Negatory, Good Buddy: The Miami Heat Roster Kind of Sucks

by PeninsulaIsMightier on Oct 14, 2008 10:38 AM EDT

Maybe I'm the last one to the party, but I'm here now. I'm finally ready to admit that the current Miami Heat roster totally and completely sucks.

I'm a Mr. Brightside kind of dude, you see. I look for the best in people, including (and especially) basketball players. Particularly players on my favorite team. I just see upside all over the place, whether it's there or not.

But even I have my limits. Once preseason got underway, I've looked at the Heat with a more skeptical eye. And damn, that's ugly.

Here are a few things I once believed that have been exposed as exaggerations or outright falsehoods.

THEORY: Joel Anthony will have a breakout season. TRUTH: Joel Anthony would be really good at volleyball, since you're not allowed to catch the ball in that sport.

THEORY: Udonis Haslem can play center. TRUTH: You can play Udonis Haslem at center, but that doesn't Udonis Haslem can play center.

THEORY: Miami's talent extends beyond the big three of Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley. TRUTH: No it doesn't.

THEORY: Mario Chalmers was a second-round draft steal. TRUTH: Mario Chalmers was a second-round draft pick for a reason.

THEORY: Jamaal Magloire can regain his status as a serviceable starting center. TRUTH: Jamaal Magloire is finished. (I really should have known this one.)

THEORY: Miami's wing position is full of specialists, each bringing a needed skill to the rotation. TRUTH: Miami can have either shooting or perimeter defense off the bench, but not both at the same time.

THEORY: The Heat would show more than enough progress to keep Dwyane Wade off the free-agent market in 2010. TRUTH: I'm glad the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, so we'l only have to watch two years of post-Wade basketball.

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State of Roster

The big gorilla in the room that will make or break things for Wade is the Marion situation. Either “Riley the Alchemist” continues his ways in turning dung into silver (getting rid of Shaq anyone?) and gets a big man or a PG for Marion or they let his contract expire and find someone in the next off-season. Remmeber, we could be looking at 2 years of Shaq right now. At least Marion can play / has value / has an expiring contract.

by orodag on Oct 14, 2008 4:37 PM EDT 0 recs

Yeah, something’s got to give with Marion. He’s the best piece we’ve got, and losing him on the wing wouldn’t be awful with Wright and Jones there to help out.

by PeninsulaIsMightier on Oct 14, 2008 5:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

Okay good, I like the negative article, good place to vent …. so here comes some venting

I was disappointed in the lack of progress Pat Riley made on the role players and overall depth for the roster ….. it killed the club for the last two seasons …. you’d think he’d have learned his lesson? ….. This more than anything else will cause the team huge problems this season.

Chalmers is the only player beyond the big three I have a large amount of faith in … and he’s started poorly.

Beyond that I have a lot of concerns

How much impact can Udonis Haslem have playing behind Beasley? How well can he play center? How many minutes can he average playing behind Beasley?
James Jones is a good 8th man …. but he’s earning 6th man dollars and is expected to hold the bench together which he is quite simply incapable of doing.
Marcus Banks elicits no confidence from me
The rest of the backup wings are all incomplete/flawed players who worry me
The backup bigs (beyond Haslem) scare me …. and I think Anthony is the best of them so he’s the one I want to see play. He at least provides some energy to the team off the bench, which they currently.
The number of minutes Mark Blount will have to play worries. Blount himself I’m okay with (as a temporary fixture), but in the low 20’s rather than 30’s for minutes.
I’m not sold on Chris Quinn at all, for major minutes I mean … but at least he’s doing some good.

Of the big three I hold two concerns

How efficient can Beasley be with his scoring? Can Beasley create for his teammates? If those answers are poor the team is in huge trouble. If those answers are good they still have a shot at the playoffs.
Shawn Marion’s scoring. He’s never been the type to create lots of shots for his teammates so I’m not expecting that. But he needs to be a go-to scorer for 20 points. It’s simply too much pressure on Beasley/Wade – because the rest of the supporting cast are question marks and unlikely to help – to have Marion float through the game taking the odd opportunity here and there and finishing with a respectable total (15.4ppg in 63 games last year). He needs to take more responsibility as a scorer.

—————————————

That feels better!

by NBR on Oct 14, 2008 6:01 PM EDT 0 recs

Blazer fan here.

Yeah… James Jones: great three point shooter, deficient basketball player.

by Cablinasian on Oct 14, 2008 6:12 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’m going to ask you to go ahead and not ruin my man-crush on James Jones. He’s one of the few I’m still kind of high on.

by PeninsulaIsMightier on Oct 14, 2008 7:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

That was pretty awesome, NBR. I’m even more worried now. Appreciate it.

by PeninsulaIsMightier on Oct 14, 2008 7:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ouch

THEORY: Miami’s wing position is full of specialists, each bringing a needed skill to the rotation. TRUTH: Miami can have either shooting or perimeter defense off the bench, but not both at the same time.

Snap. Diawara isn’t one of those three-point/defensive guys?

Third Quarter Collapse: An Orlando Magic blog at SB Nation

by Ben Q Rock on Oct 14, 2008 9:33 PM EDT 0 recs

positivity

I will make a lazy case for positivity.
This team reminds me of the team from Wade’s first year. A suspect 1 (Rafer/Wade – now Quinn et al). No real 5-man (undersized Grant – now Haslem?). Versatile but questionably defensive-minded 4 (Odom – Beasley). Some limited shooter/defenders (Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler – Diowarra/Jones/Cook). A solid 3 ( Caron Butler, still limited from injury – Marion). That team had Haslem off the bench as mostly D and pure energy, no jump shot (maybe now Anthony?), and otherwise Malik Allen (Blount) and Samaki Walker (Magloire).
Almost too similar. That team started 5-15 before the young guys “got it” and they found an identity.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MIA/2004.html
I just think that this team will require the same sort of learning curve and some patience will be needed. It’s impetuous teams like the Knicks that get themselves into a hole by going for win-right now mode. Oh and Wade is a much better player now then he was then.

by orodag on Oct 14, 2008 10:05 PM EDT 0 recs

I’m not sure that the 2004 Heat team would be all that competitive in the current Eastern Conference. That year was the valley of the East’s downward trend. I loved that team, but I don’t know if that kind of squad does anything of note among today’s comp. Detroit, Boston, Philly, Cleveland, and Orlando are all definitely better, so we’re talking six seed at best, and maybe below Toronto, Washington and others. That’s a good cautionary tale about the Knicks, but I think you can find a middle ground there.

by PeninsulaIsMightier on Oct 14, 2008 10:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

I thought I replied but maybe I forgot to push "post. Anyway, I agree that the Eastern conference is far stronger than it was in 2004. I agree that the most we can expect out of this team is a 6-8 seed as constituted (and even then, only if their is some gel-ing and Wade puts in a MVP type season).
That said, that 2004 team was ultimately trade bait for a superstar. Beyond the obvious Marion chip, I think everyone on this roster (except maybe Beasley for salary reasons but even then….) is absolutely trade-able. Their desire to trade Marion is made obvious by so many SFs on the roster. I will be surprised if this team looks the same after the trading deadline but I think they can be more competitive than they have looked in preseason.

by orodag on Oct 15, 2008 1:49 AM EDT 0 recs