We came into the Miami HEAT's preseason asking questions about who was going to fill the scoring void left by last year's veterans. So far, we've been offered a few ideas with hints at something more.
Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside were the no-brainers of the group. We knew Dragic would be running the show with the ball in his hands while Whiteside served as an offensive focal point with his finishing ability in the pick-and-roll. Those two have picked up where they left off down the stretch last season and appear prepared to be the high-usage players of the group (with a 49.5 combined usage rate).
There also has to be more, eventually, given that Dragic and Whiteside are, at least statistically, producing similarly to what they had before within the context of the team.
It's instructive to look at the extremes, at the team's best scoring stretches, to see if we can find what is working well when things are going well. Sometimes, and you'll often find this over the course of the regular season, the answer is simply that the same usual shots were falling in an unusual order. Then there are times when the entire process appears to reach a different level.
What we've seen in the last two games, with Miami posting scoring quarters of 39 and 38 points, falls somewhere in between. The team has been generating good looks, particularly from deep, for much of the preseason off its bread-and-butter Dragic-Whiteside pick-and-roll.
“Spacing,” Dragic says quickly in response to what's working well during these scoring bursts. “There's a huge difference from last year. We now have guys who can shoot from outside. We are putting pressure on the defense all time. When Whitey sets a good screen, if they help on me, Whitey is going to roll and he's going to be open. If they help off the shooters, the shooters are going to be open.”
But its when the ball produces opportunities a couple steps past those spread pick-and-roll looks, when a couple sharp passes produce penetration for Justise Winslow or Tyler Johnson, that you can begin to see the depth the offense could eventually reach on a consistent basis.
“That's one thing Spo has really emphasized, is to move the ball, snap it around, get it around,” Wayne Ellington said.
“With this type of team, we have so many guys, you don't know who is going to hurt you on any given night,” Derrick Williams said.
Ellington and Williams joined Dragic, Winslow and Whiteside in the starting lineup Tuesday night, but further testing will surely be required before Erik Spoelstra settles on an opening night group. Despite their early volume three-point shooting, the Brooklyn Nets weren't exactly putting loads of pressure on Miami, on either end of the floor, with Brook Lopez sitting. Yet, as is to be expected, the common thread in many of Miami's best offensive stretches has involved there being multiple floor spacers on the floor around the primary pick-and-roll.
And when the spacers have been spacing and the ball has been moving, the assists have piled up – 24 against Brooklyn, 21 against Minnesota and 27 against Washington.
“We feel like Spo put a great system in, and everybody is getting involved,” Dragic. “If we play pick-and-roll and we don't have nothing, just swing the ball to the other side and then next guy is going to play pick-and-roll. Basically we are attacking from one side, and the ball is going to the other side and from that we just make plays.”
This is a partial necessity, of course, given that Miami currently doesn't have a high-volume wing scorer (which doesn't preclude the likes of Winslow from developing into one), but every path toward survival can double as an opportunity to thrive. Being forced to move the ball to create open looks can push a team toward elevated levels of team play – the sort of team play that even teams replete with veteran scorers attempt to achieve.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Ellington said. “We have guys that can make shots, we have guys that can make plays. When everyone is doing their job, and it's clicking, we can be very dangerous. That's what it is. You have to respect us from all aspects.”
“When we share the ball, we're two different teams. When we share that ball, we get 25-plus assists, I think we can play with everybody,” Whiteside said.
It's a process toward, as we described earlier in training camp, filling usage in the aggregate. It can work, and work well, as the team has posted a healthy 106.2 offensive rating despite bouts with getting-to-know-you turnovers and Josh Richardson having yet to take the court.
But these flashes of everyone-is-a-threat are also common this time of year for any sort of roster. Teams come out of the training camp incubation chamber ready to whip the ball around and emulate the style of the San Antonio Spurs in those closing 2014 NBA Finals games. Then come bumps in the road, a tough back-to-back or a brief losing streak, and many trail away from those October principles. Ball movement can be one of the toughest things to sustain, week-to-week, in the entire league.
Whether Miami does or not, whether they can not only sustain but continue on to greater team-together scoring heights than we've seen so far, will have a significant impact on the course of this season. For now, three games into the exhibition time of year, flashes and moments and stretches are enough.
Besides, you ask these guys enough about offense and they all seem to come back to talking about defense anyways.
“I don't think offense is going to be a problem,” Dragic said.
