How can Heat maximize offense with Adebayo, Butler, Herro on court? ‘We’re still figuring it out’
Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro are in their fifth season as Heat teammates. But roles change, supporting casts change and individual games grow.
That has the team’s leading trio again learning how to maximize each other’s offensive skill sets this season.
“The thing is, nobody comes back the same, everybody comes back with something added to their repertoire, skill set, different way of taking care of their body, something,” Adebayo told the Miami Herald. “You have guys out, you get used to the usage. And then guys get back healthy and you kind of got to not take a backseat, but basically we got to figure out how we can make these puzzle pieces fit again and get back to being on the same page.”
The problem is that process was ongoing during the Heat’s longest losing skid in more than 15 years. Monday night’s home loss to Phoenix was the Heat’s seventh straight defeat and the third in a row by double digits. It was the first time the Heat dropped seven in a row since late in the 2007-08 season.
“We’re still figuring it out,” Herro said ahead of Wednesday night’s home game against Sacramento. “During a seven-game losing streak, it’s not really easy to pinpoint what we’re going to do going into each night.”
While the Heat posted the NBA’s third-worst defensive rating during the seven-game skid, it also had the league’s worst offensive rating.
The Heat also was just 5-11 in the first 16 games that Adebayo, Butler and Herro played together this season. Seven of those games were during the losing streak, as injuries limited their time together earlier this season.
So, what’s different this season about the AdebayoButler-Herro dynamic?
Adebayo and Herro have grown into bigger offensive roles. Adebayo entered Wednesday operating at a career-high usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) of 26.1 percent this season. Herro was operating at the second-highest usage rate of his career at 27.4 percent.
Butler was at a usage rate of 24.1 percent, which would go down as his lowest usage for a season since joining the Heat.
Also, Adebayo, Butler and Herro are getting to the rim less and taking more mid-range shots this season.
That has produced an inefficient shot chart for the Heat that’s made up of a large chunk of midrange shots and not enough rim and threepoint attempts.
Entering Wednesday, the Heat this season had attempted 28.9 percent of its shots from around the rim (28th most in the NBA) and 35.5 percent of its shots from three-point range (14th most in the NBA), while taking 35.7 percent of its shots from mid-range (most in the NBA), according to Cleaning the Glass.
That had the Heat with the NBA’s second-worst location effective fieldgoal percentage (a predictor of what a team’s effective field-goal percentage would be if it shot the league average at each location based on its shot selection).
Asked how the Big 3 could be more effective on offense, Herro said: “Just being more aggressive and then also all of us not trying to operate in the same areas — in the midrange and in the paint.”
The issue is that dynamic has forced them to adjust their games in an effort to complement each other. That means Adebayo taking fewer twos that aren’t in the paint, Butler generating shots closer to the rim, and Herro playing in more of an off-ball role and putting up more spot-up threes to help space the floor, since he is the only one in the group who’s a threat from deep.
Herro said he was “trying to sacrifice how I play to fit the team and try to be more of a catch-and-shoot guy to fit the offense.” His pick-and-roll usage was down during the losing streak while he played more frequently without the ball in his hands.
Herro, who is shooting an efficient 42.1 percent on 4.3 catch-and-shoot three-point attempts per game this season, entered Wednesday shooting 29.8 percent on 6.7 catch-andshoot three-point attempts per game during the seven-game skid.
The addition of guard
Terry Rozier, who is at his best with the ball in his hands, has added to the need for Herro to take on more off-ball duties.
“Just trying to figure it out, honestly,” Herro said of being more of a spot-up shooter. “I don’t feel too comfortable just doing that because that’s not me or myself.”
Whether it’s in more of an off-ball or on-ball role, Herro is a vital part of the offense. He’s one of the few Heat players who can be an efficient pull-up and spot-up 3-pointer shooter, and also can create offense for himself and others with his ball-handling.
“I feel like some people think I’m just shooting shots,” Herro said. “I feel like when I’m in attack mode and not just playing off the catch is when I’m at my best and our team is at our best. Because when I’m getting into the paint, I feel like I create a lot of over-helps and guys overreacting to me with the ball in my hands. So we’ll
THURSDAY
L.A. Lakers at Boston, 7:30
Indiana at New York, 7:30 Cleveland at Memphis, 8 Philadelphia at Utah, 10
WEDNESDAY
Sacramento at Miami
Chicago at Charlotte
Detroit at Cleveland
L.A. Clippers at Washington
New Orleans at Houston
Dallas at Minnesota
Orlando at San Antonio
Denver at Oklahoma City
Phoenix at Brooklyn
Milwaukee at Portland
TUESDAY
Atlanta 138, L.A. Lakers 122 Boston 129, Indiana 124
New York 118, Utah 103
Toronto 118, Chicago 107
Golden State 119, Philadelphia 107 see. I’m just trying to figure it out.”
He was trying to figure it out during one of the Heat’s roughest stretches in many years.
“The best thing is for us to not get caught up in the outside noise, where everybody and their mom is trying to write a narrative or a story of trying to make us implode,” Adebayo said. “The biggest thing for us is staying together and having tough conversations amongst us so we can move forward.”