“I’m not worried about the Miami Heat. I think they’re going to be able to figure this thing out. They have a great team. I feel like they’re a team that can be very competitive in the Eastern Conference. So I’m not concerned with the Heat at all, man. With Bam [Adebayo] and Giannis [Antetokounmpo], two great players, they’ll figure it out. They’re great players, they’re All-Star caliber players. They’re gonna figure it out. Trust me.”
The Hall of Famer ended his illustrious career in Miami, playing his final season with the Heat in 2015-16. He knows how the organization operates with Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra at the helm.
“I know two things for sure. You have a great general, Pat Riley, and you have a great deputy chief in Coach [Erik] Spoelstra. So those two guys are going to come together and figure out the proper game plan to get the team to play cohesively and figure this thing out.”
The Heat’s Opening Stretch to the 2026-27 Season
It’s been a rough start to the season for the Heat. They captured their first win in five tries Wednesday night in Atlanta, improving to 1-4.
Miami has an offensive rating of 108.4 (21st in the league), a defensive rating of 116.8 (25th) and a minus-8.4 net rating (24th). The offensive struggles were somewhat expected. Integrating a high-usage player like Giannis Antetokounmpo was always going to take time as the team figured out how to fit play around him.
What’s more alarming, albeit through only five games, is the defensive struggles. The last time the Heat finished in the bottom half of the league in defensive rating was in 2014-15, when they finished 21st.
Bam Adebayo has been a defensive anchor for Miami. Since he became a full-time starter in the 2019-20 season, the Heat have averaged a ninth-ranked unit in defensive rating. Their worst finish during that span came last season, when they ranked 14th. Adebayo’s presence alone has helped Miami maintain a respectable defense, regardless of who surrounds him.
One would think adding Giannis to the mix would only make the defense better. So far, that has not been the case.
The Giannis and Bam Pairing
Through five games, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo have shared the court for 87 minutes. During that time, they have an offensive rating of 103 and a defensive rating of 127.1, resulting in a minus-24.1 net rating. For context, it’s the 11th-most used two-man lineup Miami has deployed this season. The most-used pairing is Adebayo and Davion Mitchell, who have shared the court for 142 minutes.
It’s not surprising that the two big men haven’t shared the court for as much as one might expect. They play similar positions, which was one of the concerns surrounding Miami entering the season. But learning to play together takes time, and ironing out the kinks is something Stoudemire knows well.
“It’s not like Steve (Nash) and I. I got a point guard, and I’m the big dog. You understand? He knows we can play off each other. I’m not taking anything away from him. He’s not taking anything away from me. So he’s going to pass me the ball. I’m going to play off of him easily, and that’s more of an easy connection.
“With Giannis and Bam, they kind of have a similar position, so they have to figure out how to play with each other. That’s a little bit more challenging, but it can happen. It can work. We just got to figure out how to really play with each other. That’s a matter of learning each other, watching film with each other, studying each other’s game, practicing together. They need a little more time, but it’ll work out.”
While the offense might take some time to come together, Stoudemire recognizes that the Heat’s defense will be key to pulling them out of their early-season funk.
“If they can grind it out defensively right now while they’re struggling offensively, that’s the key. You build that, you build that defensive strategy, which the Heat culture has been built on. I played with the Heat. You know what I’m saying? So when you play in that Heat culture and you lock in defensively while you’re working out your offensive details, that’s going to be the key going forward because offense is easy for us as players.”
“We love to score, right? Everyone wants to score, so that’s easy for us. The defense is where you need to focus on a little bit more, and that’s going to help them get over the hump.”
Less than 10% of the way into the season, there’s still plenty of time for the Heat to figure things out.
They’ll look to begin turning their season around Friday night when they host the Indiana Pacers in their first NBA Cup game of the season.
NBA Hall of Famer Gives His Take on the Heat’s Slow Start