With the Miami Heat getting ready for the 2025-26 season, starting on Oct. 22 against the Orlando Magic, the team is looking for a different offensive approach after trading Jimmy Butler at the last trade deadline. While Heat star Tyler Herro is suffering from a foot injury and missing the start of the season, the team has put in time to play at a faster pace.
Despite the team being known for its hard-nosed defense, the priority has to be on a more efficient offense, as in the last three seasons, Miami has finished bottom-10 in offensive rating. Nikola Jovic and others spoke about the effort to play faster, saying that an evolution needs to happen, especially with Butler not on the team anymore.
“When you have a ball-dominant player like Jimmy, who was here, you have to play at his pace. It was working,” Jovic said, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I know basketball in the NBA has transitioned to more transition basketball. But if you have a guy like that who can get you to the top with that pace, you have to play slow. This year, it’s just easier. You don’t have a guy who’s ball-dominant like that. So we just got to find a way to play faster.”
The coaching staff even put in some stipulations during training camp last week at Florida Atlantic University, like during practice, a player had to get the ball past half-court quickly, or it would be counted as a turnover.
“We had some rules during the practice, like you got to get the ball over half-court in four seconds or it’s a turnover and stuff like that,” Jovic said. “Just to get our minds wrapped around that we have to play faster.”
The effort the Heat have put in to play faster
As the Heat have championship aspirations this season, there is no denying that head coach Erik Spoelstra and the team are working endlessly to get back to their winning ways. Team captain Bam Adebayo also gave insight into how practice has been, which focused on trying to get a faster pace.
“Getting up and down, playing faster,” Adebayo said. “It’s a no-hold way of playing offense….Our pace is up the court. It’s no-hold. We want to share the ball. We want everybody to feel involved. Our offense is very fast-paced, and we want to move the ball.”
Last season, Miami finished as the fourth-slowest team by a pace of 97.1 possessions per 48 minutes, with the team adding an offensive gutpunch in Norman Powell via trade. He spoke about his focus on “being in the condition” to perform up to the Heat's standards in terms of how fast they want to play.
“Honestly, one of the biggest points of emphasis is just being in the condition to play at the speed and level that we want to play at,” Powell said. “So we’ve been doing a lot of stuff, getting up and down, pushing the pace. A lot of things have just been about tempo, playing open, playing off of one another, reading the game. “
Miami looks to bounce back in the preseason after losing in the opener in Puerto Rico on Saturday as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks at home on Monday night.
