The Heat Should Be Dominating on Defense—Instead, They’re Last

The team that I'm most disappointed in that you probably aren't shocked about is the Miami Heat. Okay, give it to me. I'm just, I think one thing I always respected so much about the Miami Heat was their culture. Like everybody else, you respected the culture, you kind of banked on the culture, even in the down times. I remember having conversations with you and I and being like, nah, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. I think Spoh and them are going to figure it out. But I believe when you bring over such a dominant, impactful player, You're going to take on a lot of the characteristics, like, you know what I mean? And I think sometimes when it comes down to it, the success or the presence of Giannis, I feel as though has withdrawn from the Heat culture and what they hang their hat on, which is great ball movement and, quote-unquote, just defense. They've been terrible defensively this whole year. They've given up so many 120-point games. I don't really know. How to add it up, because at the very least, I'm like, we talked, I'm like, man, this might be the first team that takes it back to the 90s, early thousands, and every game is 90 to 90. And now we're sitting there, and it looks like Milwaukee bucks 2.0, and they're starting to become questions that need to be answered in a sense of how do you make it work, and how are you going to flow up, not flow around Giannis, but make Giannis flow better into their system. Him going, doing him night in, night out has not been advantageous, and it hasn't been great for the rest of the team, in my personal opinion. And you have no sniff or no sign of the heat culture. That is the biggest problem. I think that's the first sign to, you know, the end-all, be-all. They got eliminated either first round or playing game the past three years, and now they're trying to do their big one, and I just don't think it's going to translate. You know, I was at the Clippers Heat game the other night. And they shouldn't have won that. I'm sorry for cutting you off. They shouldn't have won that neither. Like, how do you leave Klay Thompson open in a corner for a three? Like, that was just Young's mistake. Like, you know what I mean? But, like, when I'm watching the second half of that game, I'm like, this is how Miami should be defensively. Like, they gave up 40 points total in the second half. They have the horses to do that. I know I saw Tim McMahon over on ESPN made the point that Giannis has not been a great defensive player for a couple of years. I don't know if I completely agree with that. I think, I mean, when I talk to coaches, he's still a pretty intimidating presence in the paint. Now, maybe he's not as good an on-ball defender as he once was, but. Him and Bam are still a pretty formidable defensive duo. Davian Mitchell is in the league because of his defense. Yeah. Wiggins is still, he won a championship a couple of years ago, a few years ago now, with his defense. They should not be, as I pull up these numbers again, they should not be... Uh... What is it, 26th in the NBA in defensive rating? Like, that shouldn't be the case. They've given up 123 points per game. That's 28th in the NBA. Like, they're getting beat off the dribble, which I guess, I think Klay Thompson's kind of a mid-defensive player now. I'll Opponents are shooting a lot of threes against him. They're just, they don't look like they should. pause I've been banging this drum for a while. Now, some of that, again, to go back to the drum of banging, is the speed, the pace of play. Which would they play with? the They've embraced this kind of this fast offense again and this high possession offense. And it hasn't led to real efficiencies necessarily. video. They're 19th right now, I think, in an offensive rating. Thank you for waiting. And it's created more opportunities for other teams to score on the other end of the floor. Like if you increase the number of possessions, you're increasing the number. Possession on the other end, too. And I think that's been a huge problem for them. But, like, man, what they did in the second half against the Clippers, locking in, like, that's the kind of team I want to see. I don't want to see them going up and down, giving the ball to Giannis and letting him just bulldoze his way to the rim. And when it doesn't work and they get but three on the other end? You can't win like that. You can't win at a high level like that. I've got enormous respect for Eric Spolster, who's still top five coach in the NBA. But I just disagree with the way this team is playing. I think they're playing counterintuitively to how they should with the roster they have. And there's too many vets for that to be occurring as well. That's what makes it crazy. It's just like, it's time to get it together. Like, just defensively, how they're, like... It's just, there's no reason for it. And they need to be able to try to win, make stops and get it, get it going. And it's just been an ugly basketball to watch in my personal opinion. So I hope they turn it around. Yeah. I mean, I'm just looking back at the stat. What do you think of what Doc said about Giannis? Yeah, I actually, you know, I'm sure a lot of people just read the quote, didn't watch the clip. I don't think Doc was saying it in a, I mean, it is a negative thing to say, but like he was trying, he was in a part of a broader point about conversations he's had. With Giannis and, you know, he claims he's had the exact same conversation with Giannis before, particularly when it comes to execution, you know, understanding the value of it. Like Giannis, and I agree with him, Giannis throughout his career. Uh, from start to finish, just been like, go, go, go. Like, I'm going to get to the rim. I'm going to overpower you. I'm going to overwhelm you. And he has not really evolved. Um, you know, you look at some of these three point numbers, uh, not including this season, but they have progressively declined year after year. Usually in today's modern NBA, excuse me, today's modern NBA. If you're a big, those numbers are going up. Even if you're not efficient at it, you're still shooting more threes than you did early in your career. Giannis is not doing that. He is an inside-the-rim player. I was watching the Golden State game. I think he made an early three, I want to say. And then he took a couple more. It's like, it's a gift. It's like a gift to the Warriors. Every time you're pulling up for any kind of semi-contested three, That's a gift to the other team. So, yeah, I mean, I get what Doc was saying. Obviously, he's going to get killed for it for calling Giannis a low IQ guy. But I get what he said about the execution part, that Giannis probably needs to have, take more pride, ownership, whatever you want to call it, in executing late in games. What did you think? Yeah, I'm a big Giannis fan. Even though it don't sound like it, but when you're a basketball purist or you're like, you have to compare them to some of the other players, It's like, hey, man. It'll always make you scratch your head because you can't really scream, you know, his skill set killed you more so than his presence and his physicality and his natural sheer determination. I remember Dame saying, like, hey, man, one thing about Giannis, say what you want, but, man, he's a dog and he goes hard every single play. And I wouldn't want to go to war with anybody else. But he's just like, to try to adapt to play with him, it's a unique situation. And I feel as though you have to have... Very high skill players around to make him look just as better. I go back to that championship that they won in what, 21? Was it 21, 22? Yep, 21. Yeah, look at all those shots that occurred. Like Drew, Pat Connaughton, Chris Middleton. They were shooting two or three feet behind the three-point line. You kind of play four men around a guy just driving and penetrating, and when he couldn't find it, he was driving and kicking and throwing a pass at your knees. And I'm not saying that wasn't a negative thing. It was just like we forced this playmaking situation and the skill set that he had, and he was basically just hooping like an involved Jalen Dern. He's hooped like a five-man with opportunity, and I feel as though when it comes down to IQ, What he wants to do as a ball handler at .4, you have to label it that way. You know what I mean? Even when you watch the Dallas Mavericks, some of the stuff where you can set a defense to get Giannis to travel. Like, they were setting a box on one side, loading it up, and Giannis was still trying to go 100 miles per hour. And I'm like, man, he had seven or eight turnovers. For a two-time MVP, defensive player of the year, a guy that played for so many years and seen so much, how are you getting forced into travels or into these mundane mistakes? Am I wrong for saying that sometimes? No. No, I mean, he is like, you watch him sometimes, and it's like, wow, it's awesome. But sometimes he is just driving straight into traffic and inefficiently, inefficiently for them. So, look, I've just got real concerns overall about Miami. I don't see this turning around unless they radically change their style of play. I think they're going to have nights where they do lock in like they did the second half against the Clippers, but the Clippers are terrible. The Clippers are one of the worst teams. They're good. Yeah, they're literally like trying to just develop. Like, hey, I want to make sure everybody gets going. But do you... Trying to get Darius Garland going out there. That's not going to work. Yeah, or Kobe Sanders and all those guys. But what I'm saying is, with Giannis, is there any way to... Like, to tone down his presence, though. Like, he plays hard. He cares. Like, is there any, you have to cut his minutes. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, because no matter what, I just feel as though. His presence is going to take on an identity. Before, it used to feel like an undertone of Bam, and Bam could kind of lead the way in certain ways. Now that is gone, and it's just Miami Bucks team, in my personal opinion. I don't know how you fix that. I've heard that comparison, too, when they're kind of playing like Milwaukee. Bam has looked lost for most of the season on the offensive end of the floor. Mitchell's been really good. Yeah, he's been balling. He's been good on both ends, but I'll die on this hill, man. They just slow the game down, try to win 90-style basketball, be physical, grind out possessions on offense, get to the free-throw line, make it ugly. Pat Riley basketball, make it ugly out there because playing high possession, you're going to trade a lot of two-for-threes. That's what you're going to do. Yeah, Chicago cross screens just post up. Because you don't have Tyler Hero anymore, that guy to give a dribble handoff to. Or literally nothing. It has to be a 60 possession game. Yeah. Ugly.