TRANSFORMATION: Miami Heat’s RADICAL Offensive Overhaul | Is Fast Pace Sustainable?

TRANSFORMATION: Miami Heat’s RADICAL Offensive Overhaul | Is Fast Pace Sustainable?

With Miami’s offense looking the best it has in years, fans are excited about what the Heat can do. But what’s real and what’s not? We answer that on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real GM Radio. I’m here with David Rmill. Both of us are credentialed to Heat Media members who cover this team every day. We have a good show for you today. Uh the Heat are two in one. They’re coming off big wins against the Grizzlies and the Knicks. And people are talking about them. People are talking about them, the fast pace, the surprising record, uh just how fun they are to watch. And so we recorded our recap of the Knicks win on Sunday night. We’re here recording this Monday afternoon. We’re going to talk about a few different things, some trends that we’re seeing so far through the first three games. We’re going to ask what’s real and what’s not. Let’s jump right in, David, with the big thing. Is the pace that Miami is playing with real? They are number one in the league in pace. It’s them and the Toronto Raptors and then basically a mile between what’s them and and the rest of the league. The Heat’s pace right now would be number one in the league for last season, too. So, we heard Eric Spolster talk about in preseason, we want to play faster. You and I sat down with a number of heat players at media day. All of them said, “We’re going to play faster. We’re going to lean into our athleticism and our youth. We want to play faster. We want to play up tempo. And now they’re doing it. We saw it in the preseason and we’ve seen it through the first, for the most part, three games. That Knicks game was played a little bit more at a league average pace, but we still saw Miami get out and run and put the the Knicks defense into the into the blender a few different times. So, this team is playing fast, faster than anybody else. The big question, David, is it real? Can they keep it up? I think so. I really think that the way that they’ve been working on this and focusing on this all off season, knowing that their roster is what it is and maximizing the players that they have on this team, I believe that that is the strategy for the rest of the season. It it’s something different than what we’ve seen over the last few years. So, it doesn’t feel real in that sense because we’ve heard this kind of talk before. We saw last season they were trying to implement that five out offense. Bam. out of bio looked out of sorts. It didn’t really quite work. There was everything happening with Jimmy behind the scenes kind of hanging over the group and it just looked dysfunctional. So, we’ve seen this strategy before of let’s implement a new offense because we know we need to do something to juice the numbers and then it kind of gets scrapped because well, it doesn’t work. So, I understand why there might be trepidation, but I think the system does work because you finally have the personnel to implement it. And they’re doing little things that kind of that feel sustainable to me. The way that they they’re they’re not using pick and roll. It’s all about making quick decisive cuts. It’s offball movement. It’s working together within the confines of the system and and understanding that you have the freedom to look whatever for whatever shot is available to you. And I think that that’s all something that is taught works well for the players they have there. You brought up the point before about Norm Powell’s quick decision- making, but I think it’s something that we’re seeing trickle down from the rest of the team, too. Andrew Wiggins is a player that seems very decisive, much more so than he did last year when he was kind of figuring out his role on the team. You got Powell doing his thing. You’ve got uh, you know, DaVon Mitchell who doesn’t know any speed but full speed. And I think you’ve got all these players that kind of work together so effectively that it just to me I look at what this team has done and as exciting as it is and as unsustainable as it feels because this is the heat and I haven’t watched this type of offense in so many years I I believe that they can do it. I know they can. I I Well, that’s where the trepidation is. That’s where it’s it’s because it’s the Miami Heat. The I went back and I looked it up. When was the last time the Heat were not in the bottom 10 in pace? You want to take a guess? Because even even the big three era, is it is that too far back? The big three era because that’s where it feels like the closest thing. Other than that, I can’t really think. The big big 10 just because their defense was so good that they had those incredible transition opportunities that were born out. It was the beginning of the big three era. 2012 was the last time the Heat were not in the bottom 10 in the league in pace. I think it was like seven of those 10 years they weren’t out. They were no higher than 27th. This is not just a slow team, right? This team barely moves, okay? Like if you told them that that you could play in the you could just play in the half court, they’d be fine with it. Like this is not a team that wanted to move up and down very much at all. And for them to now be number one in pace, it’s a complete revelation. It it is a 180 from everything that this Heat team has been forever in the 38-year history of this franchise. It’s never been this. It has never been this. It’s been fast at times. It’s never been this. Even in 2012, I think they were like 16th in pace. Like still below average, just out out of the bottom 10. Yeah. But here’s the thing. This is to me maybe the new model of the Miami Heat. Go back to what Pat Riley said. hardest working, best condition, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in the NBA. All of that stuff is what this is now in the NBA. You want to be the best condition team. That’s what this looks like. This is the best. When you are able to outrun another your opponent over and over and over again and you’re able to maintain this tempo, if they’re able to maintain this tempo for 82 games, that is the best condition team in the league. That is unselfish. That is professional. That is tough. Frankly, it’s nasty to do that to your opponent, right? Like this is what that looks like. This is what best condition, hardest working looks like now in today’s NBA. It’s to have a pace like this. We’re not in the ‘9s anymore, right? Where, you know, best condition, nastiest is just throwing elbows and being stronger than your other teammate. It’s being this is what this looks like now. And I I like it quite a bit if this is what the Heat are going to be. Um, a couple more stats here that I think were really interesting that I looked up after last night’s game. Um, you mentioned the ball screen thing. No team is running fewer ball screens in the league than the Miami Heat. And that’s putting it mildly. The Heat basically just aren’t doing it. Like the pick the pick and roll is the bread and butter of the NBA. And the Heat are acting like they’re on the keto diet. Like no bread for us. No thanks. Right. Not for us. We just We’re allergic. we’re on a we have a gluten allergy. Can’t have it. Like they’re not running it. They’re they’re And when they do it, it’s reluctantly like you and I are watching these games. Every time you’ve seen a pick and roll, it’s not the first action. It’s, “Hey, we’re kind of in the middle of the shot clock. We didn’t really find anything the first few seconds. All right, bam. All right, Kell, I’ll come up. We’ll just we’ll run a pick and roll to just get us some sort of advantage here just to get something moving here.” It’s reluctant pick and rolls. You compare that to what the Knicks are doing all the time. Pick and roll with Jaylen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns. pick and roll with John Morant and uh Jock Londale now and Jiren Jackson Jr. in Memphis. Like those teams are running pick and roll all the time. And you take those teams juxtaposed to the what the Miami Heat are doing and it’s jarring how different it is. They’re not running any of those ball screens. Um not only are they not running ball screens, they’re not really passing either. Only three teams average fewer passes made per game than the Heat right now. They’re not throwing that many passes. It’s sort of just like one pass, you got a shot, take it. And right now it’s going in a lot, but you’re also seeing them create advantages early in the shot clock, so you don’t need to make all of those extra passes. No team, the uh the NBA site, stats site, actually has a tracking area for speed and distance, and it tracks how fast you’re running. No team runs faster while on offense than the Heat. They’re running an average of 5.2 miles per hour while on offense. Wow. second the second fastest team is running five miles an hour. That is a huge gap. Like they are running and they are running fast and that also suits the personnel because you can run hard and not necessarily run fast. This team is running hard and running fast because they have athletes on the team. Is it sustainable? I mean I I know that we’re the the question is is it real? And I think we both answered that question. Yes. I I I guess even as we’re talking about it, the sustainability of these sustainability of it seems a little daunting because it just is so full speed and so much faster than every other team. And yet we know that at some point in the playoffs and that’s looking way too far ahead and I I totally understand that. But I realize things do slow down a little bit based on uh not based on the finals last year. Yeah, that’s fair. That’s fair. Typically it has. Historically, shall we say, things do slow down. And you do need your half court offense to be kind of a little bit more they are going to have to figure out things in the half court for sure. And right now, their half court offense is very good. Their shooting percentages are also off the charts. And that’s not one of our questions is like whether or not Miami’s crazy true shooting percentage right now is sustainable, right? Uh spoiler alert, it’s not. Like they’re not going to be shooting like 50%. Like some of these players are shooting 50% on threes right now. That’s not going to be the case all season obviously. Um, is this specific pace sustainable? Probably not. But being one of the fastest teams in the NBA, I think that part is sustainable. Averaging 109 more than 109 possessions per 48 minutes would be easily the fastest team of all time. That’s where Miami is at now. I’ll go out on a limb and say they probably won’t finish with the fastest pace ever. They might, but I I’m going to go out on a limb and say probably not. And if they do, it’s probably not going to be this because even last year, I think the highest pace was 106. So, they’re like three full possessions per 48 minutes more than than the the number one pace last year. So, I’m going to I’m going to say that this specific pace is not sustainable. But being top five, top 10 in pace, that feels very very like a very real realistic outcome to me. Uh we have not talked though about Tay Rosier in that situation since the news broke late last week. We do have some new developments, including if the Heat could get a first round pick back as they potentially seek some damages. We’ll talk about that next. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Everything, even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into the same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Today’s episode is also brought to you by Game Time. Basketball season’s officially here. Nothing beats being in the arena for those opening games. We were there enjoying the atmosphere for Heat versus Knicks. That’s a longtime rivalry, but nothing comes close to that excitement. And if you want to see what this team looks like up close, that offense that just doesn’t seem to stop, this is the what you want to do. Do you want to get tickets to see this version of the Heat King? Last year’s season, I can admit it was difficult even for us to try to go to games and try to cover this team knowing that this offense was going to look as slow and plotting as it is. That’s not the case now. Getting tickets can be a very great chore. difficulty thing to a difficult thing to do, but this team makes it worth it. So, you want to be able to get in on the action right now. And the best way to do that is with Game Time. It’s the app that gives fans the advantage. 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Get 20 bucks off your first purchase in terms to apply, but that’s code L O C E D O NA. You get $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Join the Cookie Gang. Become an everydayer. Hit that subscribe button on YouTube. Follow us on your favorite podcast app. What’s real? Is the idea of getting a draft pick back for Terry Rosier real? So, David, we haven’t talked about Terry Rosir on the show since the news broke and we recorded an episode on the breaking news part of this, but um since then, the NBA has placed Terry Rosir on leave, which freezes his contract on the Heat’s books for the time being. They can’t wave him. They can’t trade him. The contract is still there. and the Heat are upset about how this has played out. Uh they are upset that they didn’t know about this investigation that was ongoing uh at a federal level at the time that they made the trade. Um the the Hornets and the NBA did apparently know, although nobody’s saying so publicly, but Adam Silver went on Amazon Prime during one of the premier games last week and said that the league was aware of the investigation and cooperated with the FBI. And so for the NBA to also say, “Yeah, we weren’t totally like I Adam Silver kind of just said that they were aware of this on national TV.” So I understand why the Heat are upset about it. I’m upset about it and it’s unclear now uh if the Heat will seek their first round pick back for essentially damages in all of this or um you know they have floated out the idea to media people that you know if if they can’t get their specific pick back from Charlotte in 2027, would the NBA award them some sort of compens uh comp compensatory pick in 2027 which would at least give them a pick in that draft and then control more importantly of all of their future first round picks which would obviously be great in case that they wanted to make a trade for a star player this summer potentially. So um there’s a lot going on right now. Yeah. But what to me is clear and what’s very real is that the Heat are pissed off about it. Uh not just because Terry Rosier is not has been disappointing as a Heat player since the trade. Um, but also right now that his he’s just frozen on their books and they can’t trade him and they’re they’re they’re sort of left in limbo and they don’t really know what his future’s going to be. Yeah, I I don’t think the the encore performance isn’t exactly what matters. Although I think we can assume that maybe the ongoing investigation may have impacted Rosier’s just his whole I don’t know attitude, his approach to the game. I think that’s a very fair assumption to make, right? You’re being investigated by the FBI. How would that not affect you in some way? Hey, we saw the Sopranos, you know, even Tony Soprano had to go see a psychologist once when he knew the the gig was up. So, it happens like pressure on anybody. That was real life. That was a real comparison, right? So, in any case, uh I think the point is we see this all the time with medical records. It’s like, oh, you don’t disclose an injury. You have to get a thorough checkup. Uh, who was Caris Levert who had to get checked up when he was traded and they wind up discovering as a brain tumor. I mean having to go through all these Was it a brain tumor with Levert? I don’t remember what you’re talking about. I have no idea. Wasn’t it a carous he he he was he got traded and because of the the trade they had to Yeah, it was like cancerous mass. That’s what they Okay, that they called it on his left kidney. Oh, well either way. Sorry. Maybe not as extreme. Whatever. Okay. I don’t know the difference. I think the point is you you have to really kind of be uh forthcoming in in terms of what you know as a team making the trade. There’s Charlotte kind of sniggering to themselves going, I can’t believe we pulling this off and we’re getting a pick knowing that Terry Rosier is being investigated by the FBI. Uh so it’s one thing to get screwed over by another team. I’d expect that as a front office, but for people who don’t realize this, trades don’t happen just between the two teams. there’s a third party involved and that third party is the NBA front office. Everything has to be called in and and mostly it’s just to make sure that everything is kosher under the salary cap. Right. Right. But it’s also these things get called in so that you arrange the physicals that all the you know the the the eyes are dotted and the tees are crossed. And if the NBA got a call in February of 2023 saying hey we’re the Charlotte Hornets. We’re we’re on the brink of trading Terry Rosier to the Miami Heat for a first round pick. Can you believe these guys? Yeah. And the NBA was like, “Good for you.” And obviously I’m exaggerating here, but if I’m the Heat, that’s kind of what I’m thinking is going down. I’m just like, “How did you let this happen? How did you And at no point did anybody flag this and say, “Hey, by the way, Terry Rosier’s involved in a federal investigation.” Now, I understand it’s tricky because the NB also investigated him. And essentially, the investigation came down to, “Hey, Terry, did you do it?” No. Well, sounds good to me. Not very thorough. It didn’t sound very thorough. Adam Silver said that he handed his phone over and you’re like, “Dude, what? How do you even know it was that f?” Have you ever seen an NBA player? Yeah, totally. My phone that I used at that point in time. And NBA players are se multiple phones. Yes. For their wives and girlfriends. Like they have multiple phones for And they have business phones and they have the personal phones. They have the burner phones so that you could, you know, have your Twitter account or whatever. Um, look, I I just if I’m the Heat. So, let’s let’s get back to the core part of this question. Is it real that they could get a pick back? I think without doing any without doing a ton of reporting on this, I don’t think that they could get their pick back from not their pick, but the compensatory pick. Absolutely. They have to. I think that should be there. Even if it’s the 31st pick in the first round, that’s something. Yeah. the the NBA has to understand they’re going to wind up with egg on their face. Like people are already kind of and this isn’t Miami people, this is people around the league going, “What the hell is Adam Silver doing?” And he’s being critiqued and rightfully so because this is a player who was just absolved of any kind of responsibility and a coach. So it looks ugly regardless. But the fact is that the league made their investigation and determined, “Ah, we think it’s cool.” And then two months later, the FBI is like, “Guess what? We don’t think it’s quite as cool as you guys do and we’re going to get involved and it makes look like the opportunity cost on this. They had to trade players to get under the salary cap. They because they didn’t have this first round pick potentially missed out on Kevin Durant. Like this stuff goes back like this stuff goes back. They missed out on a couple of player. Did they waste the end of the Jimmy Butler era because they got nothing out of Terry Rosier? Partly like if I’m the Heat, I am upset. And by the way, the Heat are upset. Let’s just be clear about that. They are very upset that they were made to look dumb. That two parties of the three parties involved in a trade, two parties knew something that the Heat did not. And the Heat front office views that as unfair and I think rightly so. And I do think that the league con compensatory pick, whatever it is, has to do something to make it right. And but and right now they’re not doing any of that. And I understand that they want to wait for this to play out with the FBI and whatever. I get it. Whatever happens with Ter, the Heat were still wronged in this situation. Absolutely. When they weren’t made aware of what was going on here. And so something has to be done from the NBA. I I think it was totally unfair and and I don’t even want to go down that rabbit hole of the whatifs because it’s almost just depressing. It’s almost too depressing to do it. It none of that matters. Like to me, it’s just again like you just said, the fact that the team making that trade held withheld information and then the league had withheld information. The trade should never have been consummated. There’s no way. Like the league should have been like, “Wait, you’re trading the guy that we we just know is being investigated or or that is possibly linked to all these things.” No, then we’re not going to allow it. Like what was the reason for voting the Chris Paul trade all those years ago? Like there were there’s so many different things. It looks so shady. And for a league that’s already being scrutinized because of their involvement, because of a player and a coach’s involvement in mafia related gambling activities, you’re going to have to stay faced somehow. And and I think part of that is at least doing right by the Miami Heat. and they’ll tell and the NBA will say, “By the way, we cleared them, so that’s why we didn’t flag anything.” But again, if you knew that the FBI was investigating in them, then you knew that there was some sort of risk here. And the NBA is also out here saying, “We don’t have the same resources as the FBI.” So, you can’t have it both ways if you’re the NBA. We cleared them, but also we don’t have the same resources. As far as I’m concerned, every time the NBA investigates anybody, it’s meaningless to me because they’ve already come out and said, “We don’t have the resources.” So, I’m like, “What are you even talking about here? What’s the point of this investigation? These investigations are meaningless to me. Don’t have the resources. You’re the second biggest sport in the world. Maybe the third biggest behind cricket and soccer. Come on, get out of here. You’re a multi-billion dollar international. Yeah. They’ll tell you we don’t have subpoena power and everything else. I’m like, okay, yeah, sure. Like, isn’t there something between did you do it and subpoena power? Blink twice if No, like there’s something in between those two extremes. All right. So, you and I agree. Is it real? Who knows? Should Miami be uh compensated in some way? 100%. Absolutely. Are the Heat a playoff team? That’s a very good question. Norm Pal, is is what we’re seeing from him real? Is the Haime Hakaz Jr. bounceback season real? We’ll we’ll answer those questions after the break. Today’s episode is brought to you by Ripley. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS promises to make work easier, but now the average company’s buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your team and simply don’t work together. 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That’s rippling.comlockdownba for six months free. Today’s episode is also brought to you by Monarch. Let’s be honest, most of us can’t even name all of our financial accounts, let alone what they’re worth. Between 401ks, savings, investments, it’s easy to lose track, and that can mean leaving money on the table. And that’s why I started using Monarch. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together. And one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or phone. It’s helped me stay organized about my spending habits. Something that I was a little dubious about. I wasn’t sure what’s it going to do for me. Well, guess what? Monarch makes sure that they understand exactly what you’re spending your money on and it lays it out in a way that’s simple to understand. It’s very clear. 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So again, we’re less than a week into the season here. Grain of salt, major grain of salt here. But I think going into the year, a lot of people had the Heat as a fringe playoff, most likely a playin type of team. Uh the Southeast Division was largely considered, you know, uh the Atlanta Hawks were favored or the Orlando Magic were favored to win the Southeast Division. But we saw the Heat lost to Orlando obviously, but played them close. The Hawks are kind of struggling here at at 1-2. Uh the Magic are 1-2, their only win coming up against Miami. But I think it’s a good time right now even just to reconsider what we thought about the Miami Heat going into the season and whether or not this is a legitimate playoff team. I I still kind of lean towards Yes, this is all playing out the way we thought it would. And I higher on them than most people. Yes. Uh, and and that’s not to say, like I said, that we’re patting ourselves on the back, but we kind of just looked at this roster and what was necessary. You’re lacking a superstar. You’ve got shooters on this team. You got scorers. You’re missing perhaps a central ball handler, but you’ve got people that that know how to score at a high level. We made those assumptions before Tyler Herro’s injury. So, we thought it was going to be Tyler and Norm with DaVon mixed in there to a certain degree trying to figure out what Nico Yoic’s role was going to be. like all of this and and Nico has been somewhat disappointing even in his role too. So it’s not like everything has worked out perfectly, but this team has leaned into this identity so completely. And I think what separates them from other offensively minded teams in the past is that you can count on their defense. And I’ve seen this comparison made before and I honestly I know it’s very very premature, but I do like the comparison to last year’s Pacers in the sense that they play defense at a high level and they can score in bunches. They know exactly how to push that pace and make things look a lot easier for a team that might lack a superstar. Even though I think Tyresese Hallebertton fits that description, a lot of people might not have them in that same categorization. So the point is I think it’s sustainable. Other teams are going to get better. Miami is going to have their ups and downs. They’re going to have their challenges, but what we’ve seen so far does, and I think you agree with me, it feels sustainable. And that’s why I do think that they’re going to be a playoff team. Are they going to be a top team in the East? You still have to, in my opinion, think that teams like Cleveland and eventually New York are going to figure out what they’ve got and they’ve got good players on this team. Not to say that Miami doesn’t, but uh the just the historic that historically the league has kind of skewed towards teams that have those superstars and have those players that can take over games and winning and kind of moments of the game. I don’t know that Miami has that necessarily and so there might be a shred of uh unsustainability to it, but I think they’re just going to be a much better team than everybody expected them to. Yeah. I mean, even going into the year, we can let’s just assume for a second, right, that everything just sort of plays out. The Knicks, the Cavs, the Magic, they just the cream rises to the top and and they ended up just kind of coming out with with good records. And then you’ve got, you know, the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis and the Hawks. Maybe everything kind of works out for them. Whatever. There is still this big group of teams right in the middle between Miami, Chicago, Toronto, Philly, Indiana, Boston. Maybe you put Atlanta in that mix. Like there’s a I’m sure I’m missing some teams here, but there was just a bunch of teams in that murky middle part of the East, right? And there really weren’t a lot of teams where you were like, “Yep, for sure. Top four seed in the East, top six seed in the East even, right? One of these teams had to kind of break out. One of these teams had to just sort of rise above the rest of that sort of muddy middle group in the Eastern Conference. And I proposed the question going into the year, why not the Heat? I don’t necessarily know that I would have bet on them, but like they’re part of that little murky middle. Why not like if one of these teams mathematically has to jump out from that group, why not Miami? And so I think right now if we were to place bets on which one of these teams kind of breaks out of that middle group, I think you would say Miami based on what we’ve seen in in in just three games. But uh you and I agree about the sustainability about the new system and the pace and the uptempo and all this stuff. We think that for the most part it is real. Um I think that if you just look at the talent on this roster, they do not have that superstar player. Their ceiling is not as high as some of these other teams in the East. Nobody is saying it is. But I think their floor might be higher than what we gave it credit for because there is talent on the roster. There’s Bam. Tyler Herro is going to come back. Norm Pal was a fringe all-star in the Western Conference last year. Andrew Wiggins has won a championship. He’s a high level rotation player. Um we were asking about one of these young guys and if they could pop. It sounds like all of them are just maybe none of them pop into this next kind of high-end almost all-star. I don’t know how how much of them pop to that level, but if they’re all just kind of marginally better, then Miami’s depth is a lot better than what it was in years past. And exactly, you’ve got Eric Pstra, who is refreshed and re-engaged with this new roster. I I just think that there’s a lot right now helping lift Miami’s floor higher than I think what than we gave him credit for. So, um I do think this is a team that should be considered a playoff team and and and I think we should kind of re-evaluate what our expectations are even just off of these uh first few games. Uh let’s quickly go through these next these next two that we had prepared. Is Norm Pal really a 24 point per game scorer? Because that’s what he’s averaging right now. 24 points per game on 48% shooting, 50% from three. And here’s the part that really jumps out, David. He’s averaging seven made free throws per game. through three. Yeah. His his last four seasons average was 3.9 attempts. He’s making seven per game right now. Is this real? Yes. And I still will add the caveat that I think his numbers going to take a dip just because at some point Tyler’s coming back. Like you you just don’t the offense has to go one or the other. It just it doesn’t feel likely that you can have everybody involved and then have to trade baskets between Tyler and Norman. I don’t think that’s a knock on either player. It’s certainly not meant to be a knock on Tyler. This was his team. He was the primary scorer in this group. But Norman has been electric. He’s been fantastic. He’s just seem to find a way to fit in perfectly. And so I think he’s always been capable of this. He just really hasn’t got an opportunity. And maybe it’s just possible that he’s kind of at a much greater comfort level than any team gave him the opportunity to be at. You know, with Toronto, that wasn’t his team. They had Demar Dar Roza, they had Kyle Lowry, they had other guys on that roster that were looked to be primary scorers. And there were deficiencies in Powell’s game that kept him off the floor at times. And then that’s why he was traded. He was seen as a something that we didn’t need on our roster back in Toronto. And he was very good in Portland, got even better in Los Angeles, and now he’s here in Miami, and he’s continuing to evolve to a point where he’s just I think he just feels much more comfortable in his role here. But you look at the way he’s attacking and it’s he does seem free and unfettered in a way that I don’t think he was in any other previous stop. And he’s being allowed to and this is something I asked him about that he talked about in other questions. He is just free to be who he is as a scorer and he’s just being unlocked in a way that I don’t think he ever has before. So I do think it’s sustainable even if his numbers eventually take a dip. I think the spirit of it is sustainable. I think his fit in this offense is really clear-cut and it’s a good one. I don’t think he’s going to be shooting 50% from three for the full season. That’s fair. Yeah, I don’t think he’ll average 24 points per game. I think it’ll settle probably closer around 20, 19 or 20 points per game. That’s fine. That’s what they’re going to need from him. Let’s go 22. 22 seems high to me. 22 seems high to me. I would love it. It seems high to me cuz you know, you’re right. Hero is going to come back and he’s just there’s going to be a couple fewer shots that he’s not going to get. Now, I when Hero comes back, I don’t really think that it comes at the expense of Norm Pal. I think you want your best shooters to keep shooting. You want your best scorers to keep scoring. I think it comes at the expense of other guys potentially, but um you know, I do think that it’ll it’ll take a dip just because the percentages aren’t going to be this crazy. Now, the free throw shooting, that’s the part that I’m really interested in, and I I frankly I don’t know. I think it’s realish. Is he going to average seven made free throws per game? That seems like a lot, but based on how many possessions this team is getting and and the pace and how they’re playing, like maybe something close to it. I think that part again it’s realish. Uh last one. Hakas Junior’s bounceback season. He’s averaging 15.7 points per game while shooting. Get this David 71% from the field. Is this real? The shooting percentage similarly not so real. But we talked to high man media day. Like that was the attitude he had from during the whole offseason. He’s healthy. Why wouldn’t this be the version that we see from him moving forward? This is what we saw from him as a rookie two seasons ago and he had a disappointing year last season. Now that he’s back, he’s healthy and he knows what to do. This again offense is tailored towards a player like him who moves in transition, who’s always looking to make that quick trigger and initiate something for himself. He goes north south very quickly. He’s just meant to attack the basket and he’s doing so in a way that allows him to flourish. Absolutely. It’s real. Checking on his six man of the year odds right now. Pretty good value. He’s way down this list on FanDuel. Wow. I don’t even see him. Where is he? Did I miss him? I don’t even see him. He would have made the case that maybe Nico would have been sixman or Kh. There’s odds for Kell and there’s odds for Nico. I didn’t see that. I might I might have skipped by him as as I’m trying to kind of multitask here, but um no, he’s not going to shoot 71%. Obviously, I do think that his fit and his productivity is real. And in terms of the is the bounce back real? Yeah, he’s going to have a better year than he did last year. I think he’s going to improve. People say this all the time. You hear it in the NBA all the time. It’s a cliche, but it’s true. Development is not linear. Haime took a step back last year. He was very physically he wasn’t what he needed to be. Mentally, he wasn’t what he needed to be. He’s talked about having a mental coach right very publicly. He’s talked about doing that. He’s talked about uh getting his body right, getting into better uh condition. Like, he just wasn’t really healthy last year. All of that stuff is there. He looks better. He’s moving better. He’s in the best shape of his career. And to your point, David, this offense suits him. So, yeah, I think the Hime Junior Himeers junior bounceback is definitely real and he’s become a really important part of the Heat rotation to the point where he is the first guy off the bench and it makes a lot of sense and uh he does tend to juice things when he gets in there. He provides that energy the way like he did in his rookie year, right? It just it felt like the game took a different energy when he entered the game. Last year, it felt like I didn’t even notice him. And this year it’s back to oh my god Haime’s out there and you kind of know it within the first couple of possessions. Um that’ll do it for us today in the Let us know in the YouTube comments what you think, what’s real, what’s not real. We’d love to hear you guys’ takes on the Terry Rosir thing and whether or not Miami should get something back, whether it’s a comp a compensatory pick or something like that. But for now, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. We’ll see you back here tomorrow with a recap of Heat versus Hornets.

What’s real and what’s fake about the Miami Heat’s hot start?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil ask if the Heat can keep up their breakneck pace and if they could realistically be compensated for the Terry Rozier trade with a draft pick. Plus, should we reconsider the Heat’s place in the Eastern Conference, is Norm Powell really this good of a scorer, and is Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s bounceback season real?

0:00 Intro
1:30 Can Heat keep up the pace?
15:43 Compensation for Terry Rozier
25:43 Reconsidering the Heat’s place in the East

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