Is the New NBA Strategy to Beat Miami Heat with Overwhelming Size?

The Miami Heat repeated as NBA champions for two main reasons: 1) They have LeBron James, the best player in the world, and 2) they’ve realized the best way to maximize James’ ability is to go small, surround him with shooters, sacrifice rebounding and let everyone go wild on the defensive end with energetic ball pressure and timely back-line rotations that create turnovers and utilize everyone else’s athleticism.

All this is bad news for every other team in the league, except for the part where Miami is forced to put themselves at a disadvantage on the glass. Instead of having traditional bruisers who eat, drink and breath rebounding the basketball, the Heat depend on athletic individuals in their smaller units to box out, be physical and fight for loose balls off the glass.

They’re at a disadvantage, for sure, but this is the style their roster forces them to play, and it’s worked out pretty well so far. Instead of trying to battle the Heat at their own game—which isn’t fun, since only one team can unleash LeBron James—many teams around the league have instead focused on attacking them in their main area of weakness by getting as large as possible.

Here are five teams that have noticeably beefed up their front lines in a telling way, letting us know the Miami Heat could be in the back of their mind.

Memphis Grizzlies

The first contemporary team that decided going against the popular small-ball ideology was a good idea, Memphis went all in on their devastating front line’s talent last season when they traded away their best perimeter scorer, Rudy Gay.

It was a smart move, no doubt, as the team was able to allocate more offensive possessions to efficient scoring opportunities in the post, where All-Star caliber big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol roam.

Already with the best power forward/center combination in the league, the Grizzlies decided to stack their frontcourt even higher this summer by trading Darrell Arthur to the Denver Nuggets for 24-year-old seven-footer Kosta Koufos.

Next season Koufos will move to the bench after starting 81 games in 2013. And he was solid as a starter, with a 17.2 PER and True Shooting percentage of 58.5 percent, per basketball-reference.com.

Arthur can stretch the floor a bit, but he repeatedly makes mistakes on defense, sets poor screens and has a poor basketball IQ, not knowing the difference between when it is and is not OK to foul someone.

Memphis clearly upgrades with Koufos, and Arthur’s departure also gives rise to possible breakout candidate Ed Davis, who was really good with the Toronto Raptors before coming to Memphis in the Gay trade.

The addition of Koufos to Randolph and Gasol gives the Grizzlies significant depth on the front line; the Heat already had problems facing just the latter two, due to their ability to dominate near the basket. Koufos gives them a degree of relentless on the glass.

Indiana Pacers

Last summer the Pacers made it a priority to re-sign Roy Hibbert. This summer their priority was once again in-house, and they took care of it quickly, re-signing organizational linchpin David West to a three-year, $36 million contract.

They nearly defeated the Miami Heat in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, thriving on the offensive glass and bullying Miami in the paint whenever given an opportunity to do so. The Pacers grabbed 34.6 percent of their own misses in that series, a humongous number that would've placed first in the league for the regular season by a wide margin, according to NBA.com/Stats.

Here's Hibbert's shot chart from the Eastern Conference Finals—complete domination at the rim.

The Pacers will look to bludgeon Miami again in 2014, with a heavier dose of Hibbert and West. They also signed former Knicks forward Chris Copeland, who's better known for his ability to stretch floor, but still stands at 6'8" and can allow Hibbert to operate in more space.

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets made arguably the biggest free-agency signing in their team’s history earlier this month, bringing on five-time first team All-NBA center and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard for four the next four years.

Still a couple years away from turning 30 and entrenched in his prime, Howard would make any team’s frontcourt elite. What makes this signing particularly interesting is the fact that Houston already had a potential Defensive Player of the Year center on their roster in Omer Asik.

It’s unlikely the two see the court at the same time next season, but even if they don’t, for 48 minutes, teams that play Houston will have a ferocious monster protecting the rim and dominating the glass no matter what.

The Rockets didn’t sign Howard because they wanted to get bigger, they signed him because they wanted to get better. But in this case, the two are one in the same, and if they meet up with Miami in the Finals, the combination of Howard and Asik should be incredibly helpful.

Both players can defend the pick-and-roll, contain ball-handlers and obliterate driving opponents at the rim. They just might turn the Heat into a jump-shooting team, which could be good enough to win four out of seven games.

Brooklyn Nets

The Nets were a poor defensive team last season, allowing 103.6 points per 100 possessions and finishing 19th in the league, per NBA.com/stats. Opponents also shot 61.2 percent in the restricted area and 41.3 percent in the paint (non-restricted area), per NBA.com/stats, which was the 12th and third-highest percentages allowed last season, respectively.

To get better, they traded for Kevin Garnett, still one of the premier defenders in all of basketball.

In Brooklyn, Garnett will slide back to his natural position beside a true center in Brook Lopez. The tandem should prove to be devastating, larger than anything the Miami Heat can compete with.

The Nets also drafted 6'11" Mason Plumlee out of Duke, and re-signed Andray Blatche, giving them some significant depth behind Garnett and Lopez.

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons won’t compete for the NBA title next season, but their roster is at the beginning stages of looking like one that could give Miami a headache.

Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond will start at power forward and center, respectively, next year. Both are gigantic human beings, and when combined, they provide elite offensive and defensive rebounding, energy and rim protection.

Instead of adding a traditional small forward who can shoot and space the floor, Pistons general manager Joe Dumars made a splash this offseason by signing Josh Smith to a four-year, $54 million contract. Smith isn’t a giant like Drummond and Monroe, but he's 6'9" and will be bigger than most opposing small forwards.

If the three can figure out a consistently productive way to coexist, Detroit could find themselves overpowering plenty of teams next season.

Size has always been important in the NBA, never more so than now thanks to the Miami Heat and their small ball attack. The transactions several contenders around the league have already made this offseason reflect a need to beat Miami by getting bigger, and until James is marginalized by either the luxury tax or declining play from his teammates, even more teams looking to contend will follow this path.