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How far do you guys think that Heat team would have gone if the main core had stayed together a few more years?

Dwyane Wade
Eddie Jones
Lamar Odom
Caron Butler
Brain Grant
Udonis Haslem
Rafer Alston

That looks like a pretty deep team to me. add Zo to the equation the following year and we look pretty scary.

They'd probably continue to get bounced in the 2nd round. Hard to say for sure though. I kind of wonder how Wade would have developed without Shaq here, in a lot of ways I think Shaq's arrival gave Wade room to grow as a player, with less pressure being placed on him.

Tim_Hardawayy wrote:They'd probably continue to get bounced in the 2nd round. Hard to say for sure though. I kind of wonder how Wade would have developed without Shaq here, in a lot of ways I think Shaq's arrival gave Wade room to grow as a player, with less pressure being placed on him.

This.

We'd see the rise of Wade/Butler/Odom coincide with the decline of Jones & Grant.

For reference, LA did very little with Kobe/Butler/Odom - it was the acquisition of Pau that put them back on the map.

Basically, too much perimeter play between Wade/Jones/Butler/Odom and not enough interior presence. If not Shaq, Riley would've been spending every minute of every day trying to bring in someone to resolve the front court issues.

lukekarts wrote:

Tim_Hardawayy wrote:They'd probably continue to get bounced in the 2nd round. Hard to say for sure though. I kind of wonder how Wade would have developed without Shaq here, in a lot of ways I think Shaq's arrival gave Wade room to grow as a player, with less pressure being placed on him.

This.

We'd see the rise of Wade/Butler/Odom coincide with the decline of Jones & Grant.

For reference, LA did very little with Kobe/Butler/Odom - it was the acquisition of Pau that put them back on the map.

Basically, too much perimeter play between Wade/Jones/Butler/Odom and not enough interior presence. If not Shaq, Riley would've been spending every minute of every day trying to bring in someone to resolve the front court issues.

LOL... I remember before Shaq was a real possibility, most of us on here were hoping to add Mark Blount that summer with our Mid Level Exception..

One of my favorite teams of all time. Started 0-7, rookie coach, no one knew what we had in Wade just yet, Lamar Odom had what should have been an allstar season, Caron, UD, Rasual, Skip.. Grant and Eddie. Just a fun team.. with zero expectations. Crazy that 42-40 got us a 4 seed in the east, lol.

I remember this team well. It was the first Heat team I watched. I'm a young fan basically.

But teams that can be scary, but you know their inexperience and just not being the best would not get them very far - thats how I feel about that team. But rookie Wade was the best ever to watch besides the year he got back in 08.

Kind of like the 76ers. In terms of hey they have a nice core and all, but they aren't good enough.

But if you don't take us seriously, we can hurt you.

This team was so fun to watch. Young Wade was so exciting to watch. Who can forget that game winner against the Hornets in the playoffs?

this was the team that made me fall in love with the nba. I remember watching wang zhizhi warm up before games, he looked like dirk when there was nobody guarding him

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eZs4Hh0Y9E[/youtube]

Fun to watch, but would never win a championship.

Riley made the right move. We should have won the ship in 2005, too.

StrengthNHonor wrote:Fun to watch, but would never win a championship.

Riley made the right move. We should have won the ship in 2005, too.

Yes fun but no way a contender. Zo would only go to a contender and we needed Pat and Shaq to ask him to join.

FlashKing wrote:How far do you guys think that Heat team would have gone if the main core had stayed together a few more years?

Dwyane Wade
Eddie Jones
Lamar Odom
Caron Butler
Brain Grant
Udonis Haslem
Rafer Alston

That looks like a pretty deep team to me. add Zo to the equation the following year and we look pretty scary.

Brian? I couldn't help but laugh about that that error lol...Brain, what a first name.

God I loved that team, definitely top 3 in my list of favorite Heat teams.

However, I honestly see the success of that team being similar to the Wizards teams...3 great perimeter players who win 47-50 wins but get bounced in the early rounds, possibly the ECF once or twice but ultimately losing due to lack of interior presence.

but there's no way Riley doesn't trade for a center if he couldn't get Shaq.

Wade has turned it on to superstar status in the Hornets and Pacers series that year. I think he would have turned into a Superstar with or without Shaq, but we wouldn't have won the championship without Shaq in 2006. All those players that came to our team, was because of Shaq. Shaq made the NBA believe we were contenders, and that's why we had those ring chasers.

Funny, I used to think Rasual Butler was going to be a key star for us, he had great work ethic when he was in our team. He busted his ass off.

Malik Allen was one of my favorite players too on that team. He was like a poor man version of Brandon Bass. When he was on, he was LOCKED on. But when he was bad, it was pretty bad...

This was the team I bet at 500-1 to win the championship.

I like the Wizards comparison. We would have been a treadmill team getting mid seeds (in the weak east) and getting bounced in the first/second round.

Vertical Limit wrote:Wade has turned it on to superstar status in the Hornets and Pacers series that year. I think he would have turned into a Superstar with or without Shaq, but we wouldn't have won the championship without Shaq in 2006. All those players that came to our team, was because of Shaq. Shaq made the NBA believe we were contenders, and that's why we had those ring chasers.

Funny, I used to think Rasual Butler was going to be a key star for us, he had great work ethic when he was in our team. He busted his ass off.

Malik Allen was one of my favorite players too on that team. He was like a poor man version of Brandon Bass. When he was on, he was LOCKED on. But when he was bad, it was pretty bad...

I disagree about Wade being a superstar by the playoffs that year. Obviously great for a rookie but definitely not superstar by then.

There wasn't much, if any, competition in the East after Indy's suspensions. We could have possibly made the ECF but get trounced by Detroit, assuming we wouldn't be playing Detroit in the second round. But no chance at a championship, and outrageously lucky to make one if Riley kept that team intact for a few years.

Who remembers the Alston over Shawn Bradley game?

GreenHat wrote:This was the team I bet at 500-1 to win the championship.

I like the Wizards comparison. We would have been a treadmill team getting mid seeds (in the weak east) and getting bounced in the first/second round.

Vertical Limit wrote:Wade has turned it on to superstar status in the Hornets and Pacers series that year. I think he would have turned into a Superstar with or without Shaq, but we wouldn't have won the championship without Shaq in 2006. All those players that came to our team, was because of Shaq. Shaq made the NBA believe we were contenders, and that's why we had those ring chasers.

Funny, I used to think Rasual Butler was going to be a key star for us, he had great work ethic when he was in our team. He busted his ass off.

Malik Allen was one of my favorite players too on that team. He was like a poor man version of Brandon Bass. When he was on, he was LOCKED on. But when he was bad, it was pretty bad...

I disagree about Wade being a superstar by the playoffs that year. Obviously great for a rookie but definitely not superstar by then.

Then you didn't watch the series because he was already hyped up as the next great player after the Indiana series. He was the best player on the court against the Eastern Conference favorites.

The emergence of Dwyane Wade especially in the Playoffs was a sight to see, one of the best moments in my NBA viewing life. I knew he was going to be a explosive player, judging by his eye popping plays in the regular season but no one expected him to be a superstar till his tremendous performances in the Playoffs.

That might have been my favourite Heat team of all time.