On the west coast, OKC is in real trouble. Ibaka is now out 4-6 weeks. NOP has taken the 8th spot for now. When is Durant coming back? Can Russ lead a team of Kanter/McGarry etc. to the playoffs alone?
Something to be said for the criticism that if all these individual pieces are awesome how come the Heat only beat bad teams or good teams put into bad circumstances, and not even consistently beating those sorts of teams? I mean Dragic is a really good point guard. Wade has been ridiculous lately. Whiteside is ridiculous almost every night. Deng is more than just solid. Anderson keeps proving to be a capable backup for Whiteside. Only answer I can keep going back to is total inability to shoot from behind the arc. And the problem there is Wade is never getting any better at it, Whiteside obviously not a factor there, doubt Bosh ever gonna be a 40% guy. Deng probably won't ever be that again. These are your core players so you're kind of set up to be bad from three. I think that's why Riles pointed to Dragic being a 50% field goal, 40% three, 90% free throw guy. It may be more wishful thinking than anything. They NEED Dragic to end up a 40% three shooter. Next year if they find more reliable three ball shooters than Walker, Chalmers and Johnson...then I think we may have something.
All they need to be is league average. So if they can shoot above 35% as a team..they are golden, as long as they are top 10 in Off. Eff., Def. Eff., and elite in Def. Reb. rate. All of these things are achievable. They are at .338% right NOW. In the 4 years they went to the finals, they were at: 10'-11': .370%, 11'-12': .359%, 12'-13': .396%, 13'-14': .364% From 11' to 14', the Heat had the most efficient Offense in NBA History. They had ELITE three point shooting one of those years. It's about compensation. NONE of those teams past the first year, was a good rebounding team. All of them save for 2, played at a slow Pace. ALL of them were good on Turnover differential. What you have to do is improve and build on the current strengths, and just be competent (league average) from beyond the Arch. Where you will get your high offensive rating is from the additional Possessions you will gain from elite Offensive Rebounding, and a faster PACE that Dragic can provide. Spo is very Metrics driven, so he believes in "hunting" down shots, and shots taken for effect. It is not a coincidence that everybody suddenly becomes more efficient here...including Lebron.
If you're saying the Heat are .338 and all they need is to be .350 then I don't think I agree with that. You said they'll be in the hunt for a championship next year if Bosh comes back and all are healthy. I don't see that coming because of a .012 improvement in three point shooting. I also see issues with having a higher team average when the best three ball shooters among your minute-hogs are 33-36% shooters like Bosh, Deng and Dragic. Those are the guys charged with dragging UP your average. I may be learning basketball but I do know math pretty well. I think it puts tremendous pressure on the team to find a top notch shooter to take Henry Walker's spot, get quality shooting from Chalmers as opposed to the refried *** shooting he's been displaying this year, and then get another specialist that would probably play in place of Tyler Johnson.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4651/ Danny Green: About 41% from 3 this year. He's a free agent that should be gettable with our mid-level exception. Not only is he an excellent 6th man, he could theoretically be your spot starter at the 2 when Wade is injured if you want to keep Chalmers in his bench role, or even at the 3.
I said..all healthy with Bosh, McBob and Free Agents. They can use exemptions to sign a player or cap space if they are under. I also said that league average is fine as long as you are top 10 in Off. Eff., Def. Eff., and elite in Def. Reb. rate. They should be all of those things if healthy. Their three point shooting next year STARTS with Bosh, Rio, Dragic, and McBob. ALL OF THEM are average to above average 3 pt. shooters. Then you add a Free Agent or Two that are also above average..and there is your League average or better. This is all predicated on the Heat not enduring stigmata like they did this year.
To me this season has just been a struggle to get on a run. The only time they won at least 3-straight was at the very beginning of the year, when Bosh was KILLING it. Started 3-0, and ever since then it's been the occasional two-straight, maybe a 3-outta-4. But that's it. No sustained high-level play for more than a week. The biggest part of that is injuries, obviously. But I wasn't particularly impressed with the job Spo has done this year either, particularly in terms of rotations and design for easy high% looks. And the decision to play as slow as they did was also curious, given how horrific their defense was for a while. I will say though that Heat fans and coaches, for that ONE night, were having dreams about Dragic/Bosh PnP and variations off of it. I mean, that's an absolutely perfect marriage of skillsets, and next season it'll be the bread and butter of the halfcourt sets. Bottom line though: if you have four players the caliber of Wade, Whiteside, Dragic, and Bosh (as long as you're getting them healthy for a good chunk of the season), you really should make the postseason in the Eastern Conference as it stands right now. The NBA is about stars, and right now the Heat have too many to miss the playoffs and it not be a big disappointment. And let's be real...These high seeds in the East want NO part of the Heat in the first round. NO ONE wants that matchup. Tonight is REALLY important, imo. Cause if you win this one you're then looking at a very do-able 3-straight against Denver to pick up some momentum. Then 3 more winnable games against OKC, MIL, and BOS. This could be a nice stretch. If they D up tonight like they did against CLE, they can beat Portland, who is flailing without Matthews. I want to see Dragic put the clamps on Lillard the way he did Irving. Goran's underrated on that end.
Too many boneheaded decisions and plays. Mistakes that rookies make, or ones due to lack of concentration/attention. These things are supposed to be ironed out by this point in his career. Again...not crazy about some of these rotations. not sure you can keep giving TJohnson this kind of burn with the postseason on the line. He and Chalmers together is kind of brutal.
DAMN did that feel good. Portland brought it, but Wade didn't give a ****. Huge win. What a performance from the four studs. And Wade, holy ****. Goran with the D on that last possession...wow. Like I said above...now there's a prime chance for the first 3-straight run since the first week of the season. Actually you know what, **** it, I can see 6 in a row with this schedule. LET'S DO THIS.
That's the thing that felt so great about this. Portland played effing fantastic tonight. But Miami beat them.
"Rockets are the worst defensive team in the NBA." - Charles Barkley We currently rank #3 in the NBA in Defensive Efficiency.
Two in a row where Dragic has won the battle with opposing stud PGs, Irving and Lillard. Outplayed em both. THIS is what he does on both ends. Onto Lawson and Westbrook. Hi-level guard play + anchor in the middle = look the **** out.
[video=youtube;hmuruJe1n5E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmuruJe1n5E[/video] Bonus #tbt: his dunk is the dunk that will pierce the Varejao. [video=youtube;5uRN7iJ5CqQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uRN7iJ5CqQ[/video]
LMAO watch the bench reaction to Wade's game winner!!! Beasley and Zoran!!! ROFL! https://vine.co/v/OVEPr07Q0JT
Also..this..Head to Head for their Careers: (remember that Aldridge has been a 1st option and CB was a 3rd for 4 years) http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=boshch01&p2=aldrila01#stats::none
