flashbone

Seems like everyone here is rooting for the Heat. However, I doubt about the team's ability to even make it out of the East. Besides the pretty obvious defects of the team (e.g. team chemistry), I'd like to share some opinion with you guys.

Miami is a team now built around Wade. But, starting from last season, for a lot of the times the team's offence ran through Shaq, which means it was an inside-out, outside-in game. Wade's role was more like Kobe - a penetrator that tried to slice open the other team's defence. With the addition of J. Will and Payton, we can pretty much expect Wade to start at shooting guard this season. So, in order to fully rip some benefit off the inside-out, outside-in game, it is crucial for the Heat to have some shooters. For the moment, however, there does not seem to be anyone who can be regarded as a shooter on the team. Unless the Heat can sign some shooters before the trade deadline (I believe Pat Riley will keep on making moves), it is doubtful whether they can make it to the East Final. Just imagine the two other favourites in the East - Pistons and Pacers - playing water-tight defence (especially zone defence) against the Heat. Shutting down any one of the duo will shut down the other guy at the same time.

Then, do you rely on Walker and J. Will to take the shots? These two players of course have matured a lot over the years (especially J. Will), however, their way of playing just does not fit with the Shaq+Wade-led team. In particular, Walker is the type of player that needs to have the ball to be effective on the court. Otherwise, he will just be another burden on the team (He does not know how to play defence). J. Will is great when playing open floor game, as we can see from his Kings and Grizs days. When it comes to half-court set play, can he still handle it? We must wait and see how it goes. Having said that, under Pat Riley's influence on the team, I believe Payton will be starting more often that J. Will so as to stablise the team's play on offence and defence, given the Heat's high assist-turnover ratio (No hard feelings guys but Wade has the worst ratio on the team and in the league). It is interesting to see if Payton can be another Tim Hardaway who spiced up the team a few years ago, with his old legs.

As to the bench players, nothing's really changed to move the team to the next level. Forget about Morning, though he is a tough guy playing with a big heart. James Posey will be the guy we should keep an eye on. He's really good offensively and defensively. Believe it or not, if he stays healthy, he is going to be the guy that gets the team a few more wins, only if he plays like when he was in Denver.

Remember guys, Pistons are pretty much the same as last season, except the departure of Larry Brown. It will inevitably affect the team's performance on the whole but things should be alright after a month or two, given their team chemistry. Then you have the Pacers which are trying to come back after last season's embarassment. Like the Pistons, they remain intact and get even stronger with the signing of Sarunas Jasikevicius.

So, do you really think the Heat are getting stronger this season?