Bam Adebayo as point guard in half-court

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Bam Adebayo as point guard in half-court

Originally posted on thePeachBasket | By Eric Labrador | Last updated Oct 27, 2026 4:27 PM ET

The Heat have adopted a fast pace offense inspired by the Noah Laroche model. Last season, after a few games they were fantastic. They were scoring at will and the rest of the league was struggling. Then the rest of the league caught up to the Heat and they had a tough time scoring. This season with Giannis Antetokounmpo being traded to the Heat, the Heat have tried to do the same thing and have struggled.

Switching to a half-court offense

In the Ask Ira column in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Heat beat writer Ira Winderman answered whether Bam Adebayo is exposed as a bad player when alongside a good player like Giannis. He answered that during “The Heatles era” that Wade adjusted his game to be an off-the-ball cutter and Bosh needed to become a center (to fit Lebron’s game.)

Former NBA point guard Jeff Teague gave a telling perspective on playing with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Club 520 podcast (see at 1:00:00 mark.) The quick headline on the Internet was that “Giannis is a tough person to play with” but Teague was saying that Giannis was very ball dominant. The example of Jrue Holiday was that Holiday’s strength was that he could melt into the team’s game plan and “do what was needed.”

As per Google Sports data, Giannis has scored exactly four times on cut attempts. Bam Adebayo was the primary ball handler at the top of the key in all of these scores. This rate needs to be increased exponentially as defenses would be stretched out defending an Adebayo drive and Giannis in the post.

Defense will improve a lot more

Pelle Larsson commented in a Sun-Sentinel article what every Heat fan and player is thinking:

“stop tiptoeing around each other and be aggressive…”

“Everybody trying to figure what the next person wants instead of focusing on selves and what they have to do.”

Giannis commented in the article also that the offensive pace the team tries to play at affect rebounding and transition defense. Then the late switches and rotations compound the problems above. That appears to be the only issue the team has on defense and they will improve that problem.

Final Take

I agree with Jeff Teague’s comments from the point — Giannis and Bam need to make adjustments to their offensive games. The Heat as a team are starting to “figure it out.” They will host Atlanta and Indiana at the Kaseya Center this week. It is a “measuring stick” for the team since Atlanta and Indiana look to secure the fifth and sixth seeds in the Eastern Conference.

This article first appeared on thePeachBasket and was syndicated with permission.

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