In Kansas City, Missouri, the Heat put on quite a display for the “home” crowd. In their 2nd preseason game of the 2010-2011 campaign, the Heat were able to pull away from a strong Oklahoma City Thunder team and get the 103-96 win lead by Chris Bosh’s 23 points and 7 rebounds. Lebron James dropped in a near triple double, getting silly with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Bosh shot 10/15 from the field on yet another quiet but offensively dominating performance. For the first game, against the Pistons, Bosh quietly added 20 points and 8 rebounds. Last night’s performance came in only 28 minutes of play.
Let’s put this in perspective – what does this win signify? Not a whole lot other than the fact that the Heat should be beating the Thunder. That isn’t to say the Thunder are a weak team – Kevin Durant is the new posterboy for future NBA greatness, helping lead Team USA to the FIFA title this summer while also becoming basically the youngest player in the modern era of the sport to lead the league in scoring. The Thunder have a strong, young team that went 22-8 last season against the East while the previous season they were the opposite of that (8-22 against the Eastern Conference).
In beating the Thunder, the Heat took on a team that had superior chemistry but was still able to succeed on the court. The defense looked pretty solid again, which is to be the hallmark of this team according to coach Erik Spoelstra’s repeated messages during press conferences. Beyond that, what is to be expected from the Heat’s roster?
It looks like Mike Miller is going to be a virtual lock to lead the NBA in three pointers made. He is a sharp shooter on any team, but with Wade, Lebron, and Bosh working the offense and demanding a lot of attention, Miller will be getting open looks. James Jones also can fill the same role and may even offer a bit of flexibility should coach Spo want to run Lebron at the point and get some more shooters around him.
The point guard spot continues to be the most contentious, if not, in some way, the most irrelevant. With Wade and Lebron on the floor, the offense will most likely go through them. There is very little need for a ball handler to set up the offense which means the Heat may not be using a traditional point guard as often as other teams might. That said, Carlos Arroyo seems to provide the better option as he has an ability to play without the ball and can stick open threes better in pressure moments. Chalmers, however, does have an impressive resume of hitting the clutch shot, but his ability to play off the ball is still questionable and in need of work.
This Heat team looks extremely good considering the short amount of time it has been together. Obviously, the natural chemistry between the members of Run DLC (Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh) is a large part of that success. The ceiling for this team can remain high.
Tonight the Heat take on the Spurs, but there is no TV coverage in the Miami market. So, Spurs fans, let us know what you think!
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2010 Free Agency: Building for This Moment
The Miami Heat have quietly been building for this 12:01 July 1st deadline for years. Yes, years. Ever since they won the 2006 title, you could say.
Sure, the Heat fielded a competitive team to try and repeat for 2006-2007 season, but the Bulls had other plans that season, sending the Heat out of the playoffs in the first round. It was clear Miami’s championship runs had finished with that squad. It was, after all, the acquisition of Shaquille O’neal that lead to Miami’s title runs during the mid 2000′s.
Coming off the heals of a successful 2003 campaign that watched a young team built around Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, and a young rookie Dwyane Wade, the Heat pulled the trigger and gambled it all for Shaq. The architect? Pat Riley. In fact, every significant run the Heat franchise has made has been done with Riley’s sleight of hand.
He is why Miami is in the best position to control this off-season with over $45M in salary cap free to spend. The potential of this offseason is also why Riley curiously said that coaching was not something he would rule out – much to Erik Spoelstra’s surprise. Riley also is the reason why Miami is a legit destination for Lebron James; some even go so far as to put Chris Bosh in Miami despite the impossibility of a sign-and-trade.
This is not something that happens without foresight. Pat Riley has had to shrewdly keep in mind this offseason when acquiring players. Take James Jones’ contract. He had an option for over $4.5M – but it was a team option. Riley had to final say on whether or not to extend James’ contract and since they needed the extra cap space, the answer was “no, thanks”.
Daequan Cook is a solid, promising shooter off the bench. His contract, however, got in the way. Riley shipped him off undervalued, to be sure, along with the 18th pick to get out of the first round for the 32nd pick. Clearly no one would make that deal – unless you are Pat Riley and you have a plan.
Now, the plan is a tough one, but one that Riley has been looking forward to for years. He has to re-sign Wade, and to do that he has to convince him Miami is the place to be. Which means, Riley has to make a splash right away – either a sign and trade for Chris Bosh or a straight up signing of either Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire. Toronto has scoffed at the idea of getting Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, and Joel Anthony in return for Bosh, but they are open to getting a trade exception (about $16M!) and their first round pick back (which was dealt as part of the Jermaine O’neal deal) so don’t rule them out.
Then, after all of that, King James awaits. Perhaps he stays in Cleveland and nothing happens. But most likely, he is waiting to see how things will shake out. If the Heat can keep Wade, land a marquee power forward, then Riley has everything in place to pull off yet another major acquisition: his biggest yet. Alonzo? Shaq? Drafting Wade? Signing Lebron James just may trump all of those considering all the competition out there – but it wouldn’t have been done without a solid plan and vision in place running on years of creation.
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