Heat encouraged by new starting lineup’s debut and potential: ‘We know it’s going to work’

The Miami Heat returns 12 players from last season’s roster. But the Heat is somehow on track to open this regular season with a starting lineup that didn’t play a second together in a game last season.

The Heat’s projected opening-night starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo never played together last season after Rozier was acquired through a trade in late January. Once Rozier was added, the Heat’s season-long injury issues prevented this five-man combination from ever being used in a game.

“It kind of does surprise me,” Rozier said when told that this lineup never played together last season. “Coach [Erik Spoelstra] mentioned it earlier. He mentioned that there are going to be bumps in the road. We know it’s going to work, but it’s not going to be picture perfect at first. But he mentioned that we had played zero minutes together. I think that is crazy.”

A glimpse at Heat’s starting unit, Herro and Jaquez return, other takeaways from preseason win

Crazy, but true until the Heat’s 101-99 preseason win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

With Herro back after missing Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Charlotte Hornets because of a strained groin, the Heat opened Sunday’s exhibition with its preferred starting lineup of Rozier, Herro, Butler, Jovic and Adebayo. This group finished its first ever game action together as a positive, outscoring the Pelicans by two points in 14 first-half minutes before the starters were given the second half off.

“That group, I thought, was really encouraging,” Spoelstra said after Sunday’s exhibition, with the Heat set to play its third of five preseason games on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and NBA TV). “That’s the way they looked in training camp over in the Bahamas. The group has gone at it with the right approach, the right mind-set just to roll up the sleeves and get to work and work on our system, work on getting comfortable with each other, working to each other’s strengths and finding different ways to do that.”

One way the Heat’s starters are going about it on offense is by working to produce a more efficient shot chart after finishing with a bottom-10 offensive rating for the second straight regular season last season.

During the Heat starting lineup’s 14 minutes together Sunday, the emphasis was on creating quality looks from around the rim and from three-point range while taking fewer long midrange shots. Only two of the 25 shots that the Heat put up when this starting five was in the game were non-paint twos (one of the least efficient shots in the sport).

The Heat also hopes to become a more efficient offensive team by playing faster to create more easy baskets in transition after finishing as one of the five slowest-paced teams in the NBA in each of the past five regular seasons. This starting unit, made up of five players who have the skill set to initiate a fast break, is leading the push to play at a speedier pace.

“We got a lot of guys that can create for themselves and create for others,” Rozier said. “Any guy that rebounds can push it. You got Niko who’s a big guard, you got Bam who is more mobile than a lot of bigs in the league. So we’re trying to play fast. That’s a big emphasis: play fast, but not in a rush. So we got a lot of guys that can do that.”

As for Sunday’s first game minutes together, Spoelstra said the Heat starting lineup’s “ defense was very active and disruptive. Then offensively, just playing very fluid, flowing into actions without pauses and the ball was moving. I liked what I saw.”

“They’ve come in with the right intentions to work at it,” Spoelstra continued on the Heat’s new starting group. “Terry and Tyler, they looked fast. They make our lineup fast. They both came in in great shape, ready to go and they give us a different dynamic of speed and quickness. Jimmy and Bam will be able to figure it out. They’re the anchors of what we do and so we’re always going to play through them. But Terry and Tyler give us that pop, which is what we need.”

The Heat’s core trio of Adebayo, Butler and Herro have experience playing together. They have played in 195 regular-season games together in the five seasons since they became teammates in 2019.

But the addition of a skilled big such as Jovic and a speedy scoring guard who can also play-make like Rozier is what’s different about this new Heat starting lineup. Jovic only became a full-time member of the Heat’s rotation late last season and the Heat traded for Rozier midway through last season.

What do Jovic, 21, and Rozier, 30, want to bring to this starting unit while playing around Adebayo, Butler and Herro?

“Playing in transition is probably the big part,” said Jovic, who was drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick in 2022. “Defensively, I feel like now I’m really comfortable with switches. So it for sure helps the team because I really feel like guys like Bam and Jimmy can switch all the time. If I can help them do that, it’s a lot easier for everyone. My shot needs to be great. If there’s an advantage and I’m open, you just got to make it. And I feel like I’ll always be a good passer. I feel like I’ve always had a good touch for that, so that will for sure help them.”

“Quarterbacking,” Rozier answered. “Definitely like noticing if Bam hasn’t touched the ball two times down, same thing with Jimmy. Making sure Niko is in his spots, making sure that Tyler can score the ball. Just quarterbacking, making sure everybody is in their spots and keeping everybody happy.”

There will be bumps along the way for this group, though. Heat coaches and players understand that’s part of the process of opening a season with a starting lineup that has little experience playing together.

But Heat coaches and players also see the potential for this group to produce difference-making results.

“I think we have a great kind of balance between physicality and shooting, game outside of the paint and game inside the paint,” Jovic said. “I feel like that’s what people see. I feel like that lineup will be very versatile. But we for sure need some time like everybody else. Nothing can just happen from the jump. So we’ll see. But we’re really looking forward to playing together.”