How Miami’s improved offense was inspired by former Grizzlies coach

As it is The Miami Heat tried to keep Victor Vembanyama and the San Antonio Spursthey weren’t able to, as the team’s three-game winning streak ended Thursday night with a 107-101 loss. Nevertheless, the point of the conversation about The heat season on the field was their new fast attack who had some inspiration.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps had a recent column covering information from around the league, talking about Miami’s new offensive philosophy that cuts down on pick-and-rolls and is faster and looser. Windhorst noted that the head coach Erik Spoelstra and the team consulted with the former Memphis Grizzlies assistant Noah LaRoche, as he was one of the key factors involved in changing their attack last season.

“Doesn’t this new system look like what the Memphis Grizzlies did last year? It sure does,” Windhorst said. “Spoelstra and the Heat consulted with former Grizzlies assistant Noah LaRoche, sources told ESPN, before installing a more free-flowing, motion-based system that largely eliminates pick-and-rolls.”

When we spoke with a league executive, one said this offensive system is vastly different than that Pat Riley “used to run.”

“You know Spo runs the polar opposite of the system that (Heat president) Pat Riley used to run, where he called every play and every play design was accurate,” the league executive told ESPN. “And that makes me appreciate and respect even more that the organization is doing real … They’re doing research and teaching in Miami.”

This would be consistent with how the players in Miami talked about the offense, like Bam Adebayo telling ClutchPoints that during last week’s 115-107 win over the New York Knicks, “I don’t think we had a show today.”

The Heat’s new offense came from a Grizzlies assistant coach

While it is The Heat await the return of Tyler Hero since ankle surgery, fans are wondering how much better the offense can be, but there’s no denying the early results. Miami is currently averaging 107.30 possessions per 48 minutes, the fastest pace in the league, to average 125.4 points per game after five games.

As Spoelstra and Miami looked to overhaul their offense after being one of the slowest teams in the league while also ranking near the bottom in offensive rating, modeling the system from Memphis was the right decision. Bontemps would talk about how LaRoche, who the Heat consulted with, was a major factor in the Grizzlies’ turnaround.

“Last season, as the Grizzlies also began to operate this system well, there was a common misconception that it was an offense that Tuomas Iisalo brought to the United States after spending several years as a head coach in Germany and France,” Bontemps wrote. “Instead, it turned out to be an insult to Noah LaRoche.”

Many players on the Heat benefited from the change, such as Jaime Jaquez Jr. and others, as the team continues to show a shift on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.