The Miami Heat would do well to carry a fast-forward button into the 2025-26 NBA season. And, no, its purpose wouldn’t be to skip a potentially mundane campaign to find out whether their greatest wishes for the 2026 (or 2027) offseason are granted.

The Heat have a real chance to make something out of this season and become a factor in the weakened Eastern Conference. For that to happen, though, they need Erik Spoelstra to squeeze every possible ounce of production out of this superstar-less roster. Luckily, maximizing a roster just happens to be a strength of Spo’s, and he even has an obvious path toward doing that.

That’s where the theoretical fast-forward button comes into play. Because whatever Miami plans to do this season, it had better plan on doing it fast.

Miami must pick up the pace.

When the Heat were busy exceeding expectations during the height of the Jimmy Butler era, they were defined by a methodical, relentless approach. They took their time, picked their spots, and usually outexecuted or outhustled the opposition.

They also played as slow as molasses. In fact, you have to bounce back all the way to the 2018-19 season to find the last time the Heat didn’t play at a bottom-five pace. And they were hardly burners in that campaign, ranking 23rd in the category, per NBA.com.

That can’t possibly be the approach Miami takes into the new season. A slower pace not only prevents them from reaping the rewards of this roster’s athleticism, it also highlights the issues they have generating half-court offense.

The Heat doesn’t have a dynamic playmaker on the roster. They aren’t overloaded with players who can routinely win one-on-one matchups. They don’t have the kind of basketball magicians who can make something out of nothing.

They do, however, have a host of players who are comfortable pushing the ball in space, starting with Tyler Herro and carrying all the way through versatile bigs Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo. They also have some absolute net-shredders who would benefit from a collective effort of upping the three-point volume. They also have a young nucleus forming, which would benefit from playing instinctive basketball in the open court instead of trying to solve intricate defensive puzzles.

There are myriad reasons for Miami to consider running more, though it’s fair to note that even after Butler’s exit last season, the Heat still didn’t do much of it. After the All-Star break, this was still the Association’s fourth-slowest offense.

It’s entirely possible Spo sees something different than I do, and I would never claim to have a better grasp of his roster than he does. Having said that, this offense hasn’t been good for a while, and it can no longer count on Butler to persist through all of its rough patches. The Heat have to find a new winning formula, and in my eyes, the best way to do that is letting the green flag drop and getting off to the races.