Bench Haslem

[HeatFan1234]

I've had enough of this guy. I don't care what he means for the franchise...He's better off as a cheerleader on the bench. Joel Anthony is a better player than him at this point. Big rotation should be Bosh, Birdman and Joel.

[EscapoTHB]

I think that's the direction we are headed in. Spo has no trouble making starting lineup changes--I mean we started the year with battier at the 4.

I think what makes the most sense is to start Birdman, and bring Joel off the bench for Birdman--and then you if you are playing both Birdman and Joel in the rotation you can play Lewis and Allen together in the second unit without getting **** over defensively.

Birdman looks a-maaaazing for us. He does everything Joel does on defense, but he also is confident enough offensively to scrap and claw for 8 to 10 garbage points. And he rebounds better than Joel.

If his conditioning is up to it, he should be a major part of our rotation.

But I'm guessing because he's coming back from a back injury, right? The heat are trying to monitor his minutes.

But yeah. He's looked our best true big in the big three era so far. Terrific signing by Pat. Probably saved us from having to make a trade at the deadline.

[HeatFan1234]

All good points. It's frustating to watch this team sometimes.

In regards to Birdman, if it's not a conditioning issue, I have no idea why Spo took him out when we were crawling back into the game in the 4th, and put Bosh in there who looked like a total puss. But I agree Birdman looks great.

Haslem is just done. I've been saying this all year, and I think a lot of people agree. He was getting torched in the post all night long and putting Battier as a primary frontcourt defender in the post is just ridiculous IMO when you could just have Joel out there.

So yeah, the starting lineup needs to be Bosh and either Joel or Birdman, with either Joel or Birdman anchoring the 2nd unit.

[EscapoTHB]

Skolnick said on twitter that Birdman himself has said he hasn't got his wind yet. Which explains why Spo isn't spamming him right now. Because really Birdman is exactly the kind of player that Spo loves to play.

I definitely cringed when I saw Bosh coming in for Birdman--but hopefully come playoff time, you'd instead see Bosh coming in to play alongside Birdman--which would really change the matchups into our favor.

I also wouldn't mind seeing us try to go at David West more with Bosh when we play them again. I don't think West can guard Bosh if we iso'd Bosh against him.

[Slot Machine]

I doubt Spo has the balls to sit UD for any extended period of time. He knows him too well and likes him too much to do that to Udonis, unfortunately for us.

[EscapoTHB]

I doubt Spo has the balls to sit UD for any extended period of time. He knows him too well and likes him too much to do that to Udonis, unfortunately for us.

I bet he does. He would have had him out of it this year if our d didn't suck and battier hadn't been hurt.

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[RexBoyWonder]

I doubt it ever happens. Spo will probably make Lewis play PF if Haslem is out. how about Allen as PF? that would be great. Bosh is so strong as a Center, we should just put Cole as PF next to him.

**** idiot.

UD has been done for a long time as a big man in a contender's rotation. he's just not big or good enough.
and the Answer isn't Lewis at PF (he's just as weak on defense, he's a SF and only a SF) or Battier (got killed last night and looks 45 out there, also only a SF).

The only legitimate bigs we have on this team are :

Centers : Birdman, Joel
PowerForawrds : Bosh, Varnado

THAT'S IT.

Anything else is just versions of the same crappy smallball that's killing us 95% of the time.

I still say we do should make a move to get Dalembert, then we'll have enough bigs to play normall ball all the time, no excuses and no reason to be the weaker team on every matchup.

Bosh/Varnado
Dalembert/Birdman/Joel

This should be our bigs rotation.

Have a big shotblocker rebounder out there at all times, it's amazing what a HUGE impact a 34 bench player Center (Birdman) has on our game when he's out there, and that's not happening because he's suddenly became an allstar talent! it's just that fact that he's the first Real legitimate Center we played in ages and it helps us so much to play with a real Center, you immediately see how important the position we tried to ignore is to a basketball team.

[Mutnt]

It puzzles me how Haslem can play on this team so long and be so bad... In his 3rd game for the team, Birdman was already prowling around the paint and got about 2,3 easy dunks off Wade&James penetration, while Haslem still thinks it's better to stand 15 feet away on the baseline and brick jumper after jumper. Also, I don't think I've seen anyone in this league who has been around for so long and hasn't improve his game ONE IOTA. He came to the league hustling and shooting jumpers, after 10! years, he is still capable of doing the exact same amount of things as he did as a rookie, but is failing at that at an historical rate.

Anyway, bench his ass for the foreseeable future. I hate sympathy over long time players...

[HeatFan1234]

I do think he will be benched if that's what it comes down to, which is probably will, but Spo always seems to be slow with adjustments like this. I understand the Birdman thing, if his conditioning is an issue right now and he's trying to get back into basketball shape, but you've got a player in Joel Anthony who is superior to Haslem at this point who you're just leaving on the bench, and Varnado, why did you sign him just to leave him on the bench? haha.

@Rex Yeah it's crazy how much a real big can impact the game.

I think we all agree that Birdman looks great. Mostly I'm sure because we haven't really had a big like him, but also I think he really fits the system well. You can actually see that the traps WORK for once because Birdman actually knows how to play, and he traps hard, and recovers quickly. Plus he's actually getting O rebounds and catching and finishing, not to mention he can handle the ball better than Bosh, even driving and kicking haha, it's crazy.

[EscapoTHB]

Haslem hasn't been as bad as you guys are making him out to be. And the reason he plays next to Bosh instead of Joel is because Joel doesn't rebound. Haslem gets almost 6 boards a game in under 20 minutes per game. That's why he is playing. Once Anderson is ready to play 20-25 minutes per game he'll take Haslem's minutes because he rebounds even better, scores, provides shotblocking, and shows harder than anyone on our team on the pick and roll. He is the quintessential Pat Riley Heat center.

Instead of spending so much time complaining about Haslem--how about how awesome this new signing is--and how good we're going to look once Birdman gets his wind?

I think the one thing that might keep Birdman from starting though is that if we play him with the second unit, we could then bring Rashard back into the rotation and our bench would be a lot better. So I could see that happening too. But another option could be to start Birdman, play Joel with the second unit--and play Mike Miller with Lewis--so that Mike can help on the boards?

There's a lot of interesting things Spo can do. He'll have to commit to 8 guys though before the playoffs.

Right now the locks are:
Lebron
Wade
Bosh
Allen

Past that--I think anyone''s spot is up for grabs.

[EscapoTHB]

Haslem wouldn't have to play if Bosh were a big enough of a man to even act like he's in danger of getting ten rebounds per game. If Bosh hadn't decided that playing center meant playing the year like a soft small forward--Spo would have never had to bring Haslem into the rotation in the first place. Spo started the year trying to play Battier and Lewis more in the four spot.

But really--our small ball units in the playoffs worked WITHOUT Bosh. And probably because of Bosh not being there. Lebron is the best center on our roster.

[LeChosen1]

Haslem wouldn't have to play if Bosh were a big enough of a man to even act like he's in danger of getting ten rebounds per game. If Bosh hadn't decided that playing center meant playing the year like a soft small forward--Spo would have never had to bring Haslem into the rotation in the first place. Spo started the year trying to play Battier and Lewis more in the four spot.

But really--our small ball units in the playoffs worked WITHOUT Bosh. And probably because of Bosh not being there. Lebron is the best center on our roster.

When was this

[HeatFan1234]

@THB I agree that Birdman is a great signing but I honestly believe that Joel is a better option than Haslem right now. I think Haslem has regressed so far on the offensive and more importantly defensive end that he is a liability out there. I don't even believe he is rebounding at the level he once did. That's why it's frustrating but yes Birdman should take a lot of his minutes and Joel should IMO as well.

I disagree about Lewis. I think his defense is so bad that spo would really have to mask his deficiencies with a really strong defensive lineup around him.

Overall I have a lot of faith that this team will continue to do good things in the playoffs but I wanted to bring this up because it has been bothering me all year.

[Chosen01]

Haslem wouldn't have to play if Bosh were a big enough of a man to even act like he's in danger of getting ten rebounds per game. If Bosh hadn't decided that playing center meant playing the year like a soft small forward--Spo would have never had to bring Haslem into the rotation in the first place. Spo started the year trying to play Battier and Lewis more in the four spot.

But really--our small ball units in the playoffs worked WITHOUT Bosh. And probably because of Bosh not being there. Lebron is the best center on our roster.

When was this

Pacers, this was probably the case due to so much spacing. Everyone on the court with LeBron/Wade was a legit 3pt threat outside of Haslem who was hitting his mid range jumpers. The thing is though is that we were on pace to beat them WITH Bosh, Heat grabbed game 1 and there's no doubt they would have gotten game 2 in Bosh's presence imo (He was doing great before he got that ab injury).

Things change though, you can't be stubborn expecting the same results to happen. Teams adjust and that's what Vogel has done. Come playoffs time, the Heat better come out with a lineup of Chalmers, Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Anderson or I wouldn't be surprised they upset us with the way West has continued to destroy Battier and George's emergence.

[Tuff Gong]

More in favor of amnesty than a simple benching. He's useless.

[Flash3]

Enough with the knee jerk threads!