Heat Culture & How Culture Affects the NBA Draft
Culture & the NBA Draft
A buzz term for years and even more so right now, culture, Heat Culture in particular.
Some scoffed at Heat Culture and made sport of pre-season conditioning drills as old school and antiquated.
And yet, here we are, watching Heat Culture rise to the top of the League when it matters most. And the most surprising (yet not surprising) part, they’re doing it with Undrafted players.
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Every NBA owner in the NBA is asking their Front Office, what is Heat Culture? And how do we re-create it?
The NBA is a copycat league. And with a new CBA and salary cap structure coming into place, cheaper contracts are more important than ever. Finding an undrafted player who can contribute on a roster is a gold mine to a franchise. Finding multiple? Unheard of. But with owners seeing the Heat’s success with undrafted players, they’ll see something that appears that their franchise can duplicate, but can they?
If the Heat have 7 undrafted players on their roster, there should be more than enough to go around, right?
But is it the untapped talent falling out of the draft or is it players finding the right culture and system to perform in?
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Establishing a system allows you to target certain players in the Draft.
9 of my 16 seasons in the NBA were under Coach Terry Stotts. I was able to watch him implement a system that the front office was then able to adapt to (and as always, it helps when you land a franchise player who is a fulcrum of the system as well as a culture driver in Damian Lillard). Under this system, as a scouting staff, we grew to know we could draft a combo guard / wing and that we had a development staff in place (David Vanterpool, Nate Tibbets, Dale Osbourne) and system (Flow Offense) that was going to allow the player to succeed – Will Barton, Allen Crabbe, Pat Connaughton, Jake Layman, Gary Trent – all second-round picks who far exceeded their draft position and landed multiple NBA contracts.
Establishing a culture allows you to absorb players other teams may not be interested in or allows certain players to succeed and develop where they might otherwise not be able to.
Culture is something rarely cultivated in the NBA. As we recently saw, the three winningest coaches of recent times were just fired in Monty Williams, Nick Nurse, and Mike Budenholzer.
Often terms such as needing a fresh voice or needing a fresh start is used. And I’m not here to say there is not in some scenarios. But all too often there is no culture in place and a Coaching and Management carousel comes through.
“Everyone talks in basketball circles how they want to emulate what San Antonio’s done or what Miami has done. But both of those organizations are committed to continuity in the coaching position. That doesn’t mean you’ll never have a bad stretch or bad year but you don’t automatically pinpoint the blame on a Coach. The Coaching stability allows Erik to have coaching confidence and a conviction… he’s not coaching for his job on each and every possession. That allows him to really do whatever he feels is best in that moment, in that season. They’ve established a baseline of standards and habits they can always fall back on despite what their roster might look like in any particular year. Because of those two things, they have the habits, the standards, the continuity, he’s able to try and diversify and do more things like zone defense, playing differently on offense. They have more ways to win than a lot of teams.” – Jeff Van Gundy on the Ryen Rusillo Podcast (May 30)
When I started working in the NBA in 2007, the team everyone was trying to emulate was the San Antonio Spurs. Obviously, they had landed two #1 draft picks as franchise cornerstones but they also had a culture that allowed them to absorb a certain type of undrafted talent. Bruce Bowen, Gary Neal, Jonathan Simmons, Bryn Forbes come to mind. And throwaway players from the mid-second round such as Danny Green and Stephen Jackson.
One thing many (not all) of those players had in common… character concerns. The Spurs knew who they were. Knew their culture. And knew they could absorb those character concerns.
Not unlike what the New England Patriots did for years or what the Kansas City Chiefs are currently doing. When you have a distinct culture and players/coaches/management who are bought in and can drive that culture, you know what players you can and cannot fit into it. The pool does not become more narrow, but wider. Because you see players thrown away or not given a chance that you know would have the potential to succeed in your system and culture if given a chance.
Let’s not forget, we are not far removed from most NBA teams not wanting to add Jimmy Butler to their roster due to various concerns. He was available for any NBA team to acquire via trade, twice. It took a team with a secure enough culture to take a chance on a player who has now led them to two NBA Finals appearances.
When you look at NBA championship teams, often, they have carried a culture that has allowed them to add a player or players other teams would fear to absorb. Just look down the rosters. As an example, as much as every team would want the player Draymond Green, very few could absorb the person of Draymond Green.
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If you are part of an organization with an established culture, you know what type of player you can draft (or pick up undrafted). You know your coaches. You know your system. You know your player development staff. You know what players drive your culture. You know what players can fit into your culture. You know what types of players can develop within your culture.
It’s not as simple as identifying the best undrafted talent but in identifying the talent that fits within your culture.
“The Seahawks would send out brochures to undrafted free agents touting their history of mid-to-late-round draft picks and undrafted players, promising to evaluate them by the same standard as higher draft picks (and would actually follow through on cutting more highly drafted talent, thus fostering a legitimately competitive atmosphere focused on improvement).” – Conor Orr on SI.com in an article titled: What NFL Teams Can Learn From Miami Heat Run to NBA Finals
When I look at the Miami Heat, it starts with the Owner, Micky Arison. And Pat Riley. And Erik Spoelstra. And Udonis Haslem.
They have an ownership group who empowers the Front Office and a Front Office who trusts and empowers the Coach. They have an established culture. And they have a driver of that culture in Haslem. And part of that culture is developing undrafted players. And the blueprint is right in front of them in Haslem. And the organization has shown over and over that they are willing to invest and give opportunity to undrafted players which make it an attractive landing spot.
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I am as wrapped up in Heat Culture as the next person. Listening, reading, and taking notes along the way.
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In Andrew Lopez’s article on ESPN.com, he shares:
Since taking over, Riley has made only 14 first-round picks in 26 drafts -- and three of them were traded in draft-night deals.
"It's an organizational philosophy of ours," Spoelstra told ESPN. "We've done it now for several years. We know what we're looking for. We're not for everybody, but we love to be dream makers."
Robinson's story is a familiar one within the Miami franchise. Step 1: Find a prospect. Step 2: Give him a chance. Step 3: Watch him succeed.
"We're gonna give you the same opportunity we're gonna give the No. 1 draft pick," Haslem says. "You gotta work hard. But we give everybody that confidence. We believe in leadership at all levels."
"They want to work with you and see you be great," Strus says. "When you fully indulge yourself into the culture and the work, they reward you for all the efforts that you put into it. ... That's really just the biggest thing that separates the Heat from a lot of other organizations: how much they care and want to develop guys."
"The reason we can get these guys to work hard is before we even approach these guys about basketball, we let you know you're part of the family and we want the best for you," Haslem says.
"As an undrafted guy, you step into this organization and wear this jersey, you don't need to look any further than [Haslem]," Robinson says. "He loves underdogs. He loves guys with chips on their shoulders. That's a perfect fit."
In Scott Cacciola’s article from the New York Times, he shares:
“Haslem has played sparingly in recent seasons, but he has outsize influence in the locker room, including as the self-appointed dean of the undrafted. Those who are new to the team get a one-on-one conversation with Haslem, who tells them about his three championship rings and about how anything is possible. But they had better be prepared to work, because Haslem will be watching.”
Haslem said. “You can’t measure character or discipline or accountability at the draft combine, and a lot of those things sometimes get overlooked.”
“It’s all about timing and fit, and what a player’s fortitude is. If you have a big dream and want to be challenged, we feel like this can be the place for a lot of those kinds of guys.” – Erik Spoelstra
Raja Bell shares on the Bill Simmons Podcast, “The Heat Culture, they go out and find it, they identify it better than any other team in the league. Every team can see a guy and say Duncan Robinson can really shoot or this guy can really do that but what’s hard to identify is… who’s got that it, that grit, that Udonis Haslem in them, where they’ll make a career out of saying fuck you, you didn’t believe in me.”
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Culture doesn’t happen when you hire a new Coach or GM. Culture doesn’t happen with an ownership change. Culture doesn’t happen when you sign or draft a star player. Culture is cultivated over time with all of those forces in collaboration, supporting and empowering each level of management. With the right front office and coach who are given time to implement a culture and system, who acquire drivers of that culture onto the roster and who are empowered to do what they do best.
When it comes to the NBA Draft, having a culture in place allows you to trade draft picks or acquire certain pieces of talent you are targeting because you know you can cultivate and find talent to fill out the roster.
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So how does this play out into this year’s draft?
Every team is going to spend more time targeting undrafted players.
Teams will be apt to give those players more opportunity at Summer League.
It’s a copycat league. The Heat have shown it’s possible to succeed at the highest of levels with undrafted players and castaways.
But it’s not just the player, it truly is, the culture.
So can what the Heat have done be duplicated?
Yes.
But not overnight.
And overnight success is what most franchises look for.
It cannot even be done over the course of a season or even multiple seasons. Culture is developed over long periods of time when people such as Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, and Udonis Haslem are in pace and setting the pace.
More than ever, people are recognizing the importance of culture when it comes to building a championship team. Talent can only get you so far, but culture can deliver a championship.