Ira Winderman: Heat’s Herro-Powell pairing remains ride yet to be solved
· Yahoo Sports
MIAMI — Circumstantial? Such a case certainly could be made, considering the NBA is more than a two-man game.
Visit lej.life for more information.
And yet, also untenable realities when it comes to the Miami Heat’s pairing of Tyler Herro and Norman Powell.
When the Heat were at their best at the start of the season, amid that 14-7 open that created the initial optimism? Herro was out for the first 17 games of that run, recovering from his September ankle surgery.
When the Heat were at their midseason best, amid the season-best seven-game winning streak that just last week had them a season-best nine games above .500? Powell missed them all with a groin strain.
As for the current reality, with Herro and Powell together in the mix the past two games? A two-game losing streak carried into Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Kaseya Center . . . and stuck back in the all-too-familiar territory of the play-in bracket of the standings, the Heat’s home of mediocrity of the previous three seasons, where you first have to win your way into the playoffs.
In a league where talent typically prevails, there is no denying that being the case with Herro, an All-Star last season, and Powell, an All-Star this season.
And yet, with just 13 games to play in their regular season, it’s as if the Heat still are attempting to figure out if the pairing works.
Tuesday night’s 136-106 loss in Charlotte was another decided step back in what on paper would seem a positive pairing.
On one hand, the duo were the Heat’s leading scorers on a night Bam Adebayo was sidelined, with Herro scoring 20 and Powell 17. On the other, in their 17 minutes together, the Heat were outscored by 15 during those minutes.
The reality is that 69 games into the season, the two have played together 13 times for a grand total of 190 minutes, two minutes fewer than the equivalent of four full games. Four.
As a matter of further perspective, Heat two-man pairings that have spent more time together on the floor this season have been Adebayo-Myron Gardner, Dru Smith-Nikola Jovic and Smith-Simone Fontecchio.
To this point, Herro-Powell has been a net negative, with a -3.6 net rating (outscored by that margin per 100 possessions). In the eight games they have started together, the Heat are 3-5, including Tuesday night’s loss, the Heat’s most lopsided of the season.
For his part, coach Erik Spoelstra has deflected questions about the pairing, with considerable additional mitigating factors in play. In addition to the lack of continuity with Herro and Powell, the Heat largely have lacked overcall continuity, with Tuesday night’s absences of Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins giving them their 24th lineup in their 69 games.
Even in their relatively scant time together this season, Herro and Powell have started alongside, at various times, Adebayo, Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, Pelle Larsson and Kel’el Ware, with those latter three rounding out Tuesday night’s lineup in Charlotte.
But this also stands as more than a Spoelstra question, with Powell having been eligible all season for an extension that has yet to arrive and Herro facing an extension window that opens in July.
Sate both and they would line up second and third on the Heat payroll for next season beyond Adebayo and his maximum extension.
Which is fine if both could play side-by-side at All-Star level.
But which cannot even be considered if their playing time together results in a net negative net rating.
Related Articles
- ASK IRA: Has the Heat’s decision with Norman Powell become more complex?
- Winderman’s view: With losses, Heat suddenly looking behind instead of up in standings
- Another step back for Heat as they fall 136-106 in Charlotte in Adebayo’s absence
- Heat’s Adebayo sidelined by calf injury, ‘had to sit down’; Jovic cleared
- As a rookie revelation, no turning back now for Heat with Kasparas Jakucionis
Typically, this is when Spoelstra refines what he has in place, with an eye toward the postseason, when lineup and rotation alterations have long been in his wheelhouse.
But in the wake of the past two losses, Spoelstra has stressed that the path to the preferred postseason pathway has to be on the defensive end. With Herro and Powell on the floor together, the Heat’s defensive rating drops from what otherwise currently has the Heat fourth in the league overall in defensive rating.
When Herro returned from his most recent extended absence, from his rib injury, he initially played off the bench. When Powell returned Saturday against the Magic from his groin injury, he played off the bench for the lone time as a member of the Heat.
Both at junctures of their careers have excelled as sixth men.
Both view themselves now at a different juncture, as potential paydays await.
And even starting one and playing the other off the bench doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be considerable overlap, with an even split of the 48 minutes hardly the playing time expected for a duo each averaging over 30 minutes this season.
No, this is not where a team wants to be as it approaches its 70th game.
But it is exactly where the Heat stand with Herro and Powell, each singularly having lifted the team to some of its best moments this season . . . but yet to show whether one and one can equal something too good to keep them apart.