MIAMI — Perhaps we’ve been looking at this all wrong since Heat President Pat Riley mentioned at his season-ending media session earlier this month, “I’ve done this 13 times in 29 years … those 13 rebuilds.”

Perhaps we tuned out when Riley concluded with, “You don’t just win it with one guy.”

In that regard, what is going on now and what is forecast to come next may very well provide the guideposts for how Riley can make this right.

As the conference finals play out, as much as star potential, a theme has been elite support systems. And as teams look ahead to an offseason that already has started for most, the messaging has been of big threes being a thing of the past in this new world of tax aprons and CBA spending restrictions.

Which brings us back to the Heat, and what, for now, stands as the big two of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro … and the possibility that might be enough for at least a re-starting point.

No, not enough alone to win big. The playoffs, as brief as they were for Erik Spoelstra’s team, sobered up that notion in a hurry.

But perhaps enough to surround, support and revitalize.

No, no one is equating, or should equate, Adebayo and Herro to Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade. But among Riley’s 13 rebuilds was the one in the 2005 offseason, when he augmented O’Neal and Wade with Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, James Posey and Gary Payton.

Similarly, before Herro firmly established his NBA foothold (he was a reserve at the time), Riley stepped up with another of his rebuilds at the 2020 trading deadline, when he added Jae Crowder and Andrew Iguodala to the then-core of Jimmy Butler and Adebayo.

In each case, an NBA Finals appearance followed.

So in scrutinizing what is going on in the ongoing conference finals, perhaps the most significant prism of one of a big-two prism.

Yes, the Thunder have All-Stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, but they mostly dismantle you in waves.

Yes, the Pacers have Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, but there also are so many other well-thought-out pieces in place, from Aaron Nesmith to Andrew Nembhard to TJ McConnell to Obi Toppin.

Yes, the Knicks have Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns, but there also have been the prescient moves for Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Mikal Bridges.

Yes, the Timberwolves have Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, but don’t discount the impact of Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker. (Rudy Gobert is more of a one-way outlier.)

As Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in his team’s approach to defending Brunson in the East finals, versatility and optionality can matter plenty.

“You got to have a toolbox full of tools,” he said. “And not all the tools are going to work.”

The point being, with a quality two-man core, it’s not always about whale harpooning or airlifting in superstar talent, even if that mostly has been the Riley way.

Sometimes it’s about the pieces that fit, that make it congeal, coalesce.

As the Heat’s offseason additions did ahead of the 2006 championship.

As Crowder and Iguodala elevated the Heat to those 2020 NBA Finals.

No, Adebayo and Herro are not the Celtics’ (when healthy) Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Nor are they Brunson or Towns. Or even what Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard could have been for the Bucks.

But there are plenty of other dual leading-man tandems from playoff teams where Adebayo and Herro can at least stand on par.

The Heat’s problem is the drop-off from those two. And it is tangible. Arguably as tangible as the drop from No. 2 to No. 3 as any team that made the playoffs this season.

Perhaps Kel’el Ware grows into that third wheel. Perhaps Andrew Wiggins (if retained) settles into such a role. Perhaps Davion Mitchell (if he returns in free agency) picks up where he left off in the play-in round.

No, the Heat are not one player away from anything as tangible as a title, considering that if that one player added is on a star level, it likely would mean Herro or Adebayo heading out.

But depth matters.

Quality depth.

Smartly added depth, what players such as Nesmith has added for the Pacers, Hart for the Knicks, Isaiah Joe for the Thunder, Alexander-Walker for the Timberwolves.

At times during the playoffs, with Terry Rozier out of the picture, Jaime Jaquez Jr. out of synch, Duncan Robinson out of his comfort zone and Nikola Jovic out of rhythm, it made the Adebayo-Herro combination look all the worse.

Therefore, the logical starting point might be to first to prop this thing at least back up to respectability.

Riley insisted in his season-ending comments that he had ample assets to make things happen.

So make them happen.

Rebuild No. 14? A better support system.

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