Miami Heat: Where's Norman Powell, All-Star?

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3:21want to cover more in the last month of the season. Miami Heat get totally wrecked in Charlotte. It was predictable, so predictable that even I predicted it, didn't see them winning that game without BAM, and they had other issues in that game. But there's one issue that we got to talk about now, Brady, because we've kind of framed this as a combination problem with Norm Powell, entirely hero. But right now, it seems to be more overall of a Norm Powell problem, which was not the problem earlier in the season. He was the one guy on this team you could absolutely rely on in addition to BAM. But since he's come back, well, first thing, I think before the All-Star break, after the All-Star break, seem to be wearing down a little bit, has had some injuries, had to carry the team a lot, in part, because Katala was not healthy. And so a lot of that fell on Norm, but also the groin injury. Now he's come back from it. He doesn't look the same, and it's reminding some people of what happened with the Clippers last year, which was one of the reasons they didn't extend him, and they traded him instead

4:23was because his production tailed off, heading into the playoffs and in the playoffs. Are you concerned about what you've seen since he's come back? Is this just ruster? Is this something else? I think it's a little of both, but I think there is room for some concern. I mean, considering at his age coming off an injury later into the season, all the things you just named where he had so much on his plate and was holding so much of the way early in the season where he was a number one option, which he's never been. He's never had that type of offensive role and matched it with the production. But I'll say, I mean, his two games since return has been, I mean, if you were to talk about the numbers, 20.7 to 15 shooting and 17.7 or 17 shooting, I mean, you could just say that that's not horrible if you were not watching the context of the games. I mean, the numbers itself could be, oh, okay, that's a guy coming off of injury, trying to work back in. But the thing that I think jumps out more than anything is when you go down a line to look at some of the three point numbers from early in the season compared to now. I mean, these two games since return, it's two for nine from three combined.

5:26And the game that he got injured in, he was one for four from three in that game. You keep going down a line. It was like, that tells me there's a guy with some tired legs that's a little bit heavier in that department that is just wearing down a little bit. Like I've actually liked some of the stuff where he's the stuff at the basket has been there. But if we remember early in the year, there was so much of the bounciness, like springiness up and under reverse stuff hanging in the air, like he was just in really good shape in that way of just around the basket where that just hasn't been there. But I think he's countered that with kind of the in-between game, which we haven't didn't see a lot of room in the season. We're now, he's kind of getting to that little flip floater and some different stuff in that area, which I think is good. I think that's a good counter to some of the stuff. But yeah, I think there's an individual thing here where he's going to have to figure out the heaviness in the legs and that type of stuff from three points here. But I also think, I mean, I know this is the norm episode, but I also think there is a conversation that we're going to keep having that I just have to mention, which is, I mean, the norm-tiler thing is a real thing, like it's the norm.

6:28Like I'm watching it in Charlotte tonight, they're starting it because they really have no other option. Defensively, we know what's going to happen on that end. But like if you're going to play that lineup, if you're going to play those two together, you know what's going to be bad defensively. You better score. Like if you're playing those two, you better be able to do that and I just haven't seen it at a level where there's real cohesion with the two of them. I haven't seen real chemistry. In the third quarter, they scored 11 of 13 in a row between the two of them. But even in that stretch, I just felt like it was one or the other. It just happened to be that they were scoring simultaneous plays. That's a real thing. I mean, it's a real problem. I mean, it's a dilemma for coach to figure out later in the season when they are fully healthy. What do I do with my two best scorers? Do I play them late in the game to get all the stuff we talked about? Like, I mean, that's, this is a recycled topic. We're going to be talking about that later in the season. But to have that conversation, they have to both be peaking individually right now. Right. Nord is going to have to kind of, you know, get out of this little folk. Yeah. I mean, they're not additive to each other. That's the problem. And, you know, there's someone saying, well, they just need to play more together.

7:30That group is dwindling, by the way. But I don't think it's going to come together. I don't think it will ever come together, actually. I hate to be so doom and gloom on this because I was positive on it before the season. But I just, I don't think they fit. And that's just the case with certain backwards. And the problem is, suppose still, you know, rolling out Davion as a starter, which means if you're going to play the two of them together, you're tiny. And, you know, he runs out of line up again, Charlotte, where Larsen is at the four. I mean, that against the team that's, it's totally tortured you on the boards. And again, they didn't have BAM, but I think what they give up 62, 64 paint points, something like that. Like, you can't, you can't compete with, with that kind of size. You've seen the problem against Orlando also, but anytime that they've got a point guard in there with hero and Powell, I'm tuning out like there, that's, it's not going to work. And the problem is the two of them don't really work as a shared backward. That was my hope was that the two of them that maybe Tyler's handling and Powell playing off of him that the two of them could somehow blend that together without another small

8:33guard on the team out there. But that doesn't look like it's going to work. I want to get, I want to talk about the defense on the other side of this, because that's to me, the even bigger issue. But Powell early in the season for the first 30 games, he was lighting it up in the first quarter, right? Like that. He would kind of like, we guarantee it, like before you turn around, he had nine points. Now he's not starting a lot, I mean, he started this last game, but we don't know if he's going to start. I don't know that they'll pull him out of the starting line up when BAM comes back now. I'm kind of curious. I've also got Wiggins who may come back at some point, they're obviously they're being murky about that as usual. I don't even think anybody's asking anymore. So how did they reconcile that though, because it feels to me like that's how Powell has gotten out of rhythm. It's not just the mistime, but it's that he was the counted on go to guy early in the game to sort of get them in a flow, get them going. He got himself in the flow, and that's not really available to him right now. So it's like a lot of his points have come, like you mentioned, they had a little stretch

9:34with here, the game before he had some baskets, you know, close in baskets late, like there was a little bit garbage timey, but they were kind of making that run. But it's not early anymore, like his first quarter scoring even before the injuries had dropped off considerably. Yeah, I don't think they're going to get back to that. I think that's kind of a thing of the past. That was a thing where they needed that at that point in the season, they needed that for him when he was the first option. I think the best thing is when you're talking about some of those stretches, I think when Wiggins comes back, I mean, Wiggins is a starter, Pella, we've said it's not going anywhere, like we can go down the line that we always do. I think I've said this multiple times, not only just Norm off the bench, but I think Norm with Jaime is a good thing. I think if you match those lineups where you let Jaime kind of do his thing in the right matchups, that's also important because some of these matchups, like Orlando, not a great matchup for Jaime. He was actually decent in that game and even though the matchup wasn't great. But yeah, like I think Norm staying in that type of realm where he can stay off the ball off of Jaime, but also know like how he did early in the season, then he'd jump on

10:35the ball and they were able to run some stuff. I see some stuff as well where we used to talk about it at the time where Norm was playing good in that new version of the offense, where Tyler comes back, they're going to have to set more screens for him. I'm at a point now where I'm like, I want more screens for Norm. I'm kind of just watching some of the stuff that they run offensively and it's like, it almost feels like sometimes Norm's looking around like, hey, can I get a screen here? When you don't have that extra speed off the bounce, it feels like- But he has said that before though, like when this was a conversation about 30 games into the season when the offense started to stall a little bit, right? He was one of those who said it was him, Bam and Tyler all said we could use an occasional screen, right? Yeah, he's acknowledged it and I think as you go into this part of the season where maybe you're tiring down a little bit and maybe you don't have that quick off the dribble speed, I think it's good to kind of get into a realm where you're running a couple pick and rolls, make things easier, force it to one one. So I think there's things that they're going to be looking at here after this two game stretch where they're going to say how could we make things easier on Norm and that one of them is going to end up being whether he, I don't know how much, I think he would

11:39accept the bench roll, if when they're fully healthy, I don't think he would have a problem with it. I think he walks to start. Yeah, I know he wants to start. I mean, he wanted to be an all-star. He proved himself to be an all-star. Right. It's kind of hard to go back to the bench now in the same season. And if any of us were him as well, we would think we should start as well, like with the win-futus added all sorts of things. So I totally get it, but I think in terms of what the coaching staff is looking at and saying, how are we going to be best to win games later in the season? They're going to ultimately land it with him there. But then it becomes okay. Well, can he still be a 20 plus point per game score in that role? I mean, Tyler's done it. Jaime's done it for pockets. So I think there's ways to get to that. And maybe when you're in that role off the bench, there's ways to manage your minutes a little bit better, where maybe you run a little bit of a different pocket where it's like, okay, Norm, instead of that initial first quarter nine-minute stretch we were doing with you in the season, well, how about we do two five-minute stretches where you're kind of playing off of where Tyler's not out there and stuff like that where it's like give it all your give it your all in that five-minute stretch and then come take a break and then give another four to five-minute stretch then the quarter. I think that's a good way of going about this. So I think that's also where they're going to get to, but it still comes back to him

12:42figure. And I'm honestly, I think he could figure it out. Like this isn't one of the situations where we've talked with younger players where whether it was Jaime in the second year when he hit the wall and it was like, okay, I don't think this is coming out of this anytime soon or different guys. I think this is like bypassable for him individually. Like I think he could figure out his score 100%. It's just if I'm figuring out his three balls, I think it's that summer. And I'll say one other thing. He's got to get away from the foul-baiting thing, I think, just a little bit. It was great at that point in the season, but look, the league adjusted, the referees adjusted, they're not calling any shooting fouls for anybody anymore. I mean, there's plays where I think there's no way it could be on the ground because the guy is literally shooting. They're going to call it on the ground. I think a lot of times on his drives, he's playing for the foul instead of playing for the finish. Like when he's trying to finish, he can finish it in all times. Yeah, he can do a lot of stuff in that ring. So I think that's just another note. I really do believe that. If he could just play for getting buckets from the perimeter and in the lane, just kind of making quick decision and trying to score, I think he would benefit him a lot for his

13:43efficiency. We're going to talk about the defense on the other side of this because that's more problematic, I think, because I don't know, just get back to that. Before we do, you know what's problematic? You know what is problematic, not knowing what to serve your family for food, particularly if you have someone in your family who's picky, which I have to know something about that. So you got to check out every plate. This is the go-to dinner solution for busy families. They're juggling work, school, and activities, especially if you have those picky eaters at home. They've got so much on this menu that you can choose from and the meals are ready in 30 minutes. So it does not take a long time. It's half the price. All those take-out services that I was overusing up front every day, low pricing, no hidden fees or surprises. And again, it's cheaper than the grocery store. So you got to check it out. It's called every plate, every plate, and they got a great deal for you through five reasons and five on the floor here, $2.99 per meal on your first box plus 10% off for a month. That's $2.99 per meal off your first box and, excuse me, on your first box, plus 10%

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15:49Thank you for calling the Bombas Comfort Line. Bombas make socks, slippers, tees, and underwear made with the highest quality materials. Press 1 for comfort, 2 for style, 3 for donation. You chose style. Bombas are styles for whatever you enjoy. You can run in Bombas, lounge in Bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in Bombas because with every item purchased, another is donated. Bombas Comfort worth calling for. Go to bombas.com-sash-audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com and use code audio. Okay, here's the dilemma for the heat. When they play the two of them together, it's just open season. The defense is, it's awful between the two of them. There's just no resistance, there's no force. We saw it against Bain any time against a physical player. I mean, Charlotte was a different story because they were just bombing, but they were getting in the paint and then spraying, and Lamello was going to get out to the shooters.

16:49It's not going to work with the two of them out there defensively. I mean, you ask, I mean, BAM can't be in five places at once, and without Wiggins, I mean, Larsen does a good job individually. Yakachonus does a good job individually, but he's not out there with them. And Davion is just not, I mean, Davion's not big enough. I like what Davion provides, but it's provided in this very narrow box. It's not, he's not out there really creating. I mean, Drew creates more havoc defensively in terms of steals and things like that. What do they do with it? They're not beating anybody with the two of them out there at the end of games if they've got to get a stop, right? Yeah, for sure. And there's two levels to this where I was going to bring up. One, they didn't play Tyler and Duncan together all those years because of this reason. Like they, and they honestly had some decent moments offensively, and their numbers were decent. But I mean, they recognize that themselves defensively that they couldn't play the two, and they just didn't for as long as they both were here. The other part of that that I want to mention, Tyler and Duncan both have tendencies where they're in the right spot off the ball.

17:52Like where they are on the ball, they can get attacked, and they're going to get fouled and all that stuff. Tyler's not bad off the ball, actually. No, they know where to be positionally and everything, but there was some moments, especially tonight, where Norm off the ball was more problematic than Norm on the ball. So it's like, the reason I bring that up is that it's not like they, like, okay, if Duncan and Tyler were playing together, they go zone and kind of lean on the print, the off ball defense and positional defense to kind of work around it. Norm can kind of, you know, he has the strength to kind of stay with somebody at times one on one, but the off ball defense is kind of lackluster at some. They was the one play I have to go back and look as I don't want to fully say it was him, but I don't know if it was Keisha or Norm that didn't get over on the play, but they basically inbounded the ball, ran down and just threw it under the basket to be about say for a wide open layup. Like nobody was even around. It's like that type of stuff. So you have a guy that maybe gets picked on and they're trying to bring Tyler and every action to kind of force a switch or force a one on one isolation. And then Norm is kind of a different situation defensively. So you have two different stances on that end of the floor that they're trying to work around when they're playing together.

18:55And as you mentioned, you can maybe work around it if the other three are Wiggins, Pella and Bam because you're just switching all over the place. You can double over. You can fill when it's Davion as good of a defender he is. He's too small to switch around all over the place that you're not making up for that. So that's what I'm seeing with these linups. Then obviously in the Charlotte game, there's no BAM. So you're either running Keisha who seems, you know, had a really give credit to him. He had a good game, but is still trying to figure it out and this in terms of this leads defense and everything like that. Or Kalo, but you're not switching and still has some tendencies on that end. So yeah, the defensive stuff is a problem. I mean, that was a problem when we seen it post all so great. It's still kind of a problem. It's going to be like, I'm going to keep saying it. There's no work around on that end of the floor. The work around is teams that have two weaker defenders on the floor together, just score the heck out of the basketball and they work offensively. And it's like, okay, as much as we're getting up, we're putting the other end of the floor. Well, that's not happening consistently enough for it to make sense to play it. So I think what we're all seeing right now is like, I think this team is better when it's one of them on the floor with a bunch of defense where they could scrap their way into a bunch of possessions where they're working out to transition stuff.

20:03Because as we, I mean, aside from that early season stretch where things were totally different where they were scoring like madness against Charlotte where they put up 144, they're not going to do that very often. Like that's, that's not this team. So I think that leading into the defense is always where this team's always going to land. So that's the only way they're going to scrap their way out of the play in the season. Well, I'm trying to think of a team that's competing at a high level that has two primary guards who can't guard. Like, look at Atlanta's situation right now, right? Why did they take off? They've basically put Dyson Daniels next next to in the Kale Alexander walker, both of those guys could guard, especially Daniels, but like they both can guard. And they got tray out of the picture there, a guy who can't guard. And now all of a sudden Atlanta has broken out of this mediocrity. I mean, Jalen Johnson's got a lot to do with it, but a lot does have to do with the fact. And, you know, look, you know, what I'm sorry. Now, that was the guard, the former guard from C. James column.

21:05I mean, he's not an elite defender at this point. Okay, for sure, but they have the two other guys who are in there all the time. This is this is a problem. I don't think there is a workaround for and this going forward is going to be the reason that I just don't know that this is sustainable for another season. I don't know how you can go into training camp and say, okay, we've resigned norm and Tyler is on the last year of his contract. And we're going to try this again. So the norm situation has gotten weird now, like it was great early in the year. It was and he's a tremendous asset to them in terms of what he's provided. And all the rest of this in the locker room and there's a great trade. Congratulations for making an all-star team. But I just don't see with the construction of this roster, as long as Tyler is there, it's one or the other. It's one of the other. And so what are you going to pay norm? I thought they'd pay norm early in the year, but like if they're going to pay norm now, you're basically saying Tyler, you're in a walkier, right? And there's no way they're going to resign both of them, right?

22:05You can't. Yeah, I don't see it. I mean, you're kind of positioning yourself for similar seasons to this one moving forward. If that's the case, that's kind of what you're banking yourself on. And yeah, you don't lock yourself in the long-term money with two players that you're trying to balance and play without one another. Like when you're staguring the two, yeah, I don't really see it. But I don't want to make this all about negative on norms. I still think he had a good season. I still think he could be in fact packed full down the stretch of the season if once he gets healthy and what's, you know, maybe he gets a burst of energy lane in the season. Who knows? But you're 100% right. I still think in terms of the decision makers upstairs, I don't think they're watching to say, okay, this is going to be two of our three best players moving forward. You know, I'm a contending team if, you know, we're something one of them out in clutch time in a close game. Like that can't really happen. So yeah, it's either, and like I'm going to keep saying this as well, I don't think they're going to see anything the rest of the way that's going to change their opinion on this either. I don't think there's going to be like a game mixed in where they both dropped 20 and

23:09which would happen. Yeah, we're still, I mean, I know, I know they both missed a lot of time. But when we talk about like Tyler's great game, I mean, their great games have not come with the other one on the floor. They've come with the other one, not on the floor. And it's not again, it's not an indictment of either of them, but they're, they're a different version of the same player. They're, I mean, Tyler's better on the ball. Tyler is more versatile with his overall offensive game. Howell is, is crafty as a shooter and finding ways to get his shots off the ball. They're, I think he's, he's probably better finisher than Tyler right at the rim. Tyler obviously has the floater that he's kind of used to compensate for that. But I mean, it is, it's, it's, it's just different flavors at Baskin Robbins. Like it's not, you know, I'm saying and ultimately go home and you're not fulfilled. Like I don't, I don't see it. And, and, I mean, this is why again, that I should, you know, put more respect on Bams name defensively because I, I tweeted this, but it's basically like, we saw this, what he's dealing with out there and has to cover up. And it is, it's like Jenga.

24:09It's like, seriously, you take BAM out of there, like the, all the blocks fall on your face. Like it's just doesn't, it doesn't work. So, Well, those are just don't have another big. It's always funny to watch. And Keeson, I would say again, had a good game, but it's funny that they, they're one big away from going to a six foot six big man. Like that's what their big man depth is. Can we starting Davie on at the four soon? Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's a consistent problem. But I, look, they had a season to see how the pal hero thing would work and when I think what they found out is neither of them is durable enough for, for again, a variety of reasons to play enough. And when they play together, they don't make each other better. And that's just the way it is. There are some back courts that do. There are some back courts that don't. The heat of had some that have worked really well together and had some others that didn't. And they've been some that the heat of had, they didn't think would work well together. And I think Jay will would work with, with Dwayne and it did because Jay will figure that a way to play off the ball. Then there were other guys they had like Chambers who just knew, even though he thought he was the best player in the world, that, you know, he was with Dwayne, okay, Dwayne was going to yell at them if he didn't get off the ball and just sort of bring the ball up

25:10and hand it to him. These two guys, they just, it just doesn't, it doesn't click. And I, you know, I was hoping it could be like Drogach and Wade where it was clunky for a while. So Goran got more assertive, but I don't, I'm, I've been out on it for a while. I think I, I would assume that the decision makers are probably out on it too. I, it's, you can't look at it every game and see the negative next to their lines together and think it's, it's, even though they're both good players, it's, it just doesn't work, just doesn't work. Anyway. Okay, so we'll see what happens with Norm going forward and then obviously he's going to be a huge off, off season topic. More episodes to come. Lakers are coming in here. Thursday night. LeBron's only appearance of the season. Luka is on fire lately too. So this is not going to be fun. But the heat had played well against the Lakers traditionally at home. So we'll see how that plays out. Thanks to Brady. Follow me. Brady talk 305. Every plate used to code on the floor, 299, it gets your special deal price. Make sure you use the code five. Recently our company softball team lost the big game by one run.

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