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LeBron has stated that losing in the finals last year is what humbled him and made him seek improvement in his game.

After these finals, I decided to watch some of the finals last year to figure out what was wrong? Especially after hearing Mark Cuban the other day talk about how their defense was able to slow down LeBron.

Mike Freaking Bibby and Joel Anthony (got no problems with Joel...but he's not a starter..)

Imagine if Chalmers was developed last year? Or more importantly....If the Heat already had Shane Battier last year? Despite LeBron's troubles, the floor spacing would be there and it would open things up. The Heat could very well be repeating. Then again...Maybe it took a humbling loss for LeBron to get a post game? However, I am of the belief that with better floor spacing, the Heat win, even though LeBron doesnt play great. He would have still got criticism. Because the Haters would have said. "Oh, he had DWADE to carry him to a title." I think that would have pushed LeBron to still have that mindset to add a post game, etc. etc.

The main thing is....The key to a repeat and so on....Cant have garbage starting anymore. We saw it once Bosh moved to 5, LeBron to the 4, Battier to the 3. The key is to put the most talent on the floor.

Which is why I believe they should keep this same starting 5 next year. UNLESS.....They upgrade at PG and sign Steve Nash. Chalmers and Cole would be a small, but effective off the bench back court.

Sign a Kaman. Kaman has talent, so sliding Bosh back to PF isnt a bad thing.

Moral of the story Spo (who has really impressed me and I have a great deal of respect for him)...No more bums starting if he can avoid it.

Heat Repeat

Don't forget Big Z, Erick Dampier and Jamal Magloire. So many crappy bigs actually got minutes in the playoffs.


It would be great if the Heat were able to add one or more of Ray Allen/Jason Terry/Steve Nash, and limit LeBron and Wade's minutes during the regular season and still get a top seed.

FireRicBucher wrote:Don't forget Big Z, Erick Dampier and Jamal Magloire. So many crappy bigs actually got minutes in the playoffs.


It would be great if the Heat were able to add one or more of Ray Allen/Jason Terry/Steve Nash, and limit LeBron and Wade's minutes during the regular season and still get a top seed.

Yeesh. Forgot about that.

I think Shane will help limit LeBron's minutes. A Ray Allen/Nash/Terry is very important. Have to keep DWADE around 33/34 minutes until the playoffs. Or like I said...Have Cole/Chalmers playing in the backcourt more. Cole showed good defense against Harden.

All Heat need is SG / sf combo dude to back up wade / Lebron when each sub out but damn more important a big - a decent one but not anyone.

Our depth was so damn bad last year.

Jan_Sobieski wrote:All Heat need is SG / sf combo dude to back up wade / Lebron when each sub out but damn more important a big - a decent one but not anyone.

There was an article about Greg Oden maybe wanting to join Miami in the middle of next season....


Then again, maybe the light comes on for Eddy Curry

FireRicBucher wrote:Don't forget Big Z, Erick Dampier and Jamal Magloire. So many crappy bigs actually got minutes in the playoffs.


It would be great if the Heat were able to add one or more of Ray Allen/Jason Terry/Steve Nash, and limit LeBron and Wade's minutes during the regular season and still get a top seed.

I would click my heels with joy.

chalmers should have been the starter all last season....

IMO - The difference form last years FINALS to this years FINALS is "adjustments and opportunity" -

Adjustments - Lebron developed and used a another scoring method
Opportunity - The role players had more opportunities

Lebron having low post game put a tremendous amount of pressure on OKC
Miller, Shane, Chalmers given the opportunity to make an impact offensively

Additional Opportunities/Adjustments

1. If Erik takes out Miller after he picks up his 3rd(as he normally does) and puts in Cole, Miller has no chance to stay in rhythm.

2. If Erik would have not give Cole some positive minutes, he would not have put pressure on Westbrook

3. If Erik would have subbed Wade at his normal interval, we would have lost momentum

4. If Erik would have re-inserted Joel(as I wanted) into the starting lineup we would have not won 4 in a row, glad he did not return my texts.

5. If Erik would not switched Bosh to C, we would have not won 4 in a row

6. If DWade would not have publicly turn the team over to Lebron, we would not have won 4 in a row and probably would have lost in the Indiana series. Big confidence boost by Wade to Lebron

We had to win it this year the way we won it.

LeBron developing a post game is the difference.

LeBron went 4 straight Finals games with 0 points in the fourth quarter. This year? When his shot wasn't falling, he went directly into posting up whoever was on him. Harden, Durant, didn't matter. This helped his overall game tremendously....... he could finally score on command with a reliable go to game....

and when LBJ is on the elbow posting someone up, it immediately leaves our guys open on the 3pt line because Thunder has to committ someone to double team LBJ. It reminds me of how Shaq used to get the ball, post someone up, then pass it out to a 3pt shooter when the double team came. Shaq used to call this "Bait mode"

Worked like a charm. Let LBJ post up Harden/Durant and score, or watch him pass the ball out to a wide open 3pt shooter.

last year.. it was.. "dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble, pull up J, clank"

CablexDeadpool wrote:chalmers should have been the starter all last season....

Yep...Would have sped up his development...And he gives you more than Bibby...

WD wrote:IMO - The difference form last years FINALS to this years FINALS is "adjustments and opportunity" -

Adjustments - Lebron developed and used a another scoring method
Opportunity - The role players had more opportunities

Lebron having low post game put a tremendous amount of pressure on OKC
Miller, Shane, Chalmers given the opportunity to make an impact offensively

Additional Opportunities/Adjustments

1. If Erik takes out Miller after he picks up his 3rd(as he normally does) and puts in Cole, Miller has no chance to stay in rhythm.

2. If Erik would have not give Cole some positive minutes, he would not have put pressure on Westbrook

3. If Erik would have subbed Wade at his normal interval, we would have lost momentum

4. If Erik would have re-inserted Joel(as I wanted) into the starting lineup we would have not won 4 in a row, glad he did not return my texts.

5. If Erik would not switched Bosh to C, we would have not won 4 in a row

6. If DWade would not have publicly turn the team over to Lebron, we would not have won 4 in a row and probably would have lost in the Indiana series. Big confidence boost by Wade to Lebron

We had to win it this year the way we won it.

Great post.

StrengthNHonor wrote:LeBron developing a post game is the difference.

LeBron went 4 straight Finals games with 0 points in the fourth quarter. This year? When his shot wasn't falling, he went directly into posting up whoever was on him. Harden, Durant, didn't matter. This helped his overall game tremendously....... he could finally score on command with a reliable go to game....

and when LBJ is on the elbow posting someone up, it immediately leaves our guys open on the 3pt line because Thunder has to committ someone to double team LBJ. It reminds me of how Shaq used to get the ball, post someone up, then pass it out to a 3pt shooter when the double team came. Shaq used to call this "Bait mode"

Worked like a charm. Let LBJ post up Harden/Durant and score, or watch him pass the ball out to a wide open 3pt shooter.

last year.. it was.. "dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble, pull up J, clank"

This is true...

However, I still feel...that the Heat were a few adjustments away from winning it all last year. LeBron wouldnt have been as great as this year...but he could have been good enough for the Heat to win. Mark Cuban basically said the Mavs knew what the Heat were going to do and they wouldnt adjust. Spo was still figuring stuff out. And this was the first time LeBron struggled in a series and he didnt know how to adapt.

I still believe Wade getting MVP and hearing the trolls call LeBron "Pippen" would have pushed him to get a post game. With that said..The Heat still could have won last year. Pick and Rolls with Wade/LeBron would have offset a lot of things and help get him some easy baskets. They could have been feeding LeBron backcuts to the hoop all last year. That has nothing to do with post game. Thats just execution. *sigh* oh well...At least they got it this year...

Im just glad Spo is now comfortable enough to make adjustments and LeBron added a post game. Stay healthy, add some good vets, win championships.

This year is just different from last year. WD made a point too that Wade turned the team over to LeBron. Last year Wade kept saying he was the leader blah blah, even infront of LeBron's face. We did not go as far as Wade tried to carry us. But when LeBron would have monster games, even with Wade playing "meh", we would still win. I think that's the biggest factor out of them all. That LeBron carried us this year.


Last year man was just ugly. I don't even know how we made it to the Finals with that terrible roster. We did not have this much help.

UD was not healthy, Miller still wasn't healthy but I really don't know how this man shot so many 3's with a bad back, he could barely walk. Miller seemed to have more trouble last year with two broken hands lol.

The Mavs just had the depth and we couldn't counter. This year's team would.

Mario starting was one of the differences as well. I can't believe we started with Bibby, thank god he's gone. I am happy with Cole and Mario for years to come. Only PG I'd welcome is Nash, everyone else does not play at a high level (Andre Miller can't shoot 3's).

LeBron also developing a post game made everyone, including himself better. Pat Riley said LeBron needed a "go-to" move last year and he worked over the summer and got it. LeBron busting his ass paid off.

I agree Rio should have just started all season too. They did everything to make Rio not start LOL. We kept trying to do the whole "vet PG" thing, but this team doesn't need a vet PG. We finally built this team right. Rio is a bonehead, may have his ups and downs, but he is a champion. Even an NCAA champion, high school, everything. I trust him.

ecnirp wrote:The main thing is....The key to a repeat and so on....Cant have garbage starting anymore. We saw it once Bosh moved to 5, LeBron to the 4, Battier to the 3. The key is to put the most talent on the floor.

I agree with this 110%. I am from Alabama, so besides the Crimson Tide football team, I don't have a set team in other sports, because we don't have any pro teams here. So I pretty much just find a team that has alot of the players I like, and root for them to do well. I was a huge Bulls fan with Jordan. Then I started liking T-Mac so I liked Orlando for awhile, then Houston when he went there. Jeff Van Dummy was the coach there. I HATED HIM. He LOVED 1-dimensional players like Joel Anthony, and I couldn't stand it. I want my role players to be better ball players and do a little of everything, not just 1 thing decent. Mario Chalmers, UD, Cole, Shane Battier, these are all GREAT role players who can do multiple things on the court. Joel Anthony, hes just a defender, and nothing else, he kills the offense. I hate players like him. Mike bibby last year, all he was is a spot up shooter....thats it. In houston, van Dummy surrounded T-Mac and Yao with players like Chuck Hayes, David Wesley (by the time he got to Houston he was a 5'11" spot up shooter), Juwan Howard, Rafer Alston, etc. I dont want any specialists, i want ball players. Thats why I pray to God we dont sign Dalembert. he brings nothing that Joel anthony cant already bring. I want skill guys like Garnett, Terry, Nash, Kaman, etc or draft picks