The Blame Game: What’s wrong with the NBA’s most disappointing teams

NBA: Miami Heat: Driving

Despite returning largely the same roster as last year’s East-leading squad, the Heat have gotten off to a horrendously slow start. They’re 12-14, 5-5 in their previous ten, and the wheels finally seem to be falling off of a team that has so often succeeded with duct tape and spare parts.

The culprit, unsurprisingly, is the offense, and the problems are almost too many to count. They can’t finish at the rim or from deep, the two most valuable scoring spots on the floor. Heck, they can’t even get to the rim — just 30.7% of FGA are layups or dunks, a bottom-five mark. They are even the second-worst transition offense.

The biggest problem is a lack of dribble penetrators; the team ranks 23rd in points off drives. Combined with their lack of outside accuracy, the offense is toothless. Lowry is too old to be a consistent dribble-drive threat, even though he’s playing as well as he has since joining Miami. Herro has a nice handle but an unimpressive first step that can make beating stronger defenders difficult. Bam has taken a step forward, but he’s still not a primary ballhandler the Heat can run the offense through on every possession.

Even Jimmy Butler has looked uncharacteristically poor finishing at the rim. Although he’s missed time, the Heat are only 8-8 with him, and he’s only canning 57% of his layup-range shots, his worst mark since 2014. He’s also averaging just 7.3 FTA per game, a good number but the lowest of his Miami tenure. Butler lacks his typical burst, perhaps because of his injuries and age.

But Butler isn’t the problem: the team scores an astonishing 14.4 points per 100 possessions more when he’s on the floor than off, one of the highest marks in the league. Without his bullying drives and canny passing, the offense absolutely craters.

Nobody on this team is playing above their role. Butler and Herro are still good players, and Bam and Lowry are paying better than last year. But where previous Heat teams could rely upon contributions from supporting characters outplaying expectations, this year’s team hasn’t been able to find the same spark from its supporting cast outside of some threes from Caleb Martin.

Defenses know this and rarely feel the need to provide much help defense. With so few players able to beat their man one-on-one, the Heat haven’t been able to manufacture space for any of their outside threats.

Can any of this be fixed? Some of their shooters may start hitting a little more often, but that won’t be enough to make this offense respectable against the beastly defenses in the East. Unfortunately, without a midseason trade to get one more initiator, there isn’t an answer available on the roster unless Victor Oladipo miraculously reverts to his 2018 form (and there’s no indication that’s a realistic possibility).

If there’s any consolation for Heat fans, it’s that Pat Riley is not one for sentiment, and he’ll be working the phones hard to find an offensive upgrade.