Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is reportedly pushing for the team to trade for Kevin Durant. Ethan J. Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports stated on June 17 that Erik Spoelstra wants Kevin on the team.
“I’m not surprised by this… but the more people I talk to, the more it seems to be Spoelstra who wants this deal,”
Erik Spoelstra Wants Durant — But Why?
However, Erik Spoelstra’s desire to acquire Durant is head-scratching as he runs an offensive system that underutilizes superstar players. Over the past four seasons, Erik Spoelstra has implemented a ball-movement offense. Miami has ranked 10th in passes per game, averaging 289.9 since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
Miami has used two different methods to initiate its ball movement offense. From the 2021-22 to the 2023-24 season, Erik Spoelstra placed Bam Adebayo between the elbow and the mid block on offensive positions. Adebayo’s placement allowed him to initiate a dribble handoff or post-up.
Heat Vs 76ers
On February 27, 2023, Tyler Herro had the ball at the top of the key with eight minutes to go in the second quarter against Philadelphia 76ers. He passed the ball to Adebayo, who was standing near the left elbow.
Bam held the ball for a couple of seconds until Max Strus came over to initiate a dribble handoff. Upon receiving the ball, Max immediately passed it back to Adebayo, who began to roll towards the basket.
Bam took a couple of steps before performing a cross-court pass to Victor Oladipo, who made a three-pointer from the right wing. The possessions contributed to the team ranking 7th in dribble handoff possessions, averaging 6.7 per game.
However, Erik Spoelstra decided to change the way his team executed the ball movement offense before the 2024-25 season. During training camp, he stated that he wanted Bam to increase his three-point volume. He told reporters that Bam was aiming to shoot up to seven three-pointers per game.
According to Bam, Erik Spoelstra’s decision to modify his role was caused by the coach realizing he could shoot three during the 2024 Olympics.
“Sometimes I think seein’ is believing,” Adebayo said regarding Spoelstra’s realization. “And I think Spo seeing me — well being my development coach in the Olympics was kinda like, ‘Man, you can shoot 3s.’ Yeah, it kinda clicked a little bit, you know?”
Adebayo’s role modification led Miami to lean on more pick-and-roll . Miami was 16th in pick-and-roll positions, averaging 17.5 per game. The Heat organization increased its pick-and-roll possessions by 5.4% compared to the prior three seasons.
History Repeats Itself — Just Ask Lowry and Oladipo
Despite the modifications in Miami’s offensive system, it’s still not built to maximize All-Star or Superstar players. Miami’s offense has relegated multiple All-Star players to a floor spacer role over the past four seasons.
Heat vs Hawks
During his tenure with the Miami Heat, Kyle Lowry spent most of his offensive positions standing behind the arc as a floor spacer. On January 14, 2022, Lowry stood at the top of the key with ten minutes to go in the first quarter against the Atlanta Hawks. He remained in place for the entire possession as PJ Tucker had the ball on the left block.
PJ held the ball briefly until Max came over to initiate a dribble handoff. Upon receiving the ball, Strus immediately passed the ball back to Tucker, who had begun to pop to get in position for a jumper. Tucker would end up missing the midrange jumper.
As a result, three-pointers accounted for more than 60% of his shots, as he averaged 5.5 per game. Lowry’s role was the catalyst behind a 33.7% decrease in scoring production from his final season in Toronto. During his tenure with Miami, he averaged 11.4 points per game.
Victor had a similar experience to Lowry, as he took 51.1% of shots from behind the arc during his time with the Heat, averaging 4.9 per game. Upon arriving in Miami, Victor immediately experienced a significant decline in his scoring output. He averaged 12 points per game in four appearances before suffering a season-ending injury.
Oladipo’s production in Miami was down 43.4% from his brief tenure with the Houston Rockets. During his nine games in Houston, Victor averaged 21 points per game.
Therefore, if Miami acquires Durant or any other superstar, history says they are going to spend ample amounts of time as floor spacers. Kevin would excel in this role as he has a career three-point shooting percentage of 39% on 5 attempts per game.
Final thoughts
However, using Durant in this capacity would be a disservice due to his multi-level scoring capability. Kevin’s career shot chart indicates that three-pointers have only accounted for 26.8% of his field goals. He is the type of player who wants to take shots from different spots on the floor.
Durant has taken 21.2% of his shots between 10 to 16 feet, averaging 4 per game. Miami isn’t known as a team that takes a significant amount of mid-range jumpers, as they ranked 18th in the shot type over the last four seasons, averaging 9.1 per game.
Erik Spoelstra’s offensive system indicates that the Miami Heat organization needs to focus on other targets who can thrive in the floor space role at a lower price.
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