With the addition of Shaq, the heat (at least on paper) look to be contenders in the East, and perhaps a contender for the NBA title... However, I was talking to a friend of mine and he brought up a great point...Miami looks great, but injuries may be their downfalll...now you can say this about any team, but this is a legitimate concern with the Heat's big three (Shaq-Wade-Jones) Shaq is known to be injury prone. A supposedly "motivated" and "in-shape" Shaq missed 15 games last season...Injuries are part of the game, but he missed about a month on a little <u>calf strain</u>...Shaq has not played more than 67 (regular season) games since the 200-2001 season. Dwyane Wade is a fantastic player, and he was my preseason choice for ROY last year...however, even he was nicked up quite a bit last season. Wade appeared in only 61 games, and it wasn't due to just one injury...He had quite a few injuries last season... Last season, Eddie Jones actually played most of his games (81)...however, the season prior, Jones only played 47 games...When he was in L.A., he got injured quite a bit, and it is a legitimate concern, especially considering his thin stature and his age... I would venture to say that there is a good chance Miami will have to play some games with none of the big three available...the question is how many? Are Miami fans concerned about this?
If I were a Miami fan I would be really concerned, injuries can happen by doing little things, and Shaq is very injury prone..Wade is a little man and he was often injured last year, and like you said Jones gets injured a lot too...This could make or break them for the season and for the tenure while Shaq is tehre, if he is consistently getting injured the got teh worse end of the deal
Miamis downfall will not be injuries...i still don't understand how people think Miami looks good on paper...i have always been a huge fan of eddie jones, but lets face it, hes not what he used to be...dwyane wade...another player i am a huge fan of but can he really hold a candle to kobe bryant?...and Shaq...yes the most dominant player in the NBA, yes he will have the best year this season since his championship runs with LA, but is that enough? they have NOBODY else... Shaq said it best himself..."miami was 1-2 pieces away from being a title contender, now they have a big piece"...yup thats true...they got that one piece they were missing...the problem? they dealt 3 of the pieces that put them 1-2 pieces away from being a title contender to get him and that 'big piece' also takes a 'big chunk' of their salary cap leaving them with no flexibility to bring together the pieces they need to surround their 3 sure starters... with only 9 players on the books and no cap space, how do they fill out their roster? they need a starting SF, a starting PF, they have good backup big men in haslem, doleac, and malik allen, but they are also missing a true pg they can bring off the bench that can run the offense and feed the post and they also need AT LEAST 1-2 solid swing men who can give good minutes off the bench. i was a HUGE fan of miamis team last year...not to say that i am a heat fan...i was a fan of that particular team...and i was in shock by the move that riley decided to make...miamis downfall was the trade itself, not the injuries that are a potential risk (although i do agree that has to be taken into consideration)...not only are they missing 2 starters as of now, they also have no depth from 1-3...with wade still a few years off from peaking, how long can shaq really maintain his dominance to take advantage of that? and if the heat extend shaq's contract with the figures he wants, its all over for them...if shaq is willing to take a paycut to bring in more solid players, then maybe it'll work out ok... i would much rather have seen miami stick with the pieces they had, and tried to lure a solid center through free-agency, and try to lure a solid veteran PG...you see how far you can go from there, and then hope that by hte time eddie and grants contracts are up, dorrell has made some progress and can step in at the 2 or if you still have caron around, ride caron at the 2 leaving you with 1. Wade 2. Caron 3. Odom 4. Somebody, 5. Somebody with dorrell and a few solid veterans on the bench and hopefully haslem as well...and with eddie and grants contracts off the books, that would be a huge amount of cap space to go chase marquee free-agents...would have worked out better in the short run and long run in my opinion... the other thing people havent considered is that wade functioned well as a "PG' last year...but thats because he had odom constantly initiating the offense and didnt have to deal with most of the ball handling abilities...he was playing the SG on offense and PG on defense ala AI in Philly...6'10 forwards that can run an offense don't come cheap...so how will wades effectiveness be affected by the pressure of running the show?
I still think Odom/Buttler/Grant weren't gonna win us a championship, and they choked when playing against the Pacers in the playoffs with scoring droughts up to 5 minutes in almost every game. GL trying to win a championship when you can't get a point in 5 minutes of play. I think the Miami Shaquille is not the same he was in L.A.;he didn't wanna play towards the end of his laker career and it showed in his attitude and effort. I think he's gonna do a complete 180 turn in Miami. He's comming to a city that appreciates him, he's said repeatedly he's gonna get into shape, he says the toe injury is completly healed and he's feeling great. He's been dying to get back in the game since he got traded, he knows its a new start, he knows he's gonna prove to everyone that he still is the most dominant player and that the lakers made a huge mistake. As far as injuries, the pressure is gonna come off d wade and the rest of the heat team now that they got shaq. He's gonna be getting double/triple teamed and he can take a hit, which takes a lof of the pressure off wade jones and the rest of the heat. From what I heard from Pat Riley and Van Gundy, Dorell Wright is supposed to be hot stuff. He did real good playin with the heat when they were scoutin him and they're really excited about him. He avg's about 24 ppg give or take, which is good because the Heat still have to work on offense. I still think Riley pulled off one of the greatest trades in history, and a great trade for the Miami Heat. Jus my 2 pennies
The Heat are contenders because they play in the east. They need at this point a shooter and a rebounder, last time I checked teams traded salary for salary in the NBA so how could they have had any better FA positioning for a center without the trade? I expect they will add a veteran point guard. I think Riley still has the MLE to give? He isn't done and with Shaq the Free agant line is getting pretty long in Miami. Their effectiveness next year will be decided from what they do from here. Not from getting Shaq, hopefully they don't spend money on someone like Horry who does everything OK but not anything really good. The major pieces are in place but without some good role players teams like indiana and detroit will kill them. I think Wade will be OK with a solid back up and now that initiating their offense consists of dribbling the ball to the wing and passing it to shaq.
1. I already said Shaq would be back to the form he was in with the Lakers in their 3 championship runs many times. What I also said was that this would not be enough. 2. Yes Dorrell Wright dropped 30 in summer league...but do you really think he's going to average 24 ppg ? ummm...I'd say if he plays reserve minutes (which he should considering he is 19 years old) he averages about 8 ppg, if he starts because the Heat can't find another SF, then he might be good for 10ppg...I love the kid, I think hes gonna be one of the steals in the draft...but hes not ready for that kind of a load... 3. The Lakers will have Odom, Grant, Butler, AND...Kobe Bryant...don't expect many scoring droughts of 5 minutes...if you open up the floor for Kobe, which these guys will do, Kobe will find a way to score... 4. Yes they do trade away contract for contract so they would not have had much more cap room had they not made the trade, but they also would not be missing 2 starting positions... 5. Let me repeat...they have NO true PG, a 19 year old straight out of high school very raw backup swing man, a SF who has not proven he can handle much pressure, no starting calliber PF or SF...what they do have is a great dominant center, what they also have is a good but aging quickly and injury prone sg, a great player although a tweener in Dwyane Wade, and a few good backup 4/5 players...but this team has zero depth and is missing 2 starters now...and practically no money to sign anyone else... you are kidding yourself if you think this team is going to be a championship contender, even in the East...we saw the quick work detroit made out of last years laker team...this miami team is nowhere close to being as good as last years lakers...and is not in title contention unless somehow they are able to swing a trade of Eddie Jones for Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson...if that happens, we'll start talking championship for this squad... I don't even think the Lakers can contend for a championship this year, but they are much better off than the Heat for this season and the seasons to come...
COntenders for the Title? I want to see shaq do well, but he will not win a title with the squad he has now. The Heat will be in the Playoffs against the Weaker East Coast Teams w/ the Lack of Big Men, but they will get a whoopin by Indiana and Detroit. Detroit will man handle the Heat. There entire core roster is back. If they stay healthly, look at them to take the east title again. I may be a little generous sayin that the Heat will probrably be closer to the Nets of last year. 1 superstar (martin), and up and coming sophomore (Richardson), and an aging Jones (Kidd). No way, is this Heat squad a title contender yet.
Miami is no contender for the title. You guys need a lot of help from free agency. Odom, Butler, & Grant would not have won you the title on their own, but they would have been a major piece to a championship team. All Miami needed to do was add like 2 quality players to last years team & just given them time. L.A will show you what you could've done with them.
This is the problem I have, Shaq will miss games, I don't think Wade will, but Shaq isn't playng 80 games in the season. Eddie Jones right now is just a shooter, he hardly puts the ball on the floor, he isn't going to start and he's even moving into becoming a kickout guy. The 16 games or so that Shaq's injured for, unless the team get's more help, their won't be too much winning going on, I mean we can hope Rasual becomes better, or Dorell Wright has impact somehow, but as of right now when Shaq goes down, the team will suffer a lot of losses because it will be Wade, Jones, the SF, Haslem and Doleac on the floor. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">1 superstar (martin), and up and coming sophomore (Richardson), and an aging Jones (Kidd).</div> I don't think we should compare Jones with Kidd, and Martin isn't a superstar, so I guess it balances out with Shaq >Kenyon and Kidd >>> Jones. One thing to note is that last year's team didn't have greath depth, just good starters at every position, except Grant, whow as good but was out of position. Alston and Haslem were the only guys to really see minutes off the bench, and Rasual came off once in a while. If the Heat can get someone like Damon Jones, that will replace the loss of Alston, but Shaq being injured would be like Odom being injured last year, the team would struggle. If Shaq and Wade went down, it would be the Heat in Caron's rookie year except their's no Caron. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Miami is no contender for the title. You guys need a lot of help from free agency. Odom, Butler, & Grant would not have won you the title on their own, but they would have been a major piece to a championship team. All Miami needed to do was add like 2 quality players to last years team & just given them time. L.A will show you what you could've done with them.</div> This was what I was thinking when the trade happened, if the Heat could've added someone like Mark Blount and a swingman off the bench, not anyone special just someone, they could do just as good as the likely will with Shaq in the lineup instead. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I felt, and that lineup would have a great future because as EJ gets old Dorell will hopefully be getting better, and they'd be contenders.
