens the kick to Herro and Burks gets an open 3pt on the swing. Good play to exploit that coverage

8:48(L) — Herro brings ball into quick ISO drive vs Strus. Does beat him off the dribble. Garland is already at the elbow off of Burks. That presence could have Herro force the pick up. He picked it up early and Allen rotated off of Ware again to force the floater. That probably could’ve been a lob to Ware if he didn’t kill the dribble

Bam just stashed in the strong corner

8:20(L) — Wiggins-Herro-Ware Chicago action. Bam and Burks stashed in the far corner. No advantage at all on the handoff. Offense reset and flows into Wiggins-Ware PNR with the late clock

Not much contact is made. Mitchell goes over easily and also draws Allen higher. Ware does get downhill with the short roll. Garland lunges but gets back to Burks 1 pass away. Ware did have the kick to Bam but chose not to pass it for some reason. Somehow manages to find Wiggins again for the kick and 3pt, but that’s also on Mitchell breakdown

Herro was just stashed in the corner for the whole poss with Strus on him

7 possessions so far and all basically wins for the defense

7:45(L) — Good quick flow with Burks pushing pace to flow into Wiggins off Bam screen into an empty PNR. Drop + switch. That opens up the pocket pass to Bam and he immediately goes for the pull up

Burks is one pass away and has Garland lunging hard. Mobley is ready to help off Ware in the weak dunker

This has to be a kick to either Burks and Herro on the wing

7:12(W) — Bam brings ball. Herro-Bam empty PNR. Strus has to go over and Mobley in drop. Good contact allows Herro to drag it out and force the switch. Bam looks to get into the post but fronted + Allen already lurking from behind

Herro swings it to Burks but gets it back and defensive breakdown from Cavs gives Herro a wide open CS 3pt

The breakdown was Strus/Mobley trying to get back to original matchups

6:34(L) — Herro-Ware PNR. Burks 1 pass away on the wing with both corners filled with Wiggins strong and Bam weak. Strus ices it. Allen in drop and Mobley helps off Bam on the tag. Herro goes for a long pull up 2pt. That is also a wide open skip to Bam

Another common theme has been passes not being made to wide open shooters

6:18 — Transition rim FGM. Wiggins lob to Bam

5:48 — good quick cross match with Ware vs Garland. Forces him to foul

5:43(L) — Wiggins-Ware empty PNR. Hunter does a good job denying him the screen. No advantage turns into a late clock ISO pull up 3pt

4:54 — Davion-Herro pistol action into Davion-Ware PNR. No advantage on the play with Merrill doing a good job and Allen dropping

Davion looked to drive and does beat him off dribble but Allen helps off Ware again. Hunter sinks off of Haywood on Ware. Good cut from Wiggins instead of just spacing

Davion gets another drive in the end but Allen once again helps off Ware to force the floater

Herro just been spaced above the break far out shifting a bit left to right but nothing else

4:02 — Davion-Ware-Herro Spain PNR. Haywood in strong corner, Wiggins in weak corner. Poor pass from Davion. Offense resets

Herro good off-ball movement this time

Wiggins ISO post vs Hunter(W). Side cleared with Davion 1 pass away, Haywood on the other wing and Herro in the corner. Allen helps off Ware on time and forces TOV

3:35 — Davion pushing pace. Finds Herro quickly and before the defense is set, Herro attacks Garland off dribble to the rim and draws the foul

3:12 — Davion brings ball → quick Davion-Bam empty PNR. Jerome goes over + Mobley in drop. Haywood, Herro, Duncan were stashed to one side with Duncan cutting baseline. No help comes off the shooters. Davion has the drive to rim

2:45 — Merrill doesn’t want to get off Herro and this has to just flow into Bam-Herro PNR. I don’t know why Bam just is slow about doing something

2:38(L) — Davion hub. Bam looks to pindown Duncan. Jerome top locks him. Davion doesn’t wait, he sees an opening and attacks draws the defense for a kick to Bam 3pt. Mobley left him to protect the paint

2:12 — Davion hub. Duncan off stagger with Merrill on him now. Under both then flows into Bam PNR with Mobley at the level, draws 2 but bad pass

He does draw the defense higher up that could open up something else

1:47 — Wiggins-Bam empty handoff. Drive middle but Hunter goes under + Jerome ignores Haywood relocating. Tough finish

1:27 — Davion-Duncan PNR to get Merrill switched. Into Davion-Bam PNR. Ice. Davion makes the pass too early and Bam just goes for a pull up

0:55 — Duncan-Bam handoff. Merrill goes under again so flow into PNR. Draws Mobley. 2 on the ball. Bam short roll with Jerome/Hunter already in the paint. Kicks, swing Davion corner 3pt

2nd Quarter

11:50(W) — Herro sets a pindown for Bam in the paint to flow into Davion-Bam PNR. Herro then flows into a screen for Kyle and comes off Bam’s pindown into a 3pt. Cavaliers have a breakdown. Gets a wide open look. I liked this

11:10 — Davion-Bam-Herro Spain PNR. No advantage. Mitchell tagged but then was also able to recover easily

11:03 — Herro-Haywood PNR. Attacks Mitchell quickly and gets a drive to the paint. Draws a foul

10:10 — Davion hub. Stagger for Herro. Top locked by Okoro. Flows into Davion-Bam-Herro Spain PNR has the drive to the rim but traffic everywhere. Jerome early tag off Haywood again

9:52 — Kyle-Bam-Herro Spain PNR. Mobley switches on him. Mitchell takes Bam. Okoro makes sure to stick with Herro after the pop. Kyle just looks to handle the ball, Okoro loses track of Herro, great move to get open for 3pt

9:35 — Kyle brings ball looks to go into Bam PNR. Mitchell looks to ice. Kyle drives and just forces up a floater over Mobley. Poor look

9:20 — Semi transition. Davion pushes. Kyle cuts kicks it to Haywood, who beats closeout and gets his usual push shot. That was open because Jerome was early off that strong corner

8:48 — Herro-Bam empty handoff. Okoro looks to ice. Herro drives baseline and just goes for a tough floater. Another poor look

8:42 — Herro-Bam PNR. Strus goes under then over. Now he draws Mobley higher up and opens up Bam on the short roll. Okoro tags off Davion one pass away. Bam makes the kick to Davion for the open 3pt. A bit of a slow processing

8:10 — Davion hub with Bam-Haywood-Herro screening on the other side. Okoro top locks Herro again but manages to flow into Bam handoff. No advantage. Herro ends up getting a drive vs Okoro, gets to the paint with Mobley showing help. Mitchell ignores Kyle in the corner to be in the paint. Herro good immediate skip to Kyle, swing pass to Davion, he beats the closeout and gets Bam the lob. I liked this

7:35 — Davion-Ware PNR. Garland ices it. Davion has the drive baseline and engages 2. He had the open Ware on the pop

Every one is always helping early off that corner in the paint

7:05 — Davion ISO drive vs Garland. Takes him off the dribble and easily gets to the rim but couldn’t finish

6:40 — Davion-Ware-Herro Spain PNR. No advantage. Allen dropped back enough to give time for Garland to recover. Okoro isn’t letting Herro free. Reset. Ends in a late clock Wiggins ISO pu 3pt vs Allen

6:02 — Herro-Ware-Wiggins Horns PNR. Goes left. Wade switches. Flows into Ware PNR. Allen switches. Now, it’s Herro ISO vs Allen getting to the paint. Help showed but then retreated to shooters once he got in the paint. Gets a clean look on the fade

5:25 — Davion-Ware PNR. Just a quick drive but lost ball TOV

5:10 — Transition. Herro pushes pace off a miss, gets to the paint for a floater

4:42 — Davion hub. Wiggins off Herro-Ware screen. Wade was helping off initially, so he had more ground to cover that allowed Wiggins to pull up for middy

4:12 — Davion hub. Wiggins off Ware screen curls to drive but sees help in the driving lanes. Kicks it to Davion. He drives but sees Allen helping off Ware, paint is cut off. Another kick for Ware 3pt. Haywood gets the ORB for a kick to Davion 3pt

3:30 — Davion-Bam PNR. Just a quick pocket pass into Bam pu 2pt. Allen was already in position in the paint. Mobley 1 pass away off Wiggins. No driving lane either

2:53 — Wiggins off a Bam screen into ISO stepback 3pt vs Mobley

2:33 — Transition. Davion pushes quickly finds Duncan 3pt

1:53 — Bam hub. Into Bam-Duncan PNR. Mitchell switches and almost strips it, ends in a jump ball TOV

1:20 — Davion-Wiggins PNR. Mitchell switches it. Goes to the post and Allen is loading up quickly off Bam in the dunker. Garland sinks in off Duncan. Wiggins makes the kick but the defense easily recovers. There was no pressure there at all on the weakside to make any of the rotations harder

Haywood feeds Bam. Ends in a quick post fade vs Allen. Haywood gets the putback

0:50 — Transition. Bam gets a drive to the rim but missed the dunk. ORB and Herro gets the 3pt as a trailer Another ORB and Herro gets another open look. And it’s another ORB

0:10 — Herro-Davion PNR. Gets Garland on the switch ISO pu 3pt

3rd Quarter

11:54 — Wiggins-Ware PNR. Bam 1 pass away. Both corners filled with Herro strong corner, Burks weak corner. Mobley helped off Bam early to be in the paint but also Wiggins just lost ball TOV

11:36 — Herro-Ware empty PNR. Wiggins 1 pass away. Mitchell already at the nail. Strus poor ice, allowed to use the screen. Allen helping off Bam in the paint early and forces Herro to make that kick for Bam 3pt

Every one else is just spaced on the wing but show enough to help to discourage drive but also not allow open kicks

11:02 — Herro brings ball, looks to go into Ware PNR but Strus ices it and he just passes it off to Ware popping way above the 3pt. Bam 1 pass away. Mobley helps off.

Bam looks to set pindown for Burks. Mitchell top locks it

It’s now Bam ISO post vs Mitchell. Allen looks to double. Ware cuts through but it’s Wiggins that gets ignored from the slot. Bam makes the tough middy fade but that’s a poor possession

10:20 — Herro-Burks-Ware PNR. Garland doesn’t want to switch. Strus goes over. Herro engages Allen in drop. Bam in the corner has Mobley help off, so exchange happens with Burks-Bam and Bam flash cuts to the ft for a CS 2pt but it’s another long middy that the Cavs will live with

10:08 — Off a FT ORB. Herro gets a drive off catch into the paint for a floater. Paint was also already packed with both Mobley/Allen looking to contest. Bam was near the corner

9:38 — Bam pushes pace and it’s just a quick ISO drive vs Strus. Poor shot. Think he was looking to bait a foul

9:10 — Burks-Ware-Bam PNR. Garland fights over, no advantage. Into Burks-Ware handoff. Garland goes under, open 3pt

8:25 — Herro-Ware-Bam PNR. Both Allen and Mobley look to just drop. Strus fights over. Burks 1 pass away but Mitchell near the elbow. Herro forces Mobley to switch then just ISO drive into the paint forces a tough look.

7:55 — Bam again pushes pace. Quickly attacks Mobley ISO. Gets a drive but Mitchell digs from Ware in the strong corner. Forces pick up and again looks to draw foul. Gets it

7:25 — More Bam looking to push pace but defense recovers. Ware has a cross match with Garland but they don’t get it to him. Burks looks to pass but deflect

7:14 — Herro-Ware PNR. Everyone else just spacing. Bam in the corner. Herro gets a drive but Mobley helps off Bam in the strong corner early and forces a floater. Herro had the open lob to Ware. Ware gets the ORB putback

6:30 — Bam hub. Herro off pindown but Strus top locks. Herro looks to get open off ball after fake screen gets it but then just can’t create space, makes a bad pass to Wiggins cut TOV

6:02 — Davion hub. Herro off Bam screen. Merrill trailing curls into the paint. Had the advantage but killed the dribble. Hunter helping off Wiggins. No kicks or lobs made. Herro goes for a floater. ORB Bam with the putback hook

5:30 — Wiggins ISO post vs Merrill. Allen helps off Bam to help early and quickly. Nothing happens just reset then ends in tough Wiggins ISO tough floater. Awful poss

5:00 — Transition. Davion quick ISO drive rim

4:28 — Davion hub. Stagger for Wiggins/Herro. No advantage. Ball swing to Burks. He ISO drive vs Jerome to the paint. Allen helps off Bam and it’s an open kick 3pt

3:56 — Davion-Herro-Bam PNR. Merrill switches and is trailing. Has the drive kick to Burks 3pt

3:03 — Herro looking for the stepback vs Merrill. Nothing there. Just swings it. Davion off catch drive into paint. Mobley helped off Bam early and deterred the drive. Kick to Wiggins lift 3pt

2:30 — Herro-Bam-Duncan PNR. Jerome switches. ISO drive. Hunter rotates to take it kicks it to Duncan. He draws 2 fly by contests. Gets a drive off catch to the rim. ORB Bam putback

2:00 — Duncan-Bam quick handoff. Defense late switch had the open pu 3pt

1:24 — Haywood hub. Herro top locked off Bam screen by Merrill. Into Duncan off screen. But he’s also top locked. Flows into Duncan-Bam handoff. Draws Mobley higher up. Bam short roll. Draws 2 in the paint. Haywood 1 pass away. Mitchell ignoring Davion. Bam makes the kick to Davion, he attacks off catch and finds Duncan cutting

0:50 — Transition. Davion pushes pace. ISO drive kick. Haywood trails 3pt

0:15 — Duncan-Bam handoff. Merrill trails, forces Mobley switch. Good Mitchell kick out. Flows into Bam ISO vs Mitchell. Late clock has to go for fade

4th Quarter

11:25 — Just a bad Davion pass TOV

11:00 — Davion hub. Bam comes to screen but flows into off ball screen for Duncan. Merrill does a good job fighting over. Duncan forces a late clock 3pt

10:20 — Davion-Duncan-Bam empty PNR. Merrill switches goes over. Davion engages 2 on the drive. Bam staying popping but then goes for a CS 2pt instead. Great Wiggins cut to take Okoro. Jerome picks up Duncan instead.

9:44 — Davion hub. Duncan off stagger. Draws Mobley to step up and puts 2 on ball. No advantage. Defense resets. Goes into Bam ISO post vs Mobley. Side cleared. Just gets to the paint for a fade

9:02 — Davion quick ISO drive vs Mobley. Easily beats him off dribble to the rim

8:40 — Davion-Duncan-Bam PNR. Merrill switches the first then ices Bam. Drives slightly then kicks back to Bam pop 3pt

8:10 — Bam pushes pace. Has the cross match with Jerome. ISO post with the side cleared. Mobley just looks to help and ignores Haywood completely. Everyone standing still doing nothing. No one helps. Bam has to fade

7:30 — Davion dribbles vs Garland does nothing. Sees Merrill elbow help. Swing. Wiggins off catch drive into 3 bodies draws foul

6:56 — Davion-Ware-Herro Spain PNR. Garland under. Allen dropping far. No advantage at all, even with the second screen iced

Ends in Herro ISO drive vs Merrill. Gets a step on him to the paint but traffic and lost control TOV

6:20 — Davion-Herro-Bam PNR. No advantage. Herro off Bam screen but Merrill top locks. Flows into Wiggins off screen. No advantage. Late clock flows into Wiggins ISO vs Strus. Had to self create tough mid. ORB ball swing but Haywood makes bad pass TOV

5:40 — Davion-Wiggins PNR. Gets Strus(Garland on Wiggins in the strong corner). Davion hub for Herro stagger. No advantage. Davion ISO drive to rim with the whole side occupied. One of the best plays

5:12 — Herro off TOV

4:45 — Another Davion ISO drive before the defense realised. Looked like a PNR but then just reject and drove hard vs Garland. Herro strong corner. Merrill didn’t move an inch

4:18 — Davion-Bam PNR. Ice drive. No advantage just looked for pocket pass. Defense recovers. Bam holds it too long with Garland showing strong help off Davion. Reset again. Davion-Bam PNR drive forces switch no advantage swing late clock Haywood 3pt.

3:40 — Transition. Davion ISO drive to rim

3:10 — Davion hub. Herro off Bam screen. Curls forces Mobley to fly by. Attacks and gets to the floater.

2:35 — Herro brings ball. Mitchell immediately ices any chance at pick. Wiggins 1 pass away with Mobley. Swings ball. Wiggins attacks off catch to rim

1:55 — Davion ISO drive draws def from Allen off Bam in the corner. Easy kick Bam 3pt

Defense

1st Quarter

11:51 — Iverson cut for Garland, Herro navigates 2 screens. Into Garland-Mobley PNR. Herro trails, Ware helps off Allen on the break to stop the drive. Burks loses Strus off flare screen open Strus 3pt

11:10 — Iverson cut for Garland again. Herro chases around goes under. Into Garland-Mobley PNR again. Herro trails again. Ware helps off Allen on the drive no advantage. Burks sticks with Strus. Poor Garland pass TOV

10:36 — Garland-Allen quick PNR. Herro under. Wiggins at elbow. Swing. Mitchell off catch stepback open 3pt

ORB. Allen gets it over Ware. Easy putback layup

10:00 — Mitchell-Garland PNR. Herro switches. Mitchell-Allen PNR. Herro foul FTA

9:36 — Mitchell pushes pace. Mitchell-Strus corner PNR. Herro switches. Easy quick drive rim. Ware doesn’t look to rotate at all

8:56 — Mobley brings ball. Quick Mobley-Garland PNR. Bam sags off open pu 3pt

8:37 — Mitchell trail swings into Mitchell-Allen PNR. Attacks off the catch vs Burks trailing. Kicks to Strus. Herro hard closeout gets run off. Strus drive draws Ware help open Allen dumpoff rim. Wiggins on the break with Garland

8:00 — Mitchell-Allen empty corner PNR. No advantage

Garland-Allen PNR. Herro ices it. Garland drive engages 2 and goes for tough floater

7:30 — Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Burks switches 1st, ices 2nd but Ware wasn’t in good position, he expected to use it. Garland rejects it goes the other way and forces Ware to switch

Fed Allen post vs Burks but smoked the hook. ORB but TOV

6:53 — Mitchell looks to attack Wiggins, but Ware is in the paint off of Allen, no advantage

Herro poor positioning and gambled in the passing lane. Garland attacks off catch. Ware late reaction to rotate and help.

6:22 — Mitchell quick ISO drive vs Herro. Lost ball TOV

6:03 — Jerome hub. Garland off screen, Wiggins recovers. Flows into Garland-Allen PNR. Another poor positioning from Ware on the other side of the screen. Garland rejects pu 3pt

Bam hasn’t been involved in any action

5:21 — Garland-Allen quick PNR. Haywood under. Garland pu 3pt. Ware not doing anything

ORB. Ware allows Allen to slip and get position. Kick swing. Jerome attacks off catch vs Wiggins, no advantage. Hunter off catch drive vs Haywood, beats him. Ware hunts the block and gets out of position. Another ORB Allen putback but Ware gets block. ORB BLOB

Garland-Allen PNR. Haywood trails foul behind FTA

4:28 — Garland-Allen quick PNR. Davion under. Turns the corner and forces Ware switch. No other advantages or looks open

Garland-Merrill PNR, gets Herro switch. ISO drive to rim. Davion good idea to switch with Wiggins to have him be the low man but poor help from Wiggins

3:43 — Semi transition. Garland pushes pace. Quick ISO drive vs Davion. Gets a step to rim but good help Ware blk

3:26 — Davion-Merrill-Mobley PNR. Haywood under, over, but switch. Bam takes Mitchell 3pt away. Mobley slips and easy roll rim. Herro not in position to tag off Hunter

3:02 — Mithell-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro on show. Before Haywood recovers, Mitchell attacks, gets to paint for a clean look

2:25 — Jerome-Merrill-Mobley PNR. Haywood under, switch. Bam on Jerome. Haywood on Mobley. Flows into Mobley ISO post vs Haywood. Easy, aggressive move inside. Wiggins low man doesn’t help. Bam on the break.

2:05 — Transition. Off a steal Mitchell ISO dunk rim

1:38 — Jerome-Mobley quick PNR. Davion over. Just a quick Pu 3pt. Davion trailed behind. Bam in drop at elbow

1:03 — Jerome-Mobley-Mitchell PNR. Haywood/Bam miscomm, didn’t want to switch. Jerome gets open pu 3pt

0:30 — Just a tough SLOB Mitchell CS 3pt

0:04 — Jerome-Merrill PNR. Hunts Duncan switch. ISO drive kick Mitchell 3pt

2nd Quarter

11:38 — Jerome-Mobley-Mitchell PNR. Bam switches 1st, on Mitchell. Haywood on Mobley. Davion sticks with Mitchell. Mitchell pops, attacks off catch, no advantage. Good def Davion.

Feeds Mobley ISO post vs Haywood in deep paint. Kyle overhelps inside. Open kick Okoro corner 3pt. Loose ball ORB ball finds Jerome 3pt.

10:54 — Jerome-Mobley-Merrill PNR. Bam switches on Merrill, Haywood on Mobley and Herro sticks with Jerome. Tried to feed Mobley. Good front and denial. Bam also great def denying Merrill. Reset

Flows into Mitchell—Jerome PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Drives engages 2 open pop to Jerome 3pt. ORB no one box out Merrill

Late clock Mobley cut into post fade vs Bam. Another ORB off a loose ball. Kyle lost track of Okoro. Deflections, broken play, loose ball finds Merrill 3pt

9:39 — Merrill poor outlet pass TOV

9:25 — Mitchell quick ISO drive vs Davion. Gets a step to the rim blown layup. Kyle looked to help. Bam on the break

9:05 — Jerome-Okoro PNR. Herro switches. Into Jerome-Mobley PNR. Bam drop, Herro over. Trails behind. Goes for the floater. Kept it 2v2

8:30 — Mobley hub. Strus off pindown. Haywood looked to top lock but gets free. Flows into handoff, PNR. Gets caught on the screen. Bam late reaction switch open pu 3pt

7:47 — Mitchell-Okoro quick PNR. Davion caught on screen. Haywood switches. Quick easy drive gets to rim + FTA. Bam on mobley on the break. Everyone stays home on their guy

7:25 — Garland-Okoro PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Flows into Wade ghost screen. That leaves Herro frozen and gives up the drive. Manages to somewhat recover but gets a good floater. Ware doesn’t look to rotate fully or even contest

6:58 — Kyle switches on Garland after the early pitch with Strus. Flows into Garland-Allen empty PNR. Kyle caught on the screen and trails. Ware steps up but allows Allen to roll to rim. No help inside or low man. A lot of off ball screens elsewhere with guys getting hit and that causes confusion with the screening/cutting. That took away any help too

6:17 — Garland-Wade quick early offense PNR. Davion caught on the screen. Ware deep drop inside the arc. Open pu 3pt

5:40 — Strus off screen(Herro chases). Into Garland-Strus-Allen PNR. Davion caught on screen badly. Herro late reaction to switch. Miscomm with Davion who didn’t want to switch. Open Strus pop 3pt

5:17 — semi transition quick Strus 3pt off a swing

5:02 — Garland-Okoro PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Into Garland-Allen empty PNR. Trails badly. Ware drop, near level. Garland engages 2 on the drive, but Ware also leaves his feet for the block and it’s an open lob for Allen rim

4:30 — Garland-Wade-Allen PNR. Herro switches 1st on Garland. Goes under 2nd. Ware much higher in drop. Rescreen, Herro goes over and gets a clean stepback 3pt

3:52 — Garland-Wade PNR. Herro switches. Same play into Garland-Allen PNR. Herro under, Ware high drop. Herro jumpy and Garland attacks the closeout, drives, engages Ware. Opens up Allen on the cut, after he slips. There’s no tag inside at all. I don’t know what Wiggins is doing. Haywood also late reaction but he saves the dumpoff with the block

3:18 — Mitchell early off ISO drive vs Haywood. No resistance at all, goes through him to the rim. No help anywhere either. Bam just lazily lunges. Def not fully back either

2:40 — Mitchell-Allen quick PNR. LOVE that flip the screen from Allen. Wiggins caught on the screen, badly. Forces Bam to step up and switch late but pu 3pt

2:16 — Zone def(ish), feels like it’s a mix of some kind. Mobley flash cut to elbow vs Davion. Draws the def to sink in. Flows into Hunter-Mobley PNR drive baseline. Def collapse in the paint on Mobley. Kick to Mitchell. Easy attack off the catch vs Duncan closeout. Bam steps up to deter the rim but still a clean look

1:34 — Garland-Hunter PNR. Hunts Duncan switch. Just goes for stepback 3pt

0:59 — Garland-Hunter PNR. Hunts Duncan switch. Into Garland-Allen PNR but Haywood looked to recover, caught on the screen and trailed. Bam hard show and forces a bad pass. Good def Bam

BLOB. Garland bad pass TOV. Bam steal.

0:33 — Mitchell quick bring ball ISO vs Davion pu 3pt 2 for 1

3rd Quarter

11:48 — Transition. Off a steal. Mitchell ISO drive foul vs Bam

11:24 — Mobley pushing pace. Quick ISO drive at Mobley to the rim. Gives a bump and gets a clean look but miss. ORB putback

10:43 — Garland-Strus PNR. Herro switches. Into Garland-Allen PNR. Ware drop. Herro caught on the screen badly. Goes under and recovers until the next PNR. Engages 2 on the drive. Bam good tag on Allen inside off Mobley. Kick to Mitchell, Wiggins closeout but gets beat. Ware looked to rotate but late reaction and just didn’t do anything. Bam was on the break with Mobley. Herro also didn’t do anything for some reason when he was on Garland who was out of bounds.

9:54 — Strus-Allen get action to handoff. Burks trailing. Strus into Mobley handoff. Almost a broken play Mobley gets 3pt

9:30 — Mitchell quick ISO pu 3pt early shot. ORB long rebound. Into kick for Garland 3pt

8:52 — Strus-Allen PNR. Burks over, Ware drop. Just swing to Mobley. Flows into Mitchell-Mobley side PNR. Bam switches stays on the drive well. Herro in passing lane deflection. OOB

Strus-Mobley handoff. Burks trails. Bam drop and steps up high quickly. Kick ball Bam

SLOB; Garland quick off catch drive vs Herro.

8:07 — Strus pushes pace, swings to Mitchell. He attacks off the catch vs Bam. Burks stunts from Garland forces pick up. Some miscomm with Herro/Ware on who’s with Allen, both went to the cut. That puts Ware out of position and closes out on Mobley. Not sure why he deserves that closeout. Bam perfect peel switch on the closeout drive forces a tougher look from Mobley in the paint

7:42 — Mitchell-Garland PNR. Hunts Herro switch. No help comes. Quick ISO drive. Almost lost ball OOB

BLOB; Strus screens Garland. Causes confusion with Herro/Burks on the switch. Flows into Strus off screen for corner 3pt

7:00 — Garland-Mobley-Allen PNR. Switch everything. Burks on Mobley. Bam on Allen. Ware on Garland. Flows into Garland ISO vs Ware. No help at all or shown anywhere. Easy drive blow by to the rim. Bam with Allen in dunker

6:18 — Transition. Off a steal. Mitchell ISO drive quick drive vs Ware inside. Just gets him out the way. Defense not really back and letting him go

5:46 — Jerome-Allen PNR. Bam drop. Herro trails. Jerome gets a drive for quick floater. Wiggins hasn’t been looking to help inside or tag at all

5:13 — Hunter-Jerome PNR. Burks switches. Hunter ISO drive vs Burks. Gets to the rim. Bam was in dunker, didn’t really look to help

4:50 — Garland off Merrill pindown into Allen handoff. Davion trails, Bam dropping quickly. Burks doesn’t look to stunt but also losing track of Jerome. Garland does turn the corner and draws foul as Davion recovers. PF

SLOB; Garland-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Miscomm Herro/Davion on the switch. Garland then has the drive, gets to paint for a fade. Wiggins doesn’t look to help at all off Hunter in strong corner. Bam reluctant to help off Allen either off dunker

4:13 — Jerome-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Into Jerome-Allen empty PNR. Goes through the screen, stays attached on the drive, Bam in drop. No lobs or deep drives just a tough floater

3:46 — Garland pushes pace. Quick ISO drive vs Wiggins in early offense. Gets a step on the cross but great anticipation from Davion to save it. OOB

SLOB. Mobley hub. Hunter top locked by Wiggins, no advantage. Flows into Jerome-Mobley handoff. Switch. Bam on Jerome. Haywood on Mobley. Just goes for a pu 3pt. ORB. Mobley tips it above Haywood

Merrill flows into Mitchell handoff. Hunts Herro switch. Another poor execution with Herro/Davion. Some misomm. No help at all inside on the Mitchell drive to rim. Not sure what Wiggins is staring at.

2:43 — Zone def. Quick feed to Mobley inside in the dunker. Goes at Bam ISO in post. Good absorbing the contact from Bam. Forces not a clean look at the rim

2:10 — Hunter quick ISO drive vs Haywood. Just a drive to the right. Duncan stunts off Merrill, forces pick up. Haywood recovers to contest. But ORB and putback. Missed a bunny

1:51 — Soft full court press before inbound. Goes into zone. Mitchell-Hunter PNR. Some miscomm with Davion/Haywood. Goes for a wide open pu 3pt.

0:56 — Mitchell-Merrill PNR. Hunts Duncan switch. ISO drive but traffic, Davion swipes and lost ball TOV

0:41 — Jerome-Hunter PNR. Haywood switches on Jerome. Flows into Jerome-Merrill empty PNR. Duncan show, lunges, recovers but then allows the drive baseline and foul FTA

4th Quarter

11:51 — Zone def. Mobley flash middle, no advantage. Just swinging to Jerome. Defense shifts with Haywood closing out. He gets beat on the closeout. Jerome goes for the floater but good help from Bam on the blk. ORB

BLOB. Kick swing Okoro wide open corner 3pt. ORB Mobley gets it over Bam. Kick Mitchell for a tough 3pt

11:18 — Zone def. Jerome-Merrill-Mobley PNR. Defense shifts, quick swing Merrill open 3pt with Wiggins looking to rotate and contest

10:45 — Jerome-Mobley PNR. Bam switches. Swing. Merrill off catch drive vs Duncan but good recovery and stopped the drive without help, kick. Flows into Mitchell-Okoro PNR drive vs Davion. Foul PF

10:35 — Jerome-Mobley PNR. Haywood switches. Jerome ISO drive vs Haywood gets a step to the paint for a tough floater

10:00 — Zone def. Jerome with the ball, defense shifting, just a swing Mitchell 3pt with Wiggins not near to contest

9:20 — Zone def. Ball just swinging around, defense shifting. Jerome flash cut middle, defense collapses. Drive kick, swing, Okoro corner open 3pt

8:53 — Zone def. Awful def getting back. Cavs push pace with an outlet, 1 more swing and Jerome open corner 3pt

8:25 — Zone def. Ball swing again. Jerome drive off catch, help shifts and it’s another kick to Okoro strong corner 3pt

7:46 — Zone def. SLOB. Jerome gets an open look as the inbounder

7:20 — Garland hub. Haywood top locks Jerome. Flows into Garland-Allen-Jerome Spain PNR. Davion trails, Ware in drop. Turns corner and engages 2 on the drive inside. Kick back to Jerome, poor pass. Reset

Late clock. Jerome-Strus PNR. Hunts Herro switch. ISO drive draws a foul FTA on Herro

6:42 — Cavs push pace. Quick ball swing into Jerome-Allen PNR. Herro late reaction, is now behind. Ware in drop. Davion is early in the paint to tag but then has all the ground to cover on the kick to Merrill 3pt. Feel like that should be Wiggins splitting the difference at least

I haven’t liked Wiggins at all off-ball defense

5:50 — Jerome-Allen PNR. Herro looks to ice it. Bam in drop but poor positioning. Allen gets an open pocket pass and a roll to rim. Haywood low man not even paying attention, he’s focused on Strus moving. Wiggins stunts from Merrill off strong corner

5:21 — Jerome-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro switch, into Jerome-Allen PNR. Herro over, trails. Bam in drop. No stunt or help from Davion off Garland 1 pass away. Herro trails and is behind on him, gets to the paint and draws a foul FTA

5:06 — Jerome-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Into Jerome-Allen PNR. Herro under, then trails behind. Bam in drop. Looks to recover and forced a tough floater fade

4:33 — Jerome-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Into Jerome-Allen PNR. Just poor reaction, goes under. Allows a wide open pu 3pt

3:51 — Jerome-Merrill PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Davion comes to double this time quickly. Finds the swing pass to Merrill + Allen setting a pin in screen on Bam. Wide open Merrill 3pt

3:35 — Garland-Mobley handoff into Garland-Strus PNR. Hunts Herro switch. Good wall from Herro, stopped the drive. Broken play. Deflected. Reset

Garland-Strus PNR. Herro switch but poor switch gives the space for open pu 3pt

2:55 — ball swing into Jerome-Allen empty handoff. Herro takes a bad route for no reason going under both. Bam hard show, blitz, puts 2 on ball. Trapped him in the corner. Allen short roll, Haywood rotates but foul.

2:25 — Garland-Jerome PNR. Herro show. Haywood jumps to blitz. Bam rotates to Jerome. Wiggins rotates to Allen. Herro rotates to Mobley. Advantage gone

Flows into Mobley ISO vs Herro. Haywood comes to blitz and double. Kick to Garland. Bam rotates. Davion rotates to Jerome. Wiggins takes Mitchell in the corner. Herro stops the drive but miscomm with Bam too. Now you have 3 defenders in the paint for one guy on the drive and open kick Garland 3pt

1:36 — Garland-Mitchell PNR. Just a quick pu 3pt

Note, this is all just a discussion with no film. That is a plan for the off-season.

Today, we’re going through Duncan Robinson, Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, and Nikola Jovic.

Duncan Robinson

I’m not sure how to feel about his season, especially compared to the jump he had last year. But I would say it hasn’t felt the same as it has in past seasons. He still shot 39.3% from 3pt on 13.5 3s per 100. He’s 8th in % amongst 15 players with at least 13 3s.

So, he was still doing his thing. And yet, he still had a drop-off in his minutes and other impact metrics. He started half of his games. It felt like his minutes fluctuated at times.

I think the loss of Butler made things a bit more difficult for him in particular and that had a clear negative impact on the team. With Robinson, Adebayo, and Butler on, the Heat were +8.5 with a 122.5 ORTG. But without Butler, that dropped to -4.0 with a 109.1 ORTG. There needs to be high-level offensive talent to make all of that work to a bigger extent. Even if you include Herro in that, it’s still -2.3 with a 110.4 ORTG.

Something is clearly not working there.

This isn’t making a case that he deserves to be starting 100% or have a set rotation, but I do think that being on, what it seemed like, a short leash. But again, he’s a role player, and if something isn’t working for whatever reason, it’s not worth prioritising any decisions on an older veteran when there are other younger players.

Individually, he hasn’t really looked much different or how it’s been used. Last year was the big change in his play style, and we’ve seen him do a lot more. That was a big reason why he got back into the rotation in the first place.

That still continued. He’s been seeing just as many of the PNR responsibilities. He’s been attacking inside at the same rate and with similar efficiency. But it just hasn’t hit the same as last year. He still adds the same kind of offense as he did last year.

There have been games where it was a focus on getting him going when he had himself going. There are plenty of different actions that are set up to make that work. The gravity is still there. He still makes defenses panic and that opens up everything else. The fear he puts in defenders chasing him around hasn’t changed.

I just don’t know how to feel about the season. There hasn’t been anything significant that was negative. There also hasn’t been anything significant that was a huge plus either. Part of that comes from the team being different and even if individually players may do well, it still doesn’t have the same impact.

It has seemed then that some of the changes and the fact that there was Burks in the rotation that could take some of the minutes, again had Robinson slip into some inconsistency. That is also where his shooting is at it’s worst. He shoots 34.0% when playing between 10-19 minutes, but over 40% in every other game above 20 minutes.

But having a player that you may not entirely need anymore and there are other players with different skillsets suited for this team, it doesn’t make sense for him to play that much at times.

Heading into the off-season, I do look to move him if possible. But at the same time, with the Heat do looking to compete, it’s going to be hard to even attempt to replace some of the high volume shooting.

He still had 12 games with at least 5 3s made(he shot over 50% in 11 of those games). He also had 35 games with at least 7 3s and shot 40% or better in 21 of them. He still provides the immense spacing that everyone benefits from, and he can as easily give you 5 3s with elite passing for his role and volume. He’s also still one of the only few players that I can think off that are more specialists that don’t drop off in the playoffs.

I’m still kind of torn on what to do with Duncan because he’s not even a negative contract anymore, but with some of the need changes of the team and different lineups that work better in different ways, I’m finding trouble finding him a spot going forward that couldn’t be used for different players. But individually, he still will give you the same thing he’s always done.

Davion Mitchell

Mitchell has been probably the brightest spot post deadline. I was liked Mitchell a lot when they did trade for him. I was pro trading for Mitchell before that was even on the table. I liked the potential of what he could bring, particularly with his drives and passing.

But I still wasn’t expecting any of this. He is also a case of “I apologise, I wasn’t familiar with your game”. Mitchell, by a number of metrics and stats, had a career year. He gave the Heat things that I haven’t seen from a guard in a while. He helped them in different ways, too.

The first thing is the number of touches he was involved in and how much he had the ball in his hands. He had a 4.7 time of possessions and that was basically identical to Herro since being traded here(February 10th). He was the one who had the ball the most in his hands with 4.55 average seconds per touch and handled the ball the most with 4.44 average dribbles per touch. There were many games that he led the team in time of possessions period.

I liked the decision making from him, given how much he had the ball. He led the team in passes made with 49.7 and was second in potential assists with 9.3 in 31.6 minutes — per minute basis, he would be first, ahead of Herro. He had a 23.8% AST, which would be the second highest in his career(the highest was his time with the Raptors) and he also had a 16.5% TOV, which would be a considerable improvement with his time with the Raptors at 23.1%.

The turnover stuff was a significant issue that I looked into in my breakdown on what he could bring to the Heat. With the Raptors, he had a 38.6% TOV freq in the PNR but that dropped to 21.8% with the Heat.

One interesting stat that I feel like that has also had an effect is on everyone else. Herro, Adebayo, Ware, and Wiggins all average fewer turnovers per 100 with Mitchell on vs off. That has a compounding effect. Mitchell commits fewer turnovers, but with him also having the ball more, it means other players don’t commit as many either.

In games that he played in, the Heat are +3.5 net with him on in 947 minutes and -5.0 without him in 508 minutes. That gets better when you include both Herro or Adebayo. With all three on, they are +6.5 with a 118.6 ORTG and 112.1 DRTG in 412 minutes but if you take Mitchell away, it’s -1.9 with a 116.9 ORTG and 118.8 DRTG in 211 minutes. He helped a lot.

He does his job with everyone on, too. In those 412 minutes, he averages 11.8 points per 75 on 64.5% eFG and 65.1% TS with 13.7% usage, shooting 60.0% from 2pt and 45.8% from 3pt.

The shooting has been a big help(he has been cooking ever since my tweet pointing out that defense doesn’t care enough about it, to the point they can have a big like Luke Kornet on him). With the Heat, he is shooting 44.7% from 3pt, which is the highest in his career, though that is also on just 5.0 3s per 100, which is the lowest volume in his career. He’s also 45% on C&S 3pt, 46% on pull up 3pt, and 50% on wide-open 3pt. This part of his game has been great to see the improvement. That has been the biggest worry and criticism about his scoring. You need to have a respectable 3pt as a guard in 2025, so, hopefully, the improvement is here to stay.

There’s just so much that he’s done well in the limited time with the Heat. He has genuinely been one of the more important players for the Heat post deadline.

He is a killer in transition, scoring 1.3 points per possession with over 21% of his offense there. Transition has been something the Heat have struggled with, and he fixed that a lot. With Mitchell on, the Heat averaged 16.0 fast break points. Take him off, and that drops to 12.8. That is the difference between the 11th and the 28th. That can also coincides with points in the paint where that drops from 52.9 to 47.2, which is the difference between 7th and 23rd.

The Heat offense is always in the mud and they struggle getting easy points. Mitchell helps off set that with the constant need to push pace. The way he flies through the court is funny. I haven’t seen a guard that fast at all for the Heat recently — it feels strange watching him, not being used to that.

And that’s just the offense. He has been as advertised on defense, too. The first fun thing that stood out is he must be annoying to play against. He will draw a foul on you. Since coming to the Heat, he has drawn 20 offensive fouls, which is second in the league. That’s 20 possessions that is a forced turnover. He’s also 16th in total steals in that same span.

Spoelstra has been able to use him to pressure ball handlers, something that has lacked since Gabe Vincent. He has been awesome on defense and his impact has been getting better as the season went on:

This has been a successful 30 game run for him. Now, he is a restricted free agent, but barring any wild contracts being thrown at him, I’m making sure to match any reasonable deal — hell, I wouldn’t even get to that point. I’m making sure he’s getting locked up. For whatever the direction the Heat go in, if it’s leaning into the youth and rebuild or getting win now stars, he can be a reliable, impactful back up guard for any team. And if the offense continues to round out, then the floor gets even higher.

Tyler Herro

Probably the most impressive player this season, especially when compared to his past seasons. He has been, by far, the best offensive player for the Heat all season long.

Before even getting to anything he did on the court, the absolute best thing about this season is the simple fact that he was on the court. He played a career high 77 games(67 was his second highest in 2023), and this comes after playing a career low 42 games last year — that was one of the biggest disappointments last year. For the first time in his career, he didn’t have a single stretch where he missed more than a game in a row.

That matters. After being called fragile by Pat Riley, he answered by taking care of one of the main issues. That alone deserves a lot of credit.

But his improvement didn’t stop there. He posted a career high in a lot of offensive metrics. Per Dunks and Threes, his O-EPM went from +1.5 to +3.7. Per DARKO, it went from +1.1 to +2.0. Per BBall-Index, O-LEBRON went from +0.7 to +1.8. This wasn’t just nice box score stats looking pretty. The Heat’s ORTG with him on was 115.7 and dropped to 109.2 without him — the second highest differential in his career.

He was the most efficient in his career, going from an average of 55.7% TS in his first five seasons to 60.5%. This also wasn’t just being carried by shooting, either, and that is what was impressive.

A lot of that came as a result of his inside scoring taking the biggest leap. In the previous five seasons, he never cracked 50% and shot an average of 48.3%. This year, it jumped to 56.5%. This comes as a result of both changing the shot diet and continuing to refine some of his finishing skills.

A significant difference was taking out those long 2s. In each of the last five seasons, at least 12% came from 14ft-3pt, where he shot ~40%. That dropped to 7%, as well as improving the accuracy on long jumpers to 46%. That change mostly reflected in more 3s, which helps boost the efficiency.

The scoring in the paint when it comes to frequency and volume was on track with what he was doing in previous years, particularly in his sixth man year. But this year, it’s the accuracy that has improved drastically. He had an awful season last year, shooting 52.4% at the rim, and that improved to a career high 65.8%. His paint scoring also continues to improve to 53.8% — that is particularly high due to his floater.

That has been the biggest difference in his game because he did see a drop off in his 3pt shooting. There was a particular stretch where he shot sub 30% in over 10 games. But that mattered less when his 2pt scoring carried him. From October to January, he had over ~55% 3pt rate. That dropped to 36% in March and 30% in April. And he still had a 57.3% eFG and 61.6% TS. Last year, with poor shooting like that would’ve been awful.

He definitely should be in consideration for the most improved player.

The significant improvements that he has made have made it possible for him to be the lead creator on the team that has a higher ceiling than if he had come back with marginal improvements similar to last year. I feel more comfortable with him in that role a lot more than in the three previous seasons.

A lot of that comes with the scoring being a lot more impactful than just an inefficient 20 points on 55% TS that had a big chunk of it coming from the mid-range. But it was also the passing taking a further jump that made this work, too. For the first time in his career, he reached at least 25% AST. All his passing metrics improved significantly.

I mentioned this in the off-season deep dive, where I talked about what potential routes he can take to improve from last season. One of it was a change in role and how he got his offense. That hasn’t changed much, with him still being a heavy PNR guy. But he completely answered with the other potential route:

“Where we see a completely improved Herro with a different mentality as both a scorer and a passer. We see a shot diet that’s more efficient”

We seen this happen. He made strides in all of those areas as an on-ball creator. That has been a topic that I talked about a lot for the 2023 and 2024 season that seen the same issues each year. He literally addressed those issues well.

With that, I do think he jumped up a whole tier of players in that role.

But this year, he’s also been a lot better in being more efficient off-ball. In prior seasons, especially last year, he was quite bad at easy shots. Last year, he shot 46% on 2pt with less than 2 second touch time, and in prior seasons, none were over 60%. He jumped to 70% this year! That is a huge change that makes everything better. That is something we’ve never seen from him.

As someone who has been quite critical of him, he has answered a lot of the criticisms and addressed almost all of the weaknesses to some extent, one way or the other. Whether that was in the on-ball role or as an off-ball player, he literally went down the list and improved in the question marks that I had heading into the season.

And for that, he deserves a lot of credit for this season.

Heading into the off-season, there are discussions to be made about his potential extension. That is still something that I’d be looking to be cautious about. A player’s value can easily change drastically once they get a different contract that may be a bit on the higher end, and it can then make the rest of the roster construction harder.

Bam Adebayo

This was a bit of an up and down season for Adebayo, mainly on the offensive end. He really started off badly. It felt like there was no direction on what to do with Adebayo on that end. There were so many talks about his drop off in usage, not getting involved, being just used as a spacer, and his drop off in things that he did well.

That’s where he was averaging a career low in points, efficiency, and impact. His shot profile was poor, with the worst shooting slump possible. All of his play types were down. Everything was quite bad for him.

There was also a lot of inconsistency in his usage, and he was either used as a scorer or a facilitator. That was even inconsistent period by period. That did quickly resolve itself, where they started to use him a lot more on-ball as they have done in previous seasons.

But there was still a lot of inconsistency in his offense. His game was really predicated on whether he could shoot like Durant from the mid-range. There was a stretch that he was shooting over 55% in those spots, and it looked great. But then he had stretches where he shot under 40%, and it looked bad. In the first 30 games, he shot 48.9% from 2pt. In the following 48, he shot 53.3%, so he did finish off the season around his averages. But his shooting around the paint and mid dropped to around ~42% post-March.

We also saw another drop off in his rim rate, which is as concerning. That has been a trend ever since 2022. He’s the most athletic player on the team, and he has a 24% rim rate. Not even a quarter of his shots. That’s not good. At all. That continued to drop as the season went on.

That’s where we saw him score a career low as a roll man. Only scoring 0.96 points per possession and shooting 49.3% eFG on 3.3 poss.

His self-creation has been an issue more so this year because the efficiency just fell off the cliff. He 41% in the post. 0.82 per poss. Out of 26 players with at least 2 possessions, he’s last in efficiency.

This was already a big reason why his efficiency and the team struggled on offense in prior seasons, and he got worse in this area.

I still have no idea how to feel about his offense, though, and this season hasn’t helped that at all.

This season was also different because he not only became more of a 3pt shooter, but that he played with Ware. That changes things. There’s always been talk about his game going away from being just a big. There have been strides taken in the right direction. The shooting is becoming more legit with more time. That does help things a lot.

The shooting is also what helps the efficiency in the minutes with Ware. In 541 minutes with him, he’s averaging 23.4 points per 75 on 63.0% eFG and 65.4% TS. But that’s also because he shoots 60.8% from 3pt on nearly 5 3s per 100.

The issue comes in with the shot profile elsewhere. That’s where we continue to see a shift towards a very mid-range heavy game. He only takes 19% of shots at the rim. And I’m sorry, but that is inexcusable regardless of personnel, and it’s not just because they don’t have a point guard. He also takes 15% of his shots within 14ft-3pt. When it’s that extreme, it’s on the player.

That’s where I don’t know how to feel about his offense going forward, especially when they look to play him more with Ware. He cannot have a shooting profile resembling a wing from the 00s. But I also don’t know what the plan is still going forward to get out of this. I mean, there are clear steps in the development that would be needed; it’s just the likelihood of that happening.

This season, then, just emphasised the question marks that were showing up last year and the year before.

The defense… that has been on point as usual. The level of consistency from Adebayo on that end, year in and year out, is remarkable.

We did see him in a different role with Ware on the court. That did mean he was used more away from the actions. And at times I do wonder if that is also the best way to not only use him to his strengths but also what is good for the team.

One stat did stand out, and one that would matter more is some of the rim protection. With Ware and him at that size, he would be the one that tasked to help. Yet, opponents shoot 66.9% within 6ft, which is 2.4% higher than expected. The volume also isn’t high. But that’s something to note.

Overall, Adebayo’s season is always going to be good, and that’s mainly always going to be because of the defense. Until that impact isn’t hitting the same, then anything on the offensive end isn’t that big of a difference to hurt the team. I do believe he has been a big contributor to why they’re bottom 10 offense but he’s also a big contributor to the Heat being a top 10 offense.

Heading into the off-season, he’s locked up and will be starting his extension. There’s nothing to talk about. He’s staying. Period.

Andrew Wiggins

Wiggins was probably meant to be the biggest addition to the team for Butler. Unfortunately, he took being the Butler replacement quite literally. He only played 17 games with the Heat. That’s almost as many games as he has missed, with 15. That was the biggest disappointment.

But even when he played, I didn’t like a lot of how we went about his offense. This is something that I touched on here, where I went through his offense and how it’s been a lot of self creation that didn’t result in good things. Related to that, I also talked about why everyone else can’t have good games together for similar reasons.

His offense was something that I didn’t expect to be to this extent. He was being used as the guy on the team, and that isn’t the role that he was most suited for.

His scoring inside was somewhat inefficient at 52.3%. I talked about in the piece when they got him that his rim finishing declined significantly, and I hoped that was a blip. That hasn’t been a blip. It looks like a trend where he’s fallen off finishing well inside. His 3pt shooting was streaky, but in the end, he did end up shooting 36.0%.

That was the issue. Inefficient self created offense that was at too much volume, but then also having a slump in some of the shooting and struggling to finish off-ball which made everything worse.

Don’t get me wrong, some of the shot creation is needed, especially on a team that did lack it. But that had to be an addition to everything else, rather than the thing to revolve around.

Obviously, that’s not on Wiggins entirely because that is something that Spoelstra wants, but that doesn’t make what Wiggins was doing effective. He was below average in the PNR, in isolation, but decent in the post. What I did find him struggling a lot with is making the simple reads. That was bad, regardless of role. It’s also been made worse with the turnovers that he’s been kind of prone to, especially on drives.

The off-ball stuff is something that I do expect to bounce back. That was something that did over time, really improved with the Warriors. You don’t suddenly fall off the cliff again, especially on open looks.

The defense was inconsistent, too. That was more annoying than anything offense related. I assumed that the offense was going to have a transition period to see how he’s going to fit here, but the defense was underwhelming. That did get better with more time, so maybe it was injuries piling up.

One other concerning stat was the fact that the offense was better without him on. This is a smaller sample, but just in the games Wiggins, Herro, and Adebayo played in, they are -0.6 with a 113.0 ORTG together. Take Wiggins off, it’s +14.3 with a 121.6 ORTG. A similar trend happens in games he didn’t play. The offense was better without him eating up so many of the possessions with his self-creation.

That is a question mark that will have to be answered in how to approach his offense with everyone else.

Overall, it was only 17 games, but that is part of the issue that made this season a bit more disappointing for him. Even with that considered, I’d still lean that it wasn’t as great and there are a lot of questions on the offensive end if he continues to be on the team.

And on that point, he is locked up on a deal for next season. I don’t see him being moved, unless they are looking for an upgrade, and they need salaries to match. If he’s gone, I don’t think it will make that much of a difference, depending on the return. But if he stays, the offense needs to be figured out, and the defense needs to be more consistent.

Nikola Jovic

This was an unfortunate year for Jovic, and a lot of that has to do with simply health. He only played 46 games. He missed a bunch of late November for almost 10 games and then ended his season February 23rd. It is a shame that it ended so prematurely.

He has improved a lot from last season, which was basically his first season getting a proper run. He increased his minutes this year to over 25(up from 19 last year). He solidified himself in the rotation and looked pretty good. He is also still just 21 years old!

There’s been more of an emphasis to play him on-ball and allow him to run more actions. That was a thing in January where the young players took over. He was given more responsibilities, and it really did look good. I talked about some of that in more detail here.

The flashes that he has shown there have always been something to look out for in him. That’s the passing and the drives, and the creativity he has in those actions with the ball. There was a particular play in one random game against the Pacers where you could see him direct traffic and point where the pass should go, as if he were the coach.

There were many other smaller details that has felt like an improvement in his game when he had the ball. One other part that stood out was the willingness to improvise and take what the defense gave him. That was fun to see because he is a smart player.

His inside scoring has improved from 52.5% to 56.3%. He improved significantly, finishing at the rim compared to last year, going from 55.5% to 68.5%. He was also assisted the fewest in his career. Again, that just shows that this was a season that they did look to get him more on-ball opportunities.

It has been a year full of growth for him on that end, in particular. Everything about it looked better as the season went on. His post ups and drives felt more in control. His PNR work seemed more patient. There was a game against the Wolves(where he did have the game winner) that he did look out of control driving and threw up a bad shot, which had Herro throwing his arms up looking like “what??”, but that has gradually gone away as the season progressed.

All of that has been a big positive, and it is going in the right direction.

On the other hand, I still wonder what his role is or should be. This is obviously team-dependent, and the team in general has seen changes, plus the team’s expectations. That makes player’s roles needing to be a bit different, and different prioritisation comes into play.

To start the season, the Heat were obviously in more of a better position to win and compete. They still had Butler playing. Everything was still figuring out to be a top 6 team that prioritised winning. That’s where I felt underwhelmed with his game. I don’t think he’s there yet to help such teams(duh, he’s 21) and that did hurt his impact when that still mattered to the team. A lot of it comes from him not being a consistent 3pt shooter. He hasn’t been great off-ball either, usually just standing still.

His value is higher when he has the ball, but that isn’t ideal if you’re looking to win and you have better players suited for that. The rest of the players have to play within the offense and find ways to contribute. That’s what I think he lacked. If you have to be accommodated as a role player in such a way, then I can’t justify playing him over players who don’t need that.

But things changed around January, where the expectations got a bit different. The team was able to just embrace the youth more without worrying about the end results. The process became more important. That’s where we saw Jovic play better.

Though, that is still going to be a question going forward for him, to me. This team will still have other alternatives than simply giving Jovic the ball. I wonder how much he improves in that area to fit better.

He’s already shown that he is going to let it fly from 3pt. His confidence is, at times, through the roof. But he also needs to start making them. And he also needs to start doing more things than just standstill or passively move off-ball.

Still, this was a good season in the direction for him and it just sucks that he missed out on almost 40 more games. That does hurt the development. He already looked better in game 42 than he did in game one. He probably would’ve looked better in game 80, too.

There is a topic of extension with him in the off-season. I’m not entirely attached to him, but I would do what’s needed to get him back on a reasonable deal. With the injury history, I also wouldn’t expect anything to be outrageously high. I’m still looking forward to his growth.

Kel’el Ware

I loved Ware this season. He is a rookie, so the expectations for his season were a lot different from everyone else. I tend to be a lot more lenient with rookies, where mistakes aren’t emphasised. Everything around them is all through the lens of development and reps. If there’s progress throughout the year in their mistakes, then that’s good enough.

And that’s exactly what I loved from Ware.

He didn’t start to play immediately. He wasn’t fully in the rotation until December 21st. Before that, he literally just got spot minutes in garbage time and played over 10 minutes twice. Eight of the first 25 games were under single minutes.

From December 21st to January 17th, he was their back up big. He fully put himself into the rotation and did a great job. He averaged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game and shot 69.1% from 2pt and 47.8% from 3pt(it was 11/23).

But all of that changed once they were getting their asses kicked by the San Antonio Spurs, which prompted Spoelstra to play him with Adebayo. Then start him in the second half. Once he started with Adebayo, it was wraps. He became a starter.

And since then, as a starter, he averaged 10.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 28.4 minutes per game. His efficiency has dropped from 65.3% to 57.9% TS, and a lot of that has to do with the 3pt shooting falling off. He shot only 28.4% as a starter.

Regardless of some stats and efficiency dropping, he still played well as the starting big. He did his job on both ends of the floor.

As a big on offense, he can really run and jump. That was the first thing that stood out, and it was the easiest thing that they could do, which the Heat rarely had. He was an athlete, and that easily translated to easy dunks immediately. The Heat don’t have many great lob throwers, and he still was able to feast on all of that.

All of that may seem simple because it is, but good, impactful big plays are important and not every big plays like that. It may be simple, but it’s not easy to do it consistently.

His role on offense grew as the season went on. You could kind of see it that early on, he was just trying not to get in the way and not mess up. There were plenty of possessions that had Adebayo shouting and pointing at what he should do. That still happens at times, but definitely not to that extent. He flows much better into what he should do.

He also looked to expand on some range when it comes to distance and the moves he throws out. The touch around the paint has looked really good for him. He shot 69% within 5ft, 52% within 5-9ft, and 47% within 10-14ft. He shows 52% in the paint and 40% in the mid-range. He did look more confident in just trying more things on offense.

One thing that when it popped up, it stood out was his passing. He didn’t get many reps or opportunities there, but when they opened up, he flashed a lot in that area. He had many instant decisions on touch passes. His short roll decision-making led to many open lobs for Adebayo(that was a fun staple play for those two). He has been used as a hub at times and has shown that he can find cutters. Again, the volume wasn’t that high, but he capitalized whenever he was used there.

Offensively, he showed a lot of promise. He is as advertised on that end, and I do believe there’s a lot of upside there as a big. There’s basically nothing that I was disappointed or left feeling eh on that end.

I haven’t had the same feeling about the defense, though. That is a lot more work in progress than the offense. As mentioned, he is a rookie, so this was expected, but with how the defense was throughout the year, even towards the end, it’s still some time before he can be trusted enough for crucial minutes consistently.

His 7ft and has that length. By just that alone, he’s going to contest a slot of shots and be a deterrent. But even with that, he hasn’t been anything special yet. Opponents shoot 62.4% within 5ft against him, and that’s only 1.8% worse than expected.

But more often than not, his rim protection was negated by the fact that he was a lot more jumpy. The usual rookie mistakes by biting on fakes or, at times, hunting blocks. That resulted in him being out of place and made his size less effective. The biting on fakes did drop off as the season went on.

The PNR defense also needed a lot of work, but as with everything else, that was improving as the season went on.

Probably the worst thing about the defense, which was the biggest issue and remains so, is the rebounding. Without Adebayo, opponents have a 30.6% ORB with Ware on — for comparison, with Adebayo, and no Ware, it’s 25.4% and 23.4% when they’re on together. That is a significant issue that should be the main thing that needs to be cleaned up.

As a whole, though, this really was a great rookie season. He looked good individually, he made strides as the season went on, and as he took on more minutes, plus responsibilities. The team also did well with him. In the Adebayo-Ware minutes, the Heat are +6.1 with a 116.9 ORTG, though there are some question marks on the defensive stats that warrant another look(I just came across that the opponent scored a lot in the paint, which is interesting).

He has been one of the more impressive players this season.

Note, this is all just discussion with no film. That is a plan for the off-season.

Today, we’re going through most of the bench players in Alec Burks, Kyle Anderson, Terry Rozier, Pelle Larsson, and Haywood Highsmith.

Alec Burks

Burks have surprised me this season. This is the meme where I apologise for not being familiar with his game.

The way I’d describe his season is professional. He was a pro. Whenever his number got called, he checked in, he did his job, and helped the team. Then he didn’t see minutes and had weeks worth of DNPs until he checked in again and again helped the team in. That was literally his role to start the season. He got minutes whenever he could, and it always resulted in good stuff.

The main reason for that is that he can knock down shots. He plays the role well, and that is as simple as that. He shot a career high 42.5% from 3pt on 12.0 3s per 100(second highest in his career). Being a spot up shooter was his main responsibility, with over 46% of his possessions ending on spot ups, where he scored 1.21 points per possession, good for the 85th percentile.

This requires more context, of course, but the Heat were +6.4 with him on and -1.0 without him. Add both Adebayo and Herro to that equation, it jumps to +14.2 with a 122.5 ORTG.

It’s amazing what spacing and elite shooting can do.

He was at times tasked with some ball handling too whenever needed, and in small volumes, I’d say he did his job there, too. 12% of his possessions were as a PNR ball handler, and he scored 0.97 points per. That was never going to be something that he gave you a lot, but he was capable when the Heat lacked plenty of ball handling.

Outside of the 3pt shooting, he really didn’t give them anything else. His scoring inside was, as usual, quite bad, where he shot worse from 2pt(42.5%) than he did outside. And I guess that’s where his role was simplified to being a simple spot-up shooter.

All in all, I have liked Burks a lot this season. Relative to expectations and role, he had a successful year with the Heat.

Burks is a free agent coming off the minimum. I’m indifferent to what happens. I welcome him back on the team because he is an elite shooter who can play the role well and fit with so many players, without giving anything up. Even in development and rebuilding stages, you need to have spacing to make the environment much easier(look at the Pistons and Magic over the years with negative spacing).

Kyle Anderson

Similar to Burks, Anderson also did his job. He was a late-season pick-up in a trade and has appeared in 25 games. What I was expecting from Anderson basically was all there. This was never going to be a game changer or a significant difference maker, but I still enjoyed watching him pick things apart in slow motion.

With players like him, the raw stats or efficiency aren’t going to show anything, especially with what his strengths are. He only averaged 6.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in just over 18 minutes. He’s also been one of the players that seen a lot of garbage time, which boosted the total minutes per game. He has played almost 100 minutes in low leverage minutes with the Heat. That includes a lot of the games that had the fourth quarters blown out.

But I still enjoyed his play. When I was looking at the film and stats before he played the game, I was expecting some high IQ plays from him, being used as the small ball five, and just doing the little things that may be small or not show up on stat sheets. That’s exactly what he has shown and given the Heat.

There were many quarters where he kind of has been a difference maker. The first one that comes to mind was the Raptors game where his chemistry with Duncan popped up in the fourth quarter, where he was finding him on cuts often. There was the Mavericks game where the Heat were shorthanded, and he had 15 points with six offensive rebounds — on that note, he has been a pretty decent offensive rebounder.

The passing and IQ was the main source of the offense, and that is what the Heat also lacked once Jovic went down. Anderson had five games with at least five assists. He was one of the players that was trusted enough to warranta high number of touches and have him the ball to have an offense flow off screens.

A very limited small sample, but in 30 minutes without either Ware/Adebayo, the Heat were +13.2 with a 101.5 DRTG. It may be small, but in individual games, having someone who can not be a liability or cause lineups to fall off the cliff can be a luxury. He has allowed some different lineups to be run because he is a Swiss army knife in terms of how he can be used off-ball or as a hub. That makes life easier for others by taking away that burden. Herro or Duncan can come off-screen freely without dealing with the on-ball pressure when they can have Anderson make the pass to them through tough windows.

He’s simply another vet who was a professional and did his job, whatever Spoelstra asked him.

He is under contract for at least the 2025-26 season at 6.0% of the cap, which is pretty damn good value for what he can bring through 82 games and be matchup dependent in the playoffs in limited minutes. The contract is not a big deal at all. He also has a second year in 2026-27, but that’s not guaranteed at all, which makes him an expiring. I’m not against him coming back, you can always use smart vets to put young players in better positions. That is valuable and effective for development. But if he needs to be used for salary purposes, then I’m fine with that, too.

Haywood Highsmith

I like Highsmith a lot, but I don’t think this year was as good as last year. Offensively, there was a jump there and it included more things having to do with how he went about stuff. He still shot 38.2% from 3pt on 6.4 3s per 100 and added 57.0% from 2pt.

I have written about his growth on that end where has shown more confidence in everything that he’s done:

That’s the kind of improvement he has made, where the stats, percentages, and metrics may show almost identical seasons, but those mental improvements and how things look has looked better for him. I can’t remember him looking that confident with the ball last year. He routinely attacked closeouts, grabbed the pass and went, and has increased the number of times he faked a handoff or attacked off slips.

The confidence as a shooter has been notable, too, and considering that was a major part of his game that did need to improve, he has continued to take steps for that. Some of the bombs that he was throwing up, I might even consider a wild shot for him, but that willingness did outweigh some individual poor shots.

He has also been trusted to play more. In each season with the Heat, he plays more and more — went from 8.6 → 17.9 → 20.7 → 24.6. He also started a career high 42 games, which is more than he did in all previous seasons combined. He had 20 games with at least 30 minutes played compared to only seven last year. He also had eight fewer games playing fewer than 20 minutes.

Gaining the trust of Spoelstra to be on the court is also one of the bigger improvements.

So, what stopped me from saying he had as good of a year as last year is, surprisingly, the defense. That has felt a lot more inconsistent and in periods, out-right bad. That is something I rarely said about Highsmith that his defense was bad, and I can recall many more full games where he wasn’t playing to an average standard.

I still haven’t changed my view on him. Players have down years, and to his credit, all metrics still paint him to be at least on the same level as last year. So, perhaps he wasn’t as bad as I remember, but I also wasn’t entertaining such criticisms last year in the first place.

Fortunately, he’s also locked up for next season on a really good deal. He’s going to make only 3.6% of the cap. That is a bargain for the skillset that he has. Hopefully, he has a much better year next year(or he maybe gets traded to a contender where he can help an actual team win!).

Pelle Larsson

Larsson was an unexpected second round pick that I’ve enjoyed a lot. I really liked him in summer league and honestly thought he had a place in the rotation in July. I was big on his defense and how hard he works on that end. I also liked what he could do on offense by just being a simple guy doing his role. Not going to lie, I feel good that it all hit, honestly.

He has starred in 55 games and started in eight. He was towards the end in the rotation playing sub 15 minutes per game, but there were many nights that he played near 30 minutes or more, and that wasn’t even in garbage time.

His two most played games were both overtime games against a good opponent. Those were games he played in clutch time. He had many fourth quarters minutes that weren’t low leverage minutes. 116 minutes in the fourth came in non low leverage minutes.

I have also written more about him here, from December when he first got the taste of real minutes. This was mostly focusing on the games against the Suns and the Kings where he was tasked in defending De’Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan and even Kevin Durant. The level of trust that he got from Spoelstra is impressive.

That continued to be a thing throughout the season, particularly for defensive purposes. He had huge games against the Nets and 76ers where he did one hell of a job against both Cam Johnson and Tyrese Maxey. Beyond his individual defense against tougher matchups, I just loved how smart he was. Even towards the start of the season, his IQ and awareness on defense stood out immediately.

Offensively is where there does need to be a lot of work. The 3pt shooting needs to bounce back. He started off the season well, where he shot 36.4% in November but then dropped to 32.9% after that. That has to improve but based on his college career, I’m optimistic that this will look better.

This same goes for his inside scoring. That also is a big work in progress. Even to impact the game as a role player, the finishing needs to be better. He only shoots 60% at the rim, which is concerning given that almost 83% of his shots are assisted. Got to capitalise on easy, created shots.

There were plenty of flashes of some creation and some upside in the scoring that he created for himself. Towards the end of the season, there did seem to be an emphasis in running more actions for him. When the Heat were dealing with more injuries, that was also sprinkled in where he was given the ball more. I like those bursts.

What I liked most offensively from him is doing the little stuff. I LOVED — this is also really underselling it — how many quality cuts he made. I’m not simply talking about cuts that got him the ball. I mean, simple cuts that got into space that drew defenders in, which opened up windows for others. I don’t see that often from many other players because, most often, they are statues. That feel to cut is one of the more impressive things from him. When it comes to his cuts to score, he’s also fairly active, as he always looks to cut backdoor along the baseline.

Now, he is on the older side as a rookie — he’s already 24 years old and will be 25 in February. But as a second round pick that is on a bargain deal with a team option, and being restricted in the end is a bonus. He can already be of bench rotation guy. I feel like the defense is legit and that will continue to improve. That alone gives him playing time in the right situations. And if there are steps in the right direction on offense, that could give you a solid guard-wing off the bench that can give you a bit of everything.

His rookie season has been a solid success.

Jaime Jaquez Jr

This was not what I expected from Jaquez. At all. I wasn’t expecting a decline that bad after the rookie season that he had. Everything has basically fallen off for him and gotten worse.

I talked about this already in November where I thought it was too early to panic about his rough start because there were still plenty of flashes that he did well. I touched on that he has seen a change in role based on who he was playing with. Last year, a lot of his minutes, which were really good, came with Butler and the bench units. Playing with Butler is a lot different than anything else he has seen this year. That was where he had a lot of his points assisted.

Those same trends continued to be made worse. He has been in a completely different role that emphasised creating his own shot more.

He went from having 13% of his offense as a PNR ball handler to 17%. The efficiency also dropped from 0.83 to 0.77. His isolation went from 6% to 9%, though the efficiency improved from 0.88 to 1.18 — that is encouraging. And his rim assisted rate went from 62% to 46%.

His bread and butter in the post seen a slight drop in the usage, but the efficiency fell off the cliff from 1.05 to 0.78. That was his dangerous weapon and that completely disappeared.

That plays a part in his decline. He was used in a different role, one that is inherently more inefficient and he also hasn’t been good in that, even considering the age and experience.

But it was also more than that. He has missing bunnies! He was one of the better transition players last year, scoring 1.14 points per and shooting 60% from the floor. That has dropped to 0.94 and is shooting 49%. That’s not role-related. You have to be better in transition.

Related to his easy shots, he shoots 66% on 2.4 2s(26% freq) within 2 seconds touch time(that’s a good barometer of having the shot created for him). That has dropped to 59% on 1.2(17%).

Again, we’re seeing the drop off in both volume and efficiency. One related to the role and one just him underperforming.

I’m still just surprised how badly he’s missing everything easy. Here’s his shots by the closest defender:

• Tight or very tight(0-4ft): 205/389(52.6%) with 56% shot freq → 145/286(50.6%) with 61% freq

• Open or wide open(4-6+): 66/104(63.4%) with 15% freq → 31/58(53.4%) with 12% freq

That is interesting that he has dropped by 10% on open looks. There’s not a big difference in the tight shots accuracy or even volume. He hasn’t seen worse defenses against him that made him take tougher shots to that extent.

Then there’s also the shooting that has not only not improved but dropped off a lot. That is another glaring hole that has made his offense a lot worse. He’s only shooting 32.3% on catch and shoot 3s but 36.4 on wide open 3s. It’s tough to be a wing in the league without a 3pt shot in 2025.

That’s why you got all impact metrics just dropping off the cliff. His EPM went from -1.1 to -2.6. The Heat were -5.6 net with him on and +3.8 without him.

His decision making has been rough, too. That mostly came when being put in more on-ball roles where I haven’t liked the choices with his shot selections, opting too much for contested shots.

The defense has been just as bad. That’s another whole other area that has simply been worse to what he did as a rookie.

This was a disappointing season for him.

Terry Rozier

Sigh. I. I just don’t even know what to say about Rozier. Even if for some reasons, you didn’t have any expectations for Rozier, he still managed to not be close to meeting them.

I don’t even know what happened with Rozier. I didn’t think he was going to be what he was doing in Charlotte as the guy primarily with the ball. I also didn’t think he was even going to be a lot on the ball to get those stats that way.

But I did assume that he was going to fit better with into a role next to Herro. That was something he did well with LaMelo Ball. That was a role he did okay in, providing a lot more off-ball shooting coming off screens or spotting up.

That has completely fallen off the cliff. He shot 29.5% from 3pt! The worst since his rookie year. He even shot 26.8% from the corners, after being a 38.4% shooter in his career before this season. Just casually dropping around 12% on easy, good looks. That changes things and it makes the decision to play him tougher.

To start the year, Spoelstra made it known that it was dumb to even question the fit with Rozier and Herro backcourt. We did see Rozier being the primary guy with the ball in the first handful of games to start. But running an offense through Rozier, handling the ball is going to lead to not great stuff. That’s not the role he can be in on a team looking to win.

He lasted 12 games as a starter to begin the season and averaged 12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, shooting 42.9% from 2pt, 33.3% from 3pt.

They did bench him after that and started to go away from him. That’s where his touches have dropped, his minutes dropped, and he was used more off-ball. But that’s where he just didn’t look good.

The way he looked to get himself going did not fit the team either. Some of the shot selection from that wasn’t in the flow of the offense was certainly something. His inability to hit open shots consistently and being a streaky off the catch was also hurting him.

There just wasn’t any other way of using him. As a starter didn’t work. Off the bench didn’t work. With the ball didn’t work. Without the ball didn’t work. He also hasn’t helped himself at all where in any situation, he couldn’t give anything. The fall off as a shooter is very strange. The decision making definitely wasn’t as bad before. The missed bunnies and the weird looking layups.

I don’t even know what the way out of this is.

He also hasn’t been a player who may not be doing a lot on offense, but could give you better defense or just smart plays. I’m thinking that even if you could simplify the job on offense as much as you could, there are still better alternatives that would give you more on both ends of the floor.

I do think a big part of that comes from playing on bad teams for some time, that it makes the adjustment harder when you are given that freedom.

Maybe with an off-season following a very down year can change the mentality and the approach for him. I don’t believe he just forgot how to play basketball. There has been a considerable sample in his career of positive stuff, particularly with his shooting.

He’s also locked up for next year, so there’s no moving away from him, and I don’t see anyone lining up to get him. This is just a case of damn hoping things will maybe turn around because this has been a really bad season.

So, let’s just go through some of the main takeaways from the season and have a discussion on what this season has been like.

A look at the season preview

The first thing I wanted to look at is what I was saying before the season in my season preview. Here are some of the main points and key questions heading into the season:

• What is Butler’s contract year going to look?

• Who even starts?

• Jaquez’s and Jovic’s growth?

• Can Highsmith expand and improve his game even more?

• Is the new improved Duncan here to stay?

• Ware-Adebayo minutes

• Rozier-Herro backcourt

• How much will Rozier change things?

• Will the offense be better?

• What’s next for Adebayo offensively?

• Will the defense be just as good, even against better competition

Those were the main points, and some of my predictions were 43-48 wins with the floor being the eighth seed and the ceiling being a top-five seed.

Fair to say that the prediction was quite wrong. But let’s quickly dive into some of those questions.

What was Butler going to look like?

Well, with the Heat, he averaged 20.7 points, 5.8 assists and 6.2 rebounds per 75 possessions on 56.8% eFG and 63.8% TS. That was, in a way, a bounce back season from last year. But that still doesn’t the full story.

He end up having one of the most efficient season of his career again, but that was also done in one of the lower volumes. The main talking point in the season preview was him dropping off in touches and not being involved in the offense to a big extent.

That didn’t go as it should. Literally from the very first game of the season, he scored three points on eight shots. That was the game in which he had fewer touches than Haywood Highsmith.

As the season went on, that did look better. He was more engaged, and he was having his typical games, but that still wasn’t the usual Butler. That was still a Butler that wasn’t involved in the offense as much.

The starting group changed a lot often. They had 28 different starting lineups, with the highest being 16 games of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Butler, Highsmith, and Bam Adebayo. That was the only lineup with double digits games. The next highest was the initial starting lineup with Terry Rozier and Nikola Jovic instead of Robinson and Highsmith. And the final lineup was completely different with Davion Mitchell, Kel’el Ware and Andrew Wiggins.

There were questions about the Rozier-Herro backcourt, even though, Spoelstra shutdown any potential questioning it. That didn’t work out at all. With Rozier and Herro on, the Heat were -4.3 net with a 111.9 ORTG. That jumped to +4.4 and 117.8 without Rozier. Fair to say that the backcourt didn’t work out at all.

Figuring out the frontcourt partner was also a question. Jovic started initially but that didn’t go well and I feel like that was a lot on Jovic not being effective in that off-ball/spot up role. They experimented with Highsmith, which was one of the better alternatives.

But in the end, they finally did it. They went into the Ware-Adebayo minutes. With both on, the Heat are +6.4 with 116.9 ORTG and 110.5 DRTG. They did quite well together considering the concerns and fit questions. That has been now something that is set as their main starters. Although, that is still only reserved for starting games and starting second halves. Those two have only played 10 games in the fourth over ~5 minutes.

Outside of that, there were still a bunch of experiments being made, especially post-deadline. Alec Burks started a bunch. So did Mitchell. So did Robinson. I still don’t feel like they figured out what the best possible rotations should be.

That wasn’t made any easier with Jovic being out, Rozier forgetting to play basketball, Wiggins being injured, and Jaquez having a massive sophomore slump.

And on that point, the growth and leap from both Jovic and Jaquez were quite underwhelming. With the season they both had last year, that wasn’t exactly smooth sailing this year. That probably wasn’t anything that the Heat expected and neither did I.

Rozier. Yeah, I was too high on him even considering kind of scenario and in fact, some of the things I mentioned that I thought would do good for him happened but he didn’t perform to the standard.

I mentioned that how good of a pickup Rozier is going to be depends on the offense run. If it was going to lean Rozier with the ball and being “Hornets” Rozier, then we’ll see the offense struggle. Whereas if we see the offense filled with more movement, handoffs, and more 3s, then there’s the potential for Rozier to be better.

Boy, was I wrong. I had much higher expectations for Rozier in an off-ball role, considering he did do well with the Hornets with a healthy LaMelo Ball. That went completely the opposite way.

Speaking of the offense, this was the same thing I talked about entering the 2023-24 season. Why would this year be any different? Without a consistent top 20 player offensively, this wasn’t going to do much. Butler did have the most efficient season of his career, but it wasn’t in a way that would impact the offense significantly.

We did see a change. The last two years it was a lot more isolation and post ups and PNR for either Herro and Adebayo.

I guess I also really overestimated what the issues are offensively, that even with the changes, I was still wrong about it making any kind of difference. I said:

“I don’t see a reason why they can’t run the offense that was similar to 2020. This team has the potential to be more versatile, effective and dangerous than what they were in 2020. Imagine the dribble handoff offense with this Robinson… Imagine that offense with Adebayo being the hub that can create a shot for himself…”

They were 21st last year on offense and they are 21st on offense this year. Just by looking at raw ORTG, they actually dropped from 114.4 to 113.6. For comparison, in 2020, they were seventh with 112.9. In a league that has changed a lot in those five years where the offense got better league wide, they were still only 0.7 points better.

I talked about the shot profile needing to change to be more efficient. That marginally improved. Their 3pt rate went from 39.4% to 42.9%. Not even one more percent at the rim. Though they did go away from the paint 2s and long 2s by a combined of around ~4%.

Still, the offense may have changed but the effectiveness and the issues continue to hurt them remain. That’s why they were also 25th on offense with 107.9 against top 10 teams on defense, per CTG.

Similarly, that was also the topic for the defense. They did, in the end, finish top 10 on defense(9th) but that dropped to 20th against top 10 offensive teams. That was the case last year too where their defense drops off against better competition, which is concerning.

This year, we also seen a shift in their defensive principles where they went away form being an elite turnover machine to below average. Instead, they get their defense by closing possessions and never fouling. Which is also why they ranked below average in eFG%.

All in all, looking back at the season preview and comparing it to now, I don’t know how much of a success this was. They did kind of answer a lot of them that would make you think it was a good thing. Except the results didn’t go the way you would’ve wanted. But at least the process was there and you can build on that.

Season Review

Moving onto the actual season review and all other thoughts related to the season.

This was a weird season. I feel like it’s always going to be weird when you have a transition period in the middle of the season that basically forced you into that situation.

I don’t know how many could’ve predicted what happened with Butler. It wasn’t a great start to the season with him either, and that also started way before the season. This whole Butler saga probably started when Pat Riley called him out(and if we’re being honest, this also may have started when Emo-Butler became a thing).

But heading into the season, even with extension discussion looming, I thought this was going to be at least a contract year for Butler and the biggest question was what’s going to happened in the off-season. I was certainly not worried about a mid-season trade that forced them into doing so.

That wasn’t even a mutual agreement from the start. The whole situation was made worse with the suspension and the jabs taken in post-game interviews. It was just a mess that I wasn’t expecting to happen at all.

And that did affect the whole season because the expectations, goals, things you need to consider, etc are different to what they are now. Butler wasn’t some low-tier star that you just looked to move on from to embrace a rebuild. It was a pivotal moment to end the Butler era, from a player that was top 15 calibre for most of the tenure and was one of the best players in the playoffs in that period, too.

When you did have Butler, you could have convinced yourself that no team wants to see them in a series because they will always have a puncher’s chance. That was always on the table for them, even if I didn’t think it was as likely or that they should’ve considered trading him in the off-season.

But the ceiling and the potential of that obviously changed once they moved on from him. That was embracing a new era. Whether they are in a similar spot or not(they were a play in team with or without him), there was always more to them if they had Butler. Now, they are just a team with two of the best players under 30 still looking to develop.

So, now, everything is looked through that lens. It is still about competing for them; they obviously never even want to consider tanking.

But even with that change in the thought process and what things could matter, this was still a disappointing season. As a fan, I am not against always looking to compete because, man, it would be rough to endure what teams like the Wizards or the Jazz do. That’s why I do honestly prefer the route the Heat usually take purely from an entertainment standpoint.

Considering that, it was still disappointing because they were a bad mid team. Since January 1st(the Pelicans game that Butler came back to before being suspended a game later), the Heat went 21-31 with a -0.6 net(18th), 113.3 ORTG(21st), 113.9 DRTG(12th).

Now, you can argue that this was worse than it probably would be in a full season next year without someone like Rozier in the rotation, not dealing with the Butler drama, etc. But that doesn’t change that this season was kind of a failure.

Whatever the valid reasons that could easily change or improve for next season, it doesn’t change that this year they were the 10th seed and also had a 10 game losing streak.

Yes, some of the decisions were bad in the moment and even worse looking in hindsight. So, again, it’s definitely not the end of the world by any means, but for what the Heat want to do and that is compete, they didn’t put themselves in any good situation.

As it’s been talked about plenty, this hasn’t been a great season for Spoelstra.

That has been a big, big conversation. The way Spoelstra has been seen this year has certainly been something. Some on my timeline suggested that he should be looked at when it comes to being on the hot seat. I find that just overreacting to it.

He, objectively, didn’t have a good season. I don’t think there’s an argument against that. There were a bunch of very questionable decisions with a bunch of rotations and starting lineups that made everything worse than it needed to be.

Take just the Rozier stuff alone. With Rozier, Herro, Adebayo on, they were -4.6 with a 109.8 ORTG. That went up to +4.5 with a 117.0 ORTG without him. Since January 1st, with all three on they were -14.5(!) with a 102.0 ORTG, but +6.1 with a 118.6 without him.

That can easily make a big difference in a season like this. They may not be a contender or a legit team to make noise in the playoffs, especially without a player like Butler, but there is an argument that without those bad minutes, they easily could’ve been better.

There was figuring out the frontcourt partner was an issue that also hurt the lineups. That’s another factor. The fourth quarter collapses. The minutes without both Herro and Adebayo. All of that plays into the total picture that this was a failed and disappointing season.

They made everything worse and harder for themselves for no reason — actually, at certain points, Spoelstra had to make these decisions deliberately just to feel something.

So, he did make a lot of mistakes, and this easily could’ve been a season, despite all the drama and all the mess around everything, much better. But that still didn’t warrant the reaction that many had.

Spoelstra is still a top coach in the league, and the Heat would be in a worse position without him. Any conversation around him being let go should just put to bed. Period.

It also wasn’t entirely bad.

This was the year that Herro finally made a significant jump in the right direction. Him making the necessary changes to his game has literally been a reason why the Heat are even that good in the first place.

Had this been a similar Herro from last year, where it’s the same kind of poor efficiency, below average rim finishing, and average(compared to the primary ball handler role) creator, this team would’ve likely been significantly worse. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were closer to a team like the Nets if we just put 2023 Herro instead.

This time last year, I mentioned that I had definitely seen improvements from Herro in many areas, but they never felt like improvements that changed anything. He, individually, got better, which didn’t result in much impact. That’s not the case this year. The improvement has changed a lot.

If you want to see more about Herro’s improvement, I went into more detail in the MIP conversation.

For one, this was the highest on/off split for the team on offense. The Heat were +8.1 points better with him on than off. The Heat with him also had a 116.0 ORTG, which would rank 13th. Compared to last year, the offense with him on would’ve been 21st. That alone made the season better.

I have been critical of him in the past, and after his sixth man of the year season, where he has led the team in usage and had the offense be centered around him, I haven’t seen much change in those two seasons. Those two seasons still had the same issues and the same limitations, even as he got more involved and more responsibilities. That is when I believed he would’ve been more suited to changing his entire game to be more off-ball, similar to Norman Powell or Klay Thompson.

We’ll be going through more on individual player’s seasons in a different piece, so I’ll just leave it at that this improvement was the biggest difference in the season this year.

Adebayo has also seen steps in the right direction. He is now a shooter, shooter. This was his first full season actually taking 3s and continuing the shooting spree that started towards end of last season. He not only built on that but made huge strides throughout the season in that area, both in raw percentages and how he looked.

For the season he averaged 35.7% on 4.1 3s per 100 possessions. That is solid. That is a good start, and it’s only getting better.

He hasn’t had the best year, overall though. There was still a lot of inconsistency with his offensive game and a lot of struggles, particularly early in the season. That also played a big part in the Heat underperforming because he was quite bad.

I talked about this in more detail where I went through all of that here talking more about his overall development and here focusing more on the film breakdown for this season.

We also had a significant trade, of course, that ended up bringing Wiggins, Mitchell, and Anderson. All pluses. Given the circumstances around Butler and when the deal was made, this was probably the best that they could’ve done, especially for what they wanted.

The contract of Wiggins makes this a bit annoying, but purely from the court POV and the fact that the Heat want to compete, all of the pieces make sense and have helped a lot.

Though, also with Wiggins, there was an issue of availability that again made things worse.

So many things have been going against the Heat.

But the brightest spot of it all was Mitchell. This was honestly the favourite pick up of it all. Like, he immediately became one of the most fun players on the Heat giving stuff on both ends of the floor and he actually helped a lot.

Again, we’ll be going through each player’s season thoughts in more detail in another day.

When it comes to everyone else, this is also where it becomes rather disappointing.

It’s annoying when health is an issue with players, especially young ones.

As mentioned earlier, this was a season to look out for Jovic’s improvement but that sadly didn’t go as far as he ended his season in February due to an injury. He was already showing a bunch of flashes and continuing to add to what he did last year. It’s just a shame that he got hurt because even from game 1 to game 42, he was showing improvement.

Jaquez, on the other hand, was one of the most disappointing players, and that also is just UGH. I was high on him, and I liked Jaquez's game a lot last year. It was frustrating to see the year that he had.

The rest of the guys, such as Burks, Robinson, Highsmith, and Anderson. Not much thought there. They all did their job. I’d rate them all solid for the season, just overall. There wasn’t much change one way or the other for any of them.

And we also have Ware… which also ties into a bigger picture here.

A quick touch on his rookie season. I loved it. I have a very lenient view on rookies and he did a great job. He started the season a bit later than most fans probably would’ve wanted, but in the end, he solidified himself as a key rotation player.

He showed so much on the offensive end(more than he did on defense). He was already looking to be impactful in a typical big man role, even as a rookie in this context of a team.

He deserves all the praise for his rookie season.

But the bigger thing was finally seeing a double big lineup. That was talked about a lot in the past. I wasn’t expecting, nor wanted to see that lineup fully from the start, because it didn’t make sense. But as the season went on, expectations changed, Adebayo grew better as a shooter, it was worth a shot.

It has now pushed the first domino. It is still a lot of work in progress. There’s also a reason why that duo also plays limited time and Adebayo still plays more minutes as the sole big than with him. But in a season like this, this was a needed step and it was worth it. You have already given yourself half a season's worth of film of trying it. You’re not starting from scratch anymore. That is the biggest positive.

What it leads to is still pretty unknown, and there’s not a lot to take away from when considering potential in the future, one way or the other, but it was still needed to see. There were more positives than negatives.

So, that is pretty much everything from the season as a whole.

Not the best season at all by any standard, or even considering their circumstances. It has been filled with a mix of really good stuff and really bad stuff. It has been made worse than it should’ve been, which makes everything worse.

I also believe that this season shouldn’t have gone the way it did from the start. Looking at where they ended up now, this should’ve been the approach and view of the team entering this season.

They played about too much with the Butler stuff that ended up biting them in the ass that could’ve been prevented and it could’ve made the season a lot better. They could’ve made decisions based on different factors that easily could’ve changed some things for the better.

But we still had Herro taking a big step forward. Adebayo is now a shooter. We’re seeing double-big lineups. Jovic was showing flashes. They are all positive stuff.

Moving on to…

Looking Ahead

Right now, they are waiting to play in their do-or-die game against the Hawks to either be eliminated or make the playoffs and have a series against the Cavaliers.

Now, I’m not going to rehash all of the stuff regarding should they have a lottery pick or not. I discussed that potential in more detail here, where I was more in favour of getting the lottery pick.

Whatever happens, I don’t think it changes much for their long term goals. Whether they get another draft pick to add to their core or they have a series against the Cavaliers and only use the Warriors pick, it’s all the same for the big picture.

This is another topic that I talked about where I also believe they are stuck in mediocrity. The feelings remain the same. I don’t envision much change regarding the two top players in Adebayo and Herro. They will be on the team. If anything, this season probably pushed them in that direction even more.

But what this season should’ve told them 100% is that this whole roster needs an overhaul. They need a change. Even if they want to remain competitive whilst having flexibility, I think moving on from a bunch of the veterans for players that could fit better on a slightly better timeline is the way to go.

Whatever happens in the playoffs or not, Wiggins, Duncan, Rozier, and Highsmith should be on the table looking for change. If they can get more assets or younger players that have higher upside, that should be the goal. If the aim is to keep working with Herro and Adebayo, and look for improvements around the edges and hope for a star, they need younger pieces and assets to flip that in the future.

But for now, the 2024-25 season is over, and hopefully things will be looking up one way or the other, even if it is looking to remain competitive. I don’t want to see 10 game losing streaks or being the 10th seed. If you’re looking to be competitive, at least be a top 6 seed.

Before diving into each candidate, I’ll briefly touch on what “my” criteria for that award is by looking at how I define the award, what I value more, what’s more important, what doesn’t matter, and just the general thought process in deciding the winner.

So, let’s go through the awards for the 2024-25 season.

Defensive Player of the Year: Ivica Zubac

With the DPOY, impact on the “team” defense matters and the impact has to lead to elite defense. This isn’t solely an individual award or who can be said as the “best defender”. This means that there are positions and roles that matter more than others. Bigs “are” favoured here because of how much they can affect the overall defense and change what opponent has to do, that’s not just simply 1v1 or through individual matchups.

This year, I also have some trouble picking the DPOY pool because the elite defenses are made up of players that all give you something. The Thunder and the Rockets are a good defensive team that are a result of a collective and a system. It’s then tough to pinpoint the individual defender, especially if they aren’t a big that has a big impact on the defense.

But overall, the defense has to be elite with said player on “and” that player should have “the” impact on that team being elite. That’s pretty much a requisite for me. Then, it’s seeing how the player affects the defense and how that has translated to impact, which, again, certain areas are valued more.

• Ivica Zubac

• Evan Mobley

• Draymond Green

Honourable mentions: Jaren Jackson Jr, Dyson Daniels, Amen Thompson, Bam Adebayo, The Thunder

Before going into the winner, I want to mention the Thunder being my honourable mention. They are a historic defense. They have the ninth best defense relative to average. They have four(!) players with at least +2.0 D-EPM, and eight with +1.0.

They also have 15 being at least positive. They have six players with at least 2.0% steal rate. Everyone gets block with just as many having 2.0% block rate, too.

They have nine players defending at least three shots within 6ft. Only one allows over 61%, and it be better than expected. Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, and Jalen Williams allow sub 51% and all three have at least 11.0% worse than expected, with Holmgren leading the way with 45% and -18.4% worse.

Their whole team, top to bottom, is giving them a lot. They have the talent, size, and athleticism across the board that allows them to have this. That’s why this is also their DRTG without said player on, per Cleaning the Glass:

• Holmgren: 107.5(95th percentile)

• Hartenstein: 107.9(94th)

• Jalen Williams: 107.0(96th)

• Dort: 106.1(97th)

• Caruso: 108.0(93rd)

• Shai: 106.4(97th)

• Wallace: 106.1(97th)

• Holmgren/Hartenstein: 108.7(91st)

• Caruso/Dort: 108.4(92nd)

• Shai/Jalen: 104.0(98th)

• Hartenstein/Caruso/Holmgren/Dort: 107.9(94th)

• Shai/Jalen/Dort: 102.1(98th)

No matter who’s off, ALL of those lineups would have at least the 2nd-best defense in the league.

But I also wouldn’t say they have the DPOY player or even anyone that should be in the conversation because they are not led by one player. They are led by a collective unit in the perfect system. And with the way they have the defense set up, it makes it even tougher to pin point who has the highest impact. Even by all metrics, there are highly impactful defenders in different roles and positions putting up similar numbers.

Moving on to the actual winner. I’m going with Zubac. The Clippers with Zubac on have 108.4 DRTG, which would rank second in the league, per CTG. Take him off, and the Clippers drop all the way to 115.3, which would rank 18th.

The first check box is met. But let’s see how the Clippers have done this and how Zubac has impacted this.

The Clippers’ four factors with and without:

• 53.9% eFG(8th) vs 53.6%(7th)

• 16.0% TOV(4th) vs 13.6%(22nd)

• 23.9% ORB(1st) vs 27.7%(13th)

• 16.6(4th) vs 24.0(30th)

So, we can see that Zubac helps a lot in rebounding by going from around average to the best rebounding team. That certainly helps with the second chance points where the opponent only averages 11.8 points per 100 poss with him on and 13.3 without him.

The impact on the foul rate is also. He, himself, isn’t a guy that picks up fouls easily, thus allowing him to play more and doesn’t allow the opponent to get easy points at the line.

Here’s a wild stat. The opponent is in the penalty in 33.2% of their possessions if Zubac is off the floor. That drops to 17.0% with him. The Clippers give up almost ~6 points fewer at the line with Zubac on, per PBP Stats.

There’s also the rim protection. Here’s the opponents with Zubac on vs off:

• Rim FGM per 100: 15.1 vs 17.4

• Rim freq: 24.8% vs 28.8%

• Rim FG% 69.2% vs 69.4%

Zubac, himself, is allowing only 54.9%(that’s 9.0% worse than expected) at the rim on 6.3 attempts.

Another interesting stat is even without both Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr, the Clippers are elite defensively with 107.8 DRTG, 52.7% eFG, 13.5% TOV, 23.9% ORB, and 12.2% free throw rate. You can see that guards and wings are probably more responsible for the turnovers, but everything else that makes the defense elite like the rebounding and free throws, comes down to Zubac.

With the defense being so elite and a lot of it pointing to Zubac being the piece, that is easily my pick for this year.

There are also both Green and Mobley.

The Warriors with Green have a 110.5 DRTG and are elite in causing turnovers with 16.7%. Take him off, and that drops to 113.6, with everything else being around average. The Cavaliers with Mobley have a 111.0 DRTG and aren’t great in any particular area, but when you take him off, they drop to 115.1 and drop significantly in their rebounding.

Green is loved by all defensive impact metrics, being 2nd in DARKO, 5th in LEBRON, and 10th in EPM. Mobley, on the other hand, is 91st in DARKO, 20th in LEBRON, and 12th in EPM.

But comparing everyone in their interior defense, I don’t see that being as impactful as what Zubac has done:

I also want to touch on Thompson and Daniels, who have both been arguably the best perimeter players and deserve all the credit for such elite defensive seasons. But I still believe it is hard to have such an elite impact on defense that translates to elite defense as a perimeter defender.

Daniels has been historic in the way he creates chaos on-ball, and that in itself can be and is very valuable. But the Hawks with Daniels on have a 115.5 DRTG, which would be around average, and have a 16.1 TOV%. That drops to 116.6 and 14.4% without him.

I can’t find myself putting players that clearly have a much bigger impact. And yes, that is favouring Zubac or Mobley or Green, but not everything on defense has the same value. Call it unfair, but unless the award is changed, I don’t see a reason those players should be ahead of bigs.

Most Valuable Player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

With the MVP, everything matters to me in terms of impact on winning. This isn’t a conversation on who’s the best player in the world. This isn’t picking who’s more likely to lead a team to a championship or who’s easier to build around. That matters zero. Past seasons also matter zero. Each season is evaluated on it’s own with nothing else coming into consideration like voters fatigue or past playoff performances.

The broad goal is to see who’s most impactful. That’s how I define most valuable. How much do you make the team better? That’s also not just looking at on/off. It’s also not looking to punish players on bad teams, nor punish players that have elite teammates.

“Everything” is on the table here to determine that. It’s a mix of production, impact metrics, how they go about effecting the game(different ways have different levels of impact), eye test, lineup data, and availability(the aggregate impact as a whole is emphasised).

There’s also varying degrees of impact and how dominant you make a team. Impacting the team that makes the team go from good to great, is great. But that’s not the same as making a team historic or dominant.

Although this is an individual award, team results also matter. How you use that individual talent to impact the team and how much further you can make them better is what’s important here. But this is also looking mostly with the player on the court and what their role is meant to be. I’m not punishing players that have the worst bench or are clearly doing “their” job but are hurt by the team elsewhere. With that said, if they are also part of the issue why the team is being hurt, despite doing the rest of their role, that is also considered.

• Shai Gilgeous Alexander

• Nikola Jokic

• Giannis Antetokounmpo

• Jayson Tatum

• Donovan Mitchell

Having laid out the brief criteria, this has been a two-man race basically from the start. This has been, genuinely, the closest race that I can remember in recent years.

It’s hilarious that both players are having the kind of season that if you put one of them in any of the previous seasons, they probably would’ve been winning by a good margin.

If you’re a Jokic fan, it’s a damn shame that Shai is just having a historic season. And if you’re a Shai fan, it’s damn shame that Jokic is also having a historic season. At this point, you’re just arguing which historic season is more appealing.

Starting off with some of the metrics, everything is almost neck and neck. Here’s a comparison in some stats and metrics:

And here are other offensive stats:

Side note: stats are NBA RAPM by DataBallr. Creation is ISO/PNR/Post. Shooting is spot up/handoff/offscreen

This doesn’t really tell us anything outside of both are just incredible talents that have as good of a case as the other — a lot of the stats will say that.

Both are also leading their teams to elite offenses. With Shai on, the Thunder have a 123.9 ORTG, 57.1% eFG, and 10.9 TOV%. Without Shai, that drops to 114.8. With Jokic on, the Nuggets have a 128.3 ORTG and have elite numbers across the board. That also has one insane drop to 106.0 without him, and every other stat dropping off the cliff.

I don’t think there’s much case that Jokic has helped the Nuggets a lot more offensively than Shai has done. I also don’t think he’s been better than him on offense either. Those are all valid reasons for Jokic to win the MVP. Both are the engines doing a lot of the work on offense, and Jokic does more and does it more efficiently and he does things in ways that have a much higher impact.

Combine that with the fact that he averaged a triple-double and how much he has also played, and that is again a huge case for him.

And any other season, a whole bunch of reasons would’ve probably already sealed the deal. In any other season, he might have walked away with a unanimous decision. But this also isn’t an ordinary season, and the competition is so tough with Shai, that there are something that hurts Jokic that it matters more when the margins are so small.

Some of those differences are on the defensive end and how that has contributed to the total impact.

This has been, to me, his worst defensive season in a long while. The Nuggets for just the second time in his career, are better on defense without him. The Nuggets with him on the floor have a 116.8 DRTG, which would rank 23rd overall — in the same range as the Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets, and Charlotte Hornets, or worse than the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, or the Indiana Pacers.

I have watched plenty of Nuggets games, and his effort on defense a lot of the time was a joke. The recent Pacers game had a dozen defensive breakdowns that started and ended with Jokic not doing his job. There were multiple games where I believed he hurt the team a lot on defense, more than what he did on the offensive end.

That is an issue, and that is part of the reason why I do lean towards Shai. In any other season, I probably don’t bat an eye because the impact on offense outweighs what most players do on both ends.

Shai has been elite offensively and has been one of the better defenders this year. This isn’t just focusing on the Thunder’s overall defense, because he is a perimeter player who doesn’t have the same kind of impact as a big. But I’d still argue that he has been a huge positive for the Thunder individually. He has played a role in the historic defense that the Thunder have. So, not only is he not a liability or even average, he is actively helping the Thunder on defense.

Amongst wing and guard defensive roles, he has, per BBall-Index:

• A- in pickpocket rating

• A- in steals per 75

• B in passing lane defense

• C in perimeter isolation defense

• B in rim protection

• B- in rim points saved per 75

• B in rim deterrence

• B in stable rim dFG% vs expected

• B in defensive FG% at rim

• C in help defense talent

• B- in rebounding talent

That matters because it is on top of what he’s doing on the offensive end. That simply adds more impact that a player can have. He may not be a game changer on defense that puts him in a DPOY conversation. He may also not be an elite, elite perimeter either. But no one else is as good a defender, giving whatever impact he does, but being as elite on offense(maybe only Giannis).

That’s why the Thunder also have a +16.0 net with him on the court(compared to +11.5 with Jokic). That’s why the Thunder also have won 18 more games and have almost reached 70. That matters to me.

I know the argument is going to be teammates and the fact that the Thunder are still +8.3 without Shai. But I’m not punishing players for having good teammates. He is still a big reason why they are a historic team.

You can see that in any number of lineup combinations that it’s Shai that drives a team that could be good without him(because of their defensive system that we talked about earlier), but it’s him that carries the offense and everything else to absurd levels.

Here are some lineup data with Shai on minus his teammates

• Shai on, Jalen off: +21.2 with 128.1 ORTG in 1134 minutes

• Shai on, Hartenstein off: +17.0 with 125.5 in 1484

• Shai on, Chet off: +17.6 with 124.3 in 1972

• Shai on, Chet/Jalen off: +24.9 with 129.7 in 905

• Shai on, Chet/Hartenstein off: +18.9 with 126.7 in 1112

• Shai on, Chet/Hartenstein/Jalen off: +26.7 with 131.4 in 678

• Shai on, Chet/Hartenstein/Jalen/Dort off: +24.7 with 130.4 in 348

• Shai on, Hartenstein/Jalen/Dort/Caruso off: +21.0 with 131.4 in 160

That is absurd what he’s doing without his best teammates, and the sample is considerable. He dominates as the only starter.

Now, I don’t know how you want to interpret this, but this is everyone’s usage rate with and without Shai:

Everyone has their usage drop, and some decline considerably when they play with Shai. That to me points to Shai being the guy when it comes to the offense that turns the team into the biggest juggernaut out there. The defense is elite with or without him. That is where the good teammates help a lot with the team being good. It’s the offense that transforms this team, and he’s doing it all.

And as much as people would also point to Jokic’s historic feat in averaging a triple-double, the Thunder having the highest point differential, best net rating, and most wins by double digits is a feat in itself

I don’t think there’s a wrong answer with any of this. Both genuinely have seasons that would easily be number one. What Jokic is doing now is arguably one of the best MVP-level seasons… but so is Shai.

When bringing other historical feats, comparisons, and putting things in perspective, both have all of that. This is a narrative award, and that can shift some things one way or the other. Jokic is the only player ever to be top 10 in all of the main categories. What Shai is doing as a guard with his efficiency is one of the best ever.

And when the race is that close, when looked at individually, the margins are seriously too thi,n where everything is more of a factor, and everything is also under a magnifying glass that may not matter as much in other years.

I wouldn’t be surprised by whoever wins, and I also wouldn’t be mad for whatever decision is made, but I’m going with Shai.

The rest of the field… There isn’t much to consider. This really was a two-man race and it’s not close to anyone else beyond that.

All-NBA:

1st team:

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

• Stephen Curry

• Giannis Antetokounmpo

• Jayson Tatum

• Nikola Jokic

I don’t think there’s much to discuss here. Both Jokic and Shai take the two spots without a question.

Giannis is a lock for the first team as well. He had another season averaging over 30 points per game and shooting over 60% from the floor. He took and made a league high from 2pt, as well as shooting 62.0%. He is by far the best finisher this league has seen in a while(probably ever). He is first in points added on finishing at 150.3, which is double what LeBron James does — that gap is the same as LeBron and an average player.

He also added this year a really good mid-range game, he has added 16.3 points on long 2s. He has taken 19% of his shots from 14ft-3pt and is shooting 45.2%. This kind of makes the efficiency on 2s funny, considering he takes over 5 2s from 14ft out per 100. But that doesn’t matter when he shoots 75% at the rim on nearly 16 attempts. Insane.

One thing that I liked the most is the passing from him. He has had a career high in AST%, and that has shown up a lot on film with the kind of reads that he has been making.

Tatum is just now doing his job as he’s always done. It kind of sucks for him that he just normalised high level of standard with this level of consistency. His offensive impact has been the lowest since 2021, per EPM, but with the defense and also playing a huge amount, he makes up for all of that. It’s the two-way consistency that gives so much value. Similarly to Giannis, he’s also by far having a career high in AST% with 26.6, up from 21.1.

Curry is Curry. He may not be peak Curry, so when he’s compared to himself, he has declined considerably. And if he’s looked at through that lens, it may be easy to write him off. But by league standards, compared to everyone else, he’s still having an absurd season. He still easily ranked third in offensive EPM. He still shot the hell out of the ball. The Warriors were still +5.8 with him on and had a 120.1 ORTG — that dropped by 13.1 without him. He is still a whole offense by himself.

2nd team:

• Anthony Edwards

• Tyrese Haliburton

• Donovan Mitchell

• Jalen Brunson

• Evan Mobley

Edwards somehow turned himself into basically Curry off the dribble and I don’t know if that’s talked about a lot. With so many spacing and offensive issues with the Wolves, he took it upon himself to score the ball any other way possible. So, he just flipped the switch and led the league in 3pt made by shooting 39.5% on 13.9 3s per 100. He has a 50.5% 3pt rate(lol). That was good enough to bump his efficiency to 59.5%(a career high).

Since 2014, he is taking the seventh most pull up 3s per 75 at 7.7. Out of 20 seasons with at least 7 attempts, he’s 4th in percentage at 38.5%.

But outside of the shooting, I don’t know how impressed I am by his season. He’s had a drop off in his assists, his 2pt scoring, his finishing, and his mid-range. All have declined one way or another. He has been on-ball the most in his career, but outside of scoring more, that hasn’t translated to any more creation for others.

Haliburton didn’t have the perfect start, but man, did he finish strong, and so did the team with him.

In the first 34 games, he averaged 17.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 8.6 assists, shooting 55.7% from 2pt and 34.5% from 3pt with 57.3% TS. The team went 16-18.

But once the calendar year flipped, the efficiency went through the roof. He only went up to average 19.5 points and 9.7 assists, but he shot 60.0% from 2pt and 43.1% from 3pt(including over 42% on 5 pull up 3s with over 40% of his shot diet being that) with 65.4% TS. The team also went 30-9 and were +8 net with him on and had the offense drop by ~10pts without him.

The way he finished out the season and how much that pushed the Pacers easily has him on this team. The Pacers were 16-18 before 2025, which had them eighth in the East.

Brunson almost didn’t make the cut, but he did make the 65-game in the end, and glad he did. He continues to be highly efficient, still hitting over 38% from 3pt and improving his 2pt% to 53.9, he upped his assists, and all impact metrics have him as one of the best in the league this year. His self-creation has been the best it’s been a while, having a 58.2% TS on over 18 TSA. He is just a deadly scorer, with almost 60% TS on both 2pt and 3pt shots.

Mitchell is the best player on a team that was also going on a historic run. That should be rewarded, especially when you are, by all metrics, leading the team in impact. But at the same time, I do find myself looking at the Cavaliers as just a very, very good team on both ends of the floor, and everyone does well in their role. You can probably make a case that Garland has been just as important to their success on the offensive end. Still, it would feel strange not to have the guy that’s seventh in EPM, seventh in DARKO, and ninth in LEBRON.

Joining Mitchell from the Cavaliers is Mobley, who has also been a huge reason for the Cavaliers’ success. As usual, he’s a candidate for the DPOY. A key stat that stood out was the opponent shooting almost 9% worse than expected at the rim against him, where he defends over 7 shots.

On offense, he has seen a drastic improvement in his shooting playtypes, where he averages over 5 TSA off spots ups, handoffs, or off screen, and is shooting a career high 53% TS. He’s also been finishing in transition, as a roll man and putbacks at a career level. He jumped from 1.01 points per as a roll man to 1.17!

3rd team:

• Karl Anthony Towns

• Ivica Zubac

• Cade Cunningham

• Jaren Jackson Jr

• LeBron James

Zubac and Jackson Jr make the team based a lot off their defensive value. But with also their high impact on the offensive end in their rightful role, they easily have been one of the more impactful players. As mentioned in Zubac’s case for MIP, that two-way value helps a lot.

I talked a lot about Zubac’s impact and why he most likely deserves the All-NBA nod in both the MIP conversation and the DPOY case.

Jackson Jr is in the same boat. Primarily giving you impact on defense, who’s also been a candidate for the DPOY. He contests everything at the rim, opponent is shooting almost 14$ worse than expected. Opponents are also shooting 6.5% worse at the rim with him on than off and have a lower frequency of around 2.2%.

I’m not that high on Cunningham individually, but he has been so important for the Pistons team that won 30 more games than last year! I wouldn’t say he has improved or taken a step that significant, but being the main guy on a team that is a top-six team and playing a big role for them on the offensive side warrants this.

He has still been tasked with a lot of responsibilities on offense, and that’s not easy to continue to be as effective. There hasn’t been any drop off, and even if there haven’t also been significant jumps in any of the stats or metrics, maintaining that whilst being the engine of the team and finally leading the team into above average offense is still a good thing. I don’t think anyone expected the Pistons to be this good.

I feel like Towns had an underrated season, particularly on the offensive end. He has been vital for them on the offensive end, and he has done his thing. He gave you all of the production as a scorer and did so efficiently. He helped the offense be this elite with the spacing, his passing, and I really liked his drives whenever he’s been aggressive this year. There was this one Magic game where it felt like he took over — I also saw him cook for 44 points against the Heat. But I have been quite disappointed by his defense a lot.

I don’t know how LeBron keeps on doing this, but he still finds himself on the third, though, I do feel like if some players did hit the 65 game mark, he probably wouldn’t have made it. I hate to say it, but this kind of feels like the default option at this point. He still put up the usual stats. 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists. That never changes. He shot 57.4% from 2pt and 37.6 from 3pt.

He also has the similar unfortunate case of being compared to himself as did Curry. Compared to himself, he is having one of the worst seasons(obviously, he’s freaking 40 years old). But compared to the league, he’s still up there. Just as efficient as any other All-NBA candidate. Is on track with all other impact metrics that paint him as All-NBA calibre.

He is still a freight train when it comes to getting to the rim and finishing. He has shot at least 73% at the rim in every year since 2021. But he also has been getting to the rim less and it’s the lowest in his career with just under 8 rim shots per 100. That has coincided with career high in the short mid-range volume, where he’s also easily shooting the best in that area in recent years at 46.1%. And as a passer, he is still as deadly as ever — still averaging over 20 potential assists, over 5 rim assists, and generates over 27 assist points.

All impact metrics paint him ~15 on offense, but it’s the defense that has fallen off the most, and that hurts him in this case.

All-Defensive

1st team:

• Dyson Daniels

• Draymond Green

• Ivica Zubac

• Amen Thompson

• Evan Mobley

All of the DPOY candidates and honourable mentions land here. I don’t think there’s much discussion around the 1st team for the most part. I still want to reward the perimeter players here and I think the defensive teams can consider more of an individual impact, rather than the same criteria for DPOY — there can be some leeway for the sake of it.

With that in mind, you have three of the top big defenders that had the highest impact and arguably two of the best perimeter players in both Daniels and Thompson. Those two have been the best ones for me, both doing it in different ways.

2nd team

• Lu Dort

• Rudy Gobert

• Jalen Williams

• Jaren Jackson Jr

• Bam Adebayo

Staying on that point with rewarding different kind of impact, the Thunder has to have someone on the teams and honestly, multiple people. Both Dort and Williams have been huge in various roles. Everyone does a bit of everything.

Per BBall-Index, Dort ranks 3rd in matchup difficulty, 2nd in guarded O-LEBRON, 5th in ball screen navigation, 1st in perimeter isolation defense, and 23rd in off-ball chaser defense. He’s doing the absolute everything as the point of attack defender and stopping the worst matchups.

Williams, on the other hand, has been in the helper role and has been key when both Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren were out. He was their rim protector and did a tremendous job. Out of 80 players in a helper role, he ranks 7th in help effectiveness rating, 7th in rim protection, 9th in rim points saved per 75, 4th in dFG% vs expected, and 2nd in defensive FG% at the rim.

I feel like with both Gobert and Adebayo, they have just made stuff look too easy and something that is expected. I think they did as good of a job on defense as they have done in each of their previous seasons that had them locks for All-Defensive teams.

The Wolves with Gobert on had a 109.7 DRTG and 114.6 when he sat. That’s not normal.

Adebayo is in a similar case where the Heat’s defense is elite when he’s on the court, with 112.8. This was also a season where we’ve seen him be effective in different roles, which maximizes the impact you can have by affecting the game in different ways with different lineups. He can still be the main big defender in all of the actions when he plays without Kel’el Ware, or he can be in the off-ball role with Ware on. The seamless interchangeability is what pushes Adebayo for me. And in a more individual role that isn’t doing the big man duties, he has been one of the best isolation defenders in the league.

Amongst mobile bigs, Adebayo ranks 1st in matchup difficulty, 7th in ball screen navigation, 1st in perimeter isolation defense, 1st in off-ball chaser defense, and 4th in deflections. There’s not a single big that can do his job as a perimeter defender. He may not be as impactful or have the volume that affects the interior defense, but his calling is versatility.

And that is all for the 2024-25 season awards. I appreciate if you got to the end and read the two part-er.

Before diving into each candidate, I’ll briefly touch on what “my” criteria for that award are by looking at how I define the award, what I value more, what’s more important, what doesn’t matter, and just the general thought process in deciding the winner.

So, let’s go through the awards for the 2024-25 season.

Rookie of the Year: Stephon Castle

With ROTY, this has the most leeway and it’s the most loose award because they are rookies. For most players, they will be on bad teams in the lottery and that’s why this is more focused on the player individually. Now playing a “good” role on a good team is tough so that is also considered in how good a player has been.

• Stephon Castle

• Jaylen Wells

• Zaccharie Risacher

Honorable mentions: Kel’el Ware, Zach Edey, Matas Buzelis

I feel like there isn’t a massive wrong choice in deciding this year’s ROTY. There are a number of solid, legitimate candidates all giving you something different on the court in various roles.

I ended up going with Castle with him having the most individual production. He is tied second with Ron Holland in games played with 81(Bub Carrington is first with 82). He’s also fourth in minutes per game.

Amongst rookies, Castle is also:

• 1st in total points

• 3rd in total assists

• 9th in total rebounds

• 1st in total steals

• 14th in total blocks

• 1st in total free throw attempted

• 9th in total 3pt made

That is a lot of production, which resulted in a nice stat line of 14.7 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. He led the rookies in usage at 25.5% and has done so with 52.2% TS and 47.7% eFG. The efficiency is obviously not there, but that matters almost zero as a rookie to me. Despite that, amongst rookies with at least 65 games, out of the top 10 rookies in usage, he’s 5th in TS%.

It’s surprising that he’s already getting to the line at will. He averages 5.7 free throws per 75 possessions, which ranks in the 94th percentile overall. He also takes 6.9 shots at the rim, which is basically the same as both Donovan Clingan and Edey.

He has 26 games with 20 plus points, 14 of which where he shot 50% or better. He has two games with 30 plus points, six games with a double-double, and 11 with 7 assists or better.

To end the season from March, he averaged 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in 25 games(10-15), shooting 53.0% from 2pt and 30.0% 3pt with 50.4% eFG and 55.2% TS, as well as adding 28.0% AST. He finished the season strong. Since March, only 15 other players had those benchmarks for points, rebounds, and assists.

Wells is a different story because of the team that he’s on. He’s been on a team that nearly won 50 games and has been a playoff-level team for the whole season(the Spurs’ chances went down after Wembanyama got ruled out). And even on a team that won 48 games, Wells was tied first in games played with 79, he started 74 games and was 4th in minutes per game at 25.9.

He did hit a wall post All-Star break where the splits are noticeable, but what he was doing before that in over double the sample is worth more. In 54 games pre ASB, he averaged 11.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists with 58.0% TS and shooting 37.6% from 3pt.

Combined with his availability and being a positive on both ends, he ranked fourth in estimated wins, per dunks and threes. For Wells, it’s also the defense that carried him. he was fifth in matchup difficulty, eighth in guarded O-LEBRON, and sixth in perimeter isolation defense. That’s elite not even considering the fact that he’s a rookie.

I liked Risacher, too. He feels like the opposite of Wells in a way. He’s also on a team that was looking to win and get into the playoffs and he helped a lot too, just more so on the offensive end. He closed out the season better, too.

Although it’s a smaller sample, post ASB, in 27 games, his efficiency went through the roof. He went from 52.6% to 60.9% TS. He shot 31.7% from 3pt, which improved to 40.7%. Once the calendar flipped, in 42 games(a bigger sample size), he averaged 14.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists, shooting 58.2% from 2pt and 40.1% 3pt. That is excellent for a rookie. That’s being highly efficient in the right role and that can be tough. Being able to fit well with better players immediately and doing a good job at it deserves praise.

I wouldn’t be mad if he also won the award.

But in the end, I’m still going with Castle because, for this award, I’m weighing players that do more even on lesser teams that give them that opportunity. This is just a fun award to me.

All-Rookie

Not much to go into here. This is an extension of the fun award:

1st team:

• Stephon Castle

• Jaylen Wells

• Zaccharie Risacher

• Kel’el Ware

• Zach Edey

2nd team:

• Matas Buzelis

• Bub Carrington

• Alexandre Sarr

• Isaiah Collier

• Donovan Clingan

Coach of the Year: Mark Daigneault

With COTY, I’m looking at the biggest improvement period. This isn’t looking at if the team has championship aspirations or if it’s merely improving from the worst team to a play-in team. Certain improvements are weighed more, though, because not every improvement is equal in terms of difficulty.

When looking to decide on the winner, I’m really stuck. This is just one of those years that I can see many worthy candidates that equally deserve it with their individual cases. I’m having trouble even narrowing it down to the top three, so here’s the top five(that is all still very fluid to me)

• Mark Daigneault

• J.B Bickerstaff

• Kenny Atkinson

• Ty Lue

• Ime Udoka

This might be a take to have Daigneault as the coach of the year and honestly, I’m not fully sure about this either. But what has pushed me towards this pick is just how dominant the Thunder have been.

Yes, they were already a 57 win team that had the second best net rating in the league last year. Yes, they also were already top four in both offense and defense. But how they dominated the league this year is historic. And it’s that fact that it’s not only just elite compared to the league now but through history that pushes the case further for me.

Per Cleaning the Glass, they finished the season with a net rating of +13.6, an improvement from +8.0. That is the best net rating period from CTG. The 2017 Golden State Warriors were +12.7. They also have the highest point differential in NBA history, period. They also have the most double-digit wins in NBA history.

It’s things like that, which make this case worthy to me. It is much harder to go from great to elite. There are also levels to that, where it’s considerably higher to go from elite to historical dominance. There aren’t many teams that have taken a jump like that because it’s hard not only to sustain the elite level of performance but to add to it.

Just for comparison, using the simple rating system from BBall-Ref, the Thunder had a 7.36 SRS, and that jumped to 12.7. That is a +5.34 difference. Here is the list of teams that had made a similar jump:

• 2024 Celtics: +6.38 → +10.75

• 1971 Bucks: +4.25 → +11.92

• 1992 Bulls: +8.57 → +10.07

• 1996 Bulls: +4.32 → +11.80

• 1972 Lakers: +3.27 → +11.65

• 2015 Warriors: +5.15 → +10.01

• 2016 Spurs: +6.34 → +10.28

That is it. Only seven other seasons has a team made a jump to at least +10 SRS.

The jump comes from a historic defense. Per PBP Stats(that goes back to 2001), they have the ninth-best defense relative to the average at -6.92 — that went up from +3.48, which ranked 95th. Not a big deal, just a casual 86 spot increase.

They have made adjustments that addressed their weaknesses, although an improvement that still has them in the bottom range. But before, rebounding was their biggest issue. They ranked 27th in ORB% and that jumped to 19th this year. Similarly on defense, they went from 29th in opponent ORB% to 21st. This also further improved with the incorporation of Isaiah Hartenstein who has them in the 74th percentile with him on the court when it comes to opponent ORB%.

Speaking of Hartenstein, they needed to figure out how to run double big lineups with Chet Holmgren. I think that is fair to say that has worked. Per CTG, they are +13.5 net in 679 possessions with a 95th percentile offense at 123.4 and 88th percentile defense at 109.9. And their rebounding numbers go to 32.1% ORB and 21.9% opponent ORB%.

All of that has been a necessary implementation that needed to address their major weaknesses from last year.

They have not only gotten better in areas that were already successful but made massive strides in areas that they were bottom five. Also, a side note worth noting is that they did all of this with Holmgren missing a lot of time, too.

And I give credit to the system that they have built, especially on the defensive end that has allowed them to be this dominant regardless of who’s on the floor. Per Dunks and Threes, they have 15(!) players that are positive on defense. That is a system working to perfection that is capable of maximizing individual impact.

There’s also this, where any combination of players have worked to be elite:

It really doesn’t matter who’s on the floor. They are going to be elite and I would put a lot of that down to coaching and the system.

On the other hand, increasing a team’s win total by 30(!) is just as impressive, and I can see the argument being made that it should be better. The Pistons were a team that lost 28 damn games in a row. They had a losing streak that was over 60% of their wins this year! They had a 28-game losing streak, another eight games, two more seven games, three more six games, and four more five-game losing streaks. It was just streaks of nothing but Ls. This year, they won eight in a row, won five in a row twice, and won three in a row four times.

They jumped from -10.2 net to +1.6. They haven’t improved to way above average, but they started from one of the worst positions. They were 28th on offense with 109.2 and 25th on defense with 119.4. That jumped to 16th with 115.1 and 11th with 113.5. That is a huge jump, too.

They did a bunch of new players. They had a roster continuity of 51% and their most notable additions were Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Ron Holland. Adding three veterans did wonders for this team. This was a well-balanced team with six players who played at least half the season scoring in double-digit points.

But it was the defense that stood out the most. That was the biggest jump. They improved from 24th to 12th in opponent eFG% and 28th to 12th in opponent TOV%. That is impressive to do with a bunch of young players in the rotation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if easily wins it.

The rest of the candidates Atkinson, Lue, and Udoka all have their legitimate cases.

Atkinson turned the Cavaliers around with their new offense that gave them the best offense in NBA history. They are also one of the teams that looked to improve from great to elite. The potential fit issues with the double big lineups or some of the poor numbers with all four top players that appeared last year went away.

The four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen were +9.9 with a 123.2 ORTG and 113.3 DRTG. Compared to that only +2.6 with a 115.4 ORTG and 112.8 DRTG last year.

They have found great lineups that work so well that staggered all of the top players:

• Mitchell/Mobley and no Allen/Garland: +10.7 with 120.4 ORTG and 109.7 DRTG

• Garland/Allen and no Mitchell/Mobley: +9.3 with 124.9 ORTG and 115.6 DRTG

Udoka and the Rockets have made improvements going from 41 wins to 51 and jumping from +2.1 net to +5.4. Doing so without really any major additions is impressive. They have leaned into some parts of their games where they are just the best offensive-rebounding teams by far. They are suffocating on defense. A lot of that is credit to Udoka for implementing that system that has the players be their best on defense.

Finally, Lue and the Clippers. I was down on the Clippers and I wasn’t expecting this at all. Looking solely at their stats compared to last year, there wouldn’t be a significant increase but I don’t know if the expectations were the same as last year given the number of circumstances revolving around losing Paul George and Kawhi Leonard missing time. They have locked in to being one of the best defensive teams in the league. Given the expectations, Lue has easily got himself in the conversation.

Overall, I’m still looking to go with Daigneault and it’s mainly on the case that what they have done is almost unprecedented. They have had a historic season. This isn’t a season that would just get lost in the mix. This isn’t a season that defied expectations because they were obviously expected to be great but did anyone predict them breaking records that were held by some of the greatest teams of all time?

Sixth Man of the Year: Payton Pritchard

With the 6MOTY, I’m looking at the most impactful contribution off the bench. I see this guy as one that is one of the more important players on the team and simply excels in whatever role is necessary for him off the bench. It does often go to the high scorer off the bench, because that is important for bench units, but that’s also not exclusive to them given the right candidates. This is all about the impact in their given role, whatever that they may be.

• Payton Pritchard

• Ty Jerome

• Malik Beasley

Honorable mentions: De’Andre Hunter, Naz Reid, Obi Toppin

Insert Spider-Man meme here because that’s what this is. They may not have the exact roles or play similarly, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either player based on what they are asked to give and how well they have produced in such a role.

Payton is capable of doing what’s needed on offense on a team that is so overpowered on offense. He can reliably give you secondary ball handling as the guard off the bench. He also does lead the team in average dribble per touch with 4.17. He’s high on the team in touches with 51 in 28 minutes — more than Jrue Holiday in more minutes.

He’s scoring 1.11 points per possession as the ball handler in the PNR on 2.1 possessions(17.2% freq). In a smaller sample, he’s also added 0.96 points per 0.9 isolations. He has been effective on-ball when given those opportunities. That is the spark that he can easily give when it comes to creation.

Out of Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown, he has the highest eFG% on shots of 7+ dribbles with 59.0%. That takes around 19% of his shots, which is roughly in the same range than the others(and higher than White). This is the same case for 3-6 dribbles with his eFG% at 56.0%.

He has been torching defenses on-ball. He’s doing this even without the best players on. Without Tatum or Brown, he’s scoring 22.8 points per 75 poss on 57.2% eFG and 58.4% TS with 25.2% usage. He’s doing his thing when he’s playing with the bench units.

But then he’s also shooting 44.5% on C&S 3s, which takes up 45% of his diet. He shoots 43.2% on wide open 3s. With Tatum on, he has a 61.5% TS and shoots 39.0% from 3pt.

He’s way more than just a spark plug. He can be that primary ball handler off the bench, be a secondary ball handler next to better players, or he can be the guy spotting up. He has 24 games with 20 or more points. Nine games with seven or more assists. 22 games with five or more 3s made.

Beasley has lit up the whole league and if it wasn’t for Anthony Edwards being a competitive mfer, he probably would’ve led the league in 3pt made. He has been the definition of a spark plug. He’s shooting 43.1% on C&S 3s, 37.0% on pull ups, and 47.0% on wide open looks. He has been automatic.

He is seventh in points added on jump shots, but is also first in C&S 3pt added with 101.7 — the only one cracking 100. He has provided Cade Cunningham and everyone else the necessary spacing that they all need. That’s why he was the team’s second leading scorer and for a team that hasn’t been filled with offensive talent, that was needed.

Then we also have Ty Jerome, who is also incredibly efficient in his role. He’s more of a facilitator than a spark plug. He has a 24.5% AST to only 11.9% TOV. That’s higher than all other candidates — Beasley(8.9%) and Pritchard(18.4%).

He slots in well with whoever is on the court. The Cavaliers have a +6.3 net with him on but no Garland or Mitchell. They also have a +11.5 net with him and Mitchell or +10.6 with him and Garland without the other. That gives the Cavaliers a backcourt that is as dangerous no matter the combination.

In whatever shots he gets, he does damage. He has one of the deadliest floaters, and is a big reason why he shoots 57.0% from 2pt and adds 43.9% from 3pt.

You really can’t go wrong here, but I’m leaning Pritchard with just how great of a scorer he is both on and off-ball and in various roles off the bench. That highly impactful for the Celtics.

Most Improved Player: Ivica Zubac

With MIP, this is the award that I have trouble figuring out how to go about it. I have been a camp that does reward already good players taking a jump to the All-Star level, even “if” it was expected because it’s tougher to continue to improve further up. I also have rewarded opportunities in the past, too. Just because a player does get the opportunity, that doesn’t always result in maintaining the efficiency and increasing the impact. I also haven’t weighed expectations much either. It’s more about looking at the raw improvement period with weighing how it impacts the team. Better impact on the team = better improvement.

But with how the award has been given in the past or the issues with some of the definitions for it, I can see the case for players who made the unexpected leap or went from a role player to a starter or borderline All-Star. That is a valid case for a player and that “should” be rewarded in some other way, too.

For me, I’d still go by the actual definition of most improved and that means players who became stars, even if young players are expected to improve still get rewarded. Just because a young player is expected to improve, that doesn’t diminish the actual improvement being easier.

• Ivica Zubac

• Tyler Herro

• Cade Cunningham

Honorable mentions: Austin Reaves, Evan Mobley, Dyson Daniels

Having laid out the criteria and brief thoughts there, I still don’t like picking this award. It can go in so many directions and many ways has a valid argument depending on the case.

This one is particularly harder than anything else because it’s comparing seasons, too. That factor alone makes this process more difficult because you have to remember what the player was in the seasons prior. You also can’t simply just compare box score stats because that doesn’t tell the entire story. A player with marginal improvements in raw box score can have made a bigger jump than a player having a 10-plus points increase due to more opportunities.

Although I did say that maintaining efficiency and impact with a bigger role is still important, you also have to know if it is solely an increase in opportunity or if there are actual changes. Not every statistic is also the same and that puts the emphasis again on remembering and knowing what the players were like beyond the box score.

With that said, I have narrowed it to that group of three players and three more honorable mentions. I can see the case with Cunningham being flipped with Mobley or Reaves, too.

Daniels, on the other hand, has made a significant jump in terms of impact, he has seen the 12th-highest increase in LEBRON WAR. But I don’t think that’s as big as other players making “star” jumps. He would be a near-frontrunner if we go the different way in determining the winner that other players are supposed to be good.

I have Zubac leading the way because of the jump on both ends that has led to a huge turnaround for the Clippers. He has jumped into being one of the best two-way impactful bigs in the league.

He has seen the highest LEBRON WAR change in the league with +4.68. He’s also seen an increase in impact in EPM going from +1.2 to +4.1. That is a big jump.

The first thing that stood out was the improvement as a rebounder on the defensive end. He has a career-high 30.1% DRB, going from 25.8% last year. That has been a huge factor in the Clippers being elite defensively — we’ll touch on that more in the DPOY case in the following piece. Another key factor for him on that end was being less foul prone going from 3.8 fouls committed per 75 to 2.4.

But it’s the jump on offense that stood out a lot. He jumped from 21.9 points per 100 to 25.1. His AST% jumped to 12.8% from 7.5%. He’s being assisted the lowest in his career at 70.3%. He’s creating more for himself in the post and is being highly effective.

The percentage of his shots at the rim being unassisted went from 36.5% to 47.8%. He’s not just a “feed your big easy dump-offs”. He’s finishing through contact better. Per BBall-Index's finishing talent, his raw metric value went from -0.13 to +1.22. His stable raw rim FG% has gone up from 66.7% to 70.8%. Combining that with the fact he’s assisted less is impressive.

His post-play metrics are insane. Per BBall-Index raw metric values in:

• Post up shooting talent: +1.58 → +4.15

• Post up shot making: +1.39 → +2.92

• Potential assists per post pass: 69.2 → 75.6

The raw efficiency on his post up has dropped but combined with the ridiculous increase in volume, that matters less. He only averaged 1.3 post up possessions last year and now he’s third in the league at 4.1. The offense is run through Zubac a lot more and he still shoots 59% on those looks(he shot 66% last year).

Although it’s not his strength, his playmaking metrics have seen an increase. He’s averaging 10.2 potential assists per 100 passes, almost doubling it from 5.4 last year. Almost all of his passing metrics have increased by at least 0.5 in the metric raw value.

The impact is also there. The Clippers are +9.4 with him on with a 118.2 ORTG and 108.8 DRTG. That drops to -4.3 with a 109.4 ORTG and 113.7 DRTG without him. That is roughly the same split even if you include Harden on the court without Zubac.

Zubac, combined with his individual improvements, has played an immense role on the team and has been arguably the biggest reason for their jump. Being a high-level big on both ends is a lot valuable, especially if you are providing a bunch on either end. There’s no reduction in value or impact because of giving something up or making one end tougher for the team. He opens a lot up with his big man duties as a screener, roller, and finishing easy looks, as well as bringing some touches creating for himself and giving the offense more options and versatility. But then you also add how he’s a DPOY candidate who has been the reason the Clippers are elite. They are, after all, a top-three defense.

He legit has a case to be All-NBA and for that, he’s my pick.

Next, I’m going with Herro. He’s one of the players who did get more of an opportunity to be in the position to be finally the best offensive player on the team. But as mentioned, just because you do get that opportunity, it doesn’t mean that you’re expected to keep the same level of efficiency, production, and impact.

Herro has made a lot of strides in the right direction and he’s also one of the players whose raw box score doesn’t do the justice here. But fortunately here(probably a bit bias with me covering the Heat), I have watched every minute that Herro has played over the last four seasons, so I can tell the more granular improvementsare being made.

The first came with the change of shot profile that has made him more efficient, although that has now been over overstated towards the end of the season, with him going dropping back to previous ranges. But it all revolved around him taking more 3s. He started off with having a way above 50% 3pt rate and he was cooking. That has kind of dropped off post ASB when it comes to his shooting at 35.8%.

Regardless, the improvement wasn’t just mere shot profile change and hot shooting. He has taken a considerable leap as a scorer inside, which has off-set the poor shooting. He has jumped from 47.8% inside the arc to 56.5%. A lot of that is him having a career high finishing season at 65.8%, up from 52.4% last year. He’s also continued to develop that floater that has gradually increased his paint scoring to 53.4%, up from 50.0%. He still loves the mid-range, but now he’s also a lot better, shooting also a career high at 46.4% from 14ft-3pt, up from 38.8%. That has resulted in him shooting almost 53% on pull up 2s!

All of that improvement around the paint has meant that despite the drop-off in shooting, he doesn’t have to rely solely on that. I can for once say that he has developed into a more well-rounded scorer. That’s why post ASB, despite the 3pt shooting dropping to career low levels, he’s been efficient, posting 60.1% TS. And a lot of that is him shooting 69% at the rim, 52% in the paint, and 54% in the mid-range.

Efficiency.

Another reason for that has been developing his foul drawing ability. That has taken a step. His free throw rate is the highest it’s been at 0.237, up from 0.195 at his previous career high in 2022. Throughout the season, he has learned to foul bait more with his rip through move. A little addition, but he has already drawn a dozen of fouls doing so.

His scoring has simply improved to a much more refined version of what he’s been doing in the past.

But it’s also his passing that has taken a step forward. Per BBall-Index, he has:

• 1.2 passing efficiency, up from 0.37 last year and the highest since 2022

• 1.24 passing creation volume, up from 0.83, the highest since 2022

• 0.42 passing creation quality, up from 0.12, the highest since 2022

• 21.5 potential assists per 100 passes, up from 18.8, the highest since 2022

• 9.2 box creation, up from 7.6, the highest since 2022

• 1.4 playmaking talent, up from 0.79, the highest since 2022

That is real growth on that end and a significant jump from all previous seasons, not just last year.

Then there’s the impact. He has seen the third highest LEBRON WAR increase and a +1.4 increase in EPM. But the thing that has mattered more and I believe is valuable here, it’s the availability. He has played 77 games, easily the highest in his career and up from 42 last year. That resulted in going from 4.6 estimated wins to 11.0. That alone is a big improvement that should matter.

What stops me from going higher is the team’s performance hasn’t been great, even with him on the court. The fourth quarter and clutch stats from him have let him down. As mentioned with Zubac, where two-way improvement is emphasized, Herro hasn’t seen an improvement on defense, and that hurts the overall impact that his improvement can give.

Finally, we have Cunningham, but that can also go to Mobley or Reaves. I think all three have shown significant improvement but I don’t know exactly how big it has been considering they were already good last year — this is where some being more knowledgeable about a player from previous seasons comes in. A lot of these players have seen improvement in a bunch of the stats, impac,t or other relevant metrics, but none have shown a major difference.

And that is it for the first part of the awards! We’ll be back with the second part tomorrow.

Heat Check

Here is where I give a “heat” check on the team through a weekly ramble that’s me simply ranting about the Heat and a handful of other newsworthy topics that occurred throughout the week or trends to talk about. This can be a quick, brief discussion on multiple smaller topics that should be noted for a deeper look at in the future.

So, the Heat have won three straight — that is just the fourth time this season they reached this streak. Granted, it did come against the Charlotte Hornets, a Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks. On the flip side, though, those are the caliber of teams they have lost to either way.

The Hornets game went down as it should have the last time they faced each other. This finally snapped the 10-game losing streak. It was one hell of a game from Andrew Wiggins, who scored 42 points on 10/13 2pt, 6/8 3pt, and 4/7 ft with 5 assists. Tyler Herro helped with 29 points on 9/14 2pt, 2/5 3pt, and 5/5 ft. Although the Hornets did somehow have a lead early in the first half as big as 12, the Heat took control to finish the half and they never looked back in the second half.

Simply have taken care of business.

Following that was one of the more anticipated games of the season because who wasn’t looking forward to Jimmy Butler coming back to Miami? Watching him play in Golden State didn’t hit the same until he played against the Heat. That’s when it was like “damn, he really is on a different team now”.

Unfortunately for Butler, this probably wasn’t the outcome that he may have wanted. It was a blow out win for the Heat, as they dominated on both sides of the floor. Everyone did their part offensively, and that’s why they shot 17/25 from 3pt(68.0%). This was also as much of a defensive game as anything else. The Warriors pulled the Heat, as they didn’t even crack 90 points and shot sub 40%.

This definitely felt like a game that everyone wanted to make sure that they won.

And they capped off the week with an impressive win against the Hawks, behind Herro’s 36 points on 9/11 2pt, 4/6 3pt, and 6/7 ft with 4 assists. Another game where they had absurd shooting, going 18/33(54.5%), and had contributions from Herro, Davion Mitchell, Haywood Highsmith, and Alec Burks all making 3 or more 3s.

Considering how the Heat have played recently, this really was an impressive win, especially considering how they were answering. They fell behind quickly in the first quarter but regained the lead immediately. The Hawks were looking to make a push, but the Heat didn’t let that take over.

With all of that said, one of the first thought I had was to check Tankathon. Yes, that is kind of shameless but blame the way the league is set up.

There are takes that hoping for your team to get more lottery balls makes you less of a fan and I get that.

Rooting for your team to lose can be looked at a certain way, especially because it would mean that the players would have to be bad. Looking at it in that way, it does feel kind of shitty to want players on the court to have subpar performances.

But it also wouldn’t be the end of the world if the opponent is just better or if the coach waves the white flag sooner. If they can ethically lose because they got outmatched, so be it. I wouldn’t be mad.

And those situations arise because of how the league works. It would be great to have the idea that you always need to look to win because that is the only way to get better. That’s not always the case and there are certain circumstances that can happen at times that would benefit the team more to lose in the short term.

That’s another point about all of this. This isn’t embracing a general approach to tanking or selling out the whole core to go through 82 games focusing on losing.

But with the Heat in this specific situation, there’s almost no benefit to winning more games, unless the team really does want to just get into the playoffs, which then having home court in the play-in or having two chances instead of one is the deciding factor.

There’s also the deciding whether they want to give up a couple of unprotected picks next year or just one, which is likely the reason for the push now.

A counterargument, though is that this will likely be the highest they pick in a draft in a while. If they go down the route of making the playoffs to avoid sending out more picks in the future, then I don’t see them being worse than they are now. Having a potential 8th pick is likely going to be the best they’ll get and that could change a lot for them.

I know they have drafted well in the past in mid to late first, but the likelihood of hitting on such high-potential talent decreases as you go further down. And it’s not just about the Heat’s approach to drafting, but getting a higher pick also makes it more likely that you won’t get beat by a team before you.

In 2017, they missed the playoffs and took Adebayo with the last pick of the lottery. But this was also a very fortunate outcome that happened in spite of their goal. They looked to compete and turn the season around.

Imagine, if they didn’t have Dion Waiters suffering a season-ending injury and would have racked up a handful of wins toward the end of the season. Their last three losses came down to a single possession. With some random luck being in play, they easily could’ve ended up with those three wins and had a 44-28 record and that would’ve meant selecting at the 20th pick instead of 14th. I’m sure Adebayo would’ve been taken then.

This also isn’t the biggest issue this year because they won’t have the pick in the first place if they make the playoffs! This isn’t still hoping that they could get another steal of the draft. The choice is simple have the likely 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th pick or nothing.

I think that reward is worth the potential risk of having to send out picks in the future, especially with how the draft has been talked about.

Unfortunately, that scenario is beginning to look less likely considering the schedule that they have. They have basically a cakewalk to end the season. The other teams in the lottery are also ones that would prioritize getting better odds, too. They’re going to get hurt from both directions.

The only thing left is to just to let this pan out how it’s going to be.

Herro’s most impressive scoring night

Herro against the Hawks had arguably his most impressive scoring night, considering how he did it because he has had higher scoring games with three 40pt games and he also has had games almost as efficient as he did.

But again, what made it impressive is how he got those looks within the offense and how he approached attacking out of those actions.

Here’s the whole highlights of his scoring:

There was the usual shot-making on those pull-ups that he usually loves, but I want to focus on these plays:

These are the looks that he got attacking without the ball or even without having the play be run for him to get the ball.

There was a catch-and-shoot off a two-man action with Burks. As Burks draws the defense on the drive, Herro does a good job finding that space by slightly moving to the corner. A small movement, but it was that move that created that opening in the first place.

He had one more C&S possession, which came from Adebayo being doubled in the post and leaving a wide-open Herro one pass away. That was certainly a choice to leave him open.

I also loved the decision on the back cut that originally looked to be a stagger for him with Anderson as the hub. He hit the defender with a good fake, jab, and cuts to the rim. Those are the kinds of reads that need to happen more often with the way he gets overplayed as a shooter.

But it’s the rest of the looks that I enjoyed the most. It’s those attacks off the catch that resulted in drives to the rim. That was the most impressive part.

The first was being in the action that had him attack as a secondary option against a moving defense. But then it’s him not settling for a bad shot, killing a possession, or attacking for a pull up. Instead, it all looked like an intentional attack to get to the rim off the catch and beating closeouts.

The last clip was one of the more impressive decisions to quickly snatch the pass and go. Not thinking about anything else. Catch the ball and attack. That had Mann unable to recover and it’s attacking a late defense rotating, which results in a foul.

Three of those attacks off the catch had the defense caught off guard and resulted in a trip to the line. That’s three actions off-ball getting the most efficient shot at the line.

Combine that with a handful of solid shot-making in the process, this was easily the most impressive scoring night for him all season.

Do you really need Wiggins’ offense?

I had talked about Wiggins' offense recently and how it has been very pick-and-roll or isolation-heavy, which has been a drastic change in how he played with the Warriors. And with the recent high-scoring games from him, that topic came up on my timeline again.

For me, these games don’t really change the view on the way his getting offense isn’t ideal even considering the team context.

Not specific to the Heat, but there’s always this idea that players have to play above their roles in very different ways if the team doesn’t have reliable, effective on-ball options.

If a team doesn’t have a good number one or two, that just means the rest of the players simply have to be the ones taking those tough shots and be the source of the offense on-ball because that’s obviously the best alternative.

That has also been a topic surrounding Herro last year, especially in the time that he was out.

Again, this view isn’t specific to the Heat but my whole take on that is if a team doesn’t have great offensive options to be running the offense on-ball, the alternative isn’t to get average players doing so at high volume. The offense doesn’t have isolation and PNR to bad players or nothing, especially when the former is also equally as bad but it takes up a high portion of the offense.

No one on this team should really dominate the ball and take a high volume of shots and others should be pushed to do so just because there’s no other option.

Now, looking at Wiggins specifically, here’s the Heat’s offense post-ASB, with:

• Wiggins on: 111.1

• Wiggins off: 114.4

• Wiggins not playing(5 games): 113.2

• Wiggins not playing but with Herro/Bam on: 117.1

• Wiggins/Herro/Bam on: 111.0

Looking further into it here are some individual’s usage rate with Wiggins on the court, Wiggins not playing, Herro/Bam on with no Wiggins, and with all Wiggins/Herro/Bam on:

• Wiggins: 27.9% / - / - / 25.6%

• Herro: 26.3% / 29.8% / 27.4% / 26.3%

• Adebayo: 20.4% / 27.3% / 24.5% / 20.2%

• Mitchell: 13.0% / 14.7% / 14.1% / 12.1%

• Ware: 14.4% / 15.5% / 12.8% / 13.1% /

• Duncan: 15.1% / 19.6% / 22.2% / 14.4%

• Highsmith: 9.5% / 11.2% / 9.7% / 10.0%

Immediately, the first thing that shows up is with Wiggins on or playing, Adebayo drops considerably. There’s also a decrease in role players like Duncan.

As talked about last week on how we haven’t been able to see three of them having great games together, and I mentioned that it’s how they all get their offense. You have three players getting their offense primarily through on-ball actions. And with none being the kind of players that generate rim pressure or are elite passing, that makes those actions less effective for others.

Without Wiggins, you’re taking one mouth away to feed and are able to redistribute it in different ways that doesn’t require isolations or post ups.

That’s why I ask, do we really need that kind of offense from Wiggins? Yes, this team doesn’t have Stephen Curry, but that also shouldn’t be an excuse to lean into the other direction heavily.

On that point, I also had this take:

Roster construction can make role players worse but that’s only if they’re in that role in the first place. This applies to players like Duncan, Strus, Gabe, and Caleb having a worse impact as role players on worse teams. We can see that with other teams that have good role players but are on bad teams(Hello, a lot of the Nets in the past).

But roster construction shouldn’t make players go completely outside of those roles to that degree. That’s where I don’t see the roster as an argument that a player plays in such a way because of it.

Bam’s recent quiet two games

So, in this three-game win streak, Adebayo had 10 shots against the Hornets and nine against the Hawks — he did have 18 against the Warriors, though. But both of those games were very quiet scoring-wise from him, with only scoring 11 and 12 points.

For the season, he’s had 13 games with single-digit shot attempts. He’s also had 18 games with sub 20% usage rate.

Just as a comparison for previous seasons:

• 2024: 8 & 10

• 2023: 3 & 11

• 2022: 9 & 9

• 2021: 11 & 11

• 2020: 27 & 33

He’s already exceeded what he’s done in every season outside of 2020. That’s definitely something worth keeping a note of.

But when thinking about why this may have been the case, it got me thinking again about his offense. Now, this isn’t anything official but solely based on an eye test, but it does feel like a lot of that comes from his lack of PNR actions involved as the roll man.

He’s still involved with the ball. He’s still the hub. He’d still set screens, but I don’t remember him actually rolling constantly hard at a higher volume.

And going back to the same topic around Wiggins where it’s tough to feed three players requiring the ball, if Adebayo isn’t fed his post-ups and isolations, or allowing him to work in the mid-range off the rolls, how else is he getting his offense?

For the season, he’s averaging 3.3 possessions as a roll man, which is around 18.5% of his offense. Out of 13 players with at least 3 possessions, that frequency would rank 12th. Out of 35 with at least 2, that would rank 28th.

These are just possessions ending as a roll man. What I’m wondering about is more how he goes about rolling — that’s where the lack of public data ruins any of that analysis, unfortunately.

A lot of my thoughts on Adebayo’s offense have been focusing on his isolations and post-ups, but I think that was the wrong focus because digging in more into his self-creation over the years, that has remained fairly similar(more or less). I now don’t think that’s been the main question around his offense.

Now, I believe a lot of it has to do with the screening. Some of that change can be reflected in his efficiency and FG% as a roll man:

• 2025: 0.98 points per poss on 47.5% FG

• 2024: 1.04 on 51.2%

• 2023: 1.14 on 55.1%

• 2022: 1.11 on 54.9%

• 2021: 1.32 on 67.7%

• 2020: 1.18 on 62.4%

His efficiency has completely fell off the cliff. It has been a gradual decrease and this year it just went poof.

One reason for that is the shot that he hunts in the action, which is as a result of his screening and rolling. Before it was more intentional, strong, and hard rolling that meant more shots closer to the rim. Even as he went further away from the rim in 2023, a big part of his offense was still at the rim. Now, that has flipped.

And without those strong rolls, if the only way he’s used in the action is to get his mid-ranges, then if a team goes to Wiggins(who had high scoring games) or elsewhere, there’s no way of getting Adebayo the ball. It’s either get those mid-range pull ups and catch & shoots or it’s be a hub as a passer. Before, even if you didn’t feed him those touches, you’d still had his shots at the rim as a weapon.

When looking at his game logs of when he had low rim attempts, those were some of the games that also had low usage rates. He’s had eight games with no shots at the rim, 15 with one or fewer, and 24 with two or fewer.

This is something I’ll look to go further into and see how his screening has looked over the years, focusing on the change in this year because I think that has been the biggest difference in his offense changing.

The Heatle Things

To end the report, here are some random tidbits that could be stats, lineups, plays, actions, or anything that I found fun, as well as compiling some other content that I found interesting.

• Davion has helped a lot. There are drives like these(video courtesy of Brady Hawk) that have been showing up more often, especially in bursts in key moments. He’s also having the best 3pt shooting stretch in his career!(stats courtesy of Couper Moorhead). He’s shooting 52.7% from 3pt over the last 20 games, which is up from 43.3% for his second highest % over 20 games. But it’s this that I think has helped the most, where the Heat average 14.8 fast break points, which would rank 16th with him on. That is a big jump from 9.4(30th) without him on the court. That’s over five points in the open court that are much more easier to get and more efficient

• The Heat are currently 11th on defense with 113.8 DRTG, per Cleaning the Glass. They are 0.7 behind the Grizzlies for 10th spot. I need them to reach that number to keep the streak going!

• Speaking of the defense, it has been different. The Heat have been one of the best rim protecting teams in the league consistently, usually ranking top five in rim rate. In March, however, that has dropped all the way to 21st and that’s also combined with 20th in rim FG%. That’s interesting because they are still 10th in that span

• One other change related to that is they have the 19th lowest opponent corner 3pt rate. That again is very different compared to what they always have done. They’re sitting at 9.7% freq — for comparison the last time they were in single digits was in 2018

• Ware in his last eight games is shooting 42/55(76.4%) from 2pt

• The Heat are shooting 40.8% from 3pt in wins and 33.0% in losses. This would be the fourth highest difference in 3pt% between wins and losses. Their 3pt% in wins is also the third highest in the league. They need their 3pt shooting to win

• They are 23-15(60%) when shooting above league average(36.0%) but 9-26(25%) when shooting below

• In March, they are the second worst offensive rebounding team

• In March, they are the worst at getting to the line but they are also the second best at preventing the opponent getting there. That is likely to be a big factor in their defense being good, considering they’re 17th in eFG%, 9th in TOV%, and 12th in ORB%. The free throw rate is carrying

• Alec Burks is shooting 47.5% from 3pt in March. He’s 19/40. For the season, he’s now shooting 42.8% on 10.8 3s per 100

• On the other hand, Rozier is 11/41 but that’s probably why he’s getting DNPs now. He has not played in the last five games, since only playing ~5 minutes against the Knicks. His time in the rotation might actually be over

• That’s a similar case to Jaquez, who in the previous stretch was tasked with a lot more responsibilities that didn’t pan out well, and now he’s not stepping on the court

A quick note but until the end of the regular season, the Culture Report will be adjusted to be a lot different from it was where it’s not focusing much on Xs and Os and individual games, but serving as some quick discussions on the team in general and various topics that arise.

Heat Check

So, the Heat have lost 10 in a row. Hmm.

I have been on the train that this team hasn’t been good but even I am shocked that it reached this point. The Heat are now one of five teams to have at least a 10 game losing streak — Wizards, Hornets, Raptors, Jazz, and Pelicans. The difference is that those are either very bad and tanking teams or ones that have dealt with so much injury.

This is a team that has all of the top guys playing most of the games. On this 10 game losing streak, Adebayo, Mitchell, Duncan played every game. Herro, Jaquez, and Highsmith missed one. Ware, Larsson, Rozier, and Wiggins all played at least six(with two of the players just simply getting DNPs). That’s having most of your starting level players for at least eight games.

I wasn’t expecting this, especially when you consider the competition! The Bulls, Hornets, Grizzlies(without Morant), and Knicks(without Brunson).

A lot of the issues just come back to the offensive side:

One. One game that had at least an average offense. They had four games not cracking 100! Even the defensive side isn’t something to gloss over either, that’s been bad to any standard, too.

In this span, they have a -10.6 net rating with a 105.9 ORTG and 116.5 DRTG. That would rank 27th, 30th, and 19th in that span. Obviously, this is just a 10 game sample, but for the year, that offense would be almost a whole point worse than the Wizards. That’s impressive.

The biggest issue has been their finishing and closing games. This is their ratings by quarter:

• 1st: 117.8 / 114.5 / +3.2

• 2nd: 102.8 / 106.0 / -3.2

• 3rd: 102.4 / 120.0 / -17.6

• 4th: 95.7 / 123.6 / -27.9

There’s also a very simple explanation for this. I keep seeing people be shocked or surprised why they are this bad when it all just comes down to your top players not being good enough.

Herro, in this stretch, is averaging 19.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists on 51.3% eFG and 54.0% TS, whilst shooting 30.8% from 3pt. Bam is at 19.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists on 53.0% eFG and 58.6% TS.

With those two on, the Heat are -8.9 in 247 minutes with a 105.7 ORTG. The team is also shooting 32.6% from 3pt. On that note, the Heat are also shooting 33.3% on wide open 3s, which would be 29th in that span and for the full season. You’re going to have a tough time winning if everyone is shooting poorly.

I don’t even know what could possibly be the fix. Although I am in favour of getting the best lottery odds, I don’t know how good it is to just end the season on that kind of a bad note. Unless, that would warrant a lot more changes in the off-season?

But this has been a mess. Them losing that badly makes any kind of possibility to look to make the playoffs to get another round of experience even less appealing. I can’t even talk myself into thinking like they’re showing something, so let’s ride it out. That would be similar to the 2016-17 season.

Now, it just feels like they’re in a way worse because it’s been that bad. There’s also only around a dozen game left, which isn’t that enough to change anything. Even if they do bounce back, what does that do at this point?

Honestly, with how it all turned around, this is just a lost season at this point for me. All this did is push towards the thinking that this whole team top to bottom needs to be addressed and overhauled. Changes need to happen. Each player needs to be look at closely. And there needs to be some big conversation around moving forward.

Had they gone .500 all the way through and still somehow competed, that would’ve pushed back some of those feelings for them and it would be easier to talk yourself into.

Still, regardless of what could happen in the off-season, I am still interested to see how they will look to respond in general because realistically, the top guys will likely stay for the next year.

Outside of that, I don’t see anything in this season that is going to change anything going forward. Whether they win more games now or lose and whether they makes playoffs or not, none of that really should change the view of this team and the core.

I’d honestly just be looking to press sim to the end of the season with this team right now.

But some other news, we have seen more Jaquez being involved in the offense. In the last three games, his touches have gone up to fourth on the team with ~45 and ~3 time of possession. I like that they went ahead and did this because what’s the harm in pushing more reps for young players. At the same time, Jaquez hasn’t been doing well in that role.

He’s shooting 42.9% from 2pt and is just 2/8 from 3pt in his last five games. The decision making on some of the drives and shot selection have been wild. There have been consecutive possessions with him attacking recklessly and throwing something up, whether a shot in traffic or a bad turnover.

That has been a recurring issue and it’s kind of concerning.

I have also liked some of the confidence from Ware. I mentioned in previous reports that I have been a fan of his passing when given the opportunity. That continues to happen. He is making better reads with some of his passing. Yes, he has only two assists in five games, but not all passes have led to makes or even shots. The decision making on some of them have been getting better.

Another interesting development is him shooting 40/79 within 4-14ft. We know he’s going to be a play finisher and get all of the easy shots at the rim — he is shooting 72% at the rim with almost 49% of his shots there, where he has a 3.98ft average 2pt shot.

But it’s that increased range that is showing up more. He’s finishing more around the paint and with good accuracy. 50% in that area with around 22% of his shots there. Post ASB, that has gone up to 57%!

As it’s been talked about recently because it only gets worse and worse, but who hasn’t been showing up lately is Herro. His numbers continue to drop each game. He’s leading the team in USG% post ASB but has only 54.4% TS, whilst shooting 30.2% from 3pt.

Now, the accuracy is one thing, but his 3pt rate has been slowly decreasing, which is quite concerning, given that this is his most important part of his game.

Here’s his 3pt rate in each month:

• October(4 games): 56.1%

• November(13 games): 55.8%

• December(13 games): 53.5%

• January(15 games): 55.0%

• February(11 games): 49.3%

• March(11 games): 35.8%

This would be the second lowest month in his career(December in 2022 being the lowest). Against the Rockets, he had ONE. ONE single 3pt attempt. The last time that happened, where he at least played 10 minutes, was December 26th, 2021 against the Magic where he played 19:23 minutes.

His shot profile has been changing too a lot over the months:

He has been slowly getting back to that pull up 2pt a lot more and has completely went away from the pull up 3pt. That does make sense with his struggles, but I do wonder how much of that is also the defense looking to take that shot away in the first place.

On the opposite, we do also have one of the best shooters too.

Amongst 105 players with at least 150 pull ups, Duncan is first with 59.6% eFG. His pull up is worth 1.19 points per shot! And a lot of that is because of the 3pt shooting. Amongst 42 players with at least 150 PU 3pt, he’s second at 41.4%

Now, this isn’t specifically 3pt shooting, but still insane. His eFG on:

• Transition: 71.3%

• PNR: 57.7%

• Spot up: 56.3%

• Handoff: 52.2%

• Off-screen: 49.3%

In almost all main shooting playtypes, he’s over 50% per shot.

There is also this tidbit from Couper Moorhead, in his notebook from earlier in the week:

Duncan is, quite literally, a generational shooter at this point. He currently holds the NBA record for most 3s per 100 possessions in a career at 13.6 but he’s also shooting 39.6%. Truly insane stuff.

Now, heading into this week, the Heat have the Hornets, Warriors, Hawks, and 76ers. I can’t tell you if they will go 0-4 or 4-0. This team hasn’t been great but it’s a strange season.

But that doesn’t really matter because right now they are also currently eighth in the lottery.

Herro’s potential extension

This has become a topic too recently. It has been reported that the Heat could offer a 3 year, 150m extension as soon as October 1st but could get a 4 year, 207m extension if they wait until the 2026 off-season.

Whatever the scenario, I am not a fan.

I don’t believe paying him in general would be a good, smart decision for whatever the direction of the team is. Whether it’s rebuilding, retooling, hunting for whales, staying put and being competitive, or any other possible scenario, I don’t see a single one that would have be extended.

Even going with the most realistic option of just the Heat looking to retool and stay competitive, as they hunt for the next start to get whether through trade or free agency, that would still be something I wouldn’t consider.

I don’t see a world where you can build a contender or be in a good position to build out a team in the near future if Herro takes up roughly 25% of the cap and is one of your top three most paid players. That is, of course, related more to his ability, his style, and potential fit going forward.

Not only that, I also honestly don’t see him as a max player on a good team — though that does require context and each situation is different. I could see teams like the Magic, Pistons, Spurs or any other young team paying him that to get better. Each situation is different.

But with the Heat, this will be locking yourself into mediocrity. They aren’t a piece or two away from being back in contention. They don’t have any other star players on good contracts. They have more bad contracts than good. Adding another big contract to this is just making the matters worse.

I’d also argue that if you are looking to pay and extend someone, you must be sure of a couple of things, such as either be so high on the potential that it will be worth it in the future or so sure about fit if you were to get better players.

There are questions with both when it comes to Herro. I’m not high on his upside and potential and everything about him and better players is all just in theory. This isn’t the same as extending someone like White. How Herro looks on a good, contending team is still all up in the air. Those are factors that probably should mean you don’t extend a guy.

With the team in general, they should also be looking to make changes and no one should be seen as part of the core at this point. There’s no benefit in locking yourself into this at this specific moment.

Top 3 players can’t have good games together

I came across a tweet that talked about Adebayo, Herro, and Wiggins having great games but they never seem to have great games at the same time.

That makes sense to me because of how each of those players get their offense in general and how they work in those actions.

All three players get a lot of their offense through on-ball(self creating) play types such as PNR, handoffs, isolation, or post ups.

Here are those players and their possession per game in

• Herro: 1.3 ISO + 7.6 PNR + 2.3 handoff

• Bam: 2.1 ISO + 0.5 PNR + 2.4 post

• Wiggins: 1.3 ISO + 5.5 PNR + 1.4 post + 1.9 handoff

That is 11.2 for Herro, 5.0 for Adebayo, and 10.1 for Wiggins.

For both Adebayo and Wiggins, it’s also how they go about it in those actions. They are both players that rely on jump shots in isolation or post ups. Even with Bam’s rolls, they mostly end on jumpers or turn into isolation after he catches the ball.

When Adebayo gets cooking, it’s all of those mid-range shots coming up. That’s almost the same with Wiggins. How is Herro meant to get his when that happens? Same goes the other way with Herro having most of his offense in the PNR. None of the players have a significant part of their offense coming in off-ball actions that could come in tangent with others.

All three of them are more scoring oriented, too. That plays a big part because even if they get theirs in those actions, they don’t do much creating for others. It’s a lot more score first mentality.

And even with their scoring, it doesn’t open much for anyone else. They are all jumpshot heavy, too.

How are players meant to have equally good games when they all require similar set ups to get their and they end up getting theirs in similar ways too. Every time Wiggins looks to cook in a PNR going for those pull ups also means that’s less possessions for Herro to do the same.

The Heat need more role players on offense. Players that can and want to buy in getting theirs without the ball.

I thought before the season that committing to just weekly pieces would be doable but I severely underestimated the time it all takes to watch/rewatch, prep, plan, and do everything else that revolves around covering the Miami Heat. Who would’ve thought that trying to cover a team in such a way would be that time consuming?

Now, I just can’t commit to that kind of time anymore for a while, which means changes to how I approach this, the level of commitment I can have, and what kind of content I’d be able to put in given new circumstances.

The way the season has been lately and how it’s looking to end for the Heat also made it easier to cut the season short. It’s only a few weeks left with around 15 games left, so there’s not a lot to miss out on for this season. Plus, who also really wants to see breakdowns on the Heat constantly blowing leads and not scoring?

That’s why going forward, there won’t be a commitment to the same kind of volume or type of content. That means no The Culture Report is written in a way that covers all of the games, breakdowns, various topics, and additional standalone analysis elsewhere, as well as no game notes.

I’m still looking to provide “something” at least regularly until the end of the season and then whenever it calls for content and when time frees up during the off-season. The content right now may be more discussion-based, with no “regular” consistent ideas(game notes, TCR, what’s been heating up), and more standalone pieces that don’t really look to cover the team with what’s going on.

One thing I’ve realized looking back at my content strategy for this year is despite wanting to make it weekly to get away from being tied to the gruesome NBA schedule where it’s 3-4 games, I made my content still revolve around that and it was way too much… I just made it to be on one day instead of multiple days throughout the week. The prep for that kind of content was still something that was so time-consuming considering everything that went into it. I forget that even watching/rewatching games alone can take around 2 hours in total.

My “change” didn’t really free me up from this, which was actually meant to be able to do this in my spare time as a side thing. And that’s what I’m finally looking to do now. That’s another thing I have to realize and remember how to do this is a constant work in progress that I just have to keep figuring out as I go along. A lot of it simply comes down to not trying to do everything when it comes to covering the Heat because it is impossible to do everything.

I want to freely just create content for a while without some weird, arbitrary expectations or standards of covering a team that I made up in my head. It’s just a mental shift for me where I’m not covering the team anymore, but simply creating content around the team. That way I won’t feel that I’m not doing a good enough job because I’m not covering the team in a way that I’d expect myself to. That’s where the pressure of needing to do everything came because I feel otherwise, I’m not really providing much value to anyone. If I’m not breaking down everything that’s been going on, then what am I really giving the readers?

That’s what I want to get away from thinking for a while. I just want this to be solely for fun without worrying or thinking about “growth”.

Seeing as this was also my first season writing up content on Substack, I also want to thank everyone who has subscribed, liked, or shared any of the content. I know this may not seem big but reaching 118 subs, over 200 followers, and getting over 2k views a month is wild to me and I really appreciate all of that support. It honestly means a lot to think that people continue to take their time and read my work because they get something out of it when it comes to the Heat.

The long-term plan of Simply Ballin is still there to grow all of this. That hasn’t changed and it won’t stop. The approach has changed and will likely be very fluid as I go along.

So, again, thank you to everyone that have supported my content this season and I hope you will all still stick with it even if it’s going to be less content than what it’s been.

This wasn’t a great week, but no week is going to be great if you’re winless and you had two blown leads against teams with a worse record. So, what’s in store for this week’s Culture Report:

• 109-114 LOSS vs Chicago Bulls - clutch time, poor defense

• 102-105 LOSS vs Charlotte Hornets - Bridges & Ball hunting, good clutch offense

• 104-119 LOSS vs Los Angeles Clippers - Harden ISOs, Bogdan cooking

• 91-103 LOSS vs Boston Celtics - game in the mud

• Things that caught my eye

• Heat check - Ware being taken out of the starting lineup, Herro’s continued shooting woes

• How is Wiggins used on offense?

• The defense has been slacking

• The Heatle Things

What’s Been Heating Up

We’re starting off the report by going through thoughts from the game. This will include going through an individual’s performance, key reasons why they won/lost, and a handful of little takeaways. If you missed a game or if you want to dive into some of the main takeaways, this is for you.

Stats for the week:

• Offensive Rating: 106.3(103.8, 108.5, 114.3, 98.9)

• Defensive Rating: 115.0(109.6, 110.6, 128.6, 112.0)

• eFG%: 52.6 vs 55.3

• TOV%: 14.1 vs 13.9

• ORB%: 22.8 vs 24.6

• Free throw rate: 14.1 vs 21.3

Players stats:

109-114 LOSS vs Chicago Bulls

Add this game to the rest of the games that had blown leads. This is becoming the norm now. What’s becoming more frustrating about these losses is that the defense is becoming more of an issue.

The offense wasn’t perfect, either — far from it. They did have a 103.8 ORTG and only 49.0% eFG. A lot of that did come down to poor shooting. Overall, they shot 13/43(30.2%) and your best shooters(Herro and Duncan) combined for 4/17. That poor shooting is what contributed to having two of the worst quarters for the season. They had 73.1 ORTG in the second and 76.9 in the fourth. In those two quarters, they combined for 4/25 from 3pt. That’s 16% vs 50% in the quarter one and three.

That poor shooting combined with at times poor shot selection and being too trigger-happy from downtown cost them a few possessions and allowed the Bulls to go on runs without answering back.

Even scoring at the rim was tough, where they shot 10/17(58.8%) and 13/27 in the paint. They got a lot of shots there in the first place, but simply couldn’t convert.

That’s where you had your three top players(Herro, Adebayo, and Wiggins) combine for 65 points on 53 shots and 11 free throws. However, it was a better performance from both Herro and Wiggins in the second half where they had 28 points on 18 shots.

The offense did step up in generating looks in the clutch after struggling for most of the fourth:

Wiggins was particularly big, providing some shot-making with a triple off a Mitchell drive and kick and a tough stepback. He had a crucial drive off a good Spain PNR with Herro and Adebayo that narrowed the lead to just one with 1:12 left. And he did up end generating a 3pt for Rozier to potentially take the lead.

Herro also had two key drives going to that floater but there was that one play, that probably tilted the game in the Bulls favour and that was the transition pull up 3pt that got blocked. That is where some of the shot selection hurt a lot. That also wasn’t the only possession that ended in a bad 3pt from him. It’s these “little” errors that can swing games.

But almost all other issues came on the defensive end. They lost because of the defense. They allowed the Bulls to come back because of some bad defensive possessions. In the first half, the Bulls had a 92.3 ORTG with a 49.3% TS. That jumped to 124.5 and 65.1% in the second half.

However, the first thing that hurt them was also related to the offense. The Heat put themselves in a worse defensive situation by turning the ball over in key situations and having poor transition defense. That’s where the Bulls did get a bunch of easy looks. There were so many transition drives or coming in early offense:

That is way too many points that aren’t even anything special on offense. This isn’t the Bulls figuring out how to break a defense or any of the sorts(obviously, exploiting bad transition defense is also part of it) that the Heat couldn’t take control of themselves.

That’s why in the second half, they had 36 points in the paint, including going 15/17 at the rim. That is hilarious. They had four more makes at the rim than they had total FGM in the paint in the first half(11).

Bad defense in the half-court came here. No one really had success staying in front of anyone:

There’s no scheme that can fix a lot of these issues. You can’t scheme out players getting blown by with ease every single time. You can attempt showing strong help, as the Heat did, but that just leaves you prone to getting beat elsewhere.

It also didn’t help that the Bulls had players that could do some hunting and attack that way. White had his share of hunting going on that led to open looks:

And then the fourth came. The defense in the fourth was the reason that they lost and it was honestly one of the worst performances from them.

I don’t know how much I can point to the Bulls’ offense being that good. The Bulls in the fourth had a 138.5 ORTG and a 70.5% TS. They went 10/10 at the rim and had 7 FTM. It’s all what we’ve seen throughout the game. It’s getting beat in transition, trailing off-ball, needing to over-compensate and help, and not staying in front of players.

Overall, this was one of the worst games for them. They also shouldn’t have been that poor offensively against this team. This shouldn’t have come down to a close game, even with the poor defense, because the Heat shouldn’t have had two quarters that killed them on that end.

102-105 LOSS vs Charlotte Hornets

This was some Groundhog Day. With how this game and the Bulls game started and ended, it was basically this meme to a tee:

The same issues came up again on both ends of the floor. It’s the same story of starting the game well and then as the game goes on, it starts to not look good and it gets worse and worse.

Offensively, it was also similar. For the game, they had a 108.5 ORTG with a 51.8% eFG, and once again, it was hurt by poor shooting, as the team went 10/31(32.3%). Though, they didn’t put up a lot with only a 37% 3pt rate.

But just like the previous game, it was the tale of two halves. In the first half, they had a 126.1 ORTG with 57.1% TS, which kind of showed that it wasn’t necessarily about shot-making but taking care of the ball and rebounding(they had an 8.7% TOV and 36.0% ORB). But that dropped all the way to 89.8 ORTG and 51.1% TS in the second half. That was only a ~6% decrease in efficiency but having a 24.5% TOV is going to kill your entire offense. The turnovers ruined everything. Herro, Wiggin,s and Jaquez all had at least three turnovers each.

It was also another, somewhat, balanced attack coming in at different periods from the top players. Wiggins finished 19 points on 7/12 2pt, 1/5 3pt, and 2/2 ft. Adebayo finished with 23 points on 6/12 2pt, 2/4 3pt, and 5/7 ft with 8 assists. Herro finished with 21 points on 8/12 2pt, 1/5 3pt, and 2/4 ft with only 2 assists.

Wiggins had almost all of the scoring done in the first quarter. That was all about him, as he had 12 points on 6/9 shooting then and only 1 FGM the rest of the way. That was similar to Adebayo, too. He had a lot of the damage done early and both ended up combining for 27 points on 23 shots in the first half, which accounted for almost half the offense for the Heat. On the other hand, Herro had a quiet first half, with only attempting 5 shots but then taking charge in the second half with 14 points on 6/12 shooting.

And that was it for the offense in the second half. Without including Herro, the team went 8/24 from the floor in the second half. They had also almost as many turnovers as FGM.

A big part of the offense being that bad was the Hornet’s defense, surprisingly. One of the main adjustments was to have Mark Williams drop in a lot of the PNRs, help off either Ware or Adebayo and even at times have him on wings.

That was a smart decision from the Hornets because that completely ruined all of the spacing. So many of the possessions were ended or made worse than it should be because of it. And also, big props to Williams for the rim and paint protection that he provided.

Finally, I do need to highlight the offense in the clutch because the Heat absolutely spammed this one action for five straight possessions and had all good looks from it:

All it was is a staple action for the Heat. Herro is a hub with Bam coming off a Duncan pindown in the paint to get to an elbow hub position. Once that happens, it’s all about reading the defense and seeing what options to get into next. Whether that’s a simple Duncan screen into a handoff, a cut, a Bam PNR, or flowing into another handoff with Herro. The possibilities are endless.

On defense, on the surface, it wasn’t as big of an issue. The Hornets only had a 110.6 ORTG and 54.6% TS. You would take those numbers. That even dropped in the second half. In the aggregate, it wasn’t bad, but it was timely bad defense that cost them the game too, especially in the fourth quarter — that’s when the Hornets had a 128.0 OORTG with 64.1% TS.

They were fortunate to have LaMelo Ball struggle a lot(but did have timely buckets), where he scored 15 points on 5/21 shooting with only 3/3 ft. But they weren’t fortunate to have both Miles Bridges and Mark Williams cook. They combined for 59 points on 21/32 shooting. Yikes. Outside of those three, no one else had more than 2 FGM.

It was Bridges and Ball that did a lot of hunting:

But all things came crashing down in the fourth, particularly on the defensive end. The Heat led 88-77 with 6:47 left and since then they scored 26 points to take a four-point lead of 103-99 with 0:20 left:

Bridges was on a mission. The Heat were giving him those looks early in the game by going under screens and not doing much to contest the shots. That’s why in that stretch, he made four of them.

Overall, all of their issues are just getting repeated and it’s the way that they lose that it’s frustrating. Offensively, that is going to be how it’s going to be(even then, they still did what was necessary to put themselves in the position to win on that end). It’s the defense that they can easily improve by brushing up on simple mistakes. That is not how the Heat have played the game all these years.

104-119 LOSS vs Los Angeles Clippers

At least this loss wasn’t a loss that I was overly annoyed or frustrated with. You can’t blow leads when you don’t have a lead in the first place. But that’s also how the game went. The Heat had the first offensive possession. They scored on that possession and had a two-point lead… and that was it. That was the end of their time with the lead.

It was a comfortable win for the Clippers and result be damned but it’s again how the game has gone. There were at least a lot more bright spots at different times. The Heat found themselves down 10 multiple times in the game but they kept answering back. It wasn’t a non-contest until basically the fourth. The Clippers may have been leading but they never run away with the game until the end.

Big whoop. That just sounds like some moral victory… And it is but it’s also better than the two previous losses. I doubt it’s fun for the players or anyone there to be constantly blowing leads and crumbling in the fourth. How you lose probably matters to an extent.

The Heat were led by Herro’s 31 points on 11/16 2pt, 2/7 3pt, and 3/3 ft with 7 assists. He did almost all of the damage in the second half, particularly in the third quarter. In the first half, he had 11 points on 10 shots. In the third quarter alone, he had 13 points on 7 shots.

I do like that despite the 3-point shooting not being there, he still found a way to find shots inside the arc. He has loved that floater that has been open to him every single time now on those drives.

At the same time, I’m also not sure how to feel with just one player taking that many shots relative to everyone else. He had 23 shots, Wiggins had 17, and no one else had double digits. This was also a Wiggins game with his 22 points on 7/10 2pt, 2/7 3pt, and 2/5 ft but with 5 assists and 4 turnovers.

The offense also was bogged down a lot more because of how the Clippers defend. They have Zubac drop a lot, which takes away the paint — that is what he did with Adebayo. They have pesky defenders who can deny everything, which made all of the off-ball actions much more difficult. Derrick Jones Jr was everywhere. They ice the PNRs and pack the paint early. That takes away a lot of the offense.

BUT, as it was with the two previous losses, the loss came down to defense. Now, one of the reasons for the poor defense is it was defending James Harden, who, despite being much older and out of his prime, can still get his just the same — I say that as he had 24 points on 20 shots and shot 6/20 from the floor but did make up for it going 9/13 from the line. He also had 11 assists and only 3 turnovers. This also doesn’t take into account how easy he made a lot of those possessions look:

The Heat tried to do everything. They switched and trusted the guy 1v1 where they didn’t send much help. They showed help in gaps and the elbows. They went under and over screens. They aggressively showed bodies. They blitzed him. They doubled him. It didn’t matter.

Not figuring out how to defend Harden is one thing. But then to also not figure out how to stop Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2025 is another, especially when you are meant to have a plethora of defenders at your disposal — Wiggins, Mitchell, Adebayo, Larsson, and Highsmith, should all be capable of stopping him. They didn’t:

He did a lot of the cooking in the PNR where it was a basic coverage of drop and going under/over screens. He was just getting to his spots with ease and getting clean looks. It wasn’t until the end that they started to blitz him, only to give up a corner 3pt.

This didn’t stop here as Ivica Zubac also cooked for 26 points on 12/16 shooting. His life was so easy. He cleaning up putbacks, getting easy passes on rolls, and getting clean looks in the post on hooks.

Overall, this was a loss to a better team. There also wasn’t the kind of collapse that we saw against the Hornets or the Bulls(yay). The defense from the Clippers is legit and that was going to be an issue. Defensively, there’s only so much you can do to scheme out Harden without giving something up, but I did expect a much better effort defending everyone else.

91-103 LOSS vs Boston Celtics

Quick side note for the Celtics thoughts. This won’t include any film, actions, highlights, or any examples in things that caught my eye until I do a second rewatch. That would likely be updated later in the day.

Wow. This game was in the mud. I don’t know if I expected the Celtics to play like this… though, I’m not that surprised. I tweeted that this is the second game against the Celtics that it felt they aren’t taking things seriously. Some of the shot selection that they had was hilarious. I’ve watched plenty of the Celtics over the last two years, there is a difference in how they can get up 3s. They did take 50 out of 83 shots, but not all 3s are the same.

That’s why this game was closer than it probably should’ve been. The Celtics did go on plenty of scoring droughts. They had multiple stretches where they went a few minutes without a single FGM. The Heat’s offense wasn’t better or even average, but if you give the Heat so many opportunities against a non set defense, looks will come up.

This was also a sloppy game. They combined for 31 turnovers(14 to Boston and 17 to Miami). That’s how you get games in the mud. Both teams shot around ~38% from 3pt.

And the fourth was just both teams looking to get out of it with the Celtics coming ahead because of Derrick White scoring 12 points(the Heat had 14 in the fourth). The Heat, on the other hand, shot 5/20 in the quarter. They were getting all of the opportunities to make a run but they couldn’t capitalise.

A lot of that was how they were running the offense. This was a lot of Wiggins(we’ll get to that later in the report). In the fourth alone, he went 2/8. No one else had more than four shots(Jaquez). Wiggins led the team with 23 points on 6/13 2pt, 3/8 3pt, 2/4 ft with 3 assists and 4 turnovers.

I’m not sure why that is the case at all. Why is Adebayo getting seven shots(one less than Davion!). I didn’t get the process at all on offense in this game.

There really isn’t much to take away from this game. The Heat couldn’t generate many good looks either. This wasn’t open looks not falling but more struggling to generate anything. The defense wasn’t in the rotation. It wasn’t having that ball flying everywhere that led to a good look.

The Heat were fortunate that this was a Jayson Tatum game where he went 8/21 and White was almost scoreless before the fourth. But they couldn’t really stop Jrue Holiday, as he finished with 25 points on 5/7 2pt and 5/8 3pt. He simply picked his spots well.

Overall, this was a game against an elite team. The results don’t matter as much but it’s those little things process-wise where it’s having Wiggins be the main option, not getting Adebayo involved, and cleaning up on simple mistakes.

Things that caught my eye

Additional thoughts, stats, takeaways, actions, and anything else that I liked(no matter how small or insignificant) from these games only. All links are to clips on Twitter

• Something that has been showing up more frequently(it showed up the previous Clippers matchup, too) is Jaquez getting guarded by a big. The Clippers did that with Zubac on him. 1 of the possessions was him starting on Jaquez and helping off the corner from him(they did end up getting a Jaquez 3pt after he lifted) and the other time was on a switch involving Adebayo. A similar thing happened with the Hornets

• Bam is so good at blowing up lobs. No official stats here but he has to be near the top in something like this

• Eddie Johnson said that there aren’t any off-ball actions being run, so obviously, here’s a floppy action for Duncan

• I loved the instant reaction from everyone on this play. Blind pig with Bam-Herro. The possession was going nowhere and the Clippers were doing a good job denying everything, so once Bam was fed, Herro made a quick back cut

• I haven’t been much of a fan of Wiggins’ defense, especially in the PNR and going over screens. He has been dying a lot more on them and that just stresses the defense a lot more because he’s constantly trailing

• The Heat really need to fix their rebounding issues in critical moments. They are a good rebounding team overall for the season. They may have good rebounding numbers if you look at the full 48 minutes. But there are specific instances that are just so, so bad that it can cost them games. They gave up a lot of those rebounds to the Hornets in the fourth

• Wiggins needs to clean up those turnovers on drives. He had four of them against the Clippers

• Staying on Wiggins’ offense, I do feel like it has been a lot of ISO/Post centric and I’m not sure I’m a fan. Having a player that has almost half of his offense in such a way can take the flow out of the offense. It’s a lot of looks like this. I also wouldn’t call Wiggins a player who can successfully mismatch hunt or create easy, efficient looks consistently, especially in those stationary situations. I do think he needs some help to get him going downhill

• And on that note, I do like it when he does get going in the PNR, like below. There are still some questionable and that’s due to some shot selection that makes you go hmm, but this is a much better alternative than feeding him more ISO/Post possessions. That’s why I liked the Spain PNR with him, Bam, and Herro. That was one of the ways he scored in the clutch against the Bulls. They run the same actions against the Hornets, but that was where shot selection came in, as he settled for pull up 3s. But there’s more potential in these actions to get him going downhill

• This shot from Rozier is hilarious

• I liked these reads from Herro in the PNR on those skip passes

• Bam in transition needs to happen a lot more when you have possessions like this and this! Both got a strong drive to the rim for the foul

• I have no idea how Wiggins missed this kick to Herro. That is a WIDE-open kick where all he had to do was look up on the drive slightly

• There are still a lot of concerns with spacing, particularly good defensive teams. As mentioned against the Clippers, Zubac was sinking and dropping in the paint. You do have plays like this where Adebayo does look to get into a pull-up but I don’t know how much of that is enough to make the defense shift. But there’s also this play for Duncan that ideally should bring up the big

• Herro has been getting a lot of looks coming off pindowns. That has been one of the main ways of getting him touches, particularly against the Bulls. On that note, on similar plays, there has been some more help showing off Davion at the nail

• I have been enjoying Ware’s passing when given the opportunity and when being in those situations. There’s this possession with Ware as the hub and makes the perfect read to Wiggins cutting. There are two short roll possessions, with one does ending in a turnover but he cleaned that up the next time and was more patient to find Herro on the cut. There was also this quick, instant reaction on the drive that I LOVED

• Highsmit’s defense needs to get back to what it was because it has been disappointing

• Here are a few possessions from Ware switching onto White and Giddey that had solid results(outside of one where he got beat)#

• If you’re wondering why the Heat’s offense struggles in the clutch at times, it’s because of possessions like these

• This has been a regular theme for this year, but with Bam continuing to draw so much attention, especially lately, he needs to make better decisions out of it. There are still too many times when he has that score-first mentality and misses potential kickouts like here against the Bulls and here against the Hornets. This has to get better because he also constantly gets this kind of coverage against him, but the Heat haven’t capitalized on

• I’m just keeping track of this action. A Herro-Bam-Wiggins/Duncan Horns PNR. I don’t think we’ve seen such a setup before and it can be pretty good

• Jaquez’s playing time has been inconsistent and dropping. He played 10:33 against the Bulls, 13:43 against the Hornets, and 6:03 against the Clippers. But I think that has been warranted. The play hasn’t been great and there was a possession like this that stood out with him looking confused:

• Larsson is such a Heat lifer. He had a DNP against the Bulls and played 3:34 against the Hornets. So, that obviously means he’s going to play 28:16 against the Clippers and play 8:10 in the fourth to close. The reason that he closed? He HUSTLES. Just look at this play. I knew then that he was going to close 100%, especially after he flexed

• Horford was cooking hunting mismatches in 2025. Let me repeat that. The Celtics were going into Horford post ups to draw defenses and create easy looks. I’m sorry, that is inexcusable

• Davion on defense was so nice against the Celtics. He pressured the ball handler constantly, provided full court press, and hustled like hell

• The Celtics really feel like they’re toying with the Heat with some of the shot selection

Heat Check

Here is where I give a “heat” check on the team through a weekly ramble that’s me simply ranting about the Heat and a handful of other newsworthy topics that occurred throughout the week or trends to talk about. This can be a quick, brief discussion on multiple smaller topics that should be noted for a deeper look at in the future.

Man. It’s tough to watch the team go winless in the whole week. It’s even worse when it’s how they did it. They just can’t score. Those scores are funny. Low 100s every time. This isn’t mentioning the two blown leads. It has been an experience trying to watch this team, especially when there aren’t many things that you can talk yourself into, like “hey, they lost, but WOW x player is looking great, x player is making strides, or x group is starting to jell”.

Instead, we see players kind of taking a turn for the worse with getting benched, continuing to shoot poorly, be inconsistent, and the team as a whole defensively hasn’t been looking great.

As mentioned in some of the game thoughts, the offense is going to be bad. That’s not a surprise. It’s not something that should be looked further into or make a big deal out of. I just also can’t take that same kind of effort on the defensive end. This team should be better on that end because the mistakes that they give up are all within their control. A lot of the time, it isn’t the offensive pushing buttons that they can’t answer. It’s more allowing the opponent to push any kind of button and it works. And the collapses are just the cherry on top.

We have seen a change in the starting lineup and that probably should’ve been seen coming after this recent stretch and that mostly has to do with Ware.

He was already benched against the Clippers in the second half and didn’t really see minutes. He came off the bench against the Celtics and played the fewest minutes since January 6th. In these last two games, he played 18:24 and 15:23. The last time he had sub 20 minutes was February 5th against the 76ers. The last time he had B2B games with sub 20 minutes was January 17th.

That was warranted. He has looked bad, especially on the defensive end. There were some talks in these losses that he should have played the fourth and Spoelstra even addressed that before the Hornets game. He played and had a horrible two minute stretch that swung the game.

That is expected. He is a rookie. This isn’t making this a big concern or a worry. It’s addressing that he has hit that wall.

Something is really wrong with Herro’s shooting. This was mentioned in the previous reports, but it continues to get worse. He’s now shooting 31.3% post ASB and it has dragged his overall % to 36.9%. He went from having a career year to the second lowest.

But I still like that he manages to stay afloat with the inside scoring. In that same span, he’s shooting 54.1% from 2pt. His 3-point rate has also been decreasing, which is smart, considering the poor shooting. That has dropped to 42.3%. Good adjustment to not force the same shots when they aren’t falling.

That’s where the floater comes in handy. He’s shooting 51.2% from within 4-14ft where he takes now 35.9% of his shots there.

On top of that, he has a higher AST% to USG% post-ASB, which is also encouraging to see. A lot of that is coming on drives where he has a 13.3% assist rate on drives, where he passes 44.8% of the time.

Finally, the Heat have 16 games left. They are currently 29-37 and sitting at the ninth spot, with only one game ahead of the Bulls. They aren’t going to miss the entire play-in. That is a gap far too big from the Raptors. But now, they’re also almost definitely behind the top six seed from even being a possibility.

They do have a rough stretch coming up and it is rough — Grizzlies(away), Knicks(away), Pistons, and Rockets. One game against the Hornets(though, they also lost to them previously) before the BIG game against the Warriors, where we’ll see Butler play against the Heat for the first time.

That’s also not the end of the world, if we’re being honest because right now, this is what matters the most:

This can be doable. With the way the season has turned out, going from ~7% to enter the top four to around ~20% would be massive.

To finish up the report, let’s quickly go through Wiggins offense and the defense kind of slacking lately.

How has Wiggins been used

So, when I was writing up what Wiggins could bring to the Heat when they traded for him, I looked at his play types and how he was used in Golden State this year and over the years:

This was for this year only:

Around 35% of his offense came via self-creation(PNR, post ups, and ISOs). That was the highest rate for him since 2021 when it was 38.5%, and that was also ~5% lower than what he was doing with the Wolves. His lowest self creation rate was in 2023 where it was only 20.8%.

My question was how the Heat would look like to use him. Will they lean into the 2023 version or this year? I also tracked his efficiency since 2020:

It’s only been 10 games so far, but we have seen a clear answer to what they want to lean into. Here are his play types now with the Heat:

• PNR: 5.7 possessions per game / 28.5% freq / 0.77 PPP / 37.5% eFG

• Spot up: 4.0 / 20.1% / 0.86 / 40.3%

• Transition: 2.7 / 13.4% / 1.13 / 60.5%

• Post up: 1.9 / 9.5% / 1.24 / 66.7%

• Isolation: 1.8 / 8.9% / 0.75 / 40.9%

• Handoffs: 1.6 / 7.8% / 0.86 / 38.9%

46.9% of his offense is now self-created. That is the second-highest of his career, with the highest being at 49.5% in his last season with the Wolves before being traded after 42 games.

He’s also taking 19.2% of his shots with 6 seconds of touch time and 37.5% with 3 or more dribbles. He’s also taking 2.1 pull up 3s(14.2% of his shots).

The efficiency hasn’t been great… but it’s also on par with his career averages, so it’s not something that should bounce back or improve either. Overall, he has scored 72 points on 84 possessions in self-creation, shooting 25/59(42.3%). That’s 0.85 points per poss.

I have liked some of the sprinkles with the post-ups, but overall how they went about feeding him those looks is something that I’m not a fan of. All this does is add another player who stops the ball and doesn’t improve the flow of the offense. Something that I’ve noticed is a lot of the time on extra passes, he stops the possession to look to get into an ISO or a PNR. That’s trading potentially better looks for someone who shoots ~42% from the floor on those looks.

And I also don’t buy the argument that who else do you want taking the shots? Lacking players that can reliably get shots in self-creation doesn’t also mean let’s feed players that can’t do that at a volume more volume. There are other ways to get players involved than just PNR, ISO or post up. This also isn’t saying that Wiggins needs to be how he was in 2023, where it was only ~21% of his offense but it can’t be near 50% either. There needs to be a better balance.

Defense Slacking

The defense has been “kind of” slipping, particularly since the All-Star break. Per Cleaning the Glass, since the ASB:

• 114.0 DRTG(14th in that span)

• 55.8% opponent eFG(20th)

• 13.8% opponent TOV%(18th)

• 24.9% opponent ORB%(4th)

• 17.0 opponent FTr(4th)

Now, I say slipping but that is still better than average — the Heat just have better standards. There is a reason why they have been at least a top 10 defense everywhere since 2016, including five seasons top five.

But it’s also the way it has been slipping. A lot of the issues for the Heat don’t seem as bad when looking at it as a whole, but when you dig in further, that’s when flaws show up.

Here are their stats pre vs post ASB:

• 1st half: 110.4 vs 109.6

• 2nd half: 114.6 vs 118.1

• 4th: 113.3 vs 120.0

That is a big difference. They have an elite defense in the first half but that goes completely out the window once halftime ends and it gets worse as the games on.

Here are their opponent's four factors post ASB:

• 1st half: 53.2% eFG / 0.208 FTr / 13.9% TOV / 25.3%

• 2nd half: 58.1% / 0.238 / 13.7% / 27.1%

• 4th: 58.6% / 0.283 / 13.3 / 27.9%

That wasn’t even that bad pre-ASB — their opponent's eFG% in the second half was 54.9% and 53.5% in the fourth.

Trying to dig in to see where it’s going wrong:

• Opponent PITP per 100: 50.5(21st)

• FBPS: 12.3(2nd)

• 2nd PTS: 11.2(1st)

• Pts off TOV: 16.2(10th)

• 3pt%: 35.3%(12th)

• 2pt%: 57.4%(27th)

• Rim FGM: 17.6(22nd)

• Rim freq: 28.4%(21st)

• Rim FG%: 69.3%(23rd)

They don’t give up easy points on the break. They don’t give up any second-chance points. They’re good at limiting points off turnovers. It’s just that paint and rim defense.

That’s interesting and concerning, given how elite the Heat have been at protecting the rim all these years. Even with Adebayo on, they have a 118.2 DRTG and allow 67.8% at the rim on 27.2% freq. The issue starts to appear when you include Ware. With those two on, the DRTG jumps to 126.6(Yikes)! The opponent is shooting 73.3% at the rim with 25.3% freq and also 53.3% within 4-14ft.

When looking at their individual rim protection, Ware defends the most shots within 6ft at 6.4 attempts and opponents are shooting 69.0%, which is 3.2% better than expected. Adebayo is fourth at 5.0 and allowing 65.0%, which is 0.3% better than expected.

And one final stat that is raising alarms(that I’ll look more into for another day) is the starting five. Mitchell-Herro-Wiggins-Bam-Ware has a 122.2 DRTG with othe pponent shooting 57.5% from 2pt and 43.0% from 3pt. They shoot over 70% at the rim and 48% in the paint.

The Heatle Things

To end the report, here are some random tidbits that could be stats, lineups, plays, actions, or anything that I found fun, as well as compiling some other content that I found interesting.

• I mentioned that the Heat are a good defensive rebounding team but it’s some critical moments that kills them. For the year, they have a 72.4 DRB%, which is tied fifth. But here are by quarter:

  • 1st: 72.4%

  • 2nd: 74.5%

  • 3rd: 72.7%

  • 4th: 69.6%

  • Clutch: 66.6%

  In the first three quarters, that is top five or better. But their fourth number would rank 22nd and the clutch would be dead last.

• I was curious to see how Wiggins looks in terms of passing and turnovers on drives

  • 2025 Post ASB; 7.7% / 10.8%

  • 2025: 7.6% AST / 7.6% TOV

  • 2024: 7.2% / 5.9%

  • 2023: 11.2% / 8.2%

  • 2022: 6.1% / 5.9%

  • 2021: 7.0% / 6.7%

  • 2020: 6.3% / 6.6%

  Looking at players with at least five drives, both numbers are quite low(for ASTs) and high(for TOVs), but it’s nothing extreme either. But post ASB, that would be tied for third third-highest turnover rate

• In March, the Heat have four games already in the bottom 6th percentile in ORB%. That has completely gone out the window

• Their 3pt% is continuing to trend down by month: 36.8% → 38.2% → 36.6% → 35.4% → 34.4% → 34.8%. That is the difference between being in the top 10 or bottom 10

• Courtesy of Sravan(Sradjoker on Twitter). Here are Herro’s and Adebayo’s performance trends in the last five years by Daily RAPM estimate

  

  

• Adebayo had two straight games with only seven attempts. The last time he had single digit attempts was January 19th against the Spurs. The last time he had a B2B games like that, it was November 27th

• Jaquez being defended by bigs has been a common theme this week. For the year, he has spent ~8% of his total possessions being guarded by a “big”

• Post ASB Heat in wide open 3s:

  • Mitchell: 19/30(63.3%)

  • Herro: 7/25(28.0%)

  • Highsmith: 11/23(47.8%)

  • Wiggins: 6/22(27.3%)

  • Duncan: 12/22(54.5%)

  • Adebayo: 7/21(33.3%)

  • Burks: 4/16(25.0%)

  • Larsson: 4/14(28.6%)

  • Rozier: 3/10(30.0%

And that is everything for this week’s report! If you made it to the end, I appreciate you taking the time for this long piece.

Offense

1st Quarter

11:45 — Already not a fan of this first poss taking forever to get into a late clock Wiggins-Bam PNR. Zubac in drop, tag on Bam, Batum helping off Ware and Wiggins force a float over 2

11:35 — Off a rebound, Herro attacking a closeout and is getting to that floater. That is going to be a shot he’s going to get a lot

11:00 — Herr-Ware PNR but with Batum on Ware, it’s a hard show + blitz but then Zubac helps off Bam to take the short roll and advantage is gone. Ware forces up a tough shot

10:23 — Another not great poss for Wiggins. Starts off with Wiggins-Bam PNR with Zubac dropping a lot. Wiggins attacking off catch but Zubac peel switched and forces a tough shot

9:50 — Herro-Wiggins-Bam PNR to get Harden on the switch then into Bam PNR. Drive goes for the floater again vs Zubac drop

9:15 — Wiggins-Bam PNR rescreen to force Zubac stepping up and it’s a Bam short roll kick to Davion for 3pt

8:25 — Wiggins-Bam PNR with Dunn icing it and it’s a drive but a TOV

Wiggins had a few drives ending in a bad TOV

7:55 — Wiggins-Bam corner PNR with Dunn looking to ice again. Manages to get the rescreen. Zubac and Batum just sink down and leave Bam wide open for 3pt

7:15 — Davion hub with Herro off screen but Dunn is playing great defense denying Herro. This whole possession was great from the Clippers

6:35 — SIGHH. Herro with his typical transition 3pt

6:10 — What a bad possession with just Wiggins holding the ball waiting for a PNR but it takes forever

6:03 — Wiggins Ware PNR. Bogdan ices it and it’s Ware on the short roll but a bad decision on the pass TOV

5:30 — Wiggins ISO post vs Bogdan doesn’t do a lot and just backs him down to the paint with help showing. No advantage. Ends with Herro late ISO vs Harden and once again goes for the floater

With the way the Clippers defend, that floater is just always there for Herro

Zubac has been “really” dropping in every PNR

3:52 — Another Wiggins drive that ends in a TOV. Simply loses the handle

The Clippers defense has been annoying too

3:33 — Herro hub with Bam off Duncan screen into elbow hub. No advantage flows into Herro-Bam handoff and another late drive for a tough floater

3:00 — Herro-Bam drag screen PNR. I love the decision to quickly reject and forces help from strong side corner for a Haywood 3pt. Harden looked like he was going to Ice it

2:26 — Herro seeing some show from Eubanks

1:52 — Solid off catch drive from Rozier to get to the rim in early offense

1:00 — You really can’t relax off of Duncan. The split second you relax, he’s already looking to run into another action

0:05 — Herro looking to bait the foul with the rip through, doesn’t get it

2nd Quarter

11:32 — JJJ confused as to what he should do. Should he screen? Cut? Bam is directing him and then Pelle. Doesn’t know what action they’re looking to run

11:05 — Rozier pushing pace and gets another layup. For Rozier, there needs to be more pushing pace

10:32 — DJJ is absolutely glued to Duncan. Also, Zubac is sitting in the paint off of Bam

10:10 — Rozier-Bam empty PNR with Dunn icing and Zubac in a DEEP drop. Bam has the pop but doesn’t take it and immediately looks to get Duncan involved in the handoff vs Zubac drop

Coffey on Duncan hasn’t been good for the defense. He’s been getting free

9:38 — Good read from Rozier to quickly push pace and make the pass ahead

9:19 — Transition off a Pelle steal gets to the line

9:00 — Bam quickly brings ball and looks to attack Zubac backpedaling but tries to bait a foul and doesn’t get it

8:40 — Zubac on JJJ helping off the corner. JJJ lifts and gets a wide open 3pt. Rozier-Bam PNR but with Batum on Bam, it’s a switch

8:02 — JJJ hub with Duncan off screen vs Batum. That’s a clean look and Zubac is again in a deep drop in the paint

Outside of DJJ, Duncan has had space

7:52 — This is just PERFECT from Pelle on that hustle and ends with a transition Rozier 3pt

7:16 — Bam off JJJ screen but Zubac just switches that. Bam vs Batum is just looking for handoffs. Zubac helping off and ignoring JJJ completely

6:25 — Bam hub but Zubac is sagging off and giving all of that space. Duncan-Bam PNR ice with no drives or paint open. Good decision on the skip and Pelle with a great off catch drive dumpoff to Bam for a kick. I liked this

5:50 — Ware hub looking for Wiggins off screen but good switching to take that away

Wiggins has been feeling confident in that off-dribble 3pt

5:15 — Wiggins-Ware-Herro Spain PNR. Zubac soft show no advantage at all with the defense recovering. Herro tries to attack Dunn 1v1 but just picked up the dribble early and no advantage

4:20 — Herro-Ware PNR drive baseline but into 2 people on that side. Harden isn’t respecting Wiggins at all. Dunn with solid defense again on Herro’s drive

3:40 — Wiggins-Ware PNR. Harden ices it and Zubac sitting in the paint no advantage with Harden getting back. I like the Ware confidence in that push shot

3:03 — Great read from Ware on the Wiggins backcut. Clippers are switching some of the off ball stuff and that’s a great cut from Wiggins

2:26 — Herro again pushing pace and gets into Ware PNR and again rejects it will. Has the open drive to the rim

1:40 — Herro-Duncan PNR gets Coffey on switch then Bam PNR. Harden tagging off Wiggins but doesn’t look to shoot. Wiggins with his 3rd TOV on the drive

0:44 — Not sure if I like this Herro-Duncan-Bam PNR look. Just goes for a tough, contested floater for no reason. He didn’t have to go for that

0:20 — Awful possession with just Wiggins pounding the hell out of the ball for a simple ISO 3pt

3rd Quarter

11:11 — Wiggins ISO vs Harden with the side cleared and just goes for the long 2pt stepback

10:40 — Bam handoff hub with Zubac just sagging off in the paint and finally decides to go for the pull up

9:51 — Davion hub. Herro quick off screen. These are the looks that you have to make with Zubac deep in the paint and Dunn trailing. That’s a good, open look

9:20 — Bam hub. Wiggins good off screen into handoff to get downhill vs Zubac inside. Good move too to get to the rim

8:53 — Herro-Bam quick PNR. Ice and Herro quickly recognises the skip to Haywood for 3pt

8:30 — Wiggins ISO post vs Bogdan. Side cleared and no help comes but slightly showing. Backs down and manages to get to the rim

7:50 — Herro-Bam empty PNR with Dunn icing. It’s a tough look for Herro going to the paint for that floater. But that’s also solid PNR def for Clippers. No drives, no rolls and no skips

Clippers taking away the PNR has been a thing in the last game too

6:55 — Herro-Bam PNR. Ice and it’s another attack vs Drop with DJJ trailing. Herro ends up getting to his spot for that floater. I liked the patience from him

6:30 — Herro-Bam handoff PNR. DJJ is fighting for his life going over those screens. Re screen and that forces Zubac to go higher. I love the split from Herro. Timed that well and gets through it but Harden helping off Davion very early and that made Herro pick up the dribble. Goes for a far floater

6:00 — Davion with a great burst but smokes a layup

We haven’t seen much of Davion handling the ball

5:22 — Bam ISO post vs Zubac side cleared but Bogdan coming to help off Davion. Gets deep to the rim but throws up a poor shot

4:30 — Transition. Herro cut to the rim

4:05 — Davion-Ware PNR draws Zubac higher up and Coffey recovers no advantages at all

3:55 — I loved this from Herro. Gets into the handoff from Pelle and that is a crafty layup but draws a foul

3:30 — Davion-Ware PNR Harden ices it and just goes for a tough shot over Zubac but he does have the burst

3:14 — Wiggins really does love that 3pt. He also looks confident

2:30 — Herro-Duncan-Ware Spain PNR drawing a soft blitz and picks up the dribble early next to the sideline but swings for Duncan 3pt

This is the first time we see Herro draw that kind of coverage

1:53 — Herro Ware-Duncan Spain PNR. Harder blitz but this time with Eubanks. Great patience and finds Ware cutting

0:58 — Wiggins-Ware PNR reject but gets stripped again on the drive

0:45 — Herro-Duncan Ghost PNR with Ware looking to set a flare for Duncan. Herro drives and Eubanks peel switched off Ware

4th Quarter

11:50 — Rozier hub. Basically floppy for Duncan coming off the pindown for a quick 3pt. Coffey is chasing him and he doesn’t do a good job. Gets a clean look

11:18 — Duncan-Ware PNR. Drawing 2 with Eubanks → quick pass to Ware on the short roll. I liked this from Ware spinning into space and finding Herro on the baseline cut

Ware does have good flashes of playmaking when given that opportunity

10:40 — Rozier hub. Duncan off screen but DJJ switches and stays attached. I don’t like the shot from Herro again off the catch. Goes for the floater that’s contested AGAIN

10:10 — Herro hub. Bam off Duncan screen into elbow hub. Duncan screening Herro no advantage. Herro-Bam handoff. He rejects it and makes the quick swing to Haywood for 3pt strong corner

9:32 — Don’t like this possession with just Duncan looking to handle. But I LOVE the ending. This was great blind pig action with Bam and Herro. DJJ keeps on denying everyone, so Herro timely backcuts

9:00 — Rozier-Herro-Bam PNR gets the switch then over. Pocket pass to Bam in the empty corner but help early off Haywood from Bogdan forces Bam to go for the floater

I think this is the first time Bam got the pass on the roll

8:35 — Herro-Haywood PNR. Switch, slip, draws a tag and one of the worst shots from Rozier. An open look turning into a side step contested 3pt

8:03 — Herro-Bam-Ducnan Spain PNR with Duncan quickly ghosting out. Herro-Bam PNR draws Zubac higher up. Pocket pass to Bam and it’s a short roll read to Pelle but a poor pass makes it a contested

I haven’t been a fan of Bam’s passing not being on point

7:30 — Herro-Bam quick PNR. Zubac in deep drop then finds Pelle baseline cut. Bogdan ball watching

6:25 — Wiggins hub with Duncan screening Bam into a Wiggins PNR then Zubac is out of position and it’s a downhill drive from Wiggins. Loved this

4:40 — Herro-Bam-Duncan horns PNR. Draws 2 again with Zubac showing hard. Bam on the short roll and it’s another poor pass TOV

4:08 — Bam brings ball and quickly flows into a handoff with Duncan. Zubac in a DEEP drop so wide open 3pt. Coffey trailing

Coffey has trailed Duncan so many times

3:40 — Herro-Wiggins-Bam horns PNR. Defense switches and Wiggins has the slip, roll, kick → Pelle 3pt

3:02 — Not sure why Wiggins thought going to a hook over Zubac was good in early offense

2:40 — Herro-Bam-Wiggins horns PNR. Into Bam PNR Zubac shows higher up. Open pocket pass to Bam and hesitates doesn’t know what to do and advantage gone. Duncan able to move well without the ball to flow into a handoff. Batum was sleeping

1:55 — Bam brings ball and just dribbles around as a hub looking for nothing

Defense

1st Quarter

11:20 — Harden Dunn PNR gets Herro on the switch then double comes from Davion → open swing to Bogdan 3pt

10:45 — Bogdan Batum PNR with Ware switching. Ware was on Bogdan the whole poss and forced a leaning long 2pt

10:06 — Harden ISO vs Wiggins gets a step on him to the paint and look to bait a foul. ORB given up with Bam not in position to box out

9:30 — Harden ISO vs Davion. Whole side cleared with no help at all. Gets an easy look to the rim

8:50 — Bogdan Zubac PNR. Wiggins dying on the screen badly and it forces a switch

8:40 — Harden ISO vs Davion. Late clock, no help comes → stepback 3pt and a foul

8:15 — Harden Bogdan PNR. Gets Herro on the switch. No strong double comes but Davion is showing STRONG help and just stunting. Harden gets the stepback

7:38 — Harden ISO vs Wiggins. Davion showing strong help and stunts. Gets the drive but good defense from Wiggins and forces a jump ball

6:25 — Harden Dunn PNR gets Herro on the switch then Zubac PNR and Herro trails foul

5:45 — Zubac ISO vs Ware. Just easily gets by him with a spin

5:15 — First time going into a zone. Ball swinging and Batum gets an open look

4:45 — Another zone. Similar thing. It’s a swing with the defense all shifting and it’s another open corner Batum 3pt. Ware not boxing out Zubac → open putback

4:08 — Zone. Wiggins showing strong help at the nail and Bogdan gets the drive off the catch. That draws the shift in defense and open lob to DJJ

3:44 — Bogdan with another drive vs Haywood → draws defense and open dumpoff

3:10 — Harden cross matched with Duncan. Herro comes to double. DJJ flash cut into a kick Coffey 3pt

2:45 — Harden ISO vs Haywood. Just a quick stepback 3pt

2:07 — Harden-Coffey PNR. Gets Herro on the show then swing → Coffey off catch drive

1:40 — Harden-Eubanks PNR. Haywood trailing badly and it’s an open lob

1:15 — Same thing Harden-Eubanks PNR with Haywood trailing but this time, Bam reads it perfectly. Stops the drive and then gets the lob

0:38 — Harden ISO vs Haywood. Easy drive and it’s a blow by. Haywood reaches foul

0:33 — Harden ISO vs Herro. Gets doubled in the corner then again seeing help on the break

2nd Quarter

12:00 — Starting the 2nd with a full court press. Dunn ISO vs JJJ gets to his spot for a clean look

10:20 — poor getting back on defense from Bam and doesn’t know who he’s matched with → open swing Batum 3pt

9:23 — Bam fronting Zubac and fouls

9:20 — Great front from Pelle vs Zubac and gets the steal

9:10 — Great activity from Pelle showing his hands everywhere then helps on the drive by stunting and recovers to Dunn on the closeout

8:50 — Dunn again getting to his spot with ease. This time against Rozier

8:17 — Solid defense from Pelle on Dunn on the drive. Zubac ends up getting a good hook over Bam. Just too small to contest

7:30 — Zubac ISO post drawing defense then puts them in rotations. Batum gets a look off but that was fast recognition from Pelle

6:50 — Pelle on Harden. Heat in some kind of zone. Ends in Harden ISO drive vs Rozier. Easily gets a step into the paint for the floater

6:05 — Poor defense getting back with the cross match with Zubac vs Duncan. Not sure why Bam didn’t take that

4:34 — Awful transition defense. Ware not back and lets Zubac beat him for the rim run

4:00 — Harden quick ISO vs Wiggins. Easily gets a step and blows by. Open dumpoff then Ware gives up a ORB + putback

Ware has struggled on defense with just the little stuff

3:20 — Harden ISO vs Pelle on the side cleared. Easily blows by and there’s no rotation from, so layup

2:44 — Harden gets Pelle on the switch then Rozier looked to double. Gets it back again and Harden just goes for the stepback 3pt

2:07 — Zubac vs Ware. Great recognition from Pelle to help and double. Forces a TOV

1:50 — Bogdan Zubac PNR vs Pelle under. Has the drive and draws a foul

1:24 — Harden hunts Duncan on switch. No help coming but Pelle showing. Late double comes and perfect passing lane defense from Herro

1:00 — Harden vs Pelle goes to Zubac PNR. Gets hit on the screen but goes under and recovers. Forces a tough 15fter

I liked the effort from Pelle on defense a lot

0:35 — Perfect hustle and defense from Wiggins in transition to stop the Harden drive

0:5 — Bogdan Zubac PNR. Pelle looking to go under and over to recover. Bam again blows up the lob

3rd Quarter

11:46 — Harden ISO vs Haywood. Side cleared and easy cross drive, blow by but smokes the layup. Bam late help. Doesn’t even see it

11:30 — Quick Bogdan Dunn handoff and Wiggins goes under open 3pt

10:55 — Bogdan Zubac PNR. Wiggins looks to stay attached but gets beat on the drive to the rim

9:40 — Bogdan Zubac PNR vs Herro. He trails and Bogdan patient in the paint. Goes to work has the open pass Zubac rolling. Bam is caught nowhere

9:10 — Bogdan-Zubac PNR starting off ball. Wiggins trailing and lets him turn corner slightly. Opens up Zubac on the roll and gets a clean hook

Bogdan been cooking everyone

8:40 — Harden with a quick ISO vs Herro cross match. Just splits the defense as help comes and gets a floater + ORB tip in

8:10 — Bam fronting Zubac again and struggling to feed him

8:00 — Bogdan ISO post vs Pelle. Solid defense on the backdown forces a fade

7:30 — Great defense from Herro on the Dunn drive. Physical and strips him in the paint

7:10 — Harden looking for Pelle in ISO. Davion comes to double → swing → Bogdan beats Wiggins off dribble and draws foul. That’s poor defense

6:40 — Harden quick PNR gets Herro on the switch and before the help comes, he gets a stepback 3pt

6:20 — Poor cross match. Harden ISO vs Herro trailing. Easily blows by draws defense and kick to DJJ strong corner 3pt

A lot of hunting going on

5:50 — Poor cross match with Davion on Zubac but then Wiggins quick recognition kicks him out. I also feel like this possession, Bam could’ve switched with Herro as the low man to be on Zubac. Ends in a Harden ISO vs Pelle → easy blow by and Zubac has all the advantage once Wiggins helped

5:07 — Bogdan Zubac PNR. Pelle fighting over screens and not giving up anything. Help is also strong from Davion on the elbow → open kick Harden CS 3pt

4:36 — Bogdan-Zubac PNR. Wiggins trailing but recovers and Bam is in the way. Forces a TOV

4:20 — Poor off ball defense from Herro. Got caught trailing DJJ on the pindown. Wiggins with late help too. That split second reaction time is a foul

3:42 — They go to the same play but this time Herro goes under DJJ and no advantage there. Go into Zubac ISO post vs Ware instead. Backs down for a hook

2:41 — More feeding Zubac ISO post vs Ware. Not sure what that was from Ware trying to front him badly. Gives up the spin and dunk + foul

Ware has been BAD on defense vs Zubac

2:08 — Pelle full court pressure vs Harden. ISO drive beats him off dribble and foul. Too in his body

1:12 — Harden Coffey PNR gets Herro on the switch. Pelle showing help and open swing → Coffey beats the closeout to the paint

0:13 — Harden Eubanks PNR. Wiggins trailing. Just late reaction to the screen coming. Harden gets the drive. Pelle showing help but no reaction on the closeout → open Coffey 3pt

4th Quarter

11:40 — Miller vs Rozier ISO. Just a very easy blow by and Ware doesn’t help either. Layup

11:00 — Zone. Good def for the most part until the late clock. Eubanks gets the ball inside and has an open hook over Ware

9:20 — Full court press and somehow giving up a corner 3pt. Rozier gets beat and that forces Herro to step up

8:45 — Bogan Eubanks handoff. Haywood trailing off ball first and then on the screen. Gets a floater

7:42 — Bogdan-Zubac PNR. Pelle on him goes under twice then over the third time and it’s a pull up from elbow vs Bam in drop. Not mad at that

7:14 — Zubac hub into Bogdan handoff. Pelle fights over but creates separation on the stepback → another elbow shot

6:40 — Bogdan off ball into a Zubac PNR. Pelle is hustling to get back but gets caught on the on ball screen → it’s a pull up 3pt this time vs Bam drop. That’s open space

6:02 — Great Bam front vs Zubac and then ends up getting the pass

5:40 — Bogdan off screen into a PNR. Bam is now blitzing him hard. Zubac short roll → kick, swing open Coffey 3pt. Help did come early in the paint on the roll. But that was on Wiggins being too close to the roll

4:55 — Bogdan Zubac PNR. Bam again hard blitz to force it out of his hands. Duncan tags Zubac and recovers well on Batum. Great possession

4:25 — Pelle has been so active with his rotations and closeouts. HE is always the first one to rotate and attempt to closeout. There’s hustle every time

Offensive

1st Quarter

11:50 — Nice play for Herro. Wiggins coming off a handoff from Bam into a Herro PNR. That ends in a switch and Herro has a good look coming off the flare screen from Bam. Wide open 3pt

11:02 — Davion-Ware quick PNR reject, drive and kick to Bam for a strong corner 3pt. Williams was helping off and that’s going to be the story of the game

10:30 Williams is just sagging off Bam whether he has the ball or not. Bam is just a hub looking for someone or something. Ends in a Wiggins late clock PNR that gets a long 2pt

9:26 — Williams again helping off Bam to deter shots from the rim. He stopped the initial drive from Herro. Helped off Bam in the dunker spot then from the corner

9:03 — Wiggins quick drive off catch but Williams is helping off Ware this time to be in the paint. Not even paying attention to Ware above the break

8:35 — Bridges and Williams looked to sag off Bam and he confidently goes for the pull up. If he sees that much space, he needs to let it fly

8:10 — Bam hub waiting for handoffs and Williams is just sagging off in the paint a lot. You also have Bridges on Ware helping at the nail. Just awful spacing for any action

The spacing issues has been bad so far

7:10 — It’s the same thing with Bam being the hub and Williams helping off. Him dropping and staying in the paint takes everything away. Ends in Herro-Bam PNP with a pop for 3pt

6:37 — Wiggins-Davion-Bam PNR but Bam doesn’t really sets that second screen and Williams is just dropping back. Ball goes under Wiggins and forcing that pull up

6:00 — Herro Ware empty PNR drive turns the corner to the paint and has a lob to Ware vs Nurkic

5:20 — Herro-Davion handoff into Ware PNR. Curls and gets to the paint for the floater. That is going to be his shot a lot of the time

4:18 — Great read from Ware to beat the closeout instead of just going for the 3pt(he missed a 3pt a previous possession on a similar look) and goes for the drive and a great pass to Wiggins cutting

I have liked the flashes of Ware’s passing whenever it happens

3:14 — Late clock Wiggins ISO post vs a smaller mismatch. Gets to the paint and no help comes at all. No help even showing. Gets a clean hook

1:48 — Duncan-Rozier pistol handoff into Bam PNR. Bam slips and rolls. Duncan has the curl and drives to the rim

They go to this play every single time Duncan checks in and has Bam in the game

1:15 — Rozier-Duncan-Bam PNR. Seth switches and goes under. That turns into Rozier hub waiting for Duncan to come off screen. Seth also stunts from Rozier. That has been a common help against these plays lately

0:48 — Bam in transition! Quickly looks to bring ball and attacks Nurkic. Draws the and-one

2nd Quarter

11:38 — JJJ ISO post vs Seth. No help is coming but showing some in the paint. Great read from Haywood to cut with the possession not going anywhere with JJJ backing down

10:22 — Bam ISO post and just does the same thing as JJJ. Backs down with defense showing but not much outside of one player off of Rozier 1 pass away. Takes too long to make the read on the kick out

9:10 — Bam ISO post vs Bridges. Looks to attack baseline but then the help comes. JJJ is being guarded by a big

There’s been a lot of JJJ as the hub with shooters looking to get open

7:42 — JJJ hub with Williams guarding him. Turns into Rozier off Bam screen into a PNR but Bam’s roll is taken out because Williams ignores JJJ

7:10 — Williams helping off Bam completely and just ignores him the ENTIRE possession to be in the paint deterring shots away

6:42 — Rozier-Bam PNR pocket pass but Williams is on JJJ in the strong corner ignoring him and that takes away the lane. JJJ doesn’t look to shoot it and it’s a charge on the closeout drive

6:23 — Early offense. Pushing pace and Herro quickly attacks off the catch. He beats the closeout well but is met with Williams helping off Wiggins in the strong corner

Williams in the PNR defense has taken everything away because he’s also just dropping a lot

4:50 — BLOB. Wiggins off catch looks to attack but Williams staying in the paint off Ware

4:25 — Wiggins off Davion handoff into Ware PNR and it’s the same thing. Williams is in drop and making all of that tougher than it needs to be

3:10 — Herro Bam PNR rejects it and looks to attack. Williams dropping and I don’t know what kind of shot selection is that going for the contested floater

2:35 — Davion hub. Wiggins off Bam screen, no advantage with Bridges going under. Just went for a long pull up. Williams again helping off Bam

1:48 — This needs to be a kick from Wiggins. That was just BAD. Had the drive and Diabate was helping off HERRO. Make the simple kick one pass away

3rd Quarter

10:48 — Herro-Bam-Ware PNR. Williams sagging off in the paint off of Ware. Bridges switched the first screen and Bam slips but that doesn’t matter because Williams already stops that

9:18 — Herro beating the closeout well again against Bridges. He has the drive but has to stop short on the floater because Williams is helping off Bam off the short corner! Gets the ORB but then Bam is deterred on the shot because of his presence

Williams rim protection has been so good

8:42 — Wiggins off a pindown into a handoff but then takes a quick pull up 3pt. Why? Also, Williams ignoring Bam. Again.

7:55 — Herro off a Bam handoff looks to quickly drive but Williams is helping off Ware above the break and whole thing resets because it forced a kick but no one else was helping off

6:40 — Wiggins ISO post late clock but the defense again doesn’t look to help. Can’t backdown the smaller guy well, and it’s a TOV

5:00 — Herro hub. Bam off Duncan screen into Duncan handoff quick 3pt. This is going to be an important action later in the game

2:15 — Herro rip through move gets the foul! This is becoming a regular thing

1:45 — Herro-Bam high PNR. Draws a slight show from Nurkic. Open Bam short roll and easily drives for a foul

4th Quarter

11:48 — JJJ ISO post hub with Duncan screening and cutting but no advantage. Turns into a JJJ go-to work kind of possession vs Bridges. Settles for a tough hook over him

11:10 — Duncan-Bam handoff and gets the Seth switch but that’s great recognition from Bridges to kick the mismatch out. Bam just immediately goes for the pull up

10:31 — Not sure if I like this very quick, early pull up from Duncan. Too 3pt happy

8:55 — Rozier hub. Duncan quick off Bam screen and settles for another early 3pt. I don’t like these quick looks

8:25 — Bam ISO post vs Bridges with the side cleared. No advantage but then ball gets swung. JJJ is guarded by Nurkic

7:28 — Just a very questionable shot from Herro. Why are we looking for a contested high floater over 2 lengthy defenders with 16s left

7:20 — Ware hub. Herro handoff and goes into the paint for the same floater over Williams dropping

6:22 — Another questionable possession from Herro. Just him handling the ball and looks to attack in traffic and forces a floater

5:50 — B2B bad possession from Herro. Another one with him just handling and ends in a TOV on the drive in traffic

4:48 — Wiggins hub. Bam off Herro screen into a Wiggins-Bam-Herro Spain PNR and goes into a pull up 3pt off the Bam screen with Bridges fighting over

4:20 — Same exact play but this time he doesn’t make the pull up. Defense switched this time and it was actually a better look

3:45 — Wiggins hub. Bam off Duncan screen into a quick open middy. Williams didn’t fight over well

3:10 — Herro-Bam high PNR. Gets the drive vs drop but just bad decision on the dumpoff TOV

2:50 — Herro hub. Bam off a Duncan screen into the elbow hub. Then Duncan screens Herro into a handoff for quick 3pt. Williams sitting in the paint

2:12 — Herro hub. Bam off a Duncan screen into the elbow hub. Duncan sets the screen for Herro. Defense doesn’t want to switch that. Bam finds the cut then but Williams takes the switch and it’s tough shot making from Herro

1:45 — Herro hub. Bam off a Duncan screen into a PNR with Duncan. Looks to attack and draws a foul

1:07 — Herro hub. Bam off a Duncan screen into the high post hub on the other side. Herro comes off a Duncan screen into the handoff for a quick pull up vs drop

0:35 — Herro hub. Bam off a Duncan screen into the elbow hub. Duncan looks to screen Herro. Herro quickly flows into the handoff then PNR and a pull up vs drop

Five identical set ups with five different options and outcomes

Defensive

1st Quarter

11:26 — Wiggins doing a good job on Ball 1v1 and around screens. Doesn’t give anything up but the team gives up a ORB on the first possession TWICE

10:45 — Davion trailing Ball bad off-screen and that forces Herro to peel switch but it’s an open floater

10:12 — Going under Bridges twice giving up a wide open pull up. He doesn’t make it here, but that’s going to matter later

6:53 — Another Bridges PNR and Bam does goes under… now it’s a make

6:15 — Bridges-Green PNR hunts Herro on the switch and they give it. Gets to the paint but help is coming form Davion. Late foul

5:00 — Ware allows the roll to get the pocket pass a bit too deep in the paint. That happened once already

4:10 — Bridges double PNR with Wiggins trailing badly. Died on the screen. Ware was in a drop but then contested the pull up. They are giving Bridges the room

3:35 — Nurkic ISO post vs Ware. Gets to the paint, backs him down for a clean hook

3:00 — Wiggins again is dying on the screen. Badly gets hang on to Nurkic

Heat have went to a LOT of zone.

0:36 — solid possession in zone not allowing any breaks on the 3pt line and forcing Ball into a tough shot

2nd Quarter

Starting the quarter back to man

There’s been a lot of digging and stunting from Rozier

A lot of the looks from the Hornets have been bad 3s without any dribble penetration

10:03 — Getting into the middle of the zone has been an issue for a few possessions in a row

9:50 — Just bad awareness that has Bam left with a 1v2 and an open lob for Bridges

9:20 — Bridges getting Duncan on the show then has the easy drive. No resistance at all and Bam does come to help late but a foul

8:26 — What a great help from Haywood to cut off the drive… but he’s also stunting from Bridges

A lot of the possessions have been in zone now

7:50 — Bridges catches the ball in the middle then just attacks Rozier easily to the rim

Bridges has been getting those flash cuts almost every time

6:55 — Bridges quick ISO drive and once again gets to the middle collapsing the defense for an open kick to Ball

6:13 — Ware late reaction after he helped on Ball in transition. Didn’t realise that there was Williams rim running. Ends in a foul

Back to man at 6:00

5:48 — Bridges Wiggins PNR getting Herro on the show then ends in a switch flows into a handoff for an open pull up

Back to zone a minute later. Ended up giving an open 3pt

4:40 — Pelle showing so much help at the nail and leaving him prone to get beat by Bridges attacking off the closeout. Ware with late reaction again and it ends with no help

4:00 — Ware in a deep drop but then somehow fails to meet Williams until it’s too late and it’s another foul

3:30 — Bam switches on Bridges and that stalls the possession. It’s a late clock and Bridges had to create something. Tried to attack Herro on the show

2:15 Bam again switching on Bridges in the PNR. No advantage on the drive

1:10 — Bam switches on Ball and he just chucks up a 3pt. Missed rebound. Herro loses Green. That’s just pure hustle

0:57 — Bridges gets Herro on the switch. Draws a double open kick for a 3pt. Another ORB given up

0:5 — Bridges PNR hunting Herro on the show. Wiggins looked to recover but he was going downhill already

3rd Quarter

11:45 — Davion with good pressure vs Ball and then he also draws an offensive foul

He’s probably leading the team in that already

Ball hasn’t been really able to get any drives in. And it definitely feels like he’s just settling for shots

10:20 — Davion great defense sticking with Ball then Ware comes in with the save from the weakside

10:10 — Wiggins getting so badly beat by Bridges 1v1. Just one cross and he’s gone. Ware looked to help but then just loses his man on the dumpoff

8:25 — Herro with a good 1v1 poss vs Ball. He looked to size him up and just pokes the handle on the cross well

Bam has been switching on Ball a few times now

7:25 — Bridges-Green PNR hunts Herro on the show and it’s an under so open pull up 3pt. He’s making them now

B2B bad transition defensive plays ends in an open corner 3pt and dunk

5:36 — Ware with poor defense on Williams. Just getting outhustled for post positioning

5:14 — Just an awful possession. Not getting back off a miss and it ends in an open corner 3pt. Giving up ORB because no one pays attention

4:00 — Ball tries to hunt Duncan but good rotations and recovery from everyone. Bam just saved this possession

3:25 — Ball PNR looks to hunt Herro on the show, switch, double, swing and open 3pt

2:55 — Ball PNR hunts Duncan and gets a drive. Foul

A lot of hunting starting to happen now

2:30 — Bam on Ball but tries to hunt Duncan. No advantage, though

2:00 — Ball PNR looking to get Duncan on the show and it’s an open pull up

1:28 — Giving up another ORB because of not paying attention. That was on JJJ

4th Quarter

Starting in zone

10:50 — Rozier getting beat off the catch by Flynn. That’s just bad closeout, leaving yourself prone to that

10:23 — Bridges hunts JJJ on the switch, drive but great strip

Pretty much all possessions in zone now and Hornets can’t figure it out

7:36 — Great Haywood defense on the strip vs Bridges drive

77-88 11pt lead with 6:40 left. That’s where things changed

6:37 — Williams gets in the middle of the zone for the open floater. Ware doesn’t step up on time to contest

6:00 — Haywood just killed the possession on that late foul. Bailed them out completely on the Flynn 3pt

5:38 — Ball PNR. Wiggins just DYING on the screen again. Each time, he’s literally just stuck there. Gives an open 3pt with Ware in deep drop

5:07 — Ware giving up ORB to Williams. No box out and no one had Flynn anywhere either. This happened TWICE. Then it’s Ware defending in drop but gives up the roll and fouls in the end. Just an awful possession

4:34 — Bam on Ball. PNR to get Duncan switch then another PNR and Ware allows ANOTHER open roll. It’s also another foul that’s just bad

4:05 — Ball PNR to get Duncan on the show no advantage. Swing to Bridges that takes ISO stepback 3pt vs Bam. Ties the game

3:28 — Ball PNR gets Duncan on the switch with the side cleared but just swing for Bridges 3pt. Settled

2:30 — Zone def but it left Wiggins with a 1v2 on the Ball PNR. Help comes from the strong corner from Herro. Green able to beat the closeout and now finds a cutter. Haywood lost his man

1:55 — Similar set up with Bridges PNR attacking the no defense from a big. Has the open lane for the drive and floater

That is a curious set up to have a guy set a PNR twice but not have a screener defender

1:20 — Wiggins with great defense vs Ball 1v1 and on the drive. Recovers for the block

1:16 — These are the shots that Bridges just makes after you constantly gave him the space and rhythm to get into those looks

0:45 — Having said that. Herro gives up an open 3pt to Bridges off a drive from Ball

0:20 — Lol. This possession was a dagger. Off a potential game winner from Herro on the pull up. No one runs back and Williams gets a dunk