gom wrote:Tony15 wrote:dancing2thabeet wrote:
I would. This Hornets game was lost for me the minute we start half-assing and blew that lead. Let's not act we are happy with our close wins against Philly and Denver lately which should be 20 pts blowout at least.
This team needs major changes if they want to make noise in the postseason. I doubt 14 games is enough for that.
I'll agree to an extent. The only major change I would say needs to happen is the defense.....which has been borderline horrific on since the All-Star break, making our new revamped offense pretty meaningless. I guess I'd also maintain that Spo's absurd logic of always having Wade take the last shot no matter how off he might be is another major change that needs to happen, but we've dealt with it for so long, I'm not convinced that'll ever change. His postgame comments solidified it. I mean, there's not much to talk about when you have a coach who says he'll live with a 19% 3pt shooter take the last shot.
Ok, but going back to your comments before about the regular season being an extended preseason for the teams that will compete, don't you also see it as a way to weed out the bad choices? I mean, wouldn't you rather lose a regular season game to the Hornets than a playoff game to the Hornets? I don't care how thick some of you think Spo is (I don't think he is a bad coach, fwiw, though I agree he has moments of questionable decisions), he isn't making
that same choice again.
Also, to be fair, the problem wasn't just the last call, but that the last call was significant. Charlotte should not have been in the game at all anymore. We should have beaten them by double digits.
That it came down to Wade taking that shot was asinine, but the real problems happened before. Wanna bet that Pat Riley has already discussed this in depth with Mr. Spoelstra and Mr. Wade? In any case, DWade has to start making changes to his game if he wants to be impactful. He must work on his efficiency. Like it or not, we are already evolving from the last two legs of the big 3.
I almost forgot... You are right about the defense, but we are a different team defensively when Richardson & Winslow are out there with Bosh or Deng. It's when Wade & Joe Johnson come in that we become easy. Also, the Stat vs Whiteside thing... Stat hasn't played very well lately and I'm not sure how much longer we should insist. I take heart that McRoberts and Green must really be hungry for a chance though. If they grab it with their teeth and perform capably we could still have some changes.
It's not too late.
Better now, than later, yes. When we got up 15, we were defending at a high level with Winslow guarding Batum most of the time. Once CHA made a run (which we all knew they would at some point), and Kemba got going our defense just unraveled and since Dragic was gettin' cooked by Kemba, we had to put Justice on him.....then Batum got free and lit us up in the second half. Not to mention that we really weren't smart on that end either. It's one thing for them to make shots, it's another to just senselessly help on drives when you know Hassan is defending the paint, not trust the defense behind you, and leave Marvin Williams, Courtney Lee, and Batum open from 3. Teams make runs, but we let it go on waayyyy too long and the game was lost. It was miracle we had a shot at the end to be honest. In the postseason where you can better prepare for a team, I love Miami's chances against anyone in the east aside of CLE. Personally, I don't fear the Cavs at all and think we have a good chance at knocking them off. But we have things to hash out first before even thinking about them.
Wade is still a great set-up guy, and I honestly would have no issue with him playing PG. He's a better half-court distributor than Dragic is most of the time anyway, and maybe it'll put him in position to pick his spots more efficiently. But then you run into the problem with him probably pounding it too much. Who knows. I recently heard on Ethan's show that he and Spo had a discussion on how he can get in better spots to get back in rhythm like he was earlier in this year. This is good, but I've seen this movie before. He always reverts to the usual iso's. I trust Wade's ability to evolve, whether or not he's willing to do it long term is another discussion.
I agree wholeheartedly on McRoberts. I think pairing him with the second unit of Hassan, J-Rich, and Winslow would be a good idea as it limits the stretches with Wade & JJ on the floor together, which has been a disaster defensively. The problem lies in the closing lineup....we have a lot of options. Dragic would get left out, and I don't that's right either.
