Miami Heat: 3 big questions going into the 2020-21 season

3. How many youngsters will improve?

Pat Riley and the Heat’s front office bet on the group that made a surprising NBA Finals run last season, making a few minor tweaks to their core. Any chance of the Heat improving substantially – save for making a huge roster adjustment, which will be discussed in a little bit – will occur at the hands of Miami’s young players.

There are two obvious candidates to show further improvement this season: Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.

Adebayo sprouted into an All-Star and candidate for the Most Improved Player award. The fourth-year big man has gotten better every season. He began expanding his shot to the midrange last season and flaunted his jumper during the preseason, one of which was Miami’s first bucket. Adebayo continuing to improve as a scorer, especially by expanding his range, would be a huge benefit to the team.

Herro made progress over the two different parts of last regular season and put up some eye-popping performances in the playoffs. The 20-year-old shooting guard oozes confidence and boasts a three-level scoring skillset. Drawing more fouls, becoming a better playmaker and improving his defense are the next steps in Herro’s ascent towards stardom.

Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn proved their worth in their first full years in the league. Seeing improvement from them is in play, but they’re already 26 and 25 years old respectively, so they may already be close to the best possible versions of themselves as players.

A dark horse candidate is Herro’s fellow 2019 draftee, KZ Okpala. The 21-year-old, 6’8” forward spent most of last season in the G League posting a rather unimpressive stat line. However, he has been a big part of Erik Spoelstra’s rotations in the preseason, including as a starter in the team’s second game.

Okpala spent time guarding Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram in the Heat’s first game and then Pascal Siakam in their second with varying degrees of success, ranging from stopping Siakam on drives/post touches to getting put on a poster by Ingram. His tenacity was on full display. At 6’9″ with a wingspan around 7’1″, he could be a versatile piece of Miami’s defense.

Miami sent four future second-round picks to Indiana for Okpala’s draft rights in 2019. Now that his underwhelming rookie year is behind him, Okpala may be a pivotal rotation piece. In the preseason, Spoelstra utilized him like he did Jae Crowder – matching him up with the opponent’s star forward and getting him in position to shoot threes, which has produced seven makes in 11 attempts.

Perhaps Okpala doesn’t start right away – he does, after all, only have 26 minutes of NBA playing time to his name so far- but his defensive abilities and sweet-looking jumper could earn him playing time.