Fifteen years ago, Miami found its answer in a simple shift: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade stopped living on the perimeter and started attacking the rim. That 2011-12 Heat team barely launched threes from its two biggest stars, and the payoff was obvious. LeBron and Wade cut back, the offense tilted downhill, and the shooters around them got cleaner looks.
Erik Spoelstra is staring at a similar setup now.
The Heat are second in the NBA in pick-and-roll efficiency at 1.13 points per possession, according to Genius Sports data reported by the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang. The strange part is how little they lean on it.
Miami uses fewer on-ball screens than any team in the league, even though the play has been one of its best weapons. When the Heat have gone to it more often, the results have followed.
During their 0-4 start, they ran 29.1 pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions. Over the next seven games, a 5-2 stretch, that number climbed to 38.
Spoelstra hasn’t made some sweeping overhaul. “I wouldn’t say massive,” he said when asked about the changes. Davion Mitchell put it even more simply: “That he can adapt.”
The most eye-catching piece of the puzzle is Giannis as a roll man. Through a tiny sample, he’s producing 1.79 points per possession, per NBA stats cited by All U Can Heat. That number won’t stay there forever, but it does show what happens when a 6-foot-11 force catches the ball on the move with the defense already scrambling.
The problem is that Miami has also been giving the defense a break too often with jumpers that don’t force the same stress. Giannis is taking 2.4 threes a game, his highest rate in four seasons, as Ethan Skolnick from the 5 Reasons Sports Network noted last week. Skolnick called it “the ultimate bail out play for a defense,” and that’s the issue: every time Giannis settles, the defense gets to skip the hardest part of the possession.
Late-game numbers make the point even more sharply. Through Miami’s first eight games, Giannis was 0-for-5 in clutch situations, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, and he’s 10-for-33 on clutch threes this decade.
Bam Adebayo has had a similar issue from deep, going 0-for-4 on clutch threes this season and 7-for-37 for his career. On clutch twos, though, Bam was 5-for-7.
Bam’s season last year explains why this is a more complicated conversation. He was asked to stretch the floor, took 5.5 threes a game - nearly double his previous career high - and saw his two-point attempts fall to 10.2 a night, his lowest since 2018-19.
He shot a career-worst 44.2 percent from the field. He did what the team asked.
That team needed it. This one doesn’t.
Against Giannis, Bam’s best use is obvious: screen, dive, catch on the short roll, read the help, and either finish or make the next pass. Miami is already one of the league’s best teams at that action. It just needs to use it more.
Bam’s early play-type numbers back that up. Over Miami’s first 10 games, he posted 1.14 points per possession as a pick-and-roll roll man, 1.23 in transition, 1.22 on putbacks, 1.63 on cuts and 1.25 in the post. His spot-up number, though, sat at 0.6.
The 2012 Heat didn’t eliminate threes. They redistributed them.
LeBron and Wade stopped taking so many, and the shots flowed to the right people: Mario Chalmers at 4.1 attempts per game and 38.8 percent, Mike Miller at 45.3 percent, Shane Battier at 2.8 a night. The arc still mattered.
It just mattered more because the stars were collapsing defenses first.
That’s the template here. Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Ryan Conwell, Pelle Larsson and Davion Mitchell should be the ones taking Miami’s threes, ideally after Giannis and Bam have forced the defense into rotation.
There’s already another piece of the fix in place. Miami’s dribble handoffs have doubled from six per 100 possessions last season to 12, largely because of how Klay works with Bam and Giannis. That kind of sequence - handoff into a ball screen into a roll - can keep bending a defense until it breaks.
The league is different now than it was in 2012. Teams shoot more threes, spacing matters more, and even that title team eventually leaned smaller and more spread out after Bosh got hurt in the second round.
Nobody is asking Giannis to stop shooting entirely. A wide-open look at the end of the clock is one thing.
But Miami is nowhere near overdoing it. It’s at the bottom of the league in on-ball screens, which means there’s plenty of room to push this in the right direction.
Spoelstra has already done this once. He built an offense around stars who quit settling, attacked the rim, and let the shooters profit from the chaos. It led to a championship.
He doesn’t need a new idea. He just needs to go back to the one that worked.
In Other News...
Heat Suddenly Have A Real Path To Zach LaVine
Zach LaVines name has hovered around Miami before, but the latest buzz gives the Heat something more concrete to chew on. According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, LaVine has shown interest in joining Miami, and the Heat have already been tied to him in past conversations, which keeps the idea from feeling like a total long shot.
The path still isnt simple, though, and it may come down to timing as much as anything else. Trade frameworks involving players such as Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Jovic have been floated as possible ways to make a deal work, while another route could open later if a buyout becomes realistic after the trade deadline, leaving Miami with options but no clear finish line yet. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Guard Search Suddenly Has A New Name To Watch
The Heats backcourt search just picked up a familiar kind of urgency, with Dejounte Murray now in the middle of trade discussions after reportedly requesting a move from the New Orleans Pelicans. For Miami, that instantly changes the shape of a market that has been thin on proven options, and Murrays name carries obvious appeal for a team looking to add more creation, defense and stability on the perimeter.
Miami is reportedly among the teams interested in pursuing him, which gives the Heat a new guard to monitor as talks continue between Murrays agent and Pelicans officials. The wider market matters here too, especially with Kyrie Irving not currently being considered for trade by Dallas, leaving fewer marquee names in play and making Murray even more relevant to a Heat front office that has been waiting for the right opening. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Legend Chris Bosh Is Suddenly Tied To A Troubling Fire Case
Chris Bosh has suddenly been pulled into an unsettling legal side story tied to the 2025 Palisades Fire, with investigators identifying potential evidence at his Los Angeles mansion that could point to a firework launched from the property as a possible ignition source. The former Heat star has not been accused of wrongdoing, but his home is now part of a case that has taken on added scrutiny because of what investigators say they found on the grounds.
In the criminal case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is accused of starting the fire, the defense wants to call a retired Cal Fire investigator to testify about burn marks and smoke trails on Boshs property. Prosecutors are pushing back hard, disputing those findings and trying to keep that testimony out, which leaves Boshs connection to the case hanging in a tense legal fight that is still far from settled. [Read more 🡒]