Heat Culture: Miami’s unique blueprint for success

How Heat Culture created an unlikely NBA Finals team.

In a superstar-oriented league, the Miami Heat have managed to find an alternative approach that allows for mentors like Udonis Haslem, aging veterans like Kyle Lowry, and undervalued grinders such as Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, and Gabe Vincent.

Finding these types of players is not an easy task and takes a trained eye. Doing so often requires one to go against the grain by valuing work ethic more than pure pedigree.

The Heat’s “star player” may embody this philosophy more than anyone else. Not traditionally thought of as a “superstar” talent, Jimmy Butler enjoyed what may have been the best playoff run of his career. Across 22 playoff contests, he averaged 39.7 minutes, 26.9 points, 5.9 assists, and 6.5 rebounds.

The Marquette product is not a “freak of nature” sort of athlete and does not possess an elite capacity for any one particular skill. Instead, Butler has consistently outworked and outwitted his opponents.

In this way, he’s exactly the kind of player that Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley would want to build around. Regardless of the fact that Miami ultimately fell to Denver in the Finals, it is clear that they’ve built something that can be replicated in theory but not in practice.