They don't seem to be good at all Every STATEMENT game I have seen recently they lost Riley i think . sucked the life out the team Stan Van should not have been pushed out Rocket River
while it's gay as hell that riley kicked SVG out. fact is they're 24-17 lol. which isn't terrible in the Leastern Conference.
I'd say it's mainly Shaq not being as effective as he was last year. Some teams are getting away with single-covering him, so the shooters aren't getting the same number of looks as last year. Christmas day game is a good example. The Lakers single-covered him with Kwame Brown and he couldn't score on him consistently.
Shaq's decline! That is the main reason they are not as good as last season. Everybody says he will rise up when playoffs come, somehow I doubt it. His numbers in last year's playoff were his all-time low. This trend continues this year. He will be completely done in 2-3 years. Their best shot at the title, believe or not, were last year. Pistons were not as good as they are now and Heats pushed the series to game 7 and they had the homecourt. If Wade were healthy, they could have won the series and faced Spurs. Riley gambled on Shaq's continuing dominance and comitted to him long term. I can't fault him for doing that. Unfortunately it might not work out.
I love shaq but who couldn't predict this, he came out all buff and in shape at the beginning of last season and everyone was thinking the Lakers were stupid. the guy is old and he carries too much weight.
Of course trading away their best shooter, Eddie Jones, doesn't help their perimeter game either. And yes, Walker is terrible.
Yeah, the Heat are terrible with their sixth best record in the NBA and second best in the East. Does anybody REALLY think that Ron Jeremy would have gotten more out of this team than Riley? Shaq is a fat slug, they don't have a real shooting guard, and Wade has four three pointers this season....FOUR!! Their backup power forward leads the team in three pointers! C'mon guys, Riley bashing is soooooo last month...
their above average season doesn't surprise me at all. they have a poorly constructed team around wade and shaq. guys like williams and walker think they are the first option and don't know how to play off of a star, because they think they are the star. you need different type of players around those two. you need guys who can still score and be very good players but know their role. they know when they need to step in and be a scoring threat when shaq or wade goes down with an injury, but know how to step back and be a third or fourth option when they are healthy. they don't have that. their record doesn't surprise me. they are a good team but not much more than that, they were much better last year.
The rule changes have neutralized Shaq as much or more than they have Yao. The premium is on the perimeter players, shooters and penetrators. Combine the rule changes with mediocre shooters/chuckers and the only effective penetration being Dwayne, Miami is not a complete team. They can only attack you from one spot on the court.....wherever Wade is. That's not nearly enough against a team like the Pistons which can use a mismatch at any of the 5 positions on the floor to run their offense through. Plus Pat Riley is going to drive them into the ground with his practices and yelling. And they are too old and slow to play any kind of pressure defense, which is Riley's trademark.
That's kind of like bashing a supermodel who sleeps with you because she likes an occasional cracker in bed. I think that they can live with DW's 20 foot range. Ranks #5 in the NBA in Points Per Game(26.9) Ranks #10 in the NBA in Assists Per Game(6.9) Ranks #4 in the NBA in Steals Per Game(2.05) Ranks #19 in the NBA in Minutes Per Game(38.8) Ranks #10 in the NBA in Minutes Played(1514.0) Ranks #5 in the NBA in Field Goals Made(359.0) Ranks #7 in the NBA in Field Goal Attempts(750.0) Ranks #3 in the NBA in Free Throws(326.0) Ranks #2 in the NBA in Free Throw Attempts(417.0) Ranks #9 in the NBA in Assists(271.0) Ranks #3 in the NBA in Steals(80.0) Ranks #5 in the NBA in Points(1048.0) Ranks #1 in the NBA in Triple-doubles(2.0) Ranks #6 in the NBA in Field Goals Per 48 Minutes(11.38) Ranks #11 in the NBA in Field-Goal Attempts Per 48 Minutes(23.78) Ranks #2 in the NBA in Free Throws Per 48 Minutes(10.34) Ranks #1 in the NBA in Free Throw Attempts Per 48 Minutes(13.22) Ranks #13 in the NBA in Assists Per 48 Minutes(8.6) Ranks #8 in the NBA in Steals Per 48 Minutes(2.54) Ranks #6 in the NBA in Points Per 48 Minutes(33.2) Ranks #3 in the NBA in Total Turnovers(132.0) Ranks #5 in the NBA in Total Efficiency Points(1057.0) Ranks #5 in the NBA in Efficiency Ranking(27.1) Ranks #5 in the NBA in Efficiency Ranking Per 48 Minutes(33.51) They have no depth, Shaq is fat and plays 25 minutes, and he missed 20+ games. Their PG has been injured (J-Will) or unreliable (Payton). They are not good defenders.
i agree with you that wade is amazing...but for the sake of your argument, you probably should have left this one out.
I'm not saying that Wade isn't a good player, but when the playoffs come around and all those driving lanes he usually has get cut off, he's going to need to start hitting a few outside shots. Would you really trust Walker jacking up all the Heat's three pointers?
do you know who leads the league in TO's........steve nash, but no one ever says anything bad about steve nash anymore after last year. yeah, wade does turn the ball over and doesn't shoot the three well at all, but he does EVERYTHING else extremely well. there are very few players in nba history who were perfect all-around players, lets cut him a little slack.
how do we know svg was pushed out??? are you serious? you do know that he was the one who pulled that team out of the cellar a couple of years back when riley dumped the team on him a week before the season started right? and got them within about 3 minutes of an nba finals last year without a healthy wade. riley restructured the team with all of these talented guys and thought you know what I WANT to win another championship, this team may do it. but now he's realizing he screwed up an excellent team from last year and he looks like a jackass for not only the dumb acquistions but pushing svg out. and bettis being fat and carrying the ball like 7 times a game is different than an nba player who is expected to play 30+ minutes every night. a totally different sport and conditioning required to be in the nba. you can't be fat in the nba and be a great player. you'll get injured a lot and not be able to play quality minutes throughout 30-35 minutes.
nothing really wrong with leading the league in turnovers. Magic led the league many times in his career. I'm not saying its a good thing - but a guard who handles the ball a lot if going to have his share. espcially Nash with that uptempo offense they run.
So how do you know he pushed svg out? There is no evidence for that besides speculation. That guard for Indiana is pretty fat yet he's still good.
Nothings wrong with the Heat, they were injured during a difficult time in their schedule, now they're healthy with an easy schedule ahead of them, filled with plenty of rest. They're going to catch a rhythm and finish with the second best record in the East with a great chance to knock the Pistons out, it's all on Shaq again, if he wants to defend and rebound they'll win.
