Who should close for the Miami Heat? | Five on the Floor

Who should close for the Miami Heat? | Five on the Floor

Welcome to the latest episode of Five on the Floor on the Five Reason Sports Network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app on Apple. Recommend Apple podcast on Android. We recommend Spotify. Also check out off the floor. That’s our Discord server. Two bucks 99 per month. That’s where you go for the most heat information and conversation. 10 different channels. Everything good from Twitter. We put there lots of new signups lately. So, we appreciate that. Our community is getting bigger. Eventually, you’re not going to want to go anywhere else. Pay the $299. You can get your money. Well, you can’t get your money back for that, but you can cancel at any time if you don’t want to continue. Just, you know, that’s, you know, the way these subscriptions work. Uh, off the floor, the most heat anywhere. Also, check out Prize Pix. That’s our fantasy sponsor. Use code 5 FIVE right now. You can play WNBA. You can also play MLB and more. Go to prizepix.com, the Google Play Store, or the Apple App Store. Download Prize Pix, put in the code 5 FIV, play your five bucks, and they give you 50. It’s a pretty good deal. 10 to1. prizepix.com the official fantasy sponsor of the five reasons sports network. And now today’s episode [Music] [Applause] luxurious heat nation. Yeah. Mercy down the gang. Y on the floor ride for my dogs. You can check the score. Hustle hard. [Music] Y’all seen the stop with one hand and Pat trust. It’s have the guts. We’re here to bring the heat. Y’all can hang it up. Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Freddy Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. All right, welcome back to Five on the Floor. Here’s today’s floor plan. I’m Ethan Skolnick. You can follow me, Ethan Joling again at Five Reason Sports and one of our newer contributors here at the Five Reason Sports Network. You’re part of our heat group, Coach Gio. You can follow me at Co Edge Geo Valdez on Twitter. Also, Coach Gio on Instagram. Okay, this topic, you threw this one at me a little bit ago. This is one Brady’s going to be upset at me for not doing with him. So, we got to do this right. I’m sure he’s going to want to do it again. Uh, we’re going to get into the possible closing lineups for the Miami Heat. It’s a good thing that we didn’t hit this topic, I don’t know, a month ago cuz this looked a lot different. Obviously, one guy they picked up is probably going to be in those closing lineups, but not just the closing lineup. We’re also going to get into sort of what the pecking order should be uh with those groups. Now, I’ll just start here. Whenever I’ve talked to folks at Inside the Heat about about roster construction, they always say that we make too much of the starting lineup. okay, that the starting lineup is is the, you know, that it’s a sexy thing to talk about and all the rest of this, who starts the game, but that really what they’re trying to accomplish is give Eric Spolstra about seven players he feels he can close with and so that he can put those lineup combinations together uh as he goes forward and may may change over the course of the year, but he wants to have some flexibility in terms of offense and defense, be able to play the hot hand, but also have a couple guys they can trust. Now, let’s just put it this way. Uh, not a great job was done with this last year. Now, some of this was the fact that the closer of the past few years, Jimmy Butler was at first disinterested and then completely disengaged and then dismissed. So, that wasn’t an option anymore. And a lot of it fell to Tyler Herro. The numbers in clutch situations last year for the team in general were pretty awful. um a couple years ago those numbers were great and it was mostly based on a really strong defense, a top five clutch defense and the ability for Jimmy to get to the line. That that’s those are really the two things that differentiated the Heat. They closed with defense and at the free throw line. Uh obviously Bam being a big part of that defense. Uh last year they were not able to do that. They did not have players who could get to the line consistently and they didn’t defend well enough down the stretch. And as we know also, Tyler struggled mightily in clutch situations. As good as his overall numbers were, his clutch numbers were not good. And he he acknowledged this. I give Tyler credit for this after the season. He said that the biggest thing I had to learn was how hard it is to close games. So, let’s put it this way. Tyler is going to be in your closing lineup. But before we go forward with the rest of that closing lineup, what does he need to do differently? So, I don’t want to say that that there’s not much of a higher ceiling he can get to because I think that there’s small incremental progress that he can have that can elevate his game. Uh, but if you look at when he’s been most effective in clutch situations, it’s kind of been when he’s been off ball when there there’s been a primary playmaker that kind of drew attention and then Tyler had guys scrambling. uh he’s had his moments, you know, where I think OKC a few seasons ago, Orlando this past season where he’s been able to, you know, lead the team and and come back, but his numbers overall weren’t great. I I think one of the things that he can get to and you alluded to it earlier is just getting to the line. Uh being able to control the pace of the game a little bit better because there was a few moments where we can all refer to that. I think it was against Chicago in one of the last regular season games where he had he had a layup and he just decided to pull up from three. I think that was a Chicago game. Like just better decisions. But I I would I would probably say getting to the free throw line when whenever there’s those 130 runs that Miami just needs a relief bucket and you can’t get it. Just getting to the line and slowing the pace of the game down a little bit. That’s probably where I would say he can improve. I think that’s where he needs to improve for them. I don’t know if there’s a lot of room for him to actually do that. He got a little bit better, right? I mean, Brad Brady and Alex and I, we’ve all discussed this quite a bit. Like, I I just think the physical limitations play in there that he just doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from the officials even when he attacks the contact. He He’s not He’s not a flopper. Um he’s also not someone who attacks hard to the rim a lot. He’ll get into that floater. You’re not going to get a lot of calls on the floater. And it’s I I just I never see I don’t see the officials ever making him a six plus free throw attempt guy uh or anything along which is a shame because he shoots it really well from the line and he shoots it well in clutch situations too. So that’s not the problem. The problem is just getting there enough. All right. But we’re going to assume he’s going to be there. We’re also going to assume that Bam is going to be there. I don’t think there’s anything that would take Bam off the floor in those situations. Defense would completely collapse. Uh, what do you want to see Bam do differently down the stretch of games? Well, I just want to see him get the ball more. It feels like I’m just tired of seeing and and there was this was a common theme last season where he’d have a slow first half. Third quarter, it’s as if Spo made it adamant to the team, hey, we’re going to feed Bam. And you see Bam come out in the third quarter a little bit more aggressive. Then in the fourth quarter, DHO’s setting screens for other guys, getting Tyler open, getting even Kyle Anderson sometimes just getting more opportunities at the b at the basket than than Bam was. If you look at the the the clutch stats, he was actually the most efficient by far on the entire roster in terms of volume, right? Uh I I don’t have the the stats in front of me, but I’m pretty sure it was over 45% from the field in clutch situations. Uh, I would just like to see him more aggressive because more often than not, he’s going to have an advantage. It doesn’t mean that he has to shoot every time, but we’ve seen they’re usually going to play a center on Bam. Even when Khloe Wear was was starting or he was in the lineup, they’re usually going to place uh their their their center on Bam. So, Bam’s going to have an advantage whether that leads to a bucket or a foul or an assist driving kick. I think that is is an area where he can improve. Kyle uh Lowry was great at that where Bam would just kind of pass it back to him and Kyle’s like nobody buddy you’re gonna go for this and that that’s when B Kyle would literally Kyle would literally clear out like just I’m not even an option for you go right like you’re not it you know it’s like I’ll just give you an example I know you have kids also it’s like when my daughter okay if I want her to go learn how to pay for something I you know give her the few bucks and then I get out of the way you don’t look back at me for help about how to do this. And that’s kind of what Kyle did with him. Uh, in other words, he he ba he wasn’t going to baby him, but he kind of babyed him by doing that. But they they haven’t really had a point. And I know we all had issues with Kyle. A lot of us did. Uh, but he’s really the last point guard they’ve had, right? With the credibility to do that. Yeah. So, I I’m I’m I’m with you on a lot of that. Uh, I know some of this is out of his control. Again, this is a big Alex topic that, you know, suppose sometimes doesn’t help him in those situations. his team forgets him a little bit. There’s also times I think he puts it upon himself uh or he doesn’t put it upon himself. We’ve seen him take over in games that say Jimmy wasn’t playing. I remember a game against Washington years ago where Jimmy was out. I think Kyle was out, somebody else was out and Bam just kind of took over. There seems to be a switch that needs to go off with him that he’s going to attack. I I want to see him attack mismatches more down the stretch of games. And I I know people are there, you know, people are going and, you know, leaning into the three and all that sort of stuff. No, put the ball on the deck. I know I know that sometimes he puts it, you know, it’s a little too low. There’s, you know, he it’s easy to strip if he’s down in the post. I I want to see if he if he gets the ball in the mid post and he’s got a defender on him that does not have his foot speed. Just go just go try to attack. Sometimes you’ll see him, he kind of flails his arms up as as he’s, you know, he’s at the basket. He’ll get he’ll get the two shots. But I want to see them use him. Now, one of the things that they can’t he can’t do this year, not that Duncan was a regular closer for him, but over with him, but over the past few years, he did close with him some and they would go to that dribble handoff and that’s not going to be necessarily an option uh with some of these other players. All right, I have good news on the closing front because there’s a third player I think is going to close and I people say I don’t prepare. I didn’t. Uh but while you were speaking and I was listening to you, I actually quickly looked this up on the stats site. So, we’re going to get to this on the other side. Norm Powell was really good in clutch situations last year. So, I want to see I want to see where you go with this. I didn’t know what I was going to get, but you’re going to like this. All right. You’re going to like this, too. If you’re looking for a house in South Florida, reach out to our friends Javier and Amanda at the Real Estate Shop. You can find them at the Real Estate Shop. That’s two P’s and an E. The real estate shopl.com. That’s real estate fl.com. Or the Fort Lauderdale Realtor on Instagram. you’re looking to buy or sell your house in a complicated housing market. We know interest rates uh have spiked up a little bit, then they go down, then they spike back up. There’s a lot more inventory in South Florida than there was before. So, this will allow you to sift through it and make the right choice for your family. And they have open houses pretty much every weekend day um in South Florida, uh mostly in Broward County, uh mostly in Pine, Sunrise, Weston, uh all of those areas, as well as Fort Lauderdale. So check them out. Real estate shopfl.com or the Fort Ler Realtor on Instagram. All right. Before I give you these numbers, was Norm Powell going to be a closer for you? Yes. Okay. Well, well, you would be correct. Um, I’m looking at the Clippers last year. So, Norm played in 24 clutch games. He led the team in scoring in the clutch at 3.2 points in clutch situations. That is a little better than Harden. Would you be stunned to know that James Harden, one of the most anti-lutch players in NBA history, shot 37% in clutch situations, 25% from three. I’m going to repeat that. 37% 25% from three. Norm Powell shot 54% 50% from three. Now, we are not talking about a huge sample size. Um cuz basically, you know, he took I’m looking at this right now 6 took about 16 threes, but he made half of them. He shot 88% from the line and he was a plus 1.0. By the way, uh this is a plus.1 overall. So, I guess he would be a plus 24 over the 24 games that he the clutch situation. For those who don’t know, clutch situations are game is separated by five or fewer points in the final five minutes. Okay? So, anything that trips into that becomes a clutch situation. Um, I’ll give you one more stat on clutch situations last year. Kawawaii only played 14 uh clutch games because I guess he missed a lot of time. He shot 32% in those situations. 14% from three. The best clutch player on the Clippers last year was Norm Powell. Does that make you consider how the Heat might use him there? Can he be their closer? No, I don’t think he’s going to be their closer, per se. Uh, you mentioned James Harden and you mentioned Kawhai. Um, I didn’t watch a lot of their games, but more often than not, a lot of what Norm got was created by those two guys, specifically James Harden. um in the pick and roll situations where he’d maybe draw two, whatever the case was. Now, one thing I do really like about Norm and when they made this deal, first off, I was extremely excited because I’ I’ve been a fan of Norman Powell for many years, but I was extremely excited because he fits so well with this team. His defense has slipped a little bit. He’s about to be 32. He’s not the same caliber defender that he was in his earlier years, but under under Spo and under this new system and on the contract year, he’s you better believe he’s going to play better defensively. But also, and hear me out people, cuz these these uh Twitter ex, you know, stands come after me. My favorite player all time is D. Wade, okay? I’m not com I’m not saying that he’s going to be DWade, but Miami hasn’t had a slasher that can come off the way this guy comes off of screens since D. Dwight was in was in uh in the heat jersey. If you watch tape, and he modeled his game after DW. I’m not saying he’s going to give the same production. He’s probably going to give you anywhere from 17 to 20 points per game this season. But if you watch how he gets a lot of his shots, he’s coming off screens like a bat out of hell. He’s still athletic enough to get to the cup. He can still finish over guys even though he’s 6’3. He has a nice wingspan. He’s going to be very effective if you keep in mind that Tyler is still the primary creator on this team. And you still have Bam. um who I who I do believe should be getting the second most shot opportunities, but just based off of how they played last year, I think Norm is probably the second leading scoreer this year on the team. I do too. Yeah, I think that’s how it’s going to pan out. So, I do see this being a very symbiotic relationship. I do think he’s Miami is going to get a lot out of him maybe for the next, you know, we’ll see how he plays this year. Maybe he comes back on a on a friendly deal. But, um I I do feel like he will be one of the closers at the end of the game. All right. So, let’s get to number four here. Uh, as long as Andrew Wiggins is still here, he’s closing, right? Yes. And also, he’s probably other than DaVon, which we’ll get to. Other than DaVon, he’s probably going to be the best point of attack defender from guys that are eligible to close, not including Bam, obviously, because Bam’s going to have to guard up, right? Okay. So, I I’m with you. I I don’t see any way that he doesn’t. Uh, I know that the playoffs were disastrous, not just for him, by the way, but for a lot of players, although he completely no-showed. Uh, I don’t think his defense was at the level that we expected or that he got he was at Golden State. I’m going to attribute a little of that to sort of the discomfort with a new situation being traded mid-season. Doesn’t seem like he ever really completely fit in. Then he hurt the ankle. He got hurt again. Um, so he missed some time, which is problematic, by the way, because one of the reasons they got rid of Jimmy. Yeah. Was they had issues with Jimmy. Uh, so he’s got to be more available. But if he’s there, Spo’s going to close with him. I I think that the only other option I could see there is to close with Haywood at times if Wiggins is really struggling. I I think there are times where we’ve seen Spo if a lineup gets him back into the game. Yeah, this has been a trend of his basically since 2008. If a lineup gets him back in the game, he does not take the lineup out. Even if you go four overtimes and they are panting on the floor, he is not taking the lineup out. So, I I can see there being some games where Wiggins just doesn’t have it and Haywood is providing a spark. He’s the only one I can really see on this roster who would fill that role if he’s defending at a high level of of maybe staying in the game towards the end. He has closed a lot of games in the past, but I think Wiggins is the primary guy. And I also think it’s it’s on the offensive end. It’s to give I think he can get to the line in some of those situations. Not as a primary uh player in the action, but as a secondary action ball swings and he creates something and he does have the ability to hit mid mid-range shot, which sometimes we know in clutch situations you need more of that because teams are taking away other things. So I I’m with you on Wiggins. Um Go ahead. One quick thing about Wiggins that that people don’t understand in addition to the ankle, I believe there was a hamstring issue. There was hamstring like we see it in the NFL. Like right now I’m in a fantasy football league and everybody’s tweaking out about uh Justin Jefferson having a ham hamstring strain and how he’s dropping. Listen, this impacts NBA players as well. Um we’ve seen it how Chris Paul suffered it in a game in a seven game series against Golden State when he was in Houston. like these things are impactful and for a guy that is so reliant on on um his game in terms of athleticism because Wigs is a very athletic guy that’s going to impact him having a guard Donovan Mitchell. So these are things that people have to take into account coming into this season and also him probably being the fourth option now. It’ll unleash a little bit of a better version defensively. Okay, so we are in agreement on those four. Um who’s the fifth? All right. So, this is where things get tricky. And I think the fifth will be situational. Uh I don’t think K for the the Khilware uh stands. I don’t think it will be him this season. I don’t think it will either. Better chance to start that. Better chance to start than to close. Correct. Correct. Now, I do think it’s going to be a tossup depending on the matchup. If if they’re playing a Trey Young type, you’re going to see DaVon out there. If it’s not against, you know, a team like that, they’re probably gonna have uh Nico is what who I think would be the the fifth the fifth guy to close. That’s Do you trust That’s who I want to see in a lot of situations. Uh, I think he’s gonna lean towards DaVon, which uh, and I think they’re gonna end up playing small, which is going to frustrate fans. Uh, as much as they like DaVon because they’re going to say, well, Norm’s playing the three, Wiggins is playing the four, supposed Bam’s playing the five. You’re doing that small ball stuff. And every time they give up a defensive rebound, that’s all we’re going to hear the next day. Even though even though their best rebounding season in the last six was with PJ Tucker at 6’5 playing the four and Bam playing the five because PJ just knew how to box out. Okay. And and that right so and and he had acorage as they say and that that made up for a lot of things and that’s one of the reasons they had one of the you know their most successful regular season that they’ve had since the big three. I I I think he’s going to lean towards DaVon as long if DaVon is making shots right. if DaVon is making shots and and defensively that does take the pressure off Tyler because you have DaVon in there, you have Wiggins in there. Uh and and then so essentially, you know, Norm’s going to have to probably guard up. Dam’s going to have to guard up, which is what he’s typically done. Now, the Yovic thing, I I know you, I a lot of us are just fans of Nico’s sort of versatility, his game, you know, the way he sees the floor. I do think that unlocks some things for them offensively late in games. But to me, if he’s going to be in there at the end, one, he he can’t make the silly play. Like sometimes he gets a little over excited. I this the turnover stuff has got to he he can’t have any of that. He can’t try to do too much in those situations. But I I think the single biggest thing is is just if if he can make open spot up shots. If he can make open spot up shots, particularly from three, which he’s shown the ability to do, then I think there are then spell may lean into him a little more. I think they’re upside is higher with Nico, but I think it’s ultimately I don’t think it’s going to be where most times and I I but I think ultimately it’s going to be DaVon. I so I would agree with you and I think there’s I think those four are locked in but I do think the fifth is going to be situational because of what you mentioned like DaVon just got the contract. um he’s their best point of attack defender, but this is the thing with Nico that people I know his stats are not screaming off the pages, but he he does things that that this team needs, right? You can literally, and I’m not saying he’s a point guard, but you can literally initiate the offense with him so that you have Tyler and Norm coming off screens at 100 miles per hour. Then you have the synergy that he has with Bam. I mean, Wiggins could be the guy spotting up who’s actually a better spot up shooter anyways than than Nico is. Uh, and then also, if you have, let’s say you’re playing against a team that’s wants to go double big, you can have Bam guard the center and Nico could guard the the forward. So, I think there’s a lot of potential there. There’s a wild card in there that I’m gonna just throw in there. I I got one for you, too. We have the same one. It’s the same. I guarantee it’s the same one. It’s Larson. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Not Hawkeyes. It’s Larson. Right. No. Larson. Yes. Yeah. wh why? Because I that that that’s my obvious one also, especially after watching him in summer league. The reason why is because he’s the player that best personifies the heart and and soul of this team of of what Miami Heat culture is. I think he’s like he’s going to be the first one to dive on a loose ball. He’s going to be the one that’s going to sacrifice. He’s the one that doesn’t need the touches. He’ll do the he’ll cut off, you know, back door cut, ghost cuts. He’ll do all the dirty work that nobody else is willing to do. Yep. And I think them putting him in situations in summer league to have the ball on his hands more and see if he could draw contact, get to the line, it it strikes me that if you put him out there, plus he gives you a little bit more size than DaVon. So I feel like if if he gets comfortable with Tyler and Norm, I can see them running out the three of them and Larson can cover can guard up then. Norm doesn’t necessarily have to even though he has the strength to do it. I think Larson is the wild card here. In fact, I I think there’s a I say he’s got a better chance to close games than Nico does a lot because I think Spo is going to I think I think where where Yoic if Yovic doesn’t start if he starts wear gives you where the carrot provided that where earns it during Cam. I think there’s going to be pockets of the game that are like Nico pockets like where where Yoic is out there with hero and they’re playing loose. Okay. and and they try to get some stuff in transition and they run offense through him, but ultimately you’re right. I I think that Spolstra is going to go to Larson and say, “I I know I’m getting 100 miles an hour.” Okay. Yeah. And and and the only concern there is he was turnover prone in summer league, but the ball won’t be in his hands that much. So, but it was just like that they wanted to give him a look with it and it reminded me very much even though he’s a different player because he’s not a shooter. Strus came in as a shooter. It reminded me of what they did with Strus in summer league where they made Strus primary initiator during summer league. So he had those reps and you could see the trust building in spo playing him and then you played him late in games and then he played him the whole fourth quarters and he didn’t play. And Stru and Larson have a very similar basketball mentality. Max was always on the floor. Uh a little better athlete I think than Pella is, but like ju just just generally that uh he embodied some of that. So, I’m with you. I I think the four or set I would I would rank it terms of what he’s going to do. I think DaVon, Larson, Yoic, where Hawk is, but I think you and I can agree that that what would probably benefit this team the most is having Nico be that fifth guy. Yes. Yes. I I I the thing that would benefit this team the most of anything is is Nico becoming one of their core best players this year. Yeah. Like somebody that he is playing 30 to 32 minutes and he doesn’t want to take off the floor. Do I expect that to happen? I don’t know if we’re quite if if he’s quite ready to do it. But the way he spoke of him and I asked him that question out in in Vegas and the growth that he’s had and now the growth he’s going to have uh you know ideally playing for a very tough coach a European coach that uh the Serbian coach who’s going to push him. I you know he he’s he’s challenged Yovic. He said you know go get those rotation closing minutes there. Well I think Spol if he can get him there then he’s got a better chance to get him with him. And I Right. So I I I want I that that’s what I would like to see because to me that means the team has taken a leap. DaVon is a security blanket. You can close with him. He’s going to defend. If that’s the worst case scenario, you’re okay with it. Okay. But I’m with you. And and Larson, I think is like DaVon plus. Okay. That if he feels like it, but Yovic would be the one. It’s Hakez that’s got to find a place here. and we just did a long episode on him, but I don’t I don’t know if I see it. Uh I don’t know if I see it for him. And then Heismith, I think, is the Wiggins fall back. I think there are some games that he could he could get those minutes. Um hard to see anybody else on the roster, though. I don’t I don’t think Ponteio um certainly positioned is certainly positioned this way because if like Miami I would say their biggest weakness right now, granted, yeah, we need a superstar. Okay, cool. But their biggest weakness right now is that third big. And the fact that they’re not really prioritizing that. I know there’s like luxury tax implications and whatnot, right? I I they’re basically saying, “Hey, Nico, you’re the pseudo third big. Whenever you’re in there, either Bam or Kh are going to stay in there with you so you don’t have to be guarding the center and here, man, you’re going to be the sixth man of the year.” That’s what it feels like. Like they’re kind of like pushing for that. They better not have an injury to any of those three. Exactly. Serious serious problems because that um I watched ah you can’t get him back. Uh he was too valuable at Indiana. Well, I watched Golden at Summer League and there’s some I I mean he he he he plays hard, but he’s got lead feet. I I just don’t know that that’s going to work out. And then we’re going to end up Is Dwayne Deadman still available? Uh Gio, we appreciate it. You can follow him at Gio Valdez on Twitter. Coach Gio, you’ll be hearing more from him and also the other work that he does. We appreciate it. I What would our closing lineup be? I think Brady, Alex, Greg. No, Eternals just Eternal would just take all five spots. Anyway, have a good one.

With the addition of Norm Powell — who was excellent in clutch situations for the Clippers last season — it appears the Miami Heat have four closing spots set. Who should be the fifth? And what is needed most from the returning three, so the Heat reverse a bad crunchtime trend? Ethan Skolnick is joined by Geo Valdez.

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