Getty Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat celebrates with Bam Adebayo #13 against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at FTX Arena
The Miami Heat are now 27 games into the 2022-23 NBA season, and it would be hard to find someone that thought they would be under .500 at this point, but they are at 13-15 as of December 14. The team currently sits in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. After failing to make any acquisitions in the offseason, it was fair to suggest that the Heat got worse losing PJ Tucker to the Philadelphia 76ers, as teams like the Boston Celtics got better trading for Malcolm Brogdon. However, knowing it would be this rough is another story.
Among the myriad of issues that one could point to as Heat struggles, their star forward recently revealed what he believes is the team’s biggest problem, and it wasn’t their offense.
“I’ve never said, and I don’t think anybody would ever tell you, that offense is our problem. We lose track of what we have to do on the defensive end at times, which is why we lose so many games. But when we lock in and we guard, we know we’re gonna score,” Butler said, h/t Brady Hawk.
Jimmy Butler:
“I’ve never said, and I don’t think anybody would ever tell you, that offense is our problem.
We lose track of what we have to do on the defensive end at times, which is why we lose so many games.
But when we lock in and we guard, we know we’re gonna score.”
Miami Heat’s Offensive Struggles
While the Heat rank 27th in the NBA in offensive rating, Butler suggests that that’s not the team’s problem and that it starts on the defensive end. Defensively, the Heat rank in the top ten at number 8 for their defensive rating, which statistically is hard to correlate with Butler’s statement. Defensively, Miami hasn’t been bad. In fact, they are among the league’s best in that category.
An important note for consideration with the struggles the Heat are facing is the supreme amount of injuries they have been plagued with this season. Butler, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo, and more have all missed multiple games this season. It could just take time for the team to hit its stride offensively, similar to the Brooklyn Nets, who are now surging after early offensive struggles. However, it does remain clear that Jimmy Butler could use some scoring help and that Adebayo and Herro are hard to count on. Some nights either of them could have 30 points, and the next, they’ll be lucky to score 13. One NBA executive recently told Heavy Sports that Bam’s inconsistency offensively could be a cause of frustration for the Miami Heat.
“When Bam plays aggressive, and when he is playing like he is the best guy on the floor, he is a Top 10, Top 15 player. But he doesn’t always do that, does he? You could see it during the conference finals against the Celtics—when he was aggressive, Boston had no answer for him. That Game 3 up in Boston, he was unstoppable (31 points on 15-for-22 shooting). But then he’d have games where he takes four or five shots. I think there is some frustration from the team that he doesn’t bring that aggressiveness every night. If he is the best player and Jimmy Butler is the No. 2 option and Tyler Herro No. 3, that is a lot better team than when Bam lets himself be the third option,” the Eastern Executive told Heavy Sports.