The Miami Heat are going to look very different this season. After finishing just 43–39 last year and failing to make the playoffs, Miami went out and made one of the biggest moves imaginable by acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo. They didn’t stop there either, adding veterans like Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr. to a roster that already included Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins.
That obviously raises expectations. When you add one of the greatest players of this generation to a team coached by Erik Spoelstra, you’re no longer just trying to sneak into the playoffs. There are legitimate questions about the offense, age and how some of these pieces will fit together, but there’s one area where I have very little concern.
This Defense Could Be Nasty
Let’s start with what could become Miami’s identity: defense.
Putting Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo together gives Erik Spoelstra an absurd amount of defensive versatility. Giannis is a former Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-Defensive selection. At his best, he’s one of the most disruptive help defenders in basketball. He can protect the rim, rotate from the weak side, switch when necessary and erase mistakes made by teammates.
Then you put Bam next to him. Bam has now made six All-Defensive teams, including Second Team last season. He finished the year with 3.6 Defensive Win Shares, 15th in the NBA, and remains one of the league’s most switchable big men. Normally, switching your center onto a guard creates another problem behind him: who’s protecting the rim? Miami’s answer can now be Giannis Antetokounmpo. That’s ridiculous.
And it doesn’t end with those two. Andrew Wiggins ranked in the 96th percentile as a perimeter isolation defender last season. He’s big, athletic and capable of taking difficult wing assignments, meaning Miami doesn’t necessarily need Giannis or Bam chasing the opponent’s best perimeter scorer around all night. Davion Mitchell gives them another aggressive point-of-attack defender who can pressure guards. Even if Klay Thompson isn’t the All-Defensive-level player he was during his prime in Golden State, he’s an experienced veteran who understands positioning and team defense.
Now give all of those pieces to Erik Spoelstra. Miami already switched 38% of the pick-and-rolls it defended last season, the third-highest rate in the NBA, and the Heat have led the league in zone frequency for four consecutive seasons. Bam can switch, Giannis can roam, Wiggins can guard the wing and Mitchell can pressure the ball while Spo constantly changes coverages depending on the opponent.
Miami finished only 14th in defensive rating last season, but I would be surprised if they’re anywhere near 14th again. This has the personnel to be one of the best defenses in basketball.
But What About the Spacing?
This is the first thing everyone is going to ask when looking at Giannis and Bam together. Neither is someone defenses fear from three. If Miami puts two non-shooting bigs on the floor together, opponents are going to try to shrink the court, pack the paint and make life difficult for Giannis when he attacks the basket.
That’s a legitimate concern, but look at what Miami has put around them. Bobby Portis shot 45.6% from three last season, Andrew Wiggins shot 41.4%, Tim Hardaway Jr. shot 40.7% and Klay Thompson shot 38.3% while making 202 threes. Klay isn’t prime Klay anymore, but defenses still aren’t going to willingly abandon one of the greatest shooters in NBA history. Hardaway made 224 threes, Wiggins made 138 and Portis made 135.
Miami has options. If Spoelstra puts Giannis on the floor surrounded by three or four shooters, good luck deciding how you’re going to defend it. Collapse into the paint and Miami has players capable of punishing you from outside. Stay attached to the shooters and you’re giving Giannis space to attack the basket. The Bam-Giannis minutes will require more creativity, but Miami has clearly constructed this roster knowing that shooting would be necessary around them.
Giannis Changes Everything
Sometimes basketball analysis doesn’t need to be complicated. Miami added Giannis Antetokounmpo. That alone completely changes what this team can become.
The Heat didn’t have a player remotely close to Giannis’ level last season. Now they have someone capable of taking over games, getting to the rim whenever he wants and forcing entire defenses to adjust around him. And unlike some situations where a superstar joins a roster that needs to be completely rebuilt around him, Miami already has useful pieces.
Bam doesn’t need the ball constantly to impact games. Wiggins can defend and shoot. Klay can space the floor. Portis provides shooting and rebounding. Hardaway provides another high-volume three-point threat. Mitchell can defend guards and help organize the offense. And Spoelstra gets to figure out how all of it fits together.
That’s a pretty good problem to have.
The Giannis-Bam Partnership Will Decide the Ceiling
This is the part I’m most interested in watching. Defensively, I have almost no concern about Giannis and Bam together. Offensively, that’s where things become interesting.
Teams are going to dare Bam to shoot. They’re going to try to clog Giannis’ driving lanes and force Miami to prove that it can consistently punish defenses for packing the paint. Spoelstra will need to find ways to avoid having both players simply standing around the lane. Use Bam as a screener, let Giannis handle the ball, run actions with Bam operating from the elbow, use Giannis as a screener occasionally instead of having him initiate everything and surround them with shooting.
There are ways to make this work, but that’s going to determine whether Miami is simply a very good Eastern Conference team or something considerably more dangerous.
Don’t Sleep on the Shooting
This might be the most underrated part of the roster. When you hear Giannis and Bam, the immediate reaction is going to be that Miami can’t shoot, but the Heat have surrounded them with players who absolutely can.
Portis shot 45.6%, Wiggins 41.4%, Hardaway 40.7% and Klay 38.3% from three last season. Those aren’t theoretical shooters. Those are players who actually knocked down threes at strong percentages, and Klay and Hardaway combined to make 426 threes.
There will absolutely be lineups where Miami’s spacing looks ugly. There will be nights where teams completely ignore certain players and dare the Heat to shoot. But Miami has enough shooting on this roster that Spoelstra should be able to construct lineups that give Giannis room to operate.
And that’s all Giannis needs.
Erik Spoelstra Might Be the Most Important Piece
The roster is talented, but it’s also weird. That’s exactly why having Erik Spoelstra matters so much.
There are coaches where I’d look at Giannis and Bam together and immediately worry about how the offense would function. With Spoelstra, I’m more interested than worried. He’s spent years adjusting his system around different personnel. Miami uses zone more than anyone. They’ll switch, change coverages, play big and play small. This roster gives him an enormous defensive toolbox.
The challenge will be finding the right offensive combinations. Which shooters work best next to Giannis and Bam? How often should Giannis play without Bam? How often should Bam anchor units without Giannis? Can Klay still handle a major role over an entire season? How much can Miami get out of Wiggins? Those are questions that might take months to answer, but the important thing is that Spoelstra has options.
What Should We Expect?
I expect Miami to be significantly better than last season, and I’m going further than simply predicting a playoff appearance. I have the Heat making the Eastern Conference Finals this season before ultimately falling to Philadelphia.
The defense is what excites me most. A Giannis-Bam frontcourt coached by Erik Spoelstra has the potential to be an absolute nightmare. Add Wiggins and Mitchell on the perimeter, and Miami has enough versatile defenders to create problems for virtually any offense in basketball. The offense is where the questions remain, especially how Giannis and Bam coexist when teams pack the paint, but Miami has surrounded them with enough shooting to give Spoelstra options.
And while I don’t have Miami winning the championship this season, I do expect Giannis to win a championship with the Heat before his time in Miami is over.
I think people have started to forget just how good Giannis Antetokounmpo actually is. Injuries have disrupted his last few postseason runs, and so much of the conversation surrounding him recently has been about whether he wanted to leave Milwaukee and where he would eventually end up. Somewhere along the way, the basketball almost became secondary.
It shouldn’t.
This is still Giannis Antetokounmpo. This is a two-time MVP, a Defensive Player of the Year and a Finals MVP. Most importantly, we’ve already seen what he can do when everything is on the line. Giannis scored 50 points in a championship-clinching Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
I’m not doubting that guy.
Doing so because the last few years haven’t gone perfectly would be foolish.
Now he gets Erik Spoelstra, Bam Adebayo, legitimate perimeter defenders and a roster filled with shooters. Miami might need time to figure everything out, and I don’t expect the championship to come immediately, but I absolutely believe Giannis will eventually get another ring in a Heat uniform.
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