Don’t expect many changes from Spoelstra

Give Erik Spoelstra multiple months away from the court and he’ll change the game.

Dwyane Wade from championship scorer on the ball to multiple-championship slasher off the ball.

LeBron James from lost in the post to post powerhouse.

Chris Bosh from range.

Even a Miami Heat 180 defensively, funneling the ball to the length of Hassan Whiteside.

But now, after four months since the Heat last played a game with meaning, Spoelstra appreciates the fine line he is walking, when those months off have come in the middle of an ongoing season.

“I think there is the notion that everybody’s going to try to come up with two or three new wrinkles or reinvent something,” he said, with the Philadelphia 76ers, for example, attempting to recast Ben Simmons at a power forward ahead of the NBA’s July 30 restart.

“But the reality may be you don’t have lot of time to really tinker or mess

amidrange to long

around. You better get to your game and your strengths pretty quickly.

“This is going to be an eight-game sprint and then, boom, you’ve got to be ready for the playoffs. And if you’re trying to experiment too much, you might lose what you had before that.”

At 41-24, there is an appreciation that the Heat had a good thing going before the league’s March 11 shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. But they also were 7-9 in their 16 games before the stoppage.

“We created an identity and we’ve had some success with that,” Spoelstra said in the midst of a series of night practices. “But we also have some areas that we need to improve in, in particular the defensive end, and that’s some of the things that we’re working on right now.

“We also know that we want to evolve our offensive game and get guys in rhythm and get them comfortable, get them playing off of each other and bringing out the most out of each other.

“So we have a lot of time. We had a lot of time before we got here as a coaching staff to get together, to plan. But I would say it’s not like we’re trying to reinvent the whole wheel right now.”

There is a degree of integration that could require recalibration.

Center Meyers Leonard and guard Tyler Herro had extended absences prior to the break due to ankle injuries. A month before the break, Heat President Pat Riley reshuffled the roster with the acquisitions at the Feb. 8 NBA trading deadline of Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill from the Memphis Grizzlies. So this isn’t the same team as prior to the break, or for that matter as at any point this season.

That is what the practices at Disney World, the upcoming three exhibitions at the Wide World of Sports complex and even the eight “seeding” games prior to Aug. 17 start of the playoffs are about.

“With this team this year, it was clear that we could win ballgames,” Leonard said. “We competed unselfishly, and we did what we needed to do. Then, at the deadline, even though Tyler and myself were out, we added three very, very good pieces in Solo, Dre and Jae.

“You tell me, what are we missing truly? I mean that. Now, we have work to do. There’s no doubt about it.

“Our defense has to be sharp. We have to continue to share the ball, but we’re going to put the ball in the bucket. Overall, we just have to continue to improve our game and get to a championship level. I think that we have an immense amount of talent, but it’s going to take day by day, scrimmage by scrimmage and in those eight games to really get us focused and understanding of what our version of championship basketball looks like.”

So, no, Jimmy Butler won’t be asked to change his game. The starting lineup will not be dramatically overhauled. The three-forall will not be quashed.

“We know how we want to play,” Spoelstra said. “We know what we stand for. We know what our most important principles are, on both ends of the court.

“It’s not like a typical training camp, where you’re introducing yourself to each other. We already went through that.

“There are some things that we’re looking at. But we’re also trying to get back our baseline as quick as we possibly can, and that will take a little bit of conditioning and getting that five-onfive rhythm.”