Miami Heat 2024-25 Player's Season Review: Adebayo, Herro, Wiggins, Robinson, Mitchell, Ware, Jovic

A discussion on the top players' seasons this year

Welcome to the Miami Heat season reviews, where I’ll be going through each player and give my thoughts on their play as a whole for the entire season — things that went well, things that went bad, some fun and key stats, a quick discussion on the main worthy points, potential questions heading into the off-season and anything else that was interesting enough about their season.

Note, this is all just a discussion with no film. That is a plan for the off-season.

Today, we’re going through Duncan Robinson, Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, and Nikola Jovic.

Duncan Robinson

I’m not sure how to feel about his season, especially compared to the jump he had last year. But I would say it hasn’t felt the same as it has in past seasons. He still shot 39.3% from 3pt on 13.5 3s per 100. He’s 8th in % amongst 15 players with at least 13 3s.

So, he was still doing his thing. And yet, he still had a drop-off in his minutes and other impact metrics. He started half of his games. It felt like his minutes fluctuated at times.

I think the loss of Butler made things a bit more difficult for him in particular and that had a clear negative impact on the team. With Robinson, Adebayo, and Butler on, the Heat were +8.5 with a 122.5 ORTG. But without Butler, that dropped to -4.0 with a 109.1 ORTG. There needs to be high-level offensive talent to make all of that work to a bigger extent. Even if you include Herro in that, it’s still -2.3 with a 110.4 ORTG.

Something is clearly not working there.

This isn’t making a case that he deserves to be starting 100% or have a set rotation, but I do think that being on, what it seemed like, a short leash. But again, he’s a role player, and if something isn’t working for whatever reason, it’s not worth prioritising any decisions on an older veteran when there are other younger players.

Individually, he hasn’t really looked much different or how it’s been used. Last year was the big change in his play style, and we’ve seen him do a lot more. That was a big reason why he got back into the rotation in the first place.

That still continued. He’s been seeing just as many of the PNR responsibilities. He’s been attacking inside at the same rate and with similar efficiency. But it just hasn’t hit the same as last year. He still adds the same kind of offense as he did last year.

There have been games where it was a focus on getting him going when he had himself going. There are plenty of different actions that are set up to make that work. The gravity is still there. He still makes defenses panic and that opens up everything else. The fear he puts in defenders chasing him around hasn’t changed.

I just don’t know how to feel about the season. There hasn’t been anything significant that was negative. There also hasn’t been anything significant that was a huge plus either. Part of that comes from the team being different and even if individually players may do well, it still doesn’t have the same impact.

It has seemed then that some of the changes and the fact that there was Burks in the rotation that could take some of the minutes, again had Robinson slip into some inconsistency. That is also where his shooting is at it’s worst. He shoots 34.0% when playing between 10-19 minutes, but over 40% in every other game above 20 minutes.

But having a player that you may not entirely need anymore and there are other players with different skillsets suited for this team, it doesn’t make sense for him to play that much at times.

Heading into the off-season, I do look to move him if possible. But at the same time, with the Heat do looking to compete, it’s going to be hard to even attempt to replace some of the high volume shooting.

He still had 12 games with at least 5 3s made(he shot over 50% in 11 of those games). He also had 35 games with at least 7 3s and shot 40% or better in 21 of them. He still provides the immense spacing that everyone benefits from, and he can as easily give you 5 3s with elite passing for his role and volume. He’s also still one of the only few players that I can think off that are more specialists that don’t drop off in the playoffs.

I’m still kind of torn on what to do with Duncan because he’s not even a negative contract anymore, but with some of the need changes of the team and different lineups that work better in different ways, I’m finding trouble finding him a spot going forward that couldn’t be used for different players. But individually, he still will give you the same thing he’s always done.

Davion Mitchell

Mitchell has been probably the brightest spot post deadline. I was liked Mitchell a lot when they did trade for him. I was pro trading for Mitchell before that was even on the table. I liked the potential of what he could bring, particularly with his drives and passing.

But I still wasn’t expecting any of this. He is also a case of “I apologise, I wasn’t familiar with your game”. Mitchell, by a number of metrics and stats, had a career year. He gave the Heat things that I haven’t seen from a guard in a while. He helped them in different ways, too.

The first thing is the number of touches he was involved in and how much he had the ball in his hands. He had a 4.7 time of possessions and that was basically identical to Herro since being traded here(February 10th). He was the one who had the ball the most in his hands with 4.55 average seconds per touch and handled the ball the most with 4.44 average dribbles per touch. There were many games that he led the team in time of possessions period.

I liked the decision making from him, given how much he had the ball. He led the team in passes made with 49.7 and was second in potential assists with 9.3 in 31.6 minutes — per minute basis, he would be first, ahead of Herro. He had a 23.8% AST, which would be the second highest in his career(the highest was his time with the Raptors) and he also had a 16.5% TOV, which would be a considerable improvement with his time with the Raptors at 23.1%.

The turnover stuff was a significant issue that I looked into in my breakdown on what he could bring to the Heat. With the Raptors, he had a 38.6% TOV freq in the PNR but that dropped to 21.8% with the Heat.

One interesting stat that I feel like that has also had an effect is on everyone else. Herro, Adebayo, Ware, and Wiggins all average fewer turnovers per 100 with Mitchell on vs off. That has a compounding effect. Mitchell commits fewer turnovers, but with him also having the ball more, it means other players don’t commit as many either.

In games that he played in, the Heat are +3.5 net with him on in 947 minutes and -5.0 without him in 508 minutes. That gets better when you include both Herro or Adebayo. With all three on, they are +6.5 with a 118.6 ORTG and 112.1 DRTG in 412 minutes but if you take Mitchell away, it’s -1.9 with a 116.9 ORTG and 118.8 DRTG in 211 minutes. He helped a lot.

He does his job with everyone on, too. In those 412 minutes, he averages 11.8 points per 75 on 64.5% eFG and 65.1% TS with 13.7% usage, shooting 60.0% from 2pt and 45.8% from 3pt.

The shooting has been a big help(he has been cooking ever since my tweet pointing out that defense doesn’t care enough about it, to the point they can have a big like Luke Kornet on him). With the Heat, he is shooting 44.7% from 3pt, which is the highest in his career, though that is also on just 5.0 3s per 100, which is the lowest volume in his career. He’s also 45% on C&S 3pt, 46% on pull up 3pt, and 50% on wide-open 3pt. This part of his game has been great to see the improvement. That has been the biggest worry and criticism about his scoring. You need to have a respectable 3pt as a guard in 2025, so, hopefully, the improvement is here to stay.

There’s just so much that he’s done well in the limited time with the Heat. He has genuinely been one of the more important players for the Heat post deadline.

He is a killer in transition, scoring 1.3 points per possession with over 21% of his offense there. Transition has been something the Heat have struggled with, and he fixed that a lot. With Mitchell on, the Heat averaged 16.0 fast break points. Take him off, and that drops to 12.8. That is the difference between the 11th and the 28th. That can also coincides with points in the paint where that drops from 52.9 to 47.2, which is the difference between 7th and 23rd.

The Heat offense is always in the mud and they struggle getting easy points. Mitchell helps off set that with the constant need to push pace. The way he flies through the court is funny. I haven’t seen a guard that fast at all for the Heat recently — it feels strange watching him, not being used to that.

And that’s just the offense. He has been as advertised on defense, too. The first fun thing that stood out is he must be annoying to play against. He will draw a foul on you. Since coming to the Heat, he has drawn 20 offensive fouls, which is second in the league. That’s 20 possessions that is a forced turnover. He’s also 16th in total steals in that same span.

Spoelstra has been able to use him to pressure ball handlers, something that has lacked since Gabe Vincent. He has been awesome on defense and his impact has been getting better as the season went on:

This has been a successful 30 game run for him. Now, he is a restricted free agent, but barring any wild contracts being thrown at him, I’m making sure to match any reasonable deal — hell, I wouldn’t even get to that point. I’m making sure he’s getting locked up. For whatever the direction the Heat go in, if it’s leaning into the youth and rebuild or getting win now stars, he can be a reliable, impactful back up guard for any team. And if the offense continues to round out, then the floor gets even higher.

Tyler Herro

Probably the most impressive player this season, especially when compared to his past seasons. He has been, by far, the best offensive player for the Heat all season long.

Before even getting to anything he did on the court, the absolute best thing about this season is the simple fact that he was on the court. He played a career high 77 games(67 was his second highest in 2023), and this comes after playing a career low 42 games last year — that was one of the biggest disappointments last year. For the first time in his career, he didn’t have a single stretch where he missed more than a game in a row.

That matters. After being called fragile by Pat Riley, he answered by taking care of one of the main issues. That alone deserves a lot of credit.

But his improvement didn’t stop there. He posted a career high in a lot of offensive metrics. Per Dunks and Threes, his O-EPM went from +1.5 to +3.7. Per DARKO, it went from +1.1 to +2.0. Per BBall-Index, O-LEBRON went from +0.7 to +1.8. This wasn’t just nice box score stats looking pretty. The Heat’s ORTG with him on was 115.7 and dropped to 109.2 without him — the second highest differential in his career.

He was the most efficient in his career, going from an average of 55.7% TS in his first five seasons to 60.5%. This also wasn’t just being carried by shooting, either, and that is what was impressive.

A lot of that came as a result of his inside scoring taking the biggest leap. In the previous five seasons, he never cracked 50% and shot an average of 48.3%. This year, it jumped to 56.5%. This comes as a result of both changing the shot diet and continuing to refine some of his finishing skills.

A significant difference was taking out those long 2s. In each of the last five seasons, at least 12% came from 14ft-3pt, where he shot ~40%. That dropped to 7%, as well as improving the accuracy on long jumpers to 46%. That change mostly reflected in more 3s, which helps boost the efficiency.

The scoring in the paint when it comes to frequency and volume was on track with what he was doing in previous years, particularly in his sixth man year. But this year, it’s the accuracy that has improved drastically. He had an awful season last year, shooting 52.4% at the rim, and that improved to a career high 65.8%. His paint scoring also continues to improve to 53.8% — that is particularly high due to his floater.

That has been the biggest difference in his game because he did see a drop off in his 3pt shooting. There was a particular stretch where he shot sub 30% in over 10 games. But that mattered less when his 2pt scoring carried him. From October to January, he had over ~55% 3pt rate. That dropped to 36% in March and 30% in April. And he still had a 57.3% eFG and 61.6% TS. Last year, with poor shooting like that would’ve been awful.

He definitely should be in consideration for the most improved player.

The significant improvements that he has made have made it possible for him to be the lead creator on the team that has a higher ceiling than if he had come back with marginal improvements similar to last year. I feel more comfortable with him in that role a lot more than in the three previous seasons.

A lot of that comes with the scoring being a lot more impactful than just an inefficient 20 points on 55% TS that had a big chunk of it coming from the mid-range. But it was also the passing taking a further jump that made this work, too. For the first time in his career, he reached at least 25% AST. All his passing metrics improved significantly.

I mentioned this in the off-season deep dive, where I talked about what potential routes he can take to improve from last season. One of it was a change in role and how he got his offense. That hasn’t changed much, with him still being a heavy PNR guy. But he completely answered with the other potential route:

“Where we see a completely improved Herro with a different mentality as both a scorer and a passer. We see a shot diet that’s more efficient”

We seen this happen. He made strides in all of those areas as an on-ball creator. That has been a topic that I talked about a lot for the 2023 and 2024 season that seen the same issues each year. He literally addressed those issues well.

With that, I do think he jumped up a whole tier of players in that role.

But this year, he’s also been a lot better in being more efficient off-ball. In prior seasons, especially last year, he was quite bad at easy shots. Last year, he shot 46% on 2pt with less than 2 second touch time, and in prior seasons, none were over 60%. He jumped to 70% this year! That is a huge change that makes everything better. That is something we’ve never seen from him.

As someone who has been quite critical of him, he has answered a lot of the criticisms and addressed almost all of the weaknesses to some extent, one way or the other. Whether that was in the on-ball role or as an off-ball player, he literally went down the list and improved in the question marks that I had heading into the season.

And for that, he deserves a lot of credit for this season.

Heading into the off-season, there are discussions to be made about his potential extension. That is still something that I’d be looking to be cautious about. A player’s value can easily change drastically once they get a different contract that may be a bit on the higher end, and it can then make the rest of the roster construction harder.

Bam Adebayo

This was a bit of an up and down season for Adebayo, mainly on the offensive end. He really started off badly. It felt like there was no direction on what to do with Adebayo on that end. There were so many talks about his drop off in usage, not getting involved, being just used as a spacer, and his drop off in things that he did well.

That’s where he was averaging a career low in points, efficiency, and impact. His shot profile was poor, with the worst shooting slump possible. All of his play types were down. Everything was quite bad for him.

There was also a lot of inconsistency in his usage, and he was either used as a scorer or a facilitator. That was even inconsistent period by period. That did quickly resolve itself, where they started to use him a lot more on-ball as they have done in previous seasons.

But there was still a lot of inconsistency in his offense. His game was really predicated on whether he could shoot like Durant from the mid-range. There was a stretch that he was shooting over 55% in those spots, and it looked great. But then he had stretches where he shot under 40%, and it looked bad. In the first 30 games, he shot 48.9% from 2pt. In the following 48, he shot 53.3%, so he did finish off the season around his averages. But his shooting around the paint and mid dropped to around ~42% post-March.

We also saw another drop off in his rim rate, which is as concerning. That has been a trend ever since 2022. He’s the most athletic player on the team, and he has a 24% rim rate. Not even a quarter of his shots. That’s not good. At all. That continued to drop as the season went on.

That’s where we saw him score a career low as a roll man. Only scoring 0.96 points per possession and shooting 49.3% eFG on 3.3 poss.

His self-creation has been an issue more so this year because the efficiency just fell off the cliff. He 41% in the post. 0.82 per poss. Out of 26 players with at least 2 possessions, he’s last in efficiency.

This was already a big reason why his efficiency and the team struggled on offense in prior seasons, and he got worse in this area.

I still have no idea how to feel about his offense, though, and this season hasn’t helped that at all.

This season was also different because he not only became more of a 3pt shooter, but that he played with Ware. That changes things. There’s always been talk about his game going away from being just a big. There have been strides taken in the right direction. The shooting is becoming more legit with more time. That does help things a lot.

The shooting is also what helps the efficiency in the minutes with Ware. In 541 minutes with him, he’s averaging 23.4 points per 75 on 63.0% eFG and 65.4% TS. But that’s also because he shoots 60.8% from 3pt on nearly 5 3s per 100.

The issue comes in with the shot profile elsewhere. That’s where we continue to see a shift towards a very mid-range heavy game. He only takes 19% of shots at the rim. And I’m sorry, but that is inexcusable regardless of personnel, and it’s not just because they don’t have a point guard. He also takes 15% of his shots within 14ft-3pt. When it’s that extreme, it’s on the player.

That’s where I don’t know how to feel about his offense going forward, especially when they look to play him more with Ware. He cannot have a shooting profile resembling a wing from the 00s. But I also don’t know what the plan is still going forward to get out of this. I mean, there are clear steps in the development that would be needed; it’s just the likelihood of that happening.

This season, then, just emphasised the question marks that were showing up last year and the year before.

The defense… that has been on point as usual. The level of consistency from Adebayo on that end, year in and year out, is remarkable.

We did see him in a different role with Ware on the court. That did mean he was used more away from the actions. And at times I do wonder if that is also the best way to not only use him to his strengths but also what is good for the team.

One stat did stand out, and one that would matter more is some of the rim protection. With Ware and him at that size, he would be the one that tasked to help. Yet, opponents shoot 66.9% within 6ft, which is 2.4% higher than expected. The volume also isn’t high. But that’s something to note.

Overall, Adebayo’s season is always going to be good, and that’s mainly always going to be because of the defense. Until that impact isn’t hitting the same, then anything on the offensive end isn’t that big of a difference to hurt the team. I do believe he has been a big contributor to why they’re bottom 10 offense but he’s also a big contributor to the Heat being a top 10 offense.

Heading into the off-season, he’s locked up and will be starting his extension. There’s nothing to talk about. He’s staying. Period.

Andrew Wiggins

Wiggins was probably meant to be the biggest addition to the team for Butler. Unfortunately, he took being the Butler replacement quite literally. He only played 17 games with the Heat. That’s almost as many games as he has missed, with 15. That was the biggest disappointment.

But even when he played, I didn’t like a lot of how we went about his offense. This is something that I touched on here, where I went through his offense and how it’s been a lot of self creation that didn’t result in good things. Related to that, I also talked about why everyone else can’t have good games together for similar reasons.

His offense was something that I didn’t expect to be to this extent. He was being used as the guy on the team, and that isn’t the role that he was most suited for.

His scoring inside was somewhat inefficient at 52.3%. I talked about in the piece when they got him that his rim finishing declined significantly, and I hoped that was a blip. That hasn’t been a blip. It looks like a trend where he’s fallen off finishing well inside. His 3pt shooting was streaky, but in the end, he did end up shooting 36.0%.

That was the issue. Inefficient self created offense that was at too much volume, but then also having a slump in some of the shooting and struggling to finish off-ball which made everything worse.

Don’t get me wrong, some of the shot creation is needed, especially on a team that did lack it. But that had to be an addition to everything else, rather than the thing to revolve around.

Obviously, that’s not on Wiggins entirely because that is something that Spoelstra wants, but that doesn’t make what Wiggins was doing effective. He was below average in the PNR, in isolation, but decent in the post. What I did find him struggling a lot with is making the simple reads. That was bad, regardless of role. It’s also been made worse with the turnovers that he’s been kind of prone to, especially on drives.

The off-ball stuff is something that I do expect to bounce back. That was something that did over time, really improved with the Warriors. You don’t suddenly fall off the cliff again, especially on open looks.

The defense was inconsistent, too. That was more annoying than anything offense related. I assumed that the offense was going to have a transition period to see how he’s going to fit here, but the defense was underwhelming. That did get better with more time, so maybe it was injuries piling up.

One other concerning stat was the fact that the offense was better without him on. This is a smaller sample, but just in the games Wiggins, Herro, and Adebayo played in, they are -0.6 with a 113.0 ORTG together. Take Wiggins off, it’s +14.3 with a 121.6 ORTG. A similar trend happens in games he didn’t play. The offense was better without him eating up so many of the possessions with his self-creation.

That is a question mark that will have to be answered in how to approach his offense with everyone else.

Overall, it was only 17 games, but that is part of the issue that made this season a bit more disappointing for him. Even with that considered, I’d still lean that it wasn’t as great and there are a lot of questions on the offensive end if he continues to be on the team.

And on that point, he is locked up on a deal for next season. I don’t see him being moved, unless they are looking for an upgrade, and they need salaries to match. If he’s gone, I don’t think it will make that much of a difference, depending on the return. But if he stays, the offense needs to be figured out, and the defense needs to be more consistent.

Nikola Jovic

This was an unfortunate year for Jovic, and a lot of that has to do with simply health. He only played 46 games. He missed a bunch of late November for almost 10 games and then ended his season February 23rd. It is a shame that it ended so prematurely.

He has improved a lot from last season, which was basically his first season getting a proper run. He increased his minutes this year to over 25(up from 19 last year). He solidified himself in the rotation and looked pretty good. He is also still just 21 years old!

There’s been more of an emphasis to play him on-ball and allow him to run more actions. That was a thing in January where the young players took over. He was given more responsibilities, and it really did look good. I talked about some of that in more detail here.

The flashes that he has shown there have always been something to look out for in him. That’s the passing and the drives, and the creativity he has in those actions with the ball. There was a particular play in one random game against the Pacers where you could see him direct traffic and point where the pass should go, as if he were the coach.

There were many other smaller details that has felt like an improvement in his game when he had the ball. One other part that stood out was the willingness to improvise and take what the defense gave him. That was fun to see because he is a smart player.

His inside scoring has improved from 52.5% to 56.3%. He improved significantly, finishing at the rim compared to last year, going from 55.5% to 68.5%. He was also assisted the fewest in his career. Again, that just shows that this was a season that they did look to get him more on-ball opportunities.

It has been a year full of growth for him on that end, in particular. Everything about it looked better as the season went on. His post ups and drives felt more in control. His PNR work seemed more patient. There was a game against the Wolves(where he did have the game winner) that he did look out of control driving and threw up a bad shot, which had Herro throwing his arms up looking like “what??”, but that has gradually gone away as the season progressed.

All of that has been a big positive, and it is going in the right direction.

On the other hand, I still wonder what his role is or should be. This is obviously team-dependent, and the team in general has seen changes, plus the team’s expectations. That makes player’s roles needing to be a bit different, and different prioritisation comes into play.

To start the season, the Heat were obviously in more of a better position to win and compete. They still had Butler playing. Everything was still figuring out to be a top 6 team that prioritised winning. That’s where I felt underwhelmed with his game. I don’t think he’s there yet to help such teams(duh, he’s 21) and that did hurt his impact when that still mattered to the team. A lot of it comes from him not being a consistent 3pt shooter. He hasn’t been great off-ball either, usually just standing still.

His value is higher when he has the ball, but that isn’t ideal if you’re looking to win and you have better players suited for that. The rest of the players have to play within the offense and find ways to contribute. That’s what I think he lacked. If you have to be accommodated as a role player in such a way, then I can’t justify playing him over players who don’t need that.

But things changed around January, where the expectations got a bit different. The team was able to just embrace the youth more without worrying about the end results. The process became more important. That’s where we saw Jovic play better.

Though, that is still going to be a question going forward for him, to me. This team will still have other alternatives than simply giving Jovic the ball. I wonder how much he improves in that area to fit better.

He’s already shown that he is going to let it fly from 3pt. His confidence is, at times, through the roof. But he also needs to start making them. And he also needs to start doing more things than just standstill or passively move off-ball.

Still, this was a good season in the direction for him and it just sucks that he missed out on almost 40 more games. That does hurt the development. He already looked better in game 42 than he did in game one. He probably would’ve looked better in game 80, too.

There is a topic of extension with him in the off-season. I’m not entirely attached to him, but I would do what’s needed to get him back on a reasonable deal. With the injury history, I also wouldn’t expect anything to be outrageously high. I’m still looking forward to his growth.

Kel’el Ware

I loved Ware this season. He is a rookie, so the expectations for his season were a lot different from everyone else. I tend to be a lot more lenient with rookies, where mistakes aren’t emphasised. Everything around them is all through the lens of development and reps. If there’s progress throughout the year in their mistakes, then that’s good enough.

And that’s exactly what I loved from Ware.

He didn’t start to play immediately. He wasn’t fully in the rotation until December 21st. Before that, he literally just got spot minutes in garbage time and played over 10 minutes twice. Eight of the first 25 games were under single minutes.

From December 21st to January 17th, he was their back up big. He fully put himself into the rotation and did a great job. He averaged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game and shot 69.1% from 2pt and 47.8% from 3pt(it was 11/23).

But all of that changed once they were getting their asses kicked by the San Antonio Spurs, which prompted Spoelstra to play him with Adebayo. Then start him in the second half. Once he started with Adebayo, it was wraps. He became a starter.

And since then, as a starter, he averaged 10.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 28.4 minutes per game. His efficiency has dropped from 65.3% to 57.9% TS, and a lot of that has to do with the 3pt shooting falling off. He shot only 28.4% as a starter.

Regardless of some stats and efficiency dropping, he still played well as the starting big. He did his job on both ends of the floor.

As a big on offense, he can really run and jump. That was the first thing that stood out, and it was the easiest thing that they could do, which the Heat rarely had. He was an athlete, and that easily translated to easy dunks immediately. The Heat don’t have many great lob throwers, and he still was able to feast on all of that.

All of that may seem simple because it is, but good, impactful big plays are important and not every big plays like that. It may be simple, but it’s not easy to do it consistently.

His role on offense grew as the season went on. You could kind of see it that early on, he was just trying not to get in the way and not mess up. There were plenty of possessions that had Adebayo shouting and pointing at what he should do. That still happens at times, but definitely not to that extent. He flows much better into what he should do.

He also looked to expand on some range when it comes to distance and the moves he throws out. The touch around the paint has looked really good for him. He shot 69% within 5ft, 52% within 5-9ft, and 47% within 10-14ft. He shows 52% in the paint and 40% in the mid-range. He did look more confident in just trying more things on offense.

One thing that when it popped up, it stood out was his passing. He didn’t get many reps or opportunities there, but when they opened up, he flashed a lot in that area. He had many instant decisions on touch passes. His short roll decision-making led to many open lobs for Adebayo(that was a fun staple play for those two). He has been used as a hub at times and has shown that he can find cutters. Again, the volume wasn’t that high, but he capitalized whenever he was used there.

Offensively, he showed a lot of promise. He is as advertised on that end, and I do believe there’s a lot of upside there as a big. There’s basically nothing that I was disappointed or left feeling eh on that end.

I haven’t had the same feeling about the defense, though. That is a lot more work in progress than the offense. As mentioned, he is a rookie, so this was expected, but with how the defense was throughout the year, even towards the end, it’s still some time before he can be trusted enough for crucial minutes consistently.

His 7ft and has that length. By just that alone, he’s going to contest a slot of shots and be a deterrent. But even with that, he hasn’t been anything special yet. Opponents shoot 62.4% within 5ft against him, and that’s only 1.8% worse than expected.

But more often than not, his rim protection was negated by the fact that he was a lot more jumpy. The usual rookie mistakes by biting on fakes or, at times, hunting blocks. That resulted in him being out of place and made his size less effective. The biting on fakes did drop off as the season went on.

The PNR defense also needed a lot of work, but as with everything else, that was improving as the season went on.

Probably the worst thing about the defense, which was the biggest issue and remains so, is the rebounding. Without Adebayo, opponents have a 30.6% ORB with Ware on — for comparison, with Adebayo, and no Ware, it’s 25.4% and 23.4% when they’re on together. That is a significant issue that should be the main thing that needs to be cleaned up.

As a whole, though, this really was a great rookie season. He looked good individually, he made strides as the season went on, and as he took on more minutes, plus responsibilities. The team also did well with him. In the Adebayo-Ware minutes, the Heat are +6.1 with a 116.9 ORTG, though there are some question marks on the defensive stats that warrant another look(I just came across that the opponent scored a lot in the paint, which is interesting).

He has been one of the more impressive players this season.