How have Wiggins, Anderson, Mitchell looked in their debut with the Heat
A quick breakdown of things that stood out from Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson & Davion Mitchell in their debut with the Heat
Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and Davion Mitchell finally made their debut for the Miami Heat and had two or three games before the All-Star break to show what they could add to the team.
Now, it is only two or three games, which means there’s nothing major to take away from, nor should you look into any of the stats. But that also doesn’t mean that there wasn’t anything that we couldn’t take away or make a note of some flashes here and there.
All three players have shown something about their game and what they could contribute in various ways. That is going to be the task for the coaching staff over the break to figure out how they will be more effective when we come back.
Andrew Wiggins
Wiggins hasn’t had the best start in his first two games with the Heat:
11 points on 1/4 2pt, 2/8 3pt, 3/3 ft with 5 rebounds, 5 assists & 2 stocks vs Celtics
13 points on 3/7 2pt, 1/5 3pt, 4/6 ft with 4 rebounds, 3 assists & 2 stocks vs Thunder
Even in just two games and not having much practice with the team, I don’t think many would’ve been expecting this kind of play. But without focusing on the end result, there were things that can translate into how he was being used.
It’s already surprising how much he’s been used as a ball handler in the PNR(granted, the Celtics game was without Herro). He has already been trusted right from the start to be used on-ball the majority of the time. The results haven’t amounted to much, though:
A lot of the possessions in the PNR, particularly against the Celtics did end up going nowhere because the defense just switched. Ideally, I would hope to see potentially him attacking the mismatches better. Whether it’s a big or a small switch, I’d like to see this area more explored to see how he looks there.
But the volume is still the thing that has been the most eye-raising. He had a lot of possessions running things with the ball. Even in the small sample, especially coming into a new team, this is definitely something to keep an eye on.
In the Wiggins breakdown that I did earlier in the week, one thing that I did note is he hasn’t been a good PNR ball handler. His efficiency there has been quite poor by any standard. There’s also been the reliance on tough shots. That’s usually what the shot came down to once the defense switched.
So far, that has shown up and another has been the decision making. There have already been some questionable shot selection, as well as poor decisions on the drive that led to a turnover. There were possessions like this:
He had Porzingis on the switch. He attacked and looked to take him off the dribble but made up his mind prematurely and it resulted in a bad kick. Or take these early pull-up 3s after a switch:
I don’t know if I want those shots to be part of his game like that.
Continuing on the PNR usage, they also had him come off screens. That has looked better and there’s a lot more potential there, that has already shown some nice plays:
At times, there’s no advantage and it does flow into another PNR, which goes back to the previous points. But, this is also where he’s been able to either get downhill better or make a play for others.
He’s already had three lob attempts coming off a screen and curling to drive. Take this play:
That has also showed up coming off a handoff with Bam:
These are more of the actions that looked more effective. These actions have been run with everyone on the Heat, particularly coming off a ball reversal, but they haven’t had a wing that can attack in the way Wiggins has already shown.
He has also flashed some good to decent passes out of the PNR. As we have already seen, he has already connected on two lobs to both Adebayo and Ware. But there are also been plays like these where he makes a good skip pass once the defense helps on the tag:
There have been many similar possessions where he has already shown to make the right read off of various other actions, too, such as a simple drive and kick or recognizing the nail help and making that extra pass.
Then there’s been the post-ups and isolations. That has already been a significant part of his possessions:
I feel like this part of the game is something that could be more tapped into. He has graded a lot better on post-ups than PNR. Instead of relying on the handle to force tough looks off the dribble, he has a better chance at using his size and strength to bully someone to get closer into the paint that way.
But as you can see above, there were also a handful of possessions where he drew the defense in or got doubled, and had the kick for the open shooter. That has already given the Heat another player in the post capable of having such plays.
There were two possessions of using him as a screener — one of which resulted in a simple switch into a post up against Isaiah Joe. But it was this one that caught my eye more:
If the defense is going to switch against him, that also gives a good opportunity to use him on slips(just as they used Butler or even Highsmith).
I’m actually surprised that it’s already been so much of Wiggins on-ball. Even with the circumstances, this is still a lot in just two games.
This was my first question as to what kind of Wiggins offensively we’re going to see because he has been used a lot off-ball in the previous two seasons until this year. I wondered what direction they were going to lean on and through these two games, it feels like we have our answer. I don’t know if this is going to hold to this much volume but it will definitely be more used than not.
On defense so far, he has been used on those star wings and guarding up. Here’s his matchup data in these two games with at least 5 partial possessions:
Jayson Tatum: 22.5
Jalen Williams: 15.9
Aaron Wiggins: 8.4
Al Horford: 8.3
Isaiah Joe: 7.7
Kristaps Porzingis: 7.6
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 7.4
Derrick White: 6.0
Luke Kornet: 5.0
Against the Celtics, he was primarily on Tatum and mostly was defending on-ball and that wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. There were many on-ball possessions like this where he defended the drive well. But there were far too many times he got caught on a screen and got taken out of the play completely or had to unnecessarily switch.
When it comes to him off-ball, that’s where he was on either Porzingis or Kornet. That was also a mixed result. When he was on Tatum, off-ball, he was mainly used to just providing help around the gaps.
Overall, the results may have not been pretty in this two-game sample, but the way Wiggins has been used on both ends and how that could translate into a bigger sample should still be positive.
With the All-Star break, I do expect the usage with his on-ball to be worked out differently to incorporate it with everyone else. There’s still Herro, Adebayo, and Jovic to be considered in that role. I definitely wouldn’t want a Wiggins show to this extent.
Davion Mitchell
I have liked what Mitchell has given the Heat and it’s really just simple stuff. It’s adding an athlete at the guard spot that they haven’t had since pretty much Wade. He can relieve some of the ball-handling duties from Herro or from others who aren’t suited for it. It also means you don’t have to only use Adebayo as the hub.
Similar to Anderson, as we’ll see, there have already been some concerning flags that arose because of some offensive issues, but with some tweaks on how he’s used, it still should be a positive.
The first thing that stood out, particularly in the PNR is how the defense guards that. That’s some of the concerning flags that showed up immediately:
He’s catching a lot of unders. It’s an under and a switch almost every time. That’s not ideal. Having the defenders be able to go under practically every of your screen when your strength is to get downhill puts you at a disadvantage.
It makes the action so much easier to guard because the defender can easily duck under, cut your drive off, and keep it 2v2 without needing to have any help. There are possibilities to rescreen to force the defender to over, but with also being a nonscoring threat, it still doesn’t fix a lot.
There was this PNR that got him so much space in the mid-range:
But that’s also going to be a massive win for the defense. Against the Celtics, that’s exactly the looks he saw, even when he was coming off a screen into a handoff:
White went under twice! Teams will dare him to go for the pull-up.
That’s why you can also see in most of those clips, the initial action with the Mitchell PNR, nothing really comes out of it. Defense isn’t going to work. No rotations. No paint touches. No decisions need to be made.
Against the Mavericks, the effectiveness of his PNRs was almost zero because everything was a switch. If it’s a switch, then there hasn’t been anything out of it.
But good things still happen if he can get downhill. Immediately in the Celtics game, he did just that:
White is still going under both times, but on the second screen, he is caught behind because Mitchell does have that burst. That burst forces Porzingis to also help and he has the wide-open kick.
But if he does get the defender going over, I feel quite comfortable with him making the read, especially on the pocket pass:
Not every team is going to have White level defenders. If he can gain an advantage by getting downhill, I do like the potential with this, whether with Adebayo or Ware.
His downhill threat and athleticism showed up in transition. That was already a thing that he had done very well. He had six easy points. The Heat will take any easy points that they can get.
One final point about the offense is he’s somehow already averaging the most passes on the team.
He was second against the Celtics at 43 in 23 minutes behind Adebayo at 49 in 34. He was tied first with Herro at 54 in roughly the same minutes against the Thunder. And he was first against the Mavericks with 62 and Herro second at 45. Over 150 passes and only three turnovers. That’s impressive.
I also haven’t seen any head-scratching moments or WTF moments either, which is a big, big bonus from the previous guard play. Not making a high volume of mistakes is always a positive.
With his defense, it’s been as advertised. There’s the ball pressure. It’s defending star guards, where he was already tasked with defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It’s been good to see someone actually get over screens well and quick enough to not constantly allow an advantage.
Kyle Anderson
Finally, Anderson hasn’t had a great start and that is unfortunately a lot to do with the limitations and concerns that he brings. Almost all of it comes down to offense.
There’s only so much that you can do if he doesn’t have the ball. Even involving him as a screener doesn’t tend to have good results.
That’s why he only played ~10 minutes against the Celtics and then didn’t play against the Thunder. He did play against the Mavericks, where he was probably the second-best player. Crazy three-game ride.
Now, the opponent also mattered here because it was the Celtics that would’ve made life more difficult regardless of who took his spot. That’s more of a Celtics being good than Anderson causing issues. But that still showed a lot of his limitations against better defensive teams that can switch and help off.
Starting off with his first possession, he was guarded by Kornet:
Wherever Anderson was off-ball, you still had Kornet looking to help in the paint and off corners to discourage drives. Jovic looked to drive but had to make the kick to the strong corner. Anderson attacked off the catch but that’s going to be a shot the defense will live with.
It also makes possessions harder for anyone to go to work in the post:
Adebayo gets fronted in the post but you can’t make the pass because Kornet is behind him off Anderson. He does flash cuts to get him the ball in the post, but even before the double came, Adebayo has no room to even attack because Kornet is still lurking at the rim.
Those are the kinds of issues that were immediately on display with Anderson within a couple of minutes. Even when he’s involved as a screener:
Go ahead. Run X-Anderson PNR and have that be your offense. The defense doesn’t have to work at all. His impact is negated even if he’s used as a screener against a defense that doesn’t switch.
I do like that at least he’s looking to move constantly. There is a better feel for when to cut or not even if he’s getting helped off of:
This is a similar play to before where you can’t get the ball to Adebayo in the post, so he decides to cut into the space for a shot in the paint. But that’s a win for the defense. If you can turn an Adebayo post up against Pritchard to a shot for Anderson in the paint. Win.
His movement does stand out:
Everyone at some point has mentioned that he’s a high-IQ player. He has also immediately shown that with just his constant feel of when and where to move. Defense not paying attention? He’ll cut, draw the defense, and make the kick to the shooter.
But again, there’s only so much a player can do. If he doesn’t move and is a spot-up shooter instead, you get a possession like this:
Porzingis is sitting with one foot in the paint waiting on the drive just in case. Once the pass is made to Anderson, that slow, slow release is so slow that Pritchard doesn’t care at all.
On the other hand, against the Mavericks with a different matchup and more possessions with the ball in his hands, it made more sense. This is also something that I mentioned in the earlier breakdown he needs to have the ball in his hand as a hub to be more effective. Anderson as the five with the ball to be the hub is the way to go.
The Mavericks showed some of that and it showed more potential against certain matchups that can be used to maximize his skill set.
I’m not reading much into the actual scoring on those post-ups he had against the Mavericks, but it was still something good to see. That still adds some options on offense for him to go to. It’s better to have something in your arsenal than not.
But it was more possessions like these that showed what he can do against certain defenses with the ball:
It’s going to the post and finding cutters. You can’t help off if he has the ball around the block. That’s where his IQ can be used in a way that isn’t just looking to negate his poor spacing. Or it’s looking to attack that gets you to drive and kicks out of it:
I’m not saying that you run an offense through Anderson, but in limited usage already, this can be a source of an offense when there’s nothing else going on. Another thing he showed is short roll ability if the defense does switch:
That’s where you can use him as a screener because of his passing ability and quick decision-making.
Finally, he also showed another good feel for the game off-ball but in getting offensive boards. If you’re not a spacer, you also can’t just do nothing and be still. That has not been an issue so far with Anderson.
So, after just three games, I’m still where I was when they first got here. There are a lot of different ways for each player to be used. All three have also had their red flags already pop up, even in a limited, small sample size — I don’t know if that’s also a good sign.
Luckily, they all have also shown flashes of where things have gone right and where things can be built upon. This is where having the All-Star break is perfect to figure out how to properly integrate all of those players because there are still a lot of questions to answer.