Delon Wright and the art of not making adjustments on purpose

Let's put the 'Chicken Game' narrative to the side. While, yes, it was without a doubt a big moment, and the turning point in the Philadelphia 76ers' Play-In win over the Miami Heat yesterday, there's not too much to explain and provide context for.

Caleb Martin missed two free throws, thus giving the crowd free chicken, which made them get excited, which in turn fueled Philly's comeback. Yet, for the Heat to build that lead to blow, they relied on a mid-game adjustment that wasn't in the scouting report ... by design. Once again, Erik Spoelstra played chess by displaying the art of not previously making an obvious adjustment on purpose, to then later have it be the difference maker in an important moment.

Heat sign a possible game changer and ... don't use him?

Delon Wright spent the first half of the season playing just 13 minutes per game for a lottery-bound team in the Washington Wizards, a far cry from his previous year where he played 24 minutes per contest on a squad that was still trying to make the playoffs with Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis leading the charge.

It wasn't the best utilization of his talents, and both sides agreed as they reached a buyout agreement that allowed him to go to a competing team that could use his stellar point-of-attack and help defense. He ended up signing with the Miami Heat, the team where his brother Dorell Wright played the first six seasons of his career and won a championship in 2006, and a team that really didn't need him. They already had stalwart defenders for days with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Haywood Highsmith, Caleb Martin, Josh Richardson and the newly acquired Terry Rozier. But, as it's been proven throughout history, having a lot of versatility is necessary to make it far in the postseason, accounting for different matchups and injuries.

Spoelstra spoke wonders about Wright when he first arrived, giving him praise for his performance in an Atlanta Hawks uniform when facing the Heat in the first round of the 2022 playoffs. Spo credited him multiple times for being disruptive, able to make multiple efforts and affect shots because of his length and quickness as a guard. Not only was Wright in a winning situation, but he was with a coach who knew how to employ players like him the best. A match made in Heaven, as they say. Out of the many players in Miami, this could be their x-factor.

His first game was just a glimpse of this — 13 points, five assists and two steals while being a plus-9 in an 11-point win against the Sacramento Kings. He got the start with Butler, Rozier, Robinson and Herro out, played 35 minutes and was an incredible fit on both ends. He made shots when he was helped off, provided secondary creation, attempted six free throws, and was a disruptor on defense as intended. His pairing with Highsmith as two underrated elite defenders proved to be lethal, and Wright operating at the top of the Heat's historically great zone looked phenomenal. When healthy, the Heat looked as dangerous as ever.

One would think the first portion of that last sentence (when healthy) didn't come to fruition when parsing through his game log with Miami: after his debut against Sacramento, he only played in 13 of the team's final 25 games. And excluding the final game of the season, which inflates stats because of the resting of stars and other final game shenanigans, he averaged 18.5 minutes per game. In that period, Wright was always a healthy scratch, and the Heat had other injuries (Herro, Robinson, Rozier, notably) that opened up opportunities for him to fill a void, but he wasn't used.

I mean, for crying out loud, there was a six-game stretch in mid-March where Patty Mills started five games and averaged 21 minutes per game, while Delon didn't start any games and played 20 minutes. That period featured two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and games against the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Golden State Warriors, teams that employ great offensive players that would've required Wright to play more than Mills. Regardless of that, and all due respect to FIBA Patty, starting him over Wright in an NBA game in 2024 is crazy.

It seemed obvious that certain matchups called for Delon minutes. During games, an adjustment to have Delon play seemed ideal. At a certain point, seeing the Heat struggle and such an obvious adjustment not being made was frustrating. No matter what was said, how people felt nor what questions were asked, no change was made.

But, years of evidence have shown us that Spo and the Heat coaching staff are smart, and an NBA staff is generally nine times out of 10 smarter than the smartest fans watching at home, so it isn't a matter of them not knowing that could work. Even then, the first game against a competitive Kings team showed a glimpse of what could be done. So, what gives?

Employing the secret weapon

Yesterday in Philly, we got our answer. With the Heat trailing by six in the last three minutes of the first quarter, Wright checked in and the Heat employed a strategy that they showcased in that Kings game referenced in this article: the zone with Wright and Highsmith pressing and at the top in half court.

That fueled a 9-2 run by Miami to close the quarter on top and led them to dominate the second quarter 28-17 en route to a 12-point lead at the half. Wright ended up with a great outing, scoring six points, grabbing six boards, having two steals and one block in 22 minutes and being a plus-8, which was tied for second-best on the team (all starters were negative while all bench players were positives). In a short rotation (nine players), he was a key cog.

Not to sound like a know-it-all, but the notion that Wright wasn't playing by design could be seen from a mile away. This comes from the coach who has led the Heat to two Finals and another Conference Finals run in the last four seasons as the underdog, and every time surprises teams in the postseason with schemes and surprise performances by players unknown to the masses.

It wouldn't be the wildest thing to suggest that a coach, let alone Spoelstra, wasn't doing something that could help his team on purpose during the regular season to throw at a team in the postseason. That's drawn from years of following the team rather closely. But, to be blunt, it's mostly drawn from a former Heat player admitting as much.

A month ago, on Gilbert Arenas' podcast, former role player on the Heat in the 'Heatle' days, revealed how Spoelstra and the Heat approach the regular season and it confirms everything that I've laid out and many fans suspected:

A method to the madness

So, yes, it's evident that's what happened. Now, that opens up the other obvious question: Does it make sense? In this particular context, while I understand the thinking behind it, and the adjustment ultimately gave them an advantage (though the 76ers eventually adjusted and won), it might not have been the best idea given the Heat were fighting for their lives trying to escape the Play-In while this was happening.

While sure, they proved last year that wasn't any problem for them as they went from the Play-In as the eighth seed to make the Finals, it isn't a proven strategy because anything can happen in a win-or-go-home scenario like the Play-In, and the road to making it far isn't guaranteed when facing tough competition. Of course, the Heat believe they can beat anyone when healthy and with all their tricks up their sleeves, so this is a moot point, but on the downside, playing an extra game leaves more room for injuries, as illustrated by what happened to Jimmy Butler.

More broadly though, it makes sense to employ this strategy. Teams build their strategies for the playoffs on intense scouting based on what their opponents did during the regular season, and what they've shown their capable of doing with the personnel they have on the roster, if someone has stood out from their previous matchups spanning a couple of seasons.

At least that's how they start before we get to making adjustments to the adjustments to the adjustments and so on in the span of two weeks. It's the period where teams are tested because everything they've done is tested to its maximum until there are no answers to give or the series ends. But, what if you don't show everything you've done?

The less you show of a possible adjustment or strategy, the less an opponent has of that on film to study it and prepare answers for it. If you don't show a lot of something, but you practice it and have a small sample size of it that shows it can work, it's a surprise that the opponent now has to scramble for answers on a whim, somewhat like the Sixers had to do against the Heat.

Whether it's a schematic tinker, a lineup change, playing certain players together, or whatever else, everything like that constitutes an adjustment. Coaches at the NBA level are smart enough to sniff things out and make a note to watch for certain things that might happen in an important situation. However, it's one thing to think about something that might happen and have film that shows what it actually looks like.

In practice, if a team is struggling during the regular season, whether it's a stretch or a game, you want to see a coach try different things to figure it out and get them back on track. However, some, like Spoelstra, play the long game, and what might seem like madness clearly has a method to it. It might seem like a coping mechanism to fans of teams struggling, but it's based on logic, and it's given a coach like Spoelstra results throughout the last decade.

So, the next time you're about to criticize your favorite team for not making an adjustment that might seem obvious to you, consider the alternative that I laid out: they might be saving it for a special occasion.