The Miami Heat are 3-5, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference, and Wednesday night’s win over the Clippers at least kept the season from feeling even worse. It also gave Miami a little breathing room after a rough start that still leaves the team in the same familiar neighborhood: the play-in picture. If the season ended today, the Heat would open against Charlotte.
There’s still upside here, but the problems are plain enough already. The offense needs more playmaking.
The defense needs better connectivity. And with that in mind, here’s what each key Heat player needs to sharpen up if Miami wants to be in a better spot by 2027.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s message is simple: Free From Threes. He’s taking 2.4 three-point attempts per game, his highest mark in four seasons, and it’s fair to ask why.
When the lane isn’t there, the better answer is usually a dribble and a pass. That’s where he’s stronger.
Two of his attempts from deep in Wednesday’s game nearly backfired, including one in the fourth quarter after Miami had made a big push. The miss killed momentum and quickly turned into a Clippers transition chance.
Bam Adebayo’s challenge is to make the latest version of himself stick. He just delivered his best game of the season, going 14 of 20 from the field for 35 points in the win over the Clippers.
He was decisive, aggressive, and got to his spots whether Giannis was on the floor or not. The question is whether that version shows up again.
Miami can’t afford another swing back the other way, not with so few reliable offensive options. He needs to be one of them.
And if the threes disappear, that’s fine too; he’s been elite around the rim, not from distance.
Andrew Wiggins has to wake up to a new day, or just wake up. Whatever the issue is, the veteran wing has been a drag in just about every area since extending his contract and looking like a clean fit for the front end of this roster build.
His energy has been off. He’s not holding up well against drivers.
The shot isn’t falling anywhere close to last season’s level. Erik Spoelstra even closed Wednesday with Pelle Larsson instead of Wiggins, and it’s getting close to the point where that should be the opening move too.
Klay Thompson, meanwhile, has been told to shoot his shot - and so far, he’s actually doing it better than usual. He’s at 42.5 percent from three on 9.1 attempts per game, and that’s better than his career norm through the end of November, when he’s typically at 37 percent.
He’s also been in the right places defensively, even if the athletic decline limits how much he can cover on that end. For a while, it looked like he might settle into one stint per half, but Spoelstra trusted him in the closing lineup Wednesday, and Thompson answered with the game-winner.
If anything, he should let it fly even more.
Davion Mitchell’s job is to talk the talk, and he’s doing that too. He helped lead many of the offseason bonding exercises, and while that hasn’t yet translated into a truly connected team on the floor, he hasn’t backed away from the leadership role as things have gone sideways.
His motor has been the buzziest on the roster, and he’s on pace for career-best numbers. Just as important, he’s been blunt about what’s wrong and what has to improve.
The Heat wanted him to grow into his voice, and he has. More.
Pelle Larsson needs to plant his feet and fire. The rest of his collision-and-connection game is coming along, but if he wants to keep earning crunch-time minutes, he can’t keep passing up open looks.
He’s not some elite shooter, but the offense bogs down when he hesitates. His chemistry with Giannis is building, and he can be dangerous on cuts.
Still, in the final minutes, the ball tends to find the hesitant shooters. If he starts knocking down a couple of those, defenses will have to respect him and Miami can open up more space.
Tim Hardaway Jr. has the simplest assignment of the bunch: reset and refocus. It’s been a rough start for the son of a Heat legend.
Maybe he’s nervous. His defense was never going to be a strength, but it’s been worse than that.
So the answer is making shots. When he gets on the floor.
That part may get even tougher now that Ryan Conwell Jr., the energizing rookie, is earning more minutes.
In Other News...
Heat Suddenly Have A Lineup Debate Fans Never Expected
The Heats uneven opening has already pushed Erik Spoelstra into a familiar kind of early-season search, and this one is centered on how to get more reliable production around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Miami is off to a 3-6 start, and the lack of consistent help has made every rotation decision feel a little heavier than usual. Amid that frustration, Pelle Larsson has emerged as one of the more interesting names in the mix after showing better shooting and assist numbers than he did a year ago.
Larssons rise has been enough to spark real talk about whether Spoelstra might be tempted to move him into the starting lineup, even if the evidence is still coming from a small sample. For a team trying to stop the slide and rediscover some balance, the idea is less about making a splash than finding a five-man group that can actually stabilize possessions and support the stars more cleanly. The Heat do not need a headline-grabbing fix so much as a workable one, and this is one lineup question they probably did not expect to be asking so soon. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Roster Debate Is Heating Up After Miamis Rough Start
Miamis rough start has put a spotlight on more than just the box score, with the conversation around the Heat now spilling into how the roster is being viewed from the outside. The latest NBA 2K ratings have become a talking point because they mirror the uneven feel of the season so far, with established names like Bam Adebayo and Klay Thompson landing in different places as the team tries to find its footing.
Davion Mitchell has been one of the more notable risers, a sign that his impact is being noticed even as the bigger picture remains unsettled. For a Heat group still searching for consistency, the ratings debate is less about a video game number than what it says about who is driving the team forward and who still has room to climb. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Slow Start Keeps Pointing To Three Problems Spoelstra Must Fix
The Heats uneven start has left Erik Spoelstra staring at a familiar kind of early-season puzzle: a team that can look organized in stretches, then drift into the same trouble spots that keep showing up on both ends of the floor. At 3-6, Miami has not been able to string together enough consistent offense or defense to settle in, and the numbers point to a few specific areas where the margin for error has been too thin.
Miami has been efficient when it does use pick-and-roll action, but it has not leaned on it often enough, and the spacing around those possessions has not always helped. The other issues are just as obvious, with spot-up jumpers producing too little and opponents finding too much success from three-point range. For a team that expects to tighten up as the season goes on, those are the kinds of problems that can keep a slow start from turning into something more manageable. [Read more 🡒]