Jimmy Butler: His Area of Expansion this Season

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This Heat off-season, when viewing from the outside, has had a very clear theme to it: 1) making the necessary improvements internally within the roster, which I’ve been addressing throughout this article series, and 2) building correctly around the captain of the ship, Jimmy Butler.

After watching what he has been able to do 2 out of the last 3 years in the playoffs, it puts a lot of things in perspective when viewing this roster. But the key point to make is that Playoff Jimmy won’t get going until April, so how can he sustain his play over the next few months of a pretty crucial regular season in the packed East.

We all know his play-style varies from regular season to playoffs, but there are a few things that can be just as effective in both. It’s all about sustaining both high level play and health. Not putting too much stress on him in the first 82, since it seems that’s always what ends up happening once the “real season” begins.

Looking into his game a bit more, it’s not like other guys where we’re awaiting certain jumps in their offensive game. For veterans like Butler, it’s more about tweaking role and volume to maximize them within a system.

Speaking of that exactly, there’s one part of his game that deserves a deeper discussion, since I believe it’s utilized more than ever this upcoming season: Jimmy Butler as the roll man.

Everybody knows what he can do as an on-ball threat and pick and roll ball-handler, but this roster is absolutely full of that same exact build. Guys like Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Victor Oladipo, and hopefully Bam Adebayo will need to have decent usage to be effective in their respective roles. And while it’s clear Butler will be high on that list as well, there’s also the part of this where they can shift him into different spots to be just as effective.

Butler scored 1.29 points per possession this past season as the roll man, while shooting 54% on those reps. To elevate this point even more, that mark jumped up to 1.75 points per possession in the post-season on 78% shooting.

Just an insane number.

Of course this isn’t on the same volume of the average big man, but his efficiency and effectiveness on the short roll opens up so much for him as a scorer.

The first level to utilizing him within this play-style is shown in the clips above. Simple pick and rolls, most of the time being mirrored with Kyle Lowry. It was a combo that almost guaranteed a Butler bucket at the rim. Screen, slip, float pass, lay-in. It’s a hard set to guard if the defense respects Lowry’s pull-up 3 enough, which will be a critical part of this season.

Aside from that, it creates mismatch heaven for Butler, which as seen in the first clip above, almost always ends in a post-up with Butler punishing. This is right in his wheelhouse, simultaneously representing the reasoning we saw that uptick for him in the playoffs. Teams like the Hawks could not make up for the hunting that Butler could provide.

But the reason I bring up this entire topic is that it can be branched out immensely. It’s not as simple as running pick and roll after pick and roll with him, since there’s no fluidity or diversity there. Instead, it’s the fact it can be maximized within so many of their base sets already.

After losing PJ Tucker this off-season, a specific element they lost that isn’t being talked about much is the screening decline. Tucker was probably the best overall screener on the team, really doing damage off the ball.

To bounce off of that, Butler will see an increase in that department as wild as that may sound. Not to be taking a toll on his body, but instead to create chaos with slipping, hand-offs, and more. As seen above, it’s just an initiator of movement for guys like Herro to flow off the DHO for pull-up looks.

We often bring up the word “gravity” when addressing the shooters on the floor, but do you know who is a direct definition of that word? Jimmy Butler.

The difference is that he has interior gravity even at his size. If you’ve ever watched the way defenses guard him off the attack with the ball or not, it expands the court with the collapse that follows.

Plus if his hot shooting carries over from the playoffs/off-season, a little pick and pop off these hand-offs could go a long way.

The point of all of this is finding a sound and comfortable role for Butler to be effective within the possessions that Herro and/or Oladipo are dominating the ball. Butler always enjoys being more of a play-maker during that time of year anyway, and this is a way for Miami to bridge that gap with a passer off the roll that isn’t named Bam Adebayo.

To continue through the different options they have with him in this area, I must reiterate a point I’ve been bringing up in any article or podcast you may have read or heard from me: the Miami Heat should be expanding their motion offense.

More guards, more creators, more offensive threats. This is a team that falls right into that category of non-stop movement in the half-court, since they have all 3 elements necessary: high level play-makers, spot-up shooters, and multiple shot creators.

The reason I tie Butler into this as a roller can be seen in the clip above. Bam orchestrating, Herro and Robinson moving, Butler screening and slipping. It’s clockwork, since you simply cannot prepare for that slip to come when there’s chaos with the offensive threats on the back-side.

This team’s motion actions always look better when Butler is the receiver than when he is the quarterback. That has nothing to do with his passing ability, but instead Bam drawing out the opposing big opens up the possibility of opportunities at the rim.

And speaking of Bam drawing out that big, my last point within this new look adjustment consists of just that…

This play right here is Miami Heat art.

Bam above the break running an inverted PnR, Butler as the angled screener, and a perfect feed and roll for the eventual bucket. That right there is the picture perfect set for this offense.

Why is that? Well, other than the fact you’d like your two best players to be able to spam two-man game anyway, this set working consistently takes this entire Heat offense to new levels.

When talking about Bam, the main thing we call for is finding ways that he can flow downhill with the ball in his hands. With that said, inverted PnR’s are always the area we come back to, since it creates mismatches while putting Bam in a spot he feels comfortable.

The second part of this is everything I’ve discussed in this entire article. Butler as the screener/roller for him can hypothetically be the blend each of them are looking for, instead of the repetitive Butler-Bam PnR’s that connected on less points per possession (1.03 PPP) than the Butler-Dedmon combo (1.10 PPP) and the Butler-Yurtseven combo (1.22 PPP).

Yes, a lot of this stuff isn’t much of a change from what we’re used to, since they’ve ran a lot of this stuff before. But the main point here is increasing the frequency of it. Of course Butler’s on-ball usage won’t be declining, but it’s just about shifting things to maximize the lineups around him.

And as I said before, it can simultaneously be less physical stress for him in certain pockets of the game.

Jimmy Butler is always going to be Jimmy Butler, so don’t expect much change from him. But this minor adjustment could change how effective certain lineups look with multiple creators. (For example, the Lowry-Herro-Oladipo-Butler-Adebayo lineup.)

 

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single-season Heat history

One-Year Wonders: Top 5 Single-Season Performers in Heat History

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The Miami Heat sport names long associated with the franchise. Udonis Haslem announced this offseason he’s returning for his 20th NBA season, all in Miami. Franchise cornerstones Dwayne Wade (15) and Alonzo Mourning (11) each spent more than a decade donning their Heat uniform. Guys like Keith Askins, who joined the team in 1990, and many others spent time as both a player and a coach in Miami. These players hold many of the single-season and all-time records in Heat history.

But those lengthy runs with the team aren’t the norm. At this point, only 16 players have spent more than five years with the Heat.

Over 35 seasons, the Heat have seen 274 players play at least one regular season minute for the franchise, with 153 of those spending no more than one year in Miami. But while the vast majority of those one-and-done players in did little of note, several stand out the annuls of Heat history.

Here’s a look at the Top 5 single-season performers in Miami Heat history.

Heat History Single-Season Player #5: P.J. Tucker, 2021-22

The Miami Heat signed P.J. Tucker to a two-year, $15 million deal last offseason following the forward winning an NBA Championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. Tucker looked like a seamless fit with the Heat, a player who provided defensive acumen and sniping ability from the corner three.

It was anticipated Tucker would split time at power forward with another one-year Heat player, Markieff Morris. However, the 36-year-old quickly assumed an integral space in Miami’s rotation and seemed to embody Heat culture faster than any other previous free agent addition.

Tucker helped Miami’s unlikely run to the Eastern Conference’s top seed heading into the playoffs and played a pivotal role for a team that finished mere minutes short of the NBA Finals. He averaged 7.6 points-per-game, the fourth-high output of his 11-year career, and netted a career-best 41.5 percent from three. He finished with a 11.3 Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and registered 5.0 Win Shares, fourth-most on the team.

Tucker played 71 regular season games and in all 18 playoff contests, though he was hobbled by the Eastern Conference Finals and wasn’t on the floor in the end. Tucker provided Miami with toughness and leadership through his single-season run, a notable one in Heat history.

While the Heat wanted Tucker to return, Miami wasn’t willing to use the $10.5 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to re-sign him. Had they done so, the Heat would’ve been hard-capped, robbing them of financial flexibility to improve the roster down the line. Tucker declined a $7.4 million player option to test free agency and ultimately landed a three-year, $33.2 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Heat History Single-Season Player #4: Rex Chapman, 1995-96

Miami’s 1995-96 roster stands out as one of the most unique single-season squads in Heat history. 22 players suited up for the Heat that year, most in one year in franchise history at that point.

During the 1995 NBA Draft, Miami traded the rights to Ed Stokes and Jeff Webster to Washington for veteran shooting guard Rex Chapman and the Bullets’ second-round selection, guard Terrence Rencher. This turned out to be the last trade prior to Pat Riley joining the organization in September.

When Riley assumed leadership as head coach and team president, he kept Chapman on, releasing other holdovers like Brad Lohaus and Ledell Eackles. For the Heat, Chapman proved to be a buy-low investment that paid immediate dividends as Riley reshaped the roster around Alonzo Mourning.

Chapman played 56 games that season, starting 50 of them, and averaged 33.3 minutes-per-game. He averaged 14 points-per-game and made 37.1 percent of his attempts from three. He netted 125 threes that season, the fifth-highest single-season figure in Heat history at the time. (The top four at that point all came from Glen Rice.) He finished with 13.0 PER and 4.2 Wins Shares, fourth-most on the team.

Chapman lands on this list largely thanks to arguably the greatest single-game shooting performance in Heat history. On February 23, 1996, the Heat faced Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, who were 48-6 at the time. Chapman was one of only eight players on the active roster for Miami that night following a flurry of trade activity involving a then-record 10 players.

Against the Bulls, Chapman scored 39 points, making 9-of-10 three-point tries during a time in the NBA when that many attempts were hardly the norm. Chapman helped spur the 113-104 upset, one of only 10 regular season losses for the Bulls that season.

His nine threes still register as tied for the second-highest single-game total in Heat history. And the 9-for-10 shooting performance is tied for the best ever (Dan Majerle went 9-for-10 from three in Minnesota on January 11, 2000) on that volume. Chapman came up one three short of Brian Shaw’s team-record 10, a mark Shaw set with a 10-for-15 night on April 4, 1993.

 

Following his productive season, Chapman expected better treatment from the Heat in free agency. Chapman sought a multi-year deal, but felt blindsided after Riley offered a one-year deal and a multi-year one with a minimal base salary loaded with incentives. Injuries limited Chapman that season and he ultimately took a minimum deal in Phoenix, choosing the Suns over offers from Indiana and Milwaukee because of lifestyle and playing time opportunities.

The Heat replaced Chapman for the 1996-97 by signing Dan Majerle and giving the bulk of the shooting guard minutes to two second-year players, Sasha Danilovic (before trading him to Dallas with Martin Müürsepp and Kurt Thomas for Jamal Mashburn) and Voshon Lenard.

Don’t Forget Tony Smith!

Tony Smith also provided the Heat with a notable performance that night. Smith, another single-season player in Heat history, was acquired via trade the day before, coming from Phoenix for Rencher.

Smith was cleared to play and arrived about 13 hours before tip-off that night. He started the game, scoring 19 points, and was asked to guard Jordan for much of the night.

Heat History Single-Season Player #3: Anthony Mason, 2000-01

Following another crushing playoff loss to the New York Knicks, Riley shook up the roster with a major trade in 2000. Miami and the Charlotte Hornets struck a nine-player deal swapping Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown, Otis Thorpe, Tim James, and Rodney Buford for Eddie Jones, Anthony Mason, Dale Ellis, and Ricky Davis.

Riley saw Mason as the ideal role player for a contender, having coached him before in New York. Mason blossomed under Riley after bouncing around the NBA and overseas, winning Sixth Man of the Year in 1995. He brought his toughness and skill to Miami, envisioned as a backup. But Mourning’s kidney ailment forced Zo out and made Mason a starter.

Mason quickly became a focal point for a 50-win squad. He averaged 16.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists-per-game that season, registering a PER of 17.4. He led the team with 11.6 Wins Shares and earned the lone All-Star berth of his career.

Mason still holds single-season records in Heat history for Minutes Played (3,254) and Minutes-Per-Game (40.7). He’s also tied for first in single-season Defensive Wins Shares (5.6). Mason’s 601 Defensive Rebounds are fifth-highest one year total. His 770 Total Rebounds are eighth-most. His Defensive Rating that season (97.5) remains the ninth-best for a single-season.

That production might engender a higher spot on this list, but Mason’s failings in the playoffs that season knock him down a peg or two. The Heat started slowly that season, going 5-9, but finished 45-23 from there, earning the 6-seed. But Mason basically disappeared during Miami’s first-round matchup against the Mashburn-led Hornets. He took only 13 shots, averaging just 5.3 points and three rebounds-per-game, during the three-game sweep.

Following the disappointing finish in 2001, the Heat opted to cut payroll. Mason, a free agent that summer, wanted a long-term contract, something the Heat weren’t willing to give the then-34-year-old. Mason ultimately signed a four-year, $20 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Heat pivoted closer to the rebuild that would land them Dwyane Wade in the 2003 NBA Draft.

Heat History Single-Season Player #2: Damon Jones, 2004-05

2004-05 holds one of the biggest single-season what-ifs in Heat history. What if Wade doesn’t suffer a strained rib muscle in the Eastern Conference Finals? With Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem and veteran role players, the Heat had high expectations and likely win the franchise’s first NBA title that season had Wade not been hurt.

To supplement the roster and move Wade to his more natural shooting guard position, Miami signed both Keyon Dooling and Damon Jones to man the point. To that point in his career, Jones was a journeyman, playing for eight teams in six seasons. He was an afterthought in free agency but proved to be a perfect fit with Shaq and Wade, and provided the best statistical season of his career.

Jones set career-highs almost across the board, averaging 11.6 points-per-game. He managed a 15.5 PER, which was fifth-best amongst Heat regulars that season, and 8.7 Wins Shares, fourth-most.

His 225 three-pointers made set a new franchise record at the time, breaking Tim Hardaway’s previous mark of 203 from 1996-97 (and at the time, tied with Mitch Richmond for the ninth most ever in an NBA season). Jones’ 43.2 percent clip from three finished fifth in the league that year and was third-highest in Heat history at the time (trailing only Jon Sundvold).

Jones set new franchise marks that have since been surpassed in True Shooting percentage (62.5), Effective Field Goal percentage (61.1) and Offensive Rating (124.1). Two of those figures rank third-highest for a single-season in Heat history, with True Shooting now seventh.

That ’04-05 team posted the second-best record in franchise history (59-23, now third-best) and made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Jones, then 29, entered free agency that summer looking for the first multi-year deal of his career. It appeared like he might re-sign in Miami after Michael Finley passed on the Heat, but Cleveland offered a longer and more lucrative deal (four years, $16.1 million) to play alongside LeBron James.

The loss of Jones and Dooling to free agency helped pave the way for Miami’s next big move, though. In what’s still the biggest trade in NBA history, the Heat landed James Posey, Antoine Walker, and Jason Williams that offseason. Miami also signed veteran point guard Gary Payton in free agency.

Heat History Single-Season Player #1: Lamar Odom, 2003-04

Riley long coveted Lamar Odom, dating back to the 1999 NBA Draft when the Heat secretly brought in Odom for a workout despite their first-round pick being slotted at No. 25. But any trade in the draft’s Top 3 picks at that time would have cost Miami core players like P.J. Brown, Jamal Mashburn, or even Tim Hardaway. The Heat stood pat and selected Miami native and University of Miami alum Tim James, who proved to be a draft bust.

Riley finally landed Odom in 2003 with a compelling free agency gambit. Riley first signed Clippers forward Elton Brand to a six-year, $82.2 million offer sheet, one Los Angeles matched. But in short order, the Heat inked Odom to six-year, $65 million offer sheet. The Clippers ultimately declined, in part, because of the financial commitment to Brand and Odom’s difficulties off the court. (Odom was coming off his second drug-related suspension.)

But Odom went on to produce one of the best seasons of his career. He averaged 17.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists-per-game playing 37.5 minutes-per-game for the Heat. He posted an 18.5 PER that season to lead Miami and ranked second with 8.4 Win Shares.

His production remained steady in the postseason as a very young Miami team, featuring a rookie Dwyane Wade at point. They made an unlikely run to the second round after starting the season 0-7.

Odom’s 616 defensive rebounds were the second-most in Heat history at that point and remain the fourth-highest single-season mark. His 776 total rebounds rank seventh-most. And while the plan was never to have Odom as one of these one-year wonders, his production allowed Riley to make him the centerpiece in the trade package that landed Miami Shaq.

During the 2004 offseason, Odom, along with Caron Butler, Brian Grant, a 2006 first-round pick (which became Jordan Farmar) and a 2007 2nd round draft pick, went to the Lakers in exchange for O’Neal.

Years later, Odom almost returned to the Heat. As a free agent in 2009, after winning his first NBA title with the Lakers a season prior, Odom seriously considered a five-year, $34 million offer from the Heat. In the end, Odom returned to Los Angeles and helped the Lakers win their second-straight championship.

Honorable Mention: Rod Strickland, 2001-02

The Heat signed Rod Strickland just a week before season’s tipoff in late October of 2001, presumably to help fill the void left following the team trading now Hall of Fame guard Tim Hardaway to the Dallas Mavericks earlier that offseason. Miami went with Strickland ahead of other veteran free agents at the time. Among those were one-time Heat guard Sherman Douglas, as well as Robert Pack.

The signing of Strickland, who was 35 years old at the time, came as a surprise. Riley seemed dedicated to a younger roster, including then third-year point guard Anthony Carter. Miami made a play for Strickland during the prior season, thinking they had an agreement with the veteran in March of 2001. But Strickland opted for a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers instead.

That season the Heat stumbled out of the blocks, going 3-15 through the first 18 games, including a 12-game losing skid. Carter started each of those contests. But Riley shook up the starting lineup in early December, adding Strickland to the mix. Miami sputtered through the end of December. It bottomed out at 5-23 on December 30th, but from there, the Heat went 31-23 the rest of the way.

Miami ultimately missed the playoffs that season by six games despite being one of the East’s best teams in the second half. Strickland provided a spark, averaging 10.4 points and 6.1 assists-per-game. He finished third on the team in Win Shares that season (4.9) and third in PER (15.6).

Strickland provided the Heat with the best production from the string of one-year veteran point guards that passed through Miami, a list that includes Travis Best, John Crotty, Keyon Dooling, Erick Murdock, and Terry Porter.

Gabe Vincent: An Upcoming Shift in Shot Distribution

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When looking across the board at Miami’s evolving young role players, it seems as if a door is opening up right in front of them heading into the new season.

For Max Strus, the starting job is still ready to be taken if he continues to shoot the ball at the level he has. For Caleb Martin, there’s a massive hole at his position with PJ Tucker heading out the door. For Omer Yurtseven, he will get his first true opportunity to earn the back-up big man position for good, as Dewayne Dedmon slows down.

Yet for Gabe Vincent, there really hasn’t been that door opener right in front of his eyes. The role for him has been clear all off-season: the back-up point guard next to either Tyler Herro or Victor Oladipo off the bench.

Now I must throw in the fact that there’s a good shot he will start many games in this regular season, since the expectation is that Kyle Lowry won’t be pushing extra hard for that 82 game mark. And with that said, the team will be confident in those specific games that Vincent slides in.

Looking at this team’s past playoff run, Vincent was at the forefront of the offense as the starting point guard in 8 of their 18 games. They went 7-1 in those games.

In a recent interview with Brett Siegel of Fan Nation, Vincent was asked about his goals heading into this season, which he pretty much mirrored my current feeling on his upcoming role. “I want to increase my efficiency,” Vincent said.

The initial interpretation of that is a cliche statement in this league. Who wouldn’t want to make that jump into higher percentages when talking about their abilities as a scorer? But the reason I want to address this is that efficiency is his primary outlet to overall improvements.

When evaluating this Heat team on paper, they basically swapped PJ Tucker for Victor Oladipo when discussing regular season availabilities. What does that mean? Well those two players don’t have the same shot chart by any means. That’s a major swing in shot attempts, while simultaneously hoping for that same jump from Bam Adebayo, and even Tyler Herro.

The point is that role players like Vincent won’t have the luxury to simply “increase shot attempts.” The role they play is to counteract the primary scorers around them, while taking advantage of the smaller dose of shots given to them.

So that leads us into our next topic. Efficiency isn’t the only way to make that jump. A shift in his personal shot profile could do the trick as well.

21% of Gabe Vincent’s field goals came from less than 10 feet from the basket last season. For a player that saw a ton of pick and rolls, you would think that number would be higher when initially diving into the stats.

That ability to increase his scoring value around the basket not only helps his efficiency levels, but it allows him to obtain a much smoother shot diet when spacing out to the perimeter.

When looking into more of the specifics of his drive, I think it’s safe to say that his inside scoring will have to be branched out broader than just pick and rolls. With Tyler Herro, Victor Oladipo, Jimmy Butler, and Kyle Lowry also preparing for a heavy PnR showing, the off-ball stuff for Vincent may have to revert back to his early years.

The reason there is such confident in that is because he’s a natural off-ball player. He just became this solid ball-handler and on-ball guard in a short span, since at this time last year, the discussion was if he could become a good enough on-ball creator for this group.

Getting back to the basics, an off-ball role is more than just catching and shooting. As it pertains to this stuff as an attacker, it’s more about relying on quick bursts off the catch than the usual methodical pick and roll.

He’s physical enough to absorb contact when driving, which makes Miami comfortable with one-on-one match-ups. But once that weak-side help begins to tail over, what is the counter? He has the strong finishing. He has the pull-up, which I will get to later. So that slight in-between game is the rounded out element.

This is something many of the Heat’s guards are searching to pick-up, but for Vincent, it may be the most realistic with the role they’re preparing him for.

Speaking of that off-ball role, he got plenty of reps with it while playing heavy minutes next to Tyler Herro and even Kyle Lowry. Instead of being the creator, he can be the capitalizer.

Waiting patiently on that weak-side wing as the PnR begins, Lowry surveys Vincent’s defender just enough as he slides down to the nail, as seen in the first clip above. Lowry hits Vincent, as he pulls decisively with the defender closing out.

After shooting under 30% on spot-up threes in his sophomore season, that shot up to 39% this past year. As I noted about a year ago in training camp, Vincent was going through a mechanical adjustment on his jumper, which led to that brief period of a shooting drop-off.

Other than his shooting numbers being on the rise, it feels like the space he will have will simultaneously be increasing. As I stated earlier about the creators on the roster, the expectation is that Oladipo’s rim pressure will allow the half-court offense to operate at a much higher level for drive-and-kicks.

Vincent will have the opportunity to really earn his stay yet again in this similar, yet slightly different, role for the new year. But let me address one last part of his game: just because I believe he gets more openings off the ball, doesn’t mean his PnR stature is disappearing by any means.

Vincent will still have the ball in his hands a ton, since simply they trust him in these spots. Much like any of Miami’s guards in recent memory, they just love the sight of drop coverage forming right in front of them.

Vincent fits that mold perfectly.

He began reading PnR coverages at an extremely high level during the back-half of the regular season, as he just waiting for his defender to drop over or under that screen. He maximized his range so he could pull it immediately when the defender went under, but more often than not, that defender was chasing him over.

2-on-1’s are then created, and Vincent can try to find his sweet spot with that mid-range pull-up that just so happens to be the drop coverage not-so-secret formula.

He shot 43% on those middy pull-ups throughout the season, but what showed to be even more impressive was that he shot 46% in the post-season on the same number of attempts. During a period where coaching and coverages begin to tighten against certain player’s strengths, that was a very intriguing development.

Like I said earlier, he won’t be expecting a major jump in shot attempts this year by any means, since it just isn’t realistic at this stage. But what he can do is expand his shot profile into the areas he feels most comfortable. Possibly a slight decline in pull-up 3’s occur, which then pad his rim attempts.

The point is that his shot distribution will begin to spread, and it’s for the best.

His defensive abilities on the other hand deserve their own piece just to hit on all of the stuff he provides from fighting through screens to the 2-2-1 press to sizing up on switches. We know what we’re getting on that end of the floor which makes it not as fun to discuss, while the scoring elements are just beginning to scratch the surface.

Training camp will tell us a lot, but as for the way Erik Spoelstra and the coaching staff view him, it seems to be they believe he can be plugged in almost anywhere within this system.

 

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The Incoming Improvements for Tyler Herro in his 4th Year

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Tyler Herro has been the center of attention so far this off-season when it comes to Miami Heat talk. From trade rumors of Kevin Durant to Donovan Mitchell, his names been thrown around a ton.

Some of that is viable when it comes to the search of upgrading a team that was so close to the finish line, but that doesn’t mean the narrative of Herro on the court needs to change.

We can take both the positive and negative into account when discussing gradual improvements: the positive being his 6th man of the year regular season and the negative being his playoff decline.

It’s always crucial for a player to focus on the necessary areas of their game to maximize. But the public opinion as of late seems to vocalize what he isn’t instead of what he is.

So let’s start by addressing what he is as currently constructed.

The place to start is that he’s coming off a highly efficient three point shooting season off the catch. He shot 42% on spot-up triples, which is a great counterpart for a player who is mainly an on-ball usage guy.

Maintaining that number would be important as his shot creation expands, but it should also be noted that his spot-up attempts could increase as well. With Victor Oladipo replacing PJ Tucker in the regular season rotation in theory, that provides more usage to spread around, and more importantly, more rim pressure.

Capitalizing on those off-ball opportunities could lead to that jump in PPG.

The other main aspect of his game that has shown to be elite this past year is the pull up shooting. That’s essentially always been his bread and butter, but he took a major step this year in how he got to those pull-up spots.

The coverage formula is simple: if he sees drop, he sees a bucket at the elbow. But he expanded on that a bit in the regular season.

He gained comfort against switches, while simultaneously upping his willingness to actually accept the screen.

For a long period of time, he would refuse any screen that came his way, but well, he walked away from the off-season with that added gadget.

And now the gadget of this off-season doesn’t involve refusing or accepting the screen in the pick and roll. It’s about doing without that screener all together.

The beginning stages of that development began taking place during this season. It’s not always about a pure iso, but drawing out the big man following a screen and making them pay.

Herro’s go-to in that occurrence is to space as far as possible, and flow into a pull-up right over the top of the bigger defender.

His high release point allows him to continually get a clean look out of it. Looking at the clips above, it’s not that he’s getting open looks through this movement. But he’s getting a comfortable look since he believes in that abrupt pull-up.

The reason I bring this up is that introduction layer is what stalled him out at times in the post-season.

Every time a screen came, two defenders came. They began blitzing him over and over until he made them alter the scheme. The issue was the only counter to it was not calling for the screen in the first place.

So, is there total trust in him as an isolation player?

Well, we will see the answer to that at some point this year, but it’s not going to be a needed element for long periods of time. It’s just as a counter in his back pocket.

Getting back to his formula against big men on the switch, that will be his isolation staple as well. The talks about separation were a big conversation early in his career, but simply rising over the top became his way of getting by that.

There are three things that can take his game to the next level when exiting this off-season, and this is step 1. It’s all about finding that segue from regular season to playoffs, and he’ll benefit with this addition in both time stamps.

 

When speaking about finding a consistent base from regular season to playoffs, the ability to get to the rim is a good start. Rim attacks naturally decline for guys when entering the post-season, due to everything being much more in the half-court and teams can scheme against it.

Herro found himself in a groove in the regular season as an attacker, since his floater became a sticking point in the in-between game. He was averaging just under 12 drives per game, while generating around 6 attempts a night off those attacks.

Yet when the playoffs hit, both numbers basically sliced in half: he averaged 3.6 attempts a night on 6.8 drives.

We always have the discussion about embracing contact around the rim as that strong attacker, which coincides with added trips to the free throw line, but I’m just not sure that’s the sustainable force.

What I mean by that is it’s all about finding things that create positive outcomes in both the regular season and playoffs. And when looking at the clips above, that’s the middle ground that seems to pop.

He’s never going to fly through the lane like Ja Morant to get the foul call, yet he’s methodical enough to take those slow-footed floaters. The combination there is bump-lean-float.

That formula is why he’s so comfortable on the baseline. That out of bounds line shows there’s nobody going to come back-side, meaning he can bump and lean freely.

He seems to have gained some extra muscle as well, which helps this case even more, but there’s no doubt this subtle, and somewhat minor, movement can take his game to the next level no matter the time of year.

Breaking that specific barrier inside the lane not only gives him more options, but it can free up that mid-range pull-up base that he loves to get back to so often. If he can mirror those contact embraced baseline drives into his regular pick and roll reps, that’ll create the necessary diversity to maximize all three levels.

Now, the final improvement area isn’t as ball-centric as you may think.

To zoom out for a second into a Heat sense, I’ve mentioned a few times recently that I believe Erik Spoelstra leans heavily into their movement offense this year.

They already run a ton of motion, but with all of the guards on the roster, it should be beneficial to make defenses run and chase in the half-court at a higher rate.

What that means for Tyler Herro could be very intriguing. One of the downfalls to the playoff lineup of Jimmy Butler-Victor Oladipo-Tyler Herro was that movement was the primary factor to it working properly. If Butler was in isolation with Dipo and Herro standing around, the play was dead.

Simply, that can’t be the case this year.

I’d say that Herro is pretty good off the move, and also a very underrated screener off the ball, but it’s more about consistency and role within the offense. I wouldn’t exactly say this is something you can fully work on in the off-season, but it’s something to prepare for.

The clip above is a perfect example: a defense preparing for his next move as he looks to be shooting into a DHO, he fakes it, cuts back door, and gets an open lay-in out of it. Easy buckets were popping up often when he ran this type of stuff, but many of us forgot about that.

Why is that?

Well, we didn’t see much of this in the playoffs. Once again, part of that is defenses buckling up in a different manner, but there will still be opportunties to pounce on this upcoming year with more shooting on the floor.

The perception of Herro during the off-season always gets a bit wanky, but my perception of him as the basketball player never wavered. Yes, he’s a good enough headliner piece to get you in the conversation of a Donovan Mitchell type, but that doesn’t mean you only focus on the playoff decline now that he’s staying on the roster.

He has some things to patch up as I noted in this piece, but the only reason we focus on so many of the minor elements is due to the fact he already has so much to offer.

He grew as a creator. He grew as a play-maker. He grew as an all-around scorer. Now it’s time to grow as a player with a substancial amount of on-court attention coming his way.

I believe he will have the neccessary counters ready, and I also believe in what he is at this stage. Don’t let off-season rumors fog your view of a high level basketball player.

 

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Caleb Martin’s Simple Game Blending into a Simplified Role

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When Caleb Martin spoke after the season in his exit interview, he seemed to have two statements that stood out among the rest. The first was that he wanted to be back in Miami, which ended up coming true after he signed a multi-year contract to return to the Heat.

The second comment that stood out regarded his role. When I asked him about certain tweaks in his game moving forward, he brought up the role of guys like PJ Tucker and Draymond Green. Two guys who are guarded by bigger guys and size up, yet focus on being a “tweener” who can screen, roll, and play-make.

With him saying that on May 31st prior to the start of the off-season, Caleb Martin now finds himself in that exact position. After Tucker signed with Philly and the Heat yet to replace that starting 4 position, it’s created many conversations in this space on what’s next for Miami positionally.

Could Martin be that 4? Will Jimmy Butler bump up a position slot? Could they go big?

Those are all debatable questions that will alter depending on who is answering, but that’s not what I’m focusing on right now.

When you hear the name Martin at this time of year, many Heat fans minds immediately shoot to the hole at the 4. But how about we discuss the valued role he’s going to play instead of the starter vs bench conversation?

From the team’s perspective last year, they wanted him to focus on being Jimmy-lite in a way. He was the back-up 3, yet if Butler was out on a specific night, they handed him a bigger chunk of the load offensively to see how he would handle it.

But now that the guard room got deeper and the big man room shrunk, it leads us back to those comments I provided earlier. Instead of eyeing the Butler’s of the world, he’s going to be eyeing the role that Tucker just played this past year. Once again, that’ll be the case whether he’s a high level reserve or the starting four.

The point to make on that topic is they won’t provide a ceiling to that role. The current goal is to utilize full-on expansion heading into camp, starting with the spots they place him as a creator off the roll.

One of the things that made Tucker so great in his offensive load last year was he found his niche. Hand-off, roll, floater. After not being the greatest finisher for some time, that two foot plant and one hand push shot became a staple to keep defenses honest inside the lane.

The reason I bring this up is while Martin’s reading this blueprint, he won’t be copy and pasting by any means.

Martin’s athleticism and quick first step shouldn’t be taken lightly. He’s not the slow paced floater type of guy that a Tucker or Draymond Green might be.

Instead, as shown in the clip above, he can mix in some blow-bys against slower defenders to get to those cross-body shots that he loves to use around the basket.

But still, that type of scoring stuff isn’t the “expansion” I’m discussing. It’s actually a totally different dimension.

The Heat are going to be leaning into an even heavier motion offense this season in my personal opinion, meaning a Martin type fits that mold perfectly. While Martin is usually the open guy on the floor to make defenses pay after mishaps, he’s going to be more of the disruptor himself this season.

How is that? Well, his play-making off the roll will be watched very closely.

Like I said, Tucker was a lot of things for that Heat team last year, but I will say this wasn’t one of them. A guy with a bit more length and athletisism to keep both the ball and the defense moving will tie the bow on a lot of Miami’s movement sets.

Since they’re going to lack pure size on the roster, they will have to lean heavily into speed, and this is exactly how it’s done. You may be thinking that’s a lot on Martin’s plate to improve on as a play-maker, but they layed out the role for him a few months back. I believe he can add that dimension from what we’ve seen so far.

On the flip side of what he can add, let’s also just address what he is at this current moment. To say it simply, he’s a baseline roamer. A true corner threat who likes to operate sideline to sideline so he can maximize spacing for certain guards on the roster.

He’s a player that plays in his role and doesn’t stray off, which Miami loves.

If you want a stat that proves that statement to its core, I’ve got just that: according to NBA.com, Caleb Martin took 155 triples this past season, and 148 of them were open.

They classify “open” as the closest defender being 4 feet or beyond from him, but it still makes sense when thinking back on it. He’s the guy you’re going to help off of, but it should also be said that he made them pay for that pretty often.

Martin shot 41% from beyond the arc this past season, and even shot 43% on three-point pull-ups. He just takes what he is given, and potentially in a lineup with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Kyle Lowry to start the year, that’s a pretty good description to have.

Looking at the clips above, it should also be noted that he’s a very solid off-ball mover at this point in time. With his defender usually being the drifter, he has many opportunities for easy buckets after they fall asleep on the back-side.

Yet again, that’s another thing to be expanded upon in their movement sets.

After diving into what Martin is now and the realistic version of what he can become, let’s utilize this last part to address best case scenario. As I said before, he’s a role player who doesn’t stray out of that exact role. But what if they allow him to at times?

When you have pure athletes on the roster, the goal is to place them in spots to set up that inital burst. One of those places is transition, which they’ve totally allowed him to be free with. But the next step will be if he can do it in tighter spaces of the half-court.

As seen in the clip above, we’ve seen slight glimpses of flashy moves and speedy drives to the basket from either wing, but could there be consistency coming with it?

There’s been consistency with the finishing product of those moves actually, since he’s been super solid around the rim in general. Martin shot a little over 60% less than 10 feet from the basket this past year, which was actually on decent volume.

Yes most of those attempts aren’t the type of drives I just showed in that clip, but that’s something that could make him much more dangerous.

He’s already “dangerous” on one side of the floor, in a way that makes me think I don’t need to bring it up. He screams versatility with the way he can provide pressure baseline to baseline, showed to be one of their better on-ball defenders this season, and now will have that all put to the test over more minutes this upcoming year.

The only true question mark on that side of the floor for him will be about sizing up. Miami’s going to switch everything anyway, but Martin won’t be able to handle a switch onto a 5 just as Tucker did for this group. Adjustments will be made on that front from a team perspective, but the point is they have a lot of confidence in him in many areas.

Caleb Martin has a very simple game. But now they’re handing him a pretty simple role. “Versatility is huge in the playoffs,” Martin said when I asked him about his role after the season. And well, this would be a way for him to branch into that come playoff time.

 

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Best Centers in the WNBA Right Now

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The WNBA is filled with great players and big stars right now, but who are the best centers who have been tearing up the league this season? 

The following are powerful, skillful centers with all the attributes to dominate their rivals on the court. 

Jonquel Jones – The Connecticut Sun

The versatility that Jonquel Jones possesses means that she can slot in easily as a forward or center and makes her a potential favorite in the WNBA odds 2022 for MVP. 

She was born in the Bahamas and moved to the US at the age of 14, but represents Bosnia and Herzegovina at the international level. Jones has been in the WNBA since joining the Connecticut Sun following the 2016 draft.

She started as their backup center before claiming the starting spot in her second season, with a performance against Chicago Sky where she got 23 points and 21 rebounds marking her breakthrough as a genuine star of the women’s basketball scene.     

Her stats with the Sun have been getting increasingly impressive and she’s the current MVP in the league. Marketing opportunities have been slowly arriving for her, so you might see more of her soon, but her relatively low profile confirms the work that’s still needed to promote the WNBA. 

Tina Charles – The Seattle Storm

One of the big basketball stories of this summer was Tina Charles making an unexpected move from the Phoenix Mercury to the Seattle Storm. As the leading scorer in the WNBA in 2021, this was a huge move that should increase the chances of Seattle winning the Playoffs, although they’re currently not regarded as one of the favorites but could surprise a few people. 

Before that, she was a national champion in her college years with the UConn Huskies and has helped Team USA to collect three Olympic gold medals over the years as well. Her time in the pro league began back in 2010 when the Connecticut Sun picked her in the 2010 draft as the number one overall pick.

She quickly made an impact in the pro league, becoming the Rookie of the Year in 2010 as she set league records for rebounds and double-doubles. Charles has set a number of WNBA records since then and joined the New York Liberty and then the Washington Mystics before a short spell at Phoenix, where she seems to have been disappointed with the lack of success achieved by the team.

Candace Parker – The Chicago Sky

Parker recently joined Tamika Catchings in fourth place in the all-time rebounding list, with a totals of 3,316. This has been achieved during a long pro career where her versatility has seen her play as center and also as a forward. She was the first pick in the 2008 draft, joining the Los Angeles Sparks following her college career at the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers, where she was listed for the forward, center, and guard positions.  

During her college career, Parker made the headlines as the first female player to dunk during an NCAA tournament, and she also became the first player to do it twice in the same college game. Following that, she was the second player to dunk during a WNBA game. She led the Sparks to the Finals title in 2016 and then did the same in 2021 with the Chicago Sky.

Among her achievements, Candice Parker has twice been named as the most valuable player in the WNBA and has a couple of Olympic gold medals in her collection. Her move to Chicago as a free agent after 13 years in Los Angeles raised some eyebrows in the game, but it let her move closer to where she grew up and seemed to have given her a new edge to her game at the same time.

Teaira McCowan – The Dallas Wings

Following a highly successful college career with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Teaira McCowan joined the Indian Fever as the third overall pick in the 2019 WNBA draft. Her first season saw her post excellent figures that put her in second place in the league in terms of rebounding and earned her a spot on the All-Rookie Team.

Like many of the top WNBA players, McCowan has also played overseas, with Galatasaray of the Women’s Basketball Super League in Turkey. With Dallas, she’s recently made her way into the starting line-up and has climbed to second in the league for rebounding and free throw attempts since them. 

Her recent efforts have helped push the Wings towards the Playoffs, and they look to be in a strong position to have a chance of winning the Finals this year. A look at the WNBA Finals odds shows that Dallas is among the outsiders, behind favorites like the Chicago Sky and the Las Vegas Aces. However, the wings will be hoping that McCowan can guide them to an unlikely victory.

Max Strus: Preparing for the Overplay

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When looking for some breakout seasons in the NBA last year, the Miami Heat would be a good starting point.

Somebody like Caleb Martin, who signed on a two-way contract, earned himself a pay-day as the Heat retained him this off-season.

A guy like Gabe Vincent who has had his ups and downs, finally found himself as a high level role player in this league. After Kyle Lowry went down for extended periods in the post-season, he stepped into that starting spot, and ended up being one of few Heat players whose numbers didn’t decline.

Then there’s Max Strus.

Somebody that mid-way through the season was viewed as a fringe rotation player. Can definitely provide shooting with the best of them, but where would they find playing time for him?

Spoiler alert: they found a spot for him. A starting spot at that.

Not only did he take advantage, but he excelled through and through. Somewhat saving a declining Heat starting lineup late in the regular season.

Fast forward to present time, things are viewed much differently around the league when it comes to Strus.

In a matter of months, he became the name nobody could pronounce correctly to one of the league’s most efficient volume three point shooters.

Last season, he attempted 6.5 threes a game and knocked down 41% of them. That only trailed Desmond Bane in efficiency with a minimum of 6 and a half triples attempted.

And to that point, he’s a known figure now.

Heat fans are familiar with this storyline slightly when it comes to Duncan Robinson. Specialist that nobody knows begins hitting the scouting reports.

It’s just the name of the game.

After Robinson struggled a bit this past season, it was clear there were a mixture of issues: a lack of confidence after some rough patches and teams simply overplaying him as a deep threat.

So that gets you thinking, during a point in the off-season where every evaluation must be in the minor crevices of player’s games: how is Strus going to deal with the similar overplay?

Well, let’s start by unpacking the dribble hand-off a bit…

 

 

Robinson perfected the hand-off on this Heat team, basically until defenses decided to completely turn the water off on him. Teams won’t directly approach that the same with Strus, simply due to the fact the DHO isn’t his homebase.

He has been more of a slip screen, spot-up, shoot in the face of his defender kind of shooter. Yet it should also be stated: Robinson and Strus approach the DHO much differently.

As many of you know, Robinson’s focus was to always stay glued to his screener after the catch. Stay locked shoulder to shoulder to eliminate the defender from slipping over the top easily, but that simultaneously means there’s less ground to cover.

Strus does the exact opposite.

He expands from the screener with an escape dribble, pretty much forcing his defender to pick up more speed. Why would you want that? Well, speeding up a defender means you’re taking away their control. Now you can make your next move as a counter.

By the way, both are good options. It just comes down to the comfort of the player.

Looking at the clip above, I show this because it looks like Strus’ training reps. When he works on his hand-offs, he stays loose and takes up major space with one or two lead dribbles, since that’s his primary comfort area.

You may be thinking, why does any of this matter? The answer is that minor tweak in his hand-off dissection will be the way he deals with defensive overplays in the natural flow of the offense.

Just take a look at this shooting pattern…

Other than the extra ball-handling reps in Summer League a year ago, Strus hasn’t been asked to do much with the ball in his hands. He attempted 6.5 triples a game last season, while 5.4 of those attempts he didn’t even put the ball on the deck before shooting.

Clearly that is no surprise, but it shows that he’s been planted strictly within his own role. And more importantly, he utilizes things that get him into his shooting rhythm.

But the catch high, keep high method hasn’t been the only thing to get him into a fluid shooting motion. While on a small sample size, he shot 41% from three following a single dribble, which included 44 shot attempts.

Much like his way of exploding from the screen on a DHO, this will be his way to create separation on over-plays. And trust me, there will be plenty of those over-plays next season.

Going back to some of the clips above, it’s a comfort process that is only growing this off-season: shot-fake, one-dribble side-step, and pull.

It’s pretty simple when breaking it down in these terms, but these are the things that will break him free as he rides the outside arc. Plus there’s the added factor that he is not fazed by heavily contested shots.

At all.

Hand in his face, two defenders blitzing. It doesn’t matter. He will shoot it the same way, with the same flick and the same lift. I’m very confident that teams won’t be able to eliminate him if it becomes a focus, but like I just pointed out, he’s going to have counters in the vault waiting.

The final counter may be the one that sees the biggest increase this season. While the roster doesn’t have a true 4, it’s obvious they do have an excess of guards. The way they will utilize them is to elevate the movement offense with extra mis-directions and motion with Bam Adebayo at the helm.

Meaning the higher the frequency in Strus mixing in these back-door counters, the better. Play-makers will be surrounding him in most of these lineups, so they’ll find him more times than not.

Lineup data is never a good starting point, but it’s always a good checkpoint to back-up a specific topic. When looking through some of the Heat’s best offensive duos this past regular season, there was a not-so undercover trend. (Minimum 400 minutes logged)

The top one was Max Strus and Bam Adebayo.

We’ve seen Bam dominate with prolific shooters around him before, so maybe this is just coincidental…

Number two was Max Strus and Jimmy Butler.

Well we know they have a great relationship off the floor, but it seems Strus was a good sidekick on the floor as well. Ah, maybe it’s just another coincidence.

Moving onto number three, we have Max Strus and Tyler Herro.

Hmmm. I know we’re strictly talking offense and Strus has told me in the past his focus on the floor with Herro is just to get him as many shots as possible, but it has to end there, right?

Wrong.

Number four ended up being Max Strus and Kyle Lowry.

All jokes aside, I know it’s just lineup data being revolved around the calculated offensive ratings with them on the floor, but I wouldn’t say this is way-off analysis. When going back through game logs, it was no secret things were clicking when Strus was waiting to take advantage of a defensive mistake.

But to tie this all back together, that most likely won’t be occurring as often next year. Defenses won’t adjust off of him, he will have to force the adjustment. We can go down the slippery slope of starting lineup hypotheticals, but stuff like this will be more crucial to keep an eye on.

Every shooter sees the overplaying defense after the breakout, but it’s just how you respond. Yet after laying it out there before, I’m confident he has the necessary counters to not only level out to last year’s version, but improve even more.

 

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Biggest Benefits of Playing Basketball for Students

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We often hear things like: “playing basketball will help you grow taller” or “sports will make you stronger and faster”. This is not inaccurate. It is not a myth or a misconception. There are tons of studies that show how beneficial basketball can be for those that practice it. But, it expands beyond growing taller or becoming stronger. 

There are tons of benefits from playing basketball, and this sport has the biggest perks for the younger generations. If you want to learn how basketball can improve the college student’s life, keep reading. 

  • Playing Basketball Helps You Get Higher Grades

Many argue that playing sports in college takes away the focus from the studying or leaves very little time for students to focus on their academic tasks. Well, this is not accurate. There is tons of research that point out to the positive effects on the academic performance in athletes. 

Sports help students beat the stress, which is the main reason why they lose motivation and focus. They also help them build time management and teamwork skills, which are essential for deadlines, as well as school projects. 

Yes, juggling academic tasks, practice and matches all at the same time is challenging. However, this is no reason to believe that students cannot do both. When they rid themselves from the stress thanks to basketball, they will spend less time writing their papers and be more motivated to study. On top of that, as a student, you can today easily find depression essays for your paper and get inspired by quality content from companies like EduBirdie. Essay samples can help you write your papers faster and better, and let’s not forget that you can even order when you don’t have the time to write them yourself!

  • Sports Encourage Socialization

School sports such as basketball are great for socialization. They create a feeling of belonging and boost the self-esteem in the players. For a student, socialization is very important and playing sports is one of the best forms of it. In a team, teammates develop lifelong bonds, and they also find it easier to socialize with fans of the game. 

Source

  • Basketball Has Tremendous Health Benefits for the Player

The health benefits of basketball as a sport are numerous. Start with strength and stamina – playing this sport often will boost the student’s agility, strength, and help them move faster. It also builds up the muscular endurance and builds upper and lower body strength. 

In addition to this, playing a team sport like this one has a positive effect on the strength of bones. A 2018 research shows that people who played sports like basketball and handball have more bone mineral density than people with a more sedentary lifestyle. 

Since the game of basketball requires a lot of focus and great coordination, it’s also an amazing balance booster. As students play, they need to move their body fast and react in the form of changing directions, pivot, run and jump. They also develop defensive moves, all of which offers them the opportunity to develop their motor skills.

Last but not least, basketball boosts the health of the heart. According to research data, it increases the resting heart rates and promotes the cardiorespiratory fitness health.  All this creates a much lower chance of developing cardiovascular diseases in the future. 

  • It Develops Self-Discipline and Concentration

In the game of basketball, everything happens in a set timeframe. This is a game of seconds where one choice can make all the difference for the score. The course of basketball can change rapidly so players, especially student athletes, need to work hard to develop their concentration while on the field. 

In addition to this, basketball helps students build up their self-discipline, both on the court and off it. They must follow the rules of the game, conduct sportsmanlike, and practice professionally. Even when they aren’t playing, they need to engage in workouts, maintain a healthy diet, etc. 

Source

Final Thoughts

We all know that playing sports is good for our health, but did you know that there are so many benefits of it for students? This will not only help you look good in front of the peers, create lifelong friends from your team, or make you look physically fit – it will also strengthen your health and boost important life skills such as concentration, critical thinking, and decision-making. All in all, it’s a great sport to practice. 

 

Author’s Bio

Matthew Torain is a sports blogger and writer for a popular content creation service. As a former basketball player in his college’s league, Matthew often shares his knowledge and tricks with young players. In his articles, you can often read about his experiences, as well as learn interesting facts about sports. 

The Ways to Maximize the Butler-Oladipo-Herro Pairing

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When talking about the Heat potentially running it back to begin the season minus PJ Tucker, you could also make the case they’re running back the regular season by swapping Victor Oladipo for Tucker.

He was a guy that played a couple games late in the year, but was thrown in the mix during the playoffs to try and make it work on the fly.

But now that Miami re-signed him, this no longer consists of trial and error.

This is the real thing.

Yet when talking about him specifically, it’s more about how things will fit around him with certain lineup combinations. One of those awkward combos gained a ton of steam in their post-season run, but like I said earlier, they were basically trying things out to see how they’d look.

The combo that was gone to religiously was the Oladipo-Jimmy Butler-Tyler Herro grouping. They turned the keys over to a bunch of creators, basically knowing that the defending role players would hold up on the other end.

Looking at raw numbers within the advanced statistics, that three-man combo wasn’t the greatest. It logged a 107 offensive rating and 111 defensive rating over 97 minutes. But the issue with that is numbers like that don’t tell the full story.

Tyler Herro’s advanced stats were very poor late in their playoff run, bringing down a ton of lineup data. But something that always tells the truth: film.

I ended up rewatching all 97 minutes of the time they shared the floor, mainly focusing on the offensive end. And to scope even further, the half-court stuff. We know how and where all of them operate individually, but where do they blend all together?

There were some mixed variations, but I’m going to highlight the primary stuff that jumped off the screen. Starting somewhere that many of you can guess without even watching the film: spot-up shooting.

Just when using simple math, combining three on-ball creators means one has the ball in a pick and roll set, while the other two space out on each corner or wing. That, at times, became an unnecessary homebase for this Heat group, since there was zero consistency within that process.

Drive and kick, drive and kick, drive and kick. Yes, Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo can knock down a spot-up corner triple, but it’s most definitely not the role you want them in.

Other than the fact that they’re better after putting the ball on the deck, the purpose of utilizing three creators is to ‘utilize them as three creators.’ The second they enter the three-point spacer role, the original purpose of this lineup has lost it’s value.

Now, this isn’t to say they won’t take advantage of the spot-up triple, but the process is the key element here.

With these three offensive builds, swing-swing-shot just won’t cut it.

Yet, swing-attack-paint touch-kick will cut it…

A common thread in their minutes together was that things always looked great when one of them got two feet in the painted area. When one of the three trusted mid-range threats build some momentum, the defense collapses slightly, which is basically the plot of how this can work.

Constantly move. I’ll get into that a bit more in a second, but when you look at some of the clips above, you’ll notice a difference in defensive disposition compared to normal spot-up shots.

They really found their groove in this department in the Philadelphia series. The Hawks series was a quick experiment late in the round, leading them into finding something offensively in the 76ers series, leading into facing a Boston defense who shut the water off around the rim if your name wasn’t Jimmy Butler.

But when talking regular season for the time being, that 76ers series is the blueprint.

We can talk about the starter competition all we want, but the truth is that doesn’t hold as much value as this does. Finding a way for this grouping to work changes everything. Lineup versatility, death lineup status, lengthier lineups on a team full of guards, etc.

But as we get into how they can make it work exactly, I must go back to the comment I made a second ago. When they share the floor, the key is to take the “motion offense” label and absolutely run with it.

Before I even say a word, watch the two clips above.

I can guarantee most of us are aligned on what we saw. Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo impersonating statues.

Whenever it included Jimmy Butler isolations or pick and rolls, even considering how great he was at carrying this group, it was never a good sign for the offense in a specific run.

Herro is a rhythm player. Oladipo is a rhythm player. This type of standing around only leads to them being behind the 8-ball, and as I said earlier, you must bend the defense to be successful.

I hate comparing things like this to the Warriors, but they’re a great example. They have two of the greatest shooters ever to make it work, but the idea of constant movement to create opportunities off the dribble, not only from beyond the arc but at the rim, is how Miami can replicate things with this grouping.

When going back through this film, this created a ton of big time offensive runs in the playoffs, mostly at home. They started playing to the crowd, got out on the break, and were moving in the half-court.

But the next question becomes: how do they make this movement stuff work?

And well, this was my biggest takeaway after watching possession after possession of these three guys.

The answer isn’t even one of the three.

If we expand this into a 4 man lineup with Bam Adebayo, the offensive rating shot up to a 121 offensive rating over 53 minutes. Yet after watching the way they utilized Bam in these time slots, that number didn’t surprise me at all.

For starters, they played Bam much higher out in these lineups than they usually would. There are a couple reasons for that, but I’ll just give you two: 1) Taking that weak-side big away from the rim with 3 attackers on the floor is the way to go and 2) they basically said ‘hey Bam, play some quarterback for us.’

If you watch that 45 second video above, it’ll give you an idea of that in video form.

Miami completely played Bam above the break, and used guys like Herro and Oladipo as rim blitzers off the wing. It’s simply a way to beat the overplay, but it’s also a main priority of creating some offensive movement in the half-court while bending the defense.

Sometimes you’ll see a simple overhead pass over the top to an open cutter. Other times it’s a weak-side misdirection where two fly at Herro.

The point is that Bam Adebayo could be the clear connector to make this pairing work, specifically late in games. We’ve talked about letting Bam operate in more space. We’ve talked about giving him more of the offensive reigns.

This could end up being a way to blend all of that together.

Trust me: if I learned anything from those 97 minutes across 10 games of basketball, it was that they found certain pockets to make it work with Bam playing distributor. The next step will be combining all of these checkpoints into a strong offensive base.

The groundwork is there. Now it’s all about consistency.

I’m heavily focusing on select players in this piece, but that doesn’t mean I forgot about them working guys like Kyle Lowry, Gabe Vincent, or Caleb Martin into this mix.

This is a season where they’re going to use more three-guard lineups whether you like it or not, and Jimmy Butler at the 4 could most likely be the closing go-to, while I don’t believe it’ll be the starting choice.

Yet since Lowry was out for so many games over this stretch, I didn’t get a good enough idea of the specifics of that lineup. But another lineup addition jumped off the screen to bump this 4 man group into a full 5 man lineup.

Max Strus.

While it may seem odd, adding a shooter to this mix with constant screening, sprinting, and gravity shifted their half-court diet. Not only am I noticing this now, but the coaching staff clearly picked that apart with the amount of times they levitated toward that insertion when it truly mattered.

In 29 minutes, the lineup of Herro-Oladipo-Strus-Butler-Adebayo recorded a 132 offensive rating and 95 defensive rating. Yes, a VERY small sample size, but that wasn’t a coincidental occurrence. They found a blend to make things look clean, and if you look at the two clips above, you’ll notice the floor open up much wider when he’s moving around.

I know there are a lot of layers to this, but there will be a lot of layers to this season. And one of those layers is that if they run it back, making the Herro-Oladipo-Butler operate at a high level will be key.

You won’t get 2022 playoff Butler in this upcoming regular season. So now it’s time to equally split up the load. Or better yet, a Herro emergence or Oladipo comeback dominance may push this in the right direction even quicker.

Either way, it’s going to be unleashed.

 

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How Bam Adebayo Can Be Unleashed in a Different Dimension

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The ball grazes off the rim and into the big man’s hands. From an early age, the center is taught to come down and immediately search for his point guard to flow into transition or set-up the team in the half-court.

Yet when you evolve into a 6’9 big with guard skills, like Bam Adebayo, it becomes time to shift the narrative a bit.

We often discuss the things on the surface for Bam, who is heading into his sixth season. The spots on the floor to operate in the half-court, a potential growth in post-up play, possible expansion to the three-point line, or the famous one, the individual aggression jolt.

But as Bam Adebayo was playing in the Miami Pro League last night with guys like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, one specific play got me thinking about something that I harped on a ton during the regular season last year.

Just take a look:

Strips the ball, bolts into transition, and eventually soars up for the dunk down the middle of the lane.

It’s always a conversation to find Bam in spots to be a successful scorer for himself, but could a minor part of that just be over-utilizing himself after he gets the board? Or better yet, when somebody else gets the board and he leaks out?

A common phrase I’ve used throughout the season was that he’s much faster than any opposing 5 matched up with him. They simply just can’t keep up with him, and more importantly, that mental edge does wonders for Bam in the midst of things.

The reason I say that is because Bam Adebayo is a rhythm player. We often think of deep range shooters like Max Strus or Duncan Robinson as rhythm players once they see one drop, but Bam is by far the biggest link to that on the team.

Once he gets going early in games, he’s hard to stop. Just go back and re-watch game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals from a few months ago, where he led Miami to a win in Boston because of that early searching.

Plus, that led to his aggression on the break…

Wait a second, that looks pretty similar to the clip I showed from the Miami Pro League.

It’s not a coincidence though. It’s just his offensive formula.

We actually saw a bit of a transition surge from him in the regular season, since he scored 1.20 points per possession on 15.9% frequency.

For some context, the season before he scored 1.14 PPP on 11.8% frequency. That jump in volume should be credited to Kyle Lowry in many ways, since he was the igniter to get Bam moving in those spots, just as he would race to the baseline for a quick inbound every single play.

The Miami Heat as a team were bottom 10 in fast-break frequency, but I truly believe it’s more important for the team to have a highly efficient Bam in transition than the team as a whole.

Now when focusing in on the skill element of this, it’s pretty clear that an improved handle heading into this year would be very helpful for this type of thing.

We know he can move faster than others, and finish at a decently high level when barreling down the floor, but the worry would be that it could translate into a turnover problem. If that’s not the case and he could keep the ball on a string, they really have something.

When looking at some of the clips above, there’s no doubt he’s most comfortable when getting to that right hand. He’s pretty athletic around the rim, which may get lost in the mix when discussing Bam, meaning he has a variety of takeoff spots inside the lane on the move.

Looking at the Toronto Raptors last season, this exact process was picked up by Nick Nurse. The roster was full of athletic bigs who could put the ball on the deck, which led to them developing a bit of a grab and go system for anybody on the floor.

That’ll never be Miami’s offensive system, even if Lowry checks into that at times on the fly, but I believe it could be Bam’s system in a way. The entire goal for him as a player is to find angles to allow him to play freely. They’ve found openings as a roller at times, but the hand-off and post-ups sometimes led to a tensed up version of himself.

Playing in the open floor, though, is the way to get him loose as a scorer.

To add on, it doesn’t have to be narrowed down to baseline to baseline stuff. Looking at the clip above, possessions like this could be even better, right as the ball crosses half-court.

Even if he doesn’t fully become that above the break shooter, he can still be used above the break in motion. It’s all about finding ways to get him downhill, and the natural pressure of an unsettled defense may be the way to go.

Twenty seconds on the shot clock, Lowry swings it to Bam who finds himself on the right wing. Montrezl Harrell doesn’t have time to place himself into that deep drop, leading into a blow-by for Bam for the easy lay-in.

With Miami possibly entering the season with an all-in bet on internal development for the time being, Bam Adebayo will be the guy to watch. If he can elevate high enough, it’ll make all the difference.

Finding ways to turn him up a notch, and this could potentially be the kick-start to that.

 

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