The Miami Heat posted an 8-3 record in its first 11 games last season. This season? The Heat is off to a concerning 4-7 start.
“I feel like we’re letting not only teammates and staff down, but we’re letting this organization down and the fans down,” center Bam Adebayo said after the Heat’s 20-point home loss to the struggling Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. “We’re built on the culture. The culture is taking a bunch of guys who are counted out, overlooked and you figure it out. Right now, we’re not doing that.”
This certainly wasn’t the start the Heat envisioned when it brought back 13 players from last season’s roster that finished two wins short of an NBA championship in the bubble three months ago, and not just because of the disappointing record.
Heat All-Star wing Jimmy Butler has played in only six of the first 11 games after a sprained right ankle kept him out of two games and the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols have forced him to miss the past three games.
The Heat also played two of its first 11 games with the NBA minimum of eight available players because of COVID-19 issues, and it lost both games.
Miami will be without key players again Monday against the Pistons, with Butler (protocols), Avery Bradley (protocols) and Meyers Leonard (left shoulder strain) ruled out for the contest. Tyler Herro (neck spasms) is questionable and Gabe Vincent (knee) is probable.
Under those circumstances, the Heat has already used eight different starting lineups (third-most in the NBA) and started 12 different players (most in the NBA) this season. Goran Dragic, Kendrick Nunn, Max Strus, Chris Silva and Udonis Haslem are the only Heat players who have not started in the first 11 games.
“We don’t have to get caught up in all of the drama or narratives,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Sunday’s practice in preparation for Monday’s game against the Pistons (3 p.m., Fox Sports Sun). “It was actually just a very good day of work. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re better [Monday].
“You can be as frustrated, disappointed or angry about how the games have gone, but it’s your approach to find solutions the next day that matters. Our guys have been committed to this process of getting better.”
Miami entered Sunday with the league’s seventh-worst net rating (minus-4.3), which is made up of the 23rd-ranked offensive rating (scoring 106.7 points per 100 possessions) and 20th-ranked defensive rating (allowing 111 points per 100 possessions). The Heat, Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves are the only three teams in the NBA with both an offensive rating and defensive rating that ranks 20th or worse at this point in the season.
There are various issues the Heat has to address to return to where it finished last regular season, when it entered the playoffs with the league’s seventh-best offensive rating (111.9 points per 100 possessions), 12th-best defensive rating (109.3 points per 100 possessions) and seventh-best net rating (plus-2.7).
One of the biggest problems the Heat is facing to begin this season? Turnovers.
Miami entered Sunday averaging the second-most turnovers in the NBA at 18.3 per game, and also with the league’s highest turnover rate (percentage of plays that end with a team turnover) at 17.7 percent.
For perspective, the last team to finish the regular season with a turnover rate of 17 percent or higher was the Phoenix Suns (23-59) in 2015-16.
“These turnovers really just have been crippling,” Spoelstra said. “There are things that we can definitely do better defensively. But it’s tough to really get a read on how the game is going when you’re just gifting the other team some easy baskets.”
The past two games (both Heat losses) have been particularly bad, with opponents scoring a total of 64 points on 43 Heat turnovers during that span. Miami committed a season-high 23 turnovers in Saturday’s loss, with Detroit scoring 27 points on those mistakes.
With high-turnover performances resulting in too many empty offensive possessions, the Heat entered Sunday averaging a league-low 82.2 shot attempts per game. The Pistons finished Saturday’s game with a 91-67 advantage in shot attempts, which helped tilt the math in Detroit’s favor because more shots means more opportunities for points.
The Heat is 1-5 this season when committing 18 or more turnovers in a game.
“The pick sixes, we have to be leading the league in that right now,” Spoelstra said. “We just have to get better with it. We have to conquer it. We know what it is. It’s not something that you just brush under the rug at this point. This is something that has really been debilitating for our overall game, the inability to take care of the ball and get shots on goal.”
Spoelstra noted that he can help the team by simplifying the offense a little, with proper spacing an important factor that needs to be improved.
But the Heat is not using injuries or COVID-19 issues — and the inconsistent lineups that have followed — as an excuse for its turnover problem.
“It’s a unique season. Everybody is going through it,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said. “We’re definitely not the only ones. We need to be better. The other side of that is, it’s also what we’re going through. We need to acknowledge it and not shy away from it. The continuity might not always be there. That’s why we need to be particularly detailed and communication needs to be at the highest level possible for everyone to be on the same page.
“We don’t have the luxury of gelling together and every single day developing this rapport that you do over the course of a season when you know who you’re dealing with and you know who you have. Guys are in and out of the lineup every night. So stuff is changing, ever changing. We knew that going into this year.”
The Heat also struggled with turnover issues early last season, averaging 18.5 turnovers in the first 10 games before cleaning things up to finish the season averaging 14.9 turnovers. This is a reminder that just because Miami has started sloppy doesn’t mean it can’t solve its turnover problem in the coming weeks and months.
“You’re never as good or as bad as you think you are,” Spoelstra said. “We just have to get to work and find some solutions.”
Maybe when Butler returns and the Heat finds a consistent rotation, the turnover problem that’s hurting Miami’s offensive efficiency and leading to easy transition points for opponents will disappear.
After all, there are still 61 games left to play in the shortened 72-game regular season. But the clock is ticking.
“It’s all about finding solutions,” Robinson said. “The passion is there. I can’t imagine anyone questioning that with this group.
“This type of adversity is when you’re forced to grow. Because if you don’t, then you just kind of wilt away into NBA obscurity. ... That’s not what this group wants.”
