National Basketball Association

How the Miami Heat's bench compares to the rest in the Eastern Conference

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Miami Heat feature a number of new additions to their bench rotation. Here we take a look at how they will fare, and how they compare to the other bench units in the east.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Miami have a vastly different looking lineup from the one that featured last season. From their opening night lineup alone, eight players have departed. And this doesn’t include the offseason departures of veteran forwards Joe Johnson and Amar’e Stoudemire. Of course the biggest names to leave have been all-time stalwarts in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

As a result, the Heat will feature three new starters and a very new looking bench rotation. And although the new starting lineup will be expected to pick up the slack left behind behind by Wade, Bosh and also Luol Deng, the Heat’s bench rotation will be almost as crucial in moving forward.

The Heat have brought in an array of new faces, and have certainly used the first three pre-season games to try and work them into the Heat system as much as possible. Once injured second-year player Josh Richardson returns from a knee-injury, four of the starting positions will have been settled. Goran Dragic at the point, Richardson at the 2, Justise Winslow at the 3 and Hassan Whiteside at the center position.

The vacancy left by Bosh will come down to three candidates, all newcomers – Derrick Williams, Luke Babbitt and James Johnson. Assuming Williams takes the starting spot primarily due to his versatility and athleticism, we will take at how the Heat’s bench looks in comparison to their eastern conference rivals.

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Eastern conference benches in comparison

Although far from set in stone, this is how the Miami Heat’s main bench rotation is likely to look come opening night, with their average age in parentheses: Dion Waiters; Luke Babbitt; Tyler Johnson; James Johnson; Wayne Ellington. (26.4)

With the immediate status of forward Josh McRoberts still uncertain (foot injury), these will likely be the most consistently used bench players for Coach Spoelstra. The promising thing about this new-look lineup is the versatility these players provide. Before going into detail about what this bench unit offers, here by way of comparison is how the competing eastern conference bench lineups will look:

Cleveland – Iman Shumpert; Richard Jefferson; Mike Dunleavy; Dahntay Jones; Chris Andersen (33.6 )

Toronto – Jared Sullinger; Terrence Ross; Cory Joseph; Norman Powell; Lucas Nogueira (24.2)

Atlanta – Thabo Sefolosha; Kris Humphries; Jarrett Jack; Mike Muscala; Tim Hardaway Jr (28.8)

Detroit – Jon Leuer; Ish Smith; Aaron Baynes; Stanley Johnson; Boban Marjanovic (26.4)

Boston – Marcus Smart; Tyler Zeller; Gerald Green; Jonas Jerebko; Kelly Olynyk (26.4)

Chicago – Taj Gibson; Doug McDermott; Bobby Portis; Isaiah Canaan; Spencer Dinwiddie (24.8)

Charlotte – Frank Kaminsky; Ramon Sessions; Jeremy Lamb; Marco Belinelli; Spencer Hawes (27)

Indiana – Rodney Stuckey; Al Jefferson; Lavoy Allen; Aaron Brooks; CJ Miles (29.6)

Washington -Kelly Oubre Jr; Ian Mahimni; Trey Burke; Marcus Thornton; Jason Smith (26.2)

New York – Brendon Jennings; Lance Thomas; Justin Holiday; Kyle O’Quinn; Sasha Vujacic (28)

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

About the bench

As far as five-man bench rotations go, Miami’s certainly stacks up serviceably against its opposition. The bench unit listed above is relatively young, with an average age of 26.4.

Individually, some of the additions have some credible playoff experience. Waiters last season participated in the western conference finals as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Also, James Johnson competed in the eastern conference finals as a member of the Toronto Raptors. Whilst neither set the world on fire in their respective playoff series, the exposure of such a frenetic environment can only help them moving forward.

Waiters is an exceptional talent to utilise as a bench player. Of the players listed above, only 36 year-old Mike Dunleavy Jr, now with Cleveland, was selected higher in the draft overall. James Johnson offers the Heat a big body and a solid defensive force off the bench. On top of his Raptors playoff experience, he also experienced the playoffs at stints with Chicago and Memphis.

Another important addition for the Heat this season was Ellington. Not only does he have seven years of league experience on his resume, he also won an NCAA title whilst playing with North Carolina. His early showings in the pre-season, both as a reserve and a starter, will be certainly heartening for the Heat.

Tyler Johnson represents a prototypical combo guard, therefore giving the Heat flexibility with a number of lineups. His aggressiveness and ability to hit the three-point shot will certainly be called upon, and he will naturally be super-keen to prove he his worth his recent $50 million contract.

Babbitt’s ability to stretch the floor will provide the bench unit another weapon to help the Heat’s new up-tempo approach. Other bench players who will feature the season include McRoberts, Beno Udrih and Briante Weber. McRoberts certainly offers a different look, a 6-foot-10 forward with great passing and defensive ability and hence gives the Heat a unique look when filling either the 4 or 5 spot. Udrih is a very experienced, steady back-up point guard who can certainly hold up his end on both ends of the floor when filling in.

Weber, meanwhile, is a very athletic albeit inexperienced point guard who will battle for meaningful minutes. Also, as you can see from the above photo, he has some serious hops!

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

How will they fare?

Much of the effectiveness of the Heat’s bench unit this will depend on it’s durability. McRoberts continues to be a question mark, as has been the case for multiple seasons due to various injuries. But aside from Tyler Johnson missing a large chunk of last season due to injury, the rest of the Heat’s bench cast have been quite durable and reliable throughout their careers. James Johnson did miss 25 games last season, however 16 of these were due to DNP-CD’s (coach’s decision not to play him).

The Heat features players who throughout their careers have both started and come off the bench for their respective teams. Waiters has 110 career starts over four seasons. Babbitt has 38 over six seasons. James Johnson has 140 over seven seasons and Ellington has started 112 games over his seven seasons. This clearly demonstrates not only a high level of experience, but also talent. These new additions are not simply players who have sat on the end of the bench for other teams before arriving in Miami – they have had very meaningful careers

And in the case of Waiters, the best is very much still ahead of him. Just 24 years of age, Waiters has certainly shown plenty in his three preseason games with the Heat that indicate could very easily be amongst the best bench performers in the league.

Whilst the Heat have lost a ton of experience, they have retooled extremely well on the fly. And the performance of the bench will have a large say in how far the team progresses.