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The worst thing that can possibly happen to the rest of the NBA is for good pieces to surround the Big 3. If it happens, we are UNBEATABLE. Haslem is back to normal. HUGE HUGE piece there. The signing of Shane Battier was beautiful. He hasnt even scored yet i dont think but you can tell he helps us. I love his energy and D. I love what he does for this team. Alot of you hate Chalmers, but the dude played good last year in the playoffs. he has game. He will be a great piece at pg no matter if he starts or comes off the bench.

Now the part that could guarantee us a dynasty...Norris Cole. Occassionally, every once in awhile a team strikes gold. A team gets VERY VERY VERY lucky in the draft, and finds a hidden gem late in the 1st round, or in the 2nd round. In the past 10 years, its happened 3 times. San Antonio got lucky twice. Tony Parker, late 1st round pick. Manu Ginobili, 2nd Round Pick. The 3rd hidden gem was Gilbert Arenas, who I believe was a 2nd round pick. Gilbert messed around with small market teams (GS, WSH), so that gem never really turned a franchise into a champion. San Antonio got 2 gems, paired them up with Tim Duncan, and won 3 more titles. Duncan had already had one previously. Now the scary part is, if Norris Cole is that hidden gem, we ALREADY have a big 3 here. What if Norris Cole turns into Tony Parker. Tony, Manu, and Duncan won 3 titles together. Now think about this combo. Tony Parker, D-Wade, LeBron, Bosh. If Norris Cole is great like we think he can be, this is what we are looking at for the next 6-7 seasons. We are so deep right now its crazy. I love it. Good players can struggle, and someone new is there each night to step up.

I did 4get about the 4th hidden gem. I believe Rajon Rondo was late first round or 2nd round also. Anyway, I dont see a team this season that can beat our playoff roster....

Norris Cole/Mario Chalmers
D-Wade/Mike Miller
LeBron/Shane Battier/James Jones
Chris Bosh/Udonis Haslem/Juwan Howard
Joel Anthony/Eddy Curry

You forgot Pittman and Gladness.

But Heat need to stop starting Joel at Center. He was invisible in the Charlotte game. No middle at all. This is getting extremely annoying. I'd even just put Curry in the middle and let him stand there.

This team IS deep and versatile when healthy. We'll see how the team is at full potential in March/April.

March is when teams tend to hit some sort of wall. Either it's fatigue, a new problem arises, etc.

Eddy Curry needs to work his butt off.

We're almost too deep. We're going to have great players not getting any playing time. Spo has one HELL of a time trying to fit people into spots on this team.

With still mike miller to return...

Heat fan06 wrote:With still mike miller to return...

This.

I think most have forgotten how deadly he can be from 3 by now. They're in for a shock.

ndnow wrote:We're almost too deep. We're going to have great players not getting any playing time. Spo has one HELL of a time trying to fit people into spots on this team.

All he has to do is get his team to execute better and then maybe we can start playing Wade Bosh and Lebron less minutes. If we can some how cut it down to 32 minutes per game.. we have the depth to do it.. and this is a difficult season to play in.. I know those would be career lows for each of them.. but we can't overwork them on so many back to back/1 day's rest games.

nm

Vertical Limit wrote:

ndnow wrote:We're almost too deep. We're going to have great players not getting any playing time. Spo has one HELL of a time trying to fit people into spots on this team.

All he has to do is get his team to execute better and then maybe we can start playing Wade Bosh and Lebron less minutes. If we can some how cut it down to 32 minutes per game.. we have the depth to do it.. and this is a difficult season to play in.. I know those would be career lows for each of them.. but we can't overwork them on so many back to back/1 day's rest games.

this is what I am concerned about, overworking the stars

I don't mean to be a party pooper but let's not get carried away.

Our starting 5 is great, but Joel should not be a starter - he's a 15mpg backup impact guy and it shows. The fact our backup Centers are two guys who used to be huge and are on power diets - one of whom has never done anything, and the other who was a moderately good offensive player but weak defensively and on the boards - not exactly what we need from our Center rotation. It could be argued our Center rotation is the worst in the league.

Norris Cole has shown promise but again he's a rookie and we weren't expecting much - and just because he had a good game, we should continue to not expect much. He will have highs and lows all season and will take time to find consistency, which is what we need in the playoffs.

As for Jones, he's a good shooter but he's so limited outside of that. He has his uses but hitting 3 3's for 9 points is probably the best we'll see. As for Mike Miller - he's injured again, and after last season I have no hopes for him. He lost his shot, his confidence, and rarely contributed in a positive way. The fact we think Jones is on his level is testament to just how far the 6MOTY candidate has fallen.

Battier & Haslem are of course our key bench players, and they're starting calibre players. Sadly for us they play in the same position as 2/3 of our best trio.

So please, don't exaggerate. We're not deep and our squad only has 5 starting quality players - our success will still be completely dependent on the big 3.

The Thunder, Mavs, and Bulls are the only teams with as much or more depth than us, amongst our rivals. And that's solely because of our center position.

EscapoTHB wrote:The Thunder, Mavs, and Bulls are the only teams with as much or more depth than us, amongst our rivals. And that's solely because of our center position.

And they're the main 3 rivals we have. All last years Conference Finalists.

Tony Fiorentino wrote:

Heat fan06 wrote:With still mike miller to return...

This.

I think most have forgotten how deadly he can be from 3 by now. They're in for a shock.

I think Mike Miller forgot how deadly he can be from 3 for all of last season.

we need to see a center rotation again. Joel is invisible out there. At least give Pitt 10mins a game that way when if if and when curry is healthy we can easily plug him into the rotation.

I dont care what the score is we need to get Gladness/Curry 5 mins and Pittman 10 mins a game esp now that its early and we have time to let them learn.

EscapoTHB wrote:The Thunder, Mavs, and Bulls are the only teams with as much or more depth than us, amongst our rivals. And that's solely because of our center position.

Do you really think Brendan Haywood vs Anthony, or Kendrick Perkins vs Anthony gives them that much of an advantage though?

I am still concerned about the center position. If we can pull in Pryzbilla and cut Gladness I will feel much better though.

with all the running we're doing, the Center is less crucial than usual.
BUT, come playoffs time we need at least one big though defender/rebounder in the middle.

i know in-shape Curry can score (very well actually) - but can he be that man?

Roll Tide Baaby wrote:

EscapoTHB wrote:The Thunder, Mavs, and Bulls are the only teams with as much or more depth than us, amongst our rivals. And that's solely because of our center position.

Do you really think Brendan Haywood vs Anthony, or Kendrick Perkins vs Anthony gives them that much of an advantage though?

Not against us, but it is better depth at that position. They have more depth, but we're a better team than those teams because our players are better. We just don't have as many good-average players as they do.

lukekarts wrote:I don't mean to be a party pooper but let's not get carried away.

Our starting 5 is great, but Joel should not be a starter - he's a 15mpg backup impact guy and it shows. The fact our backup Centers are two guys who used to be huge and are on power diets - one of whom has never done anything, and the other who was a moderately good offensive player but weak defensively and on the boards - not exactly what we need from our Center rotation. It could be argued our Center rotation is the worst in the league.

Norris Cole has shown promise but again he's a rookie and we weren't expecting much - and just because he had a good game, we should continue to not expect much. He will have highs and lows all season and will take time to find consistency, which is what we need in the playoffs.

As for Jones, he's a good shooter but he's so limited outside of that. He has his uses but hitting 3 3's for 9 points is probably the best we'll see. As for Mike Miller - he's injured again, and after last season I have no hopes for him. He lost his shot, his confidence, and rarely contributed in a positive way. The fact we think Jones is on his level is testament to just how far the 6MOTY candidate has fallen.

Battier & Haslem are of course our key bench players, and they're starting calibre players. Sadly for us they play in the same position as 2/3 of our best trio.

So please, don't exaggerate. We're not deep and our squad only has 5 starting quality players - our success will still be completely dependent on the big 3.

bulls fan here, not coming to start some ish, literally just wanted to give props to this poster for being the most realistic heat fan ive seen (then again i was only going by all the trolling on our board last season) i needed an escape from the NONSTOP howard trade posts on my board. not being to realistic there either. they literally are willing to have rose/howard and 10 d-leaguers. SMH. anyway, kudos to you poster. PEACE. jk