The Eastern Conference has progressively gotten tougher, which is bad news for the Miami Heat. The Heat were uncharacteristically quiet this summer, which was a result of their financial limitations. Without any major changes, they risk falling behind in the East, as teams such as the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Philadelphia 76ers all either maintaining their championship team or dramatically improving.
The Heat currently look as though they are the sixth or seventh best team in their conference but they can improve in one key way without making a major change. A big knock against the Heat's offense is the lack of shooting. While they do have floor spacers such as Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson, and Tyler Herro, they ranked 18th in 3-point attempts and 22nd in offensive rating last season.
With them teetering on the brink of the second apron, they will have to rely on internal development to try and modernize their offense. Players such as Nikola Jovic playing a bigger role would add more shooting. Another potential option is all-star Bam Adebayo. Despite Adebayo being a good midrange shooter, he hasn't become a high-volume 3-point shooter. Doing so would make him more of an offensive threat and also add more spacing to Miami's offense.
Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo plans to attempt at least 100 threes.
Bam Adebayo believes Erik Spoelstra trusts in his 3-pointer now and plans on getting up at least 100 three point attempts this season pic.twitter.com/KUiSOpiktJ
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 2, 2024
Adebayo taking 100+ 3-pointer attempts would only equal out to about 1.3 per game if we were to play 75 games next season. That wouldn't be a massive difference, at least at first, with Adebayo likely ramping up in the coming years, with him hopefully becoming a true stretch five in the next couple of seasons.
Ironically, he could model his game after Heat legend Chris Bosh, who initially started his career, is a high-volume mid-range shooter before steadily increasing his range out past the 3-point line. He eventually became a good 3-point shooter before being forced to retire.
Adebayo doing the same would turn an already terrific two-way player into a versatile offensive weapon. In the meantime, his spacing out would give the Heat more spacing for Jimmy Butler to operate while a healthy Terry Rozier should add another high-volume shooter to the mix.
The Heat will need to do something to try and shake things up if they hope to compete in the Eastern Conference. Adebayo expanding his range would help, though it wouldn't completely solve all of their problems but it will be a good start.