Amar’e Stoudemire thinks the Miami Heat will sort this out.
The Hall of Famer, who retired in 2016 but kept hooping overseas until 2020, recently stepped into podcasting with “Amongst Legends.” In an exclusive interview with DJ Siddiqi for covered.com, he weighed in on his former team after its first win of the season last night following the arrival of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Stoudemire’s perspective comes from a very specific place: he spent his career in an up-tempo pick-and-roll environment, so he sees the Bam Adebayo-Giannis pairing through that lens. For him, the fit is about learning timing and trust, not forcing a perfect overlap right away.
“It's not like Steve (Nash) and I. I got a point guard, and I'm the big dog.
You understand? He knows we can play off each other.
I'm not taking anything away from him. He's not taking anything away from me.
So he's going to pass me the ball. I'm going to play off of him easily, and that's more of an easy connection.”
The two bigs do occupy similar real estate on the floor, and Stoudemire acknowledged that the adjustment is harder than a cleaner, more traditional fit. But he also made it clear he expects the process to work with time, film study, and reps.
“With Giannis and Bam, they kind of have a similar position, so they have to figure out how to play with each other. That's a little bit more challenging, but it can happen.
It can work. We just got to figure out how to really play with each other.
That's a matter of learning each other, watching film with each other, studying each other's game, practicing together. They need a little more time, but it'll work out.”
That’s where Erik Spoelstra’s in-game management comes in. Last night, he staggered the minutes so the Heat could keep the offense moving while Giannis and Bam worked through the spacing and rhythm issue. The idea is simple: survive the adjustment period without letting it wreck the team over 48 minutes.
Stoudemire believes the Heat have the right people steering the ship.
“I know two things for sure. You have a great general, Pat Riley, and you have a great deputy chief in Coach (Erik) Spoelstra.
So those two guys are going to come together and figure out the proper game plan to get the team to play cohesively and figure this thing out. The players are going to lock in because they are tired of hearing all the talk about what they can and can't do.
So they're going to go into the gym and lock in also.
“I'm not worried about the Miami Heat. I think they're going to be able to figure this thing out.
They have a great team. I feel like they're a team that can be very competitive in the Eastern Conference.
So I'm not concerned with the Heat at all, man. With Bam and Giannis, two great players, they'll figure it out.
They're great players, they're All-Star caliber players. They're gonna figure it out.
Trust me.”
The early signs, at least in Stoudemire’s view, are already pointing in the right direction. He pointed to the rebounding, the assists, and the scoring as evidence that the Heat are moving away from a simplistic “Giannis goes and everyone else watches” approach.
He also stressed that defense has to carry them while the offense is still taking shape. That, he said, is where Miami’s identity can help them most.
“If they can grind it out defensively right now while they're struggling offensively, that's the key. You build that, you build that defensive strategy, which the Heat culture has been built on.
I played with the Heat. You know what I'm saying?
So when you play in that Heat culture and you lock in defensively while you're working out your offensive details, that's going to be the key going forward because offense is easy for us as players.
“We love to score, right? Everyone wants to score, so that's easy for us. The defense is where you need to focus on a little bit more, and that's going to help them get over the hump.”
For Stoudemire, the tempo question is tied directly to that defensive foundation. A team can’t really run if it’s constantly retrieving the ball from the net.
He also spoke from experience with the Heat’s expectations inside the building. Stoudemire played nine playoff games for Miami in 2016, and when DJ Siddiqi asked him about the team’s postseason chances, he didn’t hesitate.
“Yes, yes, yes. The Miami Heat will be a playoff team this year. I believe that.”
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