How Miami Heat Can BUILD CHAMPIONSHIP Level Defense | Lessons From Thunder, Pacers

How Miami Heat Can BUILD CHAMPIONSHIP Level Defense | Lessons From Thunder, Pacers

As the playoffs keep rolling along, could there be lessons learned from the top teams in the league that could shape Miami’s roster? When it comes to defense, is that the path to future playoff success? We’ll answer that and more on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg here with David Rmill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day for daily content on the Heat. Click that subscribe button on YouTube. Make sure you are following us on your favorite podcast app. Have a jam-packed show for you today. It’s another round of our playoff lessons. as we are looking at the playoffs, talking about what the Heat can apply to how they should approach their off season. We have a couple of defensive lessons that are standing out in these conference finals and then we’re going to get to how the Heat can go about building a championship level defense. But let’s start with a look at how the Thunder have dominated their series, but also how the Knicks swung a game in the fourth quarter against the Pacers the other night. And the thing that stands out to me, David, is ball pressure. And let’s start with the Thunder part of this because that’s obviously the the the one that stands out the most. You look at their roster and their personnel with Lou Dort, Alex Caruso, Quase Wallace, Shay Gildas Alexander as a two-way player, Jaylen Williams who is named to one of the all defensive teams. They just have guy after guy. They come at you in waves in terms of what they can apply in in terms of pressure defensively. And it reminds me a little bit like in the NFL you hear teams talk about defensively, hey, we need like a too high shell. We just we don’t want we want two safeties way back to make sure that you’re not getting those explosive plays. You’re not getting those 30, 40, 50 yard bombs. We’re going to give you some of the stuff in the intermediate middle area, but we’re not going to let you have these game-breaking plays against us. And obviously it’s a little bit different because the sports are different, but the Thunder very much have a defensive shell, right? Like you watch a Thunder game and they’ve got two, three defenders up close to the logo half court and they just make it impossible for you to get into your offense early. So by the time you’re even into your offense, it’s 15 14 seconds left on the shot clock. They’re making you go super wide on your actions. You can’t really just get into the paint, drive, and kick the way that you want to. when they’re locked in, they can change games and they do it with that initial shell and obviously helps that they have Hartenstein and Chad Homegrren behind it, but they do it with that initial shell and I think it’s the thing that has most it’s the one unit that has dominated the playoffs the most in my opinion. Yeah. I mean, but they’ve been doing it all season long. the the way that they can flip the switch so quickly and so powerfully is really what makes them stand out above any of the other teams left. I think you can give the nod to Indiana in terms of their ability to have an ignitable offense within the last few minutes of the game. We’ve seen that time and time again from that Pacers group, but when it comes the defensive pressure, no team has been able to do it so consistently so well as the Oklahoma City Thunder. And it’s just they swing games in a matter of minutes. You could be they could be down five or neck and neck and all of a sudden they’re up 15 to 20. I think they even did it against the Heat when they played. And this this is just the path that they have followed all season long and they have that incredible switch where they just pressure you and next thing you know it’s just shot after shot going in their favor because they’re able to ignite offense from defense very very quickly. And so you’re absolutely right like that that kind of ability to be able to just apply lock down pressure makes it so easy to generate points for them but also prevents another team from getting into those sets and just takes them completely out of whatever rhythm they want to get into. Most teams in the league go on runs with three-point shooting, right? They rely on the variance and it’s like, “Oh wow, we made three out of four threes. Suddenly we’re up nine.” You know, that’s kind of cool. But they’re very obviously relying on the variance part of that. The Thunder aren’t. The Thunder don’t go on runs based on three-point shooting. The Thunder go on runs by just leaning forward and saying, “We’re just not going to let you move the ball and we’re going to just take it from you and then we’re just scoring layoffs and dunks on the other end.” They control their runs in a way that no other team controls their runs because, you know, their defense powers it. We were talking um was it last week or something about uh Eric Spolstra’s sort of ideal team like his dream team and to have that kind of chaotic defense that’s able to be that disruptive and and truly fuel your offense in a way that only that 29 other teams dream of. I obviously that would be a dream for Eric Spolstra, but that’s the thing that stands out with the Thunder. And look, their defensive rating is even better in the playoffs than it was in the regular season. and it was the best defensive rating in the regular season by a mile and now it’s the best one in the playoffs by a mile. So what they’re doing is incredible and portal unprecedented. So when we’re talking about like team building models, I don’t even know if that’s a realistic thing, right? Like to look at that and be like, “Yeah, we can we can do that.” But I want to go back to the ball pressure part of it because you even saw a team like the Knicks far, very far from an elite defense, but they swung the fourth quarter of their game against the Pac. We’re recording this at at Tuesday on Tuesday night. So they, this was game three. They swung fourth quart the fourth quarter of game three by doing the fullcourt press and they had McBride in there because Jaylen Brunson was out of the game in the fourth quarter most of the time for foul trouble. They had McBride, Bridges, and Anobi back out there just applying that fullcourt press on the Pacers. What was and that helped swing that fourth quarter for them. But what was really interesting about that is they kind of stole that from the Pacers playbook, right? Because the Pacers are the team that it’s always applying that fullcourt pressure, wanting to get out and run, create those turnovers in the same way that the Thunder do. They don’t do it in the same way the Thunder do, but the idea is the same behind it. And they’ve got guys like Andrew Nimhard, Aaron Nesmith, TJ McConnell who are just flying around and trying to create that pressure. So, I think one of the the points in these conference finals that are swinging games is that ball pressure and when teams decide to apply that ball pressure and some teams like the Thunder can just do it all the time and Indiana can even do it like 90% of the time. The Knicks can do it I guess more uh you know more choosy kind of can pick their spots when they’re doing it. But either way, whenever teams do it, it is affecting games. No doubt. Um, it just it kind of shows I know this is the overall theme of today’s episode, but it just shows you what a great disparity there is between Miami’s roster and everything and every other team still left in these conference finals because Miami is so far removed from that ability and maybe they had it in spurts with Jimmy Butler and a different roster and things of that sort. I mean, when you had Jimmy and Bamp applying pressure and just many opportunities for Miami that way, it especially against the Cleveland Cavaliers, they just I I mean, I don’t know if we even saw that during the playin tournament where they had those moments where they were just locked in defensively and it was just it’s just not who what they’re capable of anymore. They just don’t have the personnel for that kind of pressure. DaVon Mitchell was the one guy who kind of switched it up a little bit and was able to apply some of that pressure. But to your point, like that’s not replacing Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent and these guys that have left the program over the last few years. And you saw Cleveland do it against Tyler Hero right in in the in the first round and how big of a deal that that and how much that limited Miami’s offense. So it’s not just the conference finals. I just think that that ability to lock in defensively and pressure the ball and you there’s been people have written about this about how when teams get into their offense early, their offensive uh efficiency goes up and in a league where you’re just trying to find any semblance of help defensively, anything you could do to limit some of these historic offenses because every single year somebody’s breaking the record for the most efficient offense in league history. Finding those things is really important. And if it is ball pressure in big stretches of games, then that’s what it’s going to be. I think the other part with the Thunder here is their ability to just not even to take that ball pressure and turn it into turnovers, right? Like if every if every player is just a better three-point shooter than they were 20 years ago. If every offense is just better, if offensive efficiency is off the charts every single year and improving every single year and players generally are just better shooters than they’ve ever been across the board, then it makes sense to say, “Well, we’re just not going to give you the shot.” Right? The possession battle has been has arguably never been more important than it is in today’s NBA. So, if you’re able to just steal the ball and create another shot and swing a possession that way, those things become even more valuable than they’ve ever been. And I think that’s why the Thunder have been so dominant is because they’re just they’re taking the ball away from opponents on one fifth of their possessions. It’s just insane. But again, I don’t know if that’s even rep replicable at this point. No, I I don’t I mean, you have to give credit to Sam Pressie. I don’t know why we don’t acknowledge him much more effectively in terms of his ability to scout and things that sort like I mean he’s done it pretty consistently and I know there was a a pretty not bleak necessarily but not a great time in between the Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook era and this current incarnation of the team but I mean it’s not like they were very poor for very long they’ve still been very good they still had Chris Paul they managed to make some really smart acquisitions there and I mean maybe it’s just the ability that you know they lost Kevin Durant Grant obviously in free agency, but to be able to rebuild from that as quickly as they have, I I don’t know any other team has been able to make a kind of recovery of losing a player after having won an MVP and maybe they had another one. I guess in terms of Russell Westbrook, but just his ability to build teams and to with a focus on two-way ability, I’d have to say it’s probably, you know, unparalleled around the league. I think he’s just got a very his scouting department, whoever it is that’s leading the charge there, has done an incredible job of being able to figure out the right pieces and be able to acquire them and to make some really incredible moves like even smaller moves that you again Hartinstein might be not a a move that really starts stands out. Caruso like they’re just on and on. There’s these players that have been acquired, not just a great draft picks within the top five, but I mean even Shay Hilddes Alexander was an absolute steal and we talked about that in terms of our comparison to Tyrese Hallebertton. It’s like can you find that next superstar who’s on the cusp and I mean you’re looking at those two teams specifically. Hallebertton wasn’t viewed anywhere near to the level where he is right now and he’s swinging things in terms for Indiana and look at who is he just won the MVP and that maybe those are two aberrations but it bears kind of noting it it’s I think it’s important worth noting that you can find those kind of players and maybe you don’t have to necessarily up as much as you might expect or tank right and and thunder didn’t really the Thunder did tank a little bit but also stock tank Yeah, it was a soft tank. They were sort of forced to because their star players wanted to leave. I mean, they did trade Paul George. They didn’t have to do it, but whatever. Um, the other important part there with SGA is that he’s a two-way player, right? He’s part of that defensive shell. He’s part of that awesome perimeter defense. He’s not their best defender, but he’s not he’s by no means a negative either on that end. Um, which kind of leads us to our next thing here. I’ve got another defensive lesson. This is more about what not to do. Unfortunately, the Heat might already be doing it. We’ll talk about it next here on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Door Dash. NBA fans, you know what time it is. It’s playoff season and that means big performances and even bigger rewards. Door Dash is bringing the heat with a slam dunk deal for Dash Pass members during the 2025 NBA playoffs. It’s called They Swoosh, You Score. Anytime a player drops 50 or more points in a playoff game, Dash Pass members score a free threepiece crispy tender combo from Wingstop the very next day. You just place an order of $20 or more and use the code wingstop50 at checkout and that combo is yours. Crispy, delicious, and totally free. Offer is valid noon to midnight the day after the game and terms do apply. So many different options. What’s your go-to move after an epic game or you ordering wings or reliving the highlights from that big game? Well, imagine being rewarded with free food just because someone went off for 50 points. So, here’s the play. Sign up for Dash Pass to unlock and uh this and more exclusive deals all season long. And when any player scores 50 points or more in a playoff game, Dash Pass members can grab a free threepiece crispy tender combo from Wingstop the very next day with $20 plus order and the code Wingstop 50. That’s Dash Pass. Your door to more savings, more flavor, and more ways to win. Terms do apply. Thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. We talked about a defensive shell. I want to talk about a defensive spine. So, um, you look at the Knicks and I think one of the reasons they’re down in this series is they they have a they have a roster problem just the way that they’re built. And it starts with Jaylen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns. Sure. When you’ve got Towns as your five and Brunson is your one, that creates like this defensive spine that’s just a little too flimsy. And as good as Muel Bridges and OJ and OBR, and I know that Tom Thibido made that big adjustment to start Mitchell Robinson at the five. So then you kind of move towns to that four spot and that, you know, they ended up winning the game. So maybe that’s just the answer going forward for them. But, you know, before that with Brunson and Towns, they were having a really hard time defending at the level that they needed to defend. They were they had a defensive rating with Brunson and Towns on the court together in the playoffs, a defensive rating of 117.3. That would have ranked 26th in the league in the regular season. Bad bottom five defense and somehow they’re in the conference finals. Um, so I don’t think that works and I think Tibs made the change to the starting lineup because of that. I still think that the Pacers are going to win the series. I don’t know about you. I I thought I thought the Knicks got kind of lucky in game three. We’ll see. You know, I mean, you could argue that the way that they gave up game one, I mean, they could just as easily be up two games to one. So, I guess that’s an argument in New York’s favor, but I just I I feel like momentum swung um in in Indiana’s favor early on, and I don’t know that the Knicks have that enough to get it back. Do you agree with the that I guess before we move any forward with this that they have a problem with that roster? Yes. Yeah. Um those are supposed to be, in my opinion, I think that the two lynch pins of your offense is the the one and the five. And if you can operate out of that, I think that gives you a good exoskeleton, if you will, like the outer shell of I mean, of of your defense. And then you you can kind of as long as you have a good point of attack defender and a solid backline defense in your center position, I think that makes all the difference in the world. Um, and and I think that’s where New York struggles, at least in terms of today’s NBA. I know that historically that hasn’t been the case. Probably thrive more with wing defenders. And it’s not like you don’t need those, but I think because you have to be able to account for the incredible shooting in today’s game, you have to be able to send somebody out there that can cause havoc, force turnovers, make things difficult before players get into a comfortable rhythm and just start letting it fly from 25, 30 feet out. And that’s just what we’re seeing. I mean, that’s it’s going to become the new normal. It’s not just Steph Curry. It’s not just Trey Young. You see it more and more where every team has somebody like I mean we saw Tyler do that pulling up not with great frequency but still feeling more than enough comfort and saying yeah I’m 27 28 feet away something you would never have expected 20 years ago and yet you see it with frequency throughout the league and so you have to be able to have somebody that can pick up that initial ball handler and make things difficult and should they get past them because the league is as as structured as it is now to generate points from the paint backline defense as well and and uh New York doesn’t have that, right? And and teams are so good at attacking mismatches now, too. I mean, if you watch a game from 15 years ago, it’s like, do they don’t even care about weak defenders on the court, right? Like, you know, guys like, no offense, like guys like Jason Williams were able to be in the league forever. Today, he would just he’d be played off the floor, right? Yeah. and um love Jay Will, but it’s it’s it’s that thing now that if you’ve got Brunson out there and Towns and I thought Carl look Carl Towns has mostly been bad defensively in this series. I think that there’s been too much criticism heaped on him and somehow Jaylen Brunson has escaped it even though he’s been equally as bad defensively and maybe it’s just an expectation thing because you’re like well Towns you’re a center you’re 7 feet tall you should be better defensively. Brunson is undersized, but he’s also escaped all of the criticism defensively. I think you could survive if you have one of Brunson or one of Towns on the court at the same time because you have one weak link defensively and you can cover up for it. New York’s problem is that they’re also that’s their best offense is the one five pick and roll between Brunson and Towns. So, you can’t really afford to have them off the court because then you can’t really score. We’re we’re nitpicking because the Knicks are obviously in the Eastern Conference Finals. I’m not sitting here telling you that the Knicks stink because they they’re obviously a very good basketball team. But if they have something that’s going to create a ceiling on how far this team can go and and limit them from prevent them from winning a championship, it’s going to be that. It’s going to be the fact that their two best players that have to be on the court in the most important moments are also their weakest defenders and the numbers bear it out. when it gets to Miami. My question is, are we already seeing that issue starting to develop or maybe perhaps even already here with Tyler Herro and Kel Wear? Because Tyler Herro, we know what his defensive uh weaknesses are. Like he’s just inherently never going to be an above average to a good defender. He’s undersized, short wingspan. No matter even if he’s in the right spot, players will be able to shoot over him. um he’s not strong enough to fight over the screens the way that somebody like Lou Dort can, right? Like that’s just not in his that’s not his bag. Uh Khal Weer is a rookie. So he wasn’t very good in the playoffs. I thought kind of similar to what I was talking about with Cat and Brunson. I thought Tyler Herro got way too much of the criticism against Cleveland. He wasn’t good defensively, but I thought he kind of was getting all the criticism and Kawir was getting none of the criticism even though Kawir was just as bad as that backline defender on those one five pick and rolls that Cleveland used to tear up Miami’s defense. So I guess my question to you David is can Tyler and Kell wear together be better defensively and I want that to be the key word here defensively before this gets taken out of context by certain people than Brunson and Towns are defensively. I think absolutely that’s the case, but it’s just you have to include the context of what we saw from Khil. This was a rookie season where he’s undersized, underweight, still trying to figure out the timing and things that sort. But I think there are enough lashes and if if you’re going to look to anything that might be responsible for the the misdirection of vitrial towards Tyler and not towards Khil, I think it’s the fact that he in his minutes could account for a shot a block shot or two. And that kind of statistic is says, well, at least I can see the defensive pressure that he’s capable of even though he’s getting again getting killed in pick and roll or getting killed in a one-on-one situation in the low post. like there are enough problems there where that are very tangible that he can kind of again trick you into thinking he’s a solid defender because he can block a shot or two. Shouldn’t take away from the fact that there were moments there where he could have certainly been better. But I think the potential is there and and that’s the thing is like when you look at what he was able to accomplish, you also have to consider that he’s just a rookie. And how often do you see rookie players have that kind of immediate impact defensively? I I think it’s never been seen in NBA history. And so if you’re going to make that comparison, I mean, we talked about where and I don’t think it’s way off pace even now. I mean, he’s a Wembi light. Very, very light, but still a Weby light. But at least that bodess well for what Miami is looking to improve on defensively because there is the potential there for him to put on weight to understand the timing a little bit more effectively to be able to understand the cadence and the footwork with which he needs to be able to make these adjustments defensively so he doesn’t get roasted in pick and roll situations. And I think there was even gradual improvement over the course of the season. And if he’s able to use those skills that he’ll learn along with him added bulk and the shot blocking experience that is already just baked into his length and size, I think you have the potential to be a really really good defender. And so I don’t see this situation playing out similarly to what we saw in New York. Do you? No, I agree with everything you said. Uh I remain very high on Kaware. I think defensive I I like everything that I’ve seen from him and you know me, I was low on him during the draft process. I didn’t have him on my board. I didn’t think that that he should draft him and I’m happily been proven wrong on that. He’s been awesome for Miami. Um, everything you hear from the coaching staff and the way that he’s learned and developed and all these things, again, it was rough, but he’s a rookie. It should be rough in the playoffs. If that was a welcome to the NBA moment, so be it. I think he’s going to be a lot better. The issue is how long does it take? We could say that we know he’s going to get better. We don’t know when. Yeah. And I’m reminded a lot about what Eric Spolster talked about at the end of the season and talking about, hey, you know, we’ve got 20, 21, 22 year olds who are asking to do things and kind of mature at a level and and kind of play like 26 and 27 and 28 year olds. They can’t just pop these guys into a time machine, you know? Like this isn’t an easy bake oven. Like you can’t just do it. Like it’s going to take them until like you start playing like a 26, a 27, and a 28-y old when you’re 26, 27, and 28 years old. And by then, Talahir and Bam Adabio like they’re not going to they’re they’re ready to compete for championships right now, right? Bam’s already played in two NBA finals. He’s not it doesn’t make sense to wait on these guys. So unless you think that Keller could be that level of a defender by the playoffs next year, doesn’t have to be at the start of the season, but by the play one more regular season of seasoning. Do you think that he could be at the level he needs to be defensively by the playoffs next year? That to me would be and you and I don’t have that answer, but and and nobody has that answer, but it’s I think something that the Heat’s front office and coaching staff has to figure out. Not in terms of whether or not we’re going to trade Kawware or whatever it is, but do we need more help at the center spot? Do we need to add a veteran? Do we need to do something like that just to make sure that we have the kind of reinforcements that we need should we end up in the playoffs and needing a defensive stop? Or maybe just our best lineups are going to be BAM at the five anyway and doesn’t really matter. But if that’s the case, then we got to make sure that we have enough stuff around BAM that we could still be elite defensively because that also wasn’t necessarily the case this past year. So, um, that leads us to our next part here. How can the Heat build a championship level defense? We’ll talk about that next here on Locked on Heat. All right, so this is the part that everybody really wants to know. All right, really cool, great analysis on the NBA playoff, guys. What does it mean for the Miami Heat? This is what it means. If you’re looking at how the Heat can construct a championship level defense, I think we’ve established a couple of things based on off our off our playoff lessons here. You got to be able to pressure the ball and you got to so you need a a strong defensive shell, but you also need a strong defensive spine. And your five pick and roll interference has to be pretty strong, right? Like you can’t just make it that easy for opponents to pick on your weak defenders and get to their their pet actions whenever they want. So you need a strong defensive shell and you need a strong defensive spine. My question to you, David, is who on the Heats roster currently fits sort of that build. Well, I think there’s only one name really. Uh that’s Bam. Oh. Um, yeah, I think Bam obviously. Uh, other than that, I think there’s the potential for wear to reach that point. I I I do and I know that you just said that you you agree with that as well. Are we including DaVon Mitchell in this? He’s somebody that you would want to bring back for sure. I think so. Um, but yeah, that it doesn’t leave you a lot of options. And even in Mitchell’s case, I I think as feisty a defender as he is and a really solid one and he showed some great flashes there, especially with more in the um just being able to poke the ball free and stuff like that. In pick and roll, I still think that there might be a problem there. um moving forward. But in one-on-one situations, I trust his quickness, which I think was an underrated thing that I we didn’t really see as often, but um his ability to just generate those turnovers quickly, poke the ball, and ignite offense. That was a a very necessary boost to an anemic Miami offense. And so that’s certainly something that you want to be able to continue to incorporate. But he is a little undersized. as strong as he might be as an individual defender, I still think that there might be problems if he gets that switch. I’d have to go back and look because I I’m trying to think back, but I I I recall seeing a lot of possessions there where he wasn’t necessarily so effective in that pick and roll situation. So, he might not be the ideal solution, but he’s a damn good one. Yeah. I mean, the difference between him and somebody like again like Lou Dort is they’re both about the same size, but we just want the opportunity to rave about Lou Dort. We I love Lou Dort. Hey, there’s some speculation that the Thunder might have to trade them because they’ve got some extensions potentially kicking in here. You’d throw everybody in there for Oh my god. We know that Pie and Riley all the picks. We know Pressie and Riley have a relationship. So that’s that bodess well for you and your dream of getting L Dort. Um but the difference between somebody like Mitchell and Dort, even though they’re about the same height, is that Dort’s got the super long wingspan. He’s like a 69 wingspan. Mitchell is about an even wingspan. I mean, he’s like 6’4 with a 6’4 65 wingspan. So, it’s not quite the same to your point, David, but I still think that he’s very valuable as a point of attack defender who can give you that full who has that energy to be that fullourt press guy and has shown you on the court he can limit some of the best ball handlers in the NBA. Um, you know, he’s got that off nickname for a reason, not just because it’s awesome, but I I would put Heywood Highmith in this category, too. I think he fits even if he’s he can’t be your top defender, but he fits like in a in a rotation of good defenders. Heismith’s part of it. Um we I think Pella Larson can get there. I think he’s uniquely strong and shows a lot of fight, but he’s got to cut down on the fouls, but he’s another one of those projects who I think could be a strong rotation defender. But he’s not going to be part of your top, you know, defensive crew. He’s he’s sort of the B team, but you know that he fits. I guess the big question is does Tyler Hero fit and what does that mean? And you know, I’m not just because you want to be strong defensively. We talked about like the wink link stuff and everything. If he’s your one weak wink uh weak link, you could survive. You just can’t have several of them, right? Um but the other thing I like about Tyler Herro is we’ve talked about this before a lot, his ability to create steals and jump passing lanes. I think that’s really important. And if you had a stronger defensive infrastructure around him, he could get more aggressive in doing those things. And I think all of a sudden you could see Tallah average two steals a game. I don’t think that that would be crazy, but he would have to have a really strong defensive infrastructure around him or something close to two steals a game at least, but um you know, I think there it’s a fair question. And then the other part too is if you’re going to go after a superstar, that superstar, if you’re not trading Tyler Hiro in that deal, has to be a strong defender because you can’t have two bad defenders on the court plus potentially Khal Wear who is still in the beginning stages of his development on that end. So I just think from a team building process, those are the things you got to think about. But even more so though, like I I don’t know that Miami can afford, as much as they might like to, I don’t know that they can afford to lean too much into this idea of building a top tier defense, at least not with this current iteration of the roster. It definitely needs some revamping. I know we keep coming back to the same point, but where are they going to generate offense from? Even if you were able to just have this this shell and spine that we’re talking about here, I mean, Haywood Heismith, he can’t play significant minutes. like you’re just not going to get enough scoring from that position and you don’t I mean you’re not gonna get it from Bam. You’re not gonna get it from where at this stage you’re not gonna get it from DaVon Mitchell. So I mean maybe you could build a top tier defense but what makes Oklahoma City and Indiana stand out and even again in moments New York is their two-way ability. You know normally that phrase is used to describe oh they can defend as well as score. In Miami’s case it’s can they score as well as defend and they don’t have players like that. There is nobody on that roster who can score and it’s what it’s what makes Giannis so compelling, right? I mean, he’s an MVP who has a defensive player of the year award. It’s why he’s and you’ve heard Mark Stein already reporting like we have no clarification on whether or not Giannis is going to ask out of Milwaukee, but you’ve got every team in the league starting to prepare their Giannis packages just in case word comes across the the line here. Yep, we’re open for business. And at that point that and he’s the sort of player that you would just trade whatever it is for to go get that guy because you know you’re not giving up anything defensively. You’re getting a former defensive player of the year there and you’re getting somebody who can average 30 points per game on offense. And even if there’s concerns with the floor spacing, all that stuff, you’re just like, “Well, the hell with all that stuff, this guy’s an elite two-way player. We’ll figure the rest out later.” And that’s the right approach. So, um, yeah, it’s why somebody like that. So, you’re you’re absolutely right. Right. It’s everything’s there. There’s a balance to all of it. You might not be able to be that. That’s why I was kind of talking about Oklahoma City is a model that isn’t even worth trying to to repeat because it just feels so impossible, right? So, but maybe there’s something in in Indiana that feels a little bit more replicable where yeah, you’re not elite defensively, but you can turn it on and you got the things that you need to do the things that you need in terms of the ball pressure and the situational defense. And I think like the Pacers, I trust when their best five players are out there, I trust them to get a stop at the end of the fourth quarter, right? like it’s their bench isn’t that great defensively and that drives the overall defensive rating down. But Nesmith, Nemhard, Turner, Seakkum, those guys are awesome defenders and they and they have a weak link in Hallebertton at the on the perimeter. Yeah. And and look, I mean, everybody loves this Indiana team because they’ve come from out of nowhere, although I mean they were there last year as well, but true. I mean, Miami was kind of in the same model, right? I mean, isn’t that what they they did for a number of seasons during Jimmy’s tenure here is that they just continue to show out and and flip that switch. Maybe they wouldn’t play 48 minutes. And maybe it helps again to have an elite defender, one of the best defenders in BMA playing at a high level. Um, Turner is not in that category. He’s he’s a solid defender. He’s capable. Um, I I I like Turner as a as a kind of a the anchor to your defense, but you need certainly a lot of help uh along the perimeter because he’s not really important for them. Seakum is that that’s it. That is a key right there. Uh he he does make things a lot what an underrated move there. He I I you know we talked about that in the team building aspect but you know they they got they got an allNBA player in Siakum that was basically just discarded by Toronto because he didn’t fit their plans there anymore and they didn’t want to pay him. Um, but that was and look at look I mean that’s where it is like you look at OG and enemy too in New York and Pascal in Indiana. Miami has to be able to circle the skies like Vultures and Dur. I mean, that was that was the big thing, right? They they wouldn’t pounce on these guys because they were so they were so hung up on getting a star like Damen Lillard or Kevin Durant or whoever it was that they sort of just o overlooked the OG Anobies who went for Emanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett. You’re just like what? And and then they end up getting one of the best wing defenders in the league because of it. The Heat are as much as we like people like Davon Mitchell and Hwood Height, they don’t have an elite elite elite defensive player of the year caliber, all NBA or all defensive wing defender. They have a couple of good ones, but they don’t have that elite one. And I just tell Heat fans like, “Watch these playoffs. Watch it when when Nmith and Anobi and Lou Dort and these guys are locked in. Look at what a difference it even Jay McDaniels on Minnesota. Look at what a difference it makes when those guys are really locked in like the Heat don’t outside of BA don’t have a defender who even sniffs that area and all these teams that are left in the playoffs have multiples of those guys multiple guys who can really turn it up a notch defensively. So, you know, I I think maybe at the end of the day the Heat obviously we know that they need to do something offensively. They got to get out of the bottom 10 in offensive rating. They got to get an elite score. They have to add a true number one option. They have to. But they probably also have to add another alldefensive caliber player. And maybe that player is the is one player, maybe that player is two players, whatever it is, but it feels like they need to do both things somehow this offseason, which again, uh, easier said than done. Yeah. Uh, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Lockdown NBA big board show. NBA draft expert Raphael Barlo reacts to every workout, interview, and rumor leading up to the NBA draft. Find Locked on NBA Big Board on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Can the Miami Heat Build a Championship Defense? Explore the defensive prowess of the Oklahoma City Thunder as they set the standard for defense in the NBA playoffs. Discover how these strategies could transform the Miami Heat’s roster into a defensive powerhouse.

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss the Thunder’s ability to apply intense ball pressure to swing games and how the Knicks, Timberwolves and Pacers do just enough of the same thing to make the conference finals. The conversation shifts to the Heat’s current defensive capabilities, focusing on current players’ roles and potential improvements.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro: Defensive lessons from NBA playoffs
5:02 Thunder’s dominant defensive pressure
14:56 Knicks’ defensive spine issues
19:23 Can Hero and Ware improve defensively?
24:04 Building a championship-level Heat defense
29:14 Balancing defense and offense for Miami

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