A few days to reflect on what happened...

[Alex Trevelyan]

and I'm still furious. I made an analogy before the Finals began comparing the Spurs to the 1991 Lakers, a team from the previous decade making their last stand against a younger, hungrier, better team that would dominate the next decade, the Heat were supposed to be the Bulls! It turns out we were the Lakers! How hilariously misguided that analogy seems today. The Miami Heat set a record for greatest average margin of defeat in an NBA Finals, that's a historic accomplishment this team should be embarrassed to have hung around their necks, but there it is. They not only lost, they were humiliated. They lay prostrate on the ground and let the Spurs beat them, kick them, take their manhood from them. It was a sickening display of gutlessness from everyone but LeBron. Sorry, I can't sugarcoat it. They were a few missed free throws from being swept like LeBron's Cavaliers were! That's inexcusable, I don't care how good the Spurs are.

Everyone comes in for excoriation here. The coaches, the players and Pat Riley. We like to take shots at Spoelstra and it is easy to do after watching his emotionless concession during his game 5 press conference, complimenting the Spurs on their exquisite basketball, or whatever the adjective he used, while seemingly doing nothing as a coach to prevent the exquisiteness of their execution. I assume Spoelstra is more stubborn than stupid, so perhaps an undressing like this will force him to junk his exposed defensive system and adopt something that might actually work without wearing players down to a nub. It might force him to junk small ball except where it actually works! As opposed to trying to use it as a universal construct.

And while it's easy to thrash the players for not performing, you can't really blame a washed up baller for not being able to outwork or outperform guys they just can't outwork or outperform anymore. For that I blame Pat Riley, a sainted figure who in my estimation comes in for some heavy criticism here. No one thinks more highly of Riles then I do, but the day you start thinking one guy is beyond reproach, your organization is going down a drain. Outside of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, the 7 heaviest usage players on the Spurs roster are 27, 31, 22, 26, 36, 25 and 29! Outside of LeBron and Bosh, the 7 heaviest usage players on our roster are 27, 25, 38, 32, 35, 35 and 32! And frankly the 27-year old will not and should not be back. Riley constructed a roster of dinosaurs. We had another one that was amnestied. This was partly out of financial need, but a lot of it is Riley's philosophical inclination, he shuns young players for wiley vets, but when the wiley vets can't play anymore, it's a disaster. This notion that the Big 3 would just obfuscate our weaknesses or would just overcome them by sheer blunt force was flawed from the beginning.

It's looking very bad as a construct when you consider that Bosh has been neutered and Wade is just done as a force of nature on a basketball court. There is no getting around this, no paying deference to a legend. Wade had no impact on either series against the Spurs. I doubt it's because he was coasting. He wants to win as badly as anyone, so the only logical explanation is that he is spent as a player, he is an outright liability in the system we currently run. He has to have a new role, but can he have a new role when he's not developed his game any? This scares me. He's not retiring. I'd be shocked if he opted out of his deal. In my opinion we need to clean house. This team needs 5 or 6 new role players. Bosh needs to be utilized as a second option and Wade needs to start working on becoming a Ginobili type of player, but will his ego allow it? This team isn't going to win a championship next year merely by channeling anger about what happened in the Finals. It wasn't just a revenge motif that propelled the Spurs. They became much better as a team.

What I'm afraid of is the Heat might just go the route of trying to bring Melo in here and do what they did in 2011, just try to overcome the team's myriad weaknesses by bludgeoning opponents with the talent at the top of the roster. It might work against the Thunder or Clippers, but from here on out, if you can't field a team that can abuse the Spurs, then you're just admitting the team is constructed on the hope they don't play the Spurs again. Get 3 quality players in here for the price of a Melo, Riley needs to stop trying to buy depth and start trying to cultivate it, do what he did with guys like Bowen, Brown and Lenard back in the day, find some gems for crying out loud and force Spoelstra to give these guys burn. If this team isn't the #1 overall seed next year with a defense at or near the top of the league, they're just not serious anymore. I hope what just happened to the Heat burns their collective asses into becoming Supermen and frankly, I'd love to return the favor to the Spurs next year, I mean humiliate, don't just beat them, beat them down. Rant over.

[heatlespeatles]

couldn't of said it better myself.

[Jon Connor]

Wade's inability to space the floor REALLY hurts the Heat. We learned the hard way how valuable it can be to have players all over the floor that can shoot the 3 ball. Manu, Green, Parker, Mills, Leonard all killed us from 3. When everyone is a threat from 3, it makes a team so much harder to stop.

Wade not having a 3 point shot at all just kills the spacing and makes things so much harder on LeBron. Is there any way that he can become a threat from 3 next season or is it just too late in his career?

[heatlespeatles]

Not only about shooting threes but it's crazy how ineffective he was, couldn't get past Danny green or anyone else, played little to no defense, turned the ball over, missed easy bunnies, took bad shots. It was just a wide array of horrible.

[fast-break]

Coming off the bench for Team USA vs coming off the bench no longer a starter is quite different...and I'm not so sure Wade's ego would be receptive. Like Popovich, Spoelstra must make that decision for him.

[DefenseWins]

Great post and your concerns are valid. We need quality players instead of some star to cover up holes. We got beat by a team that was better than last year and obviously better than us this year in every facet of the game.


Jon and heatles make a great point about Wade. He couldn't blow by anyone and his lack of floor spacing does hurt us. He really should look into the Manu role because the way he played in the finals is not starter material. He has to accept his role is going down hill but that doesn't mean he doesn't have to be productive. Look at Ray Allen for instance, he doesn't have the team on his shoulders but he can sure help in certain parts of the game. In game 5 when Manu came in he hurt us with his facilitating and his 3 point shot, blew by people and dunked on us. Because you go to the bench doesn't mean you aren't a contributor.

Wade seems like the type that can play in spurts.... I think it would be a great opportunity.


I just hope our team learns from this. The thing is we can beat anyone in the league... That isn't a vet team that is well coached and moves the ball and actually plays like a team. Lol. It's funny Dallas took then to 7 games but we got blown out 3 games in a row smh

[OtW]

Not depressed. I definitely have not been sad one bit about these finals. However, I still am a bit upset/angry about them more than anything. The chance to three peat and make history does not come around quite often. It just makes you wonder: will we be in this position again? I know unsound spoiled as a fan upset that we didn't get a three peat, since other teams would kill to have half of the success that we have had. I guess it is just that the way that this team lost leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. It was good having most of the doubters silent for two years. Now, the haters and their cancerous cesspool of overblown talking points and doubts are back in full force, almost as if the last two years never happened.

[BIRDMAN BIRDMAN]

I hope the Spurs bring back the same 15 men for next season. I want the Heat to meet them again in the Finals (retooled) and break this 1-1 tie. I want the Heat to pound their **** to the ground. Each 15 of em.

I thought I've completely forgotten what happened, but then that Spurs parade earlier reminded me again of what could've been. I wanted that parade to be in Biscayne BLVD. instead of that **** I saw. I hope this team has that 2012 look for next season. That season, I had NO doubt at all that we were winning it all right from the start

[DWadeno3]

Beyond whatever players we'll have next season, we need to become a team again and evolve even more into a unit that is less dependent on the Big Three, mainly LeBron, and more so has a good system which allows everybody to be productive. The Spurs have plenty of players who could isolate and score, but you rarely ever saw them do it just because it's not effective. Our offense often times is either one pass and go or somebody stopping the ball and wasting time without effectively doing anything. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, the stuff the Spurs did wasn't. Run a pick and roll on the strong side, have some weak side action on the other and, most importantly, make quick decision with the ball to keep the defense on its heels. It'll open up a ton of space, provide everybody with the opportunity to participate in the offense and will ultimately lead to greater efficiency. It'll lead to a drop in individual statistics for the better players, mainly LeBron obviously, but it could make us that much better in the long run. Right now, we're too dependent on Wade and James breaking the defense down with individual class and creating something off of it.

At the same time don't run players high minutes anymore, mostly LeBron again, and try to keep the entire roster involved by rotating. None of the Spurs' players played more than 29.4 MPG, not even young Kawhi Leonard. There's no reason we can't do this either. For a guy like LeBron going down to about 32 to 33 minutes a game seems realistic, whereas a guy like Wade can go further down to 28 to 29, whether that means coming off the bench or starting.

In the early stages this could bring some losses people will get upset about, but in the long run this could pay off big time. If we wanna stay competitive for as long as a team like San Antonio, minute reductions and a much more team oriented approach are essential

[homecourtloss]

and I'm still furious. I made an analogy before the Finals began comparing the Spurs to the 1991 Lakers, a team from the previous decade making their last stand against a younger, hungrier, better team that would dominate the next decade, the Heat were supposed to be the Bulls! It turns out we were the Lakers! How hilariously misguided that analogy seems today. The Miami Heat set a record for greatest average margin of defeat in an NBA Finals, that's a historic accomplishment this team should be embarrassed to have hung around their necks, but there it is. They not only lost, they were humiliated. They lay prostrate on the ground and let the Spurs beat them, kick them, take their manhood from them. It was a sickening display of gutlessness from everyone but LeBron. Sorry, I can't sugarcoat it. They were a few missed free throws from being swept like LeBron's Cavaliers were! That's inexcusable, I don't care how good the Spurs are.

Everyone comes in for excoriation here. The coaches, the players and Pat Riley. We like to take shots at Spoelstra and it is easy to do after watching his emotionless concession during his game 5 press conference, complimenting the Spurs on their exquisite basketball, or whatever the adjective he used, while seemingly doing nothing as a coach to prevent the exquisiteness of their execution. I assume Spoelstra is more stubborn than stupid, so perhaps an undressing like this will force him to junk his exposed defensive system and adopt something that might actually work without wearing players down to a nub. It might force him to junk small ball except where it actually works! As opposed to trying to use it as a universal construct.

And while it's easy to thrash the players for not performing, you can't really blame a washed up baller for not being able to outwork or outperform guys they just can't outwork or outperform anymore. For that I blame Pat Riley, a sainted figure who in my estimation comes in for some heavy criticism here. No one thinks more highly of Riles then I do, but the day you start thinking one guy is beyond reproach, your organization is going down a drain. Outside of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, the 7 heaviest usage players on the Spurs roster are 27, 31, 22, 26, 36, 25 and 29! Outside of LeBron and Bosh, the 7 heaviest usage players on our roster are 27, 25, 38, 32, 35, 35 and 32! And frankly the 27-year old will not and should not be back. Riley constructed a roster of dinosaurs. We had another one that was amnestied. This was partly out of financial need, but a lot of it is Riley's philosophical inclination, he shuns young players for wiley vets, but when the wiley vets can't play anymore, it's a disaster. This notion that the Big 3 would just obfuscate our weaknesses or would just overcome them by sheer blunt force was flawed from the beginning.

It's looking very bad as a construct when you consider that Bosh has been neutered and Wade is just done as a force of nature on a basketball court. There is no getting around this, no paying deference to a legend. Wade had no impact on either series against the Spurs. I doubt it's because he was coasting. He wants to win as badly as anyone, so the only logical explanation is that he is spent as a player, he is an outright liability in the system we currently run. He has to have a new role, but can he have a new role when he's not developed his game any? This scares me. He's not retiring. I'd be shocked if he opted out of his deal. In my opinion we need to clean house. This team needs 5 or 6 new role players. Bosh needs to be utilized as a second option and Wade needs to start working on becoming a Ginobili type of player, but will his ego allow it? This team isn't going to win a championship next year merely by channeling anger about what happened in the Finals. It wasn't just a revenge motif that propelled the Spurs. They became much better as a team.

What I'm afraid of is the Heat might just go the route of trying to bring Melo in here and do what they did in 2011, just try to overcome the team's myriad weaknesses by bludgeoning opponents with the talent at the top of the roster. It might work against the Thunder or Clippers, but from here on out, if you can't field a team that can abuse the Spurs, then you're just admitting the team is constructed on the hope they don't play the Spurs again. Get 3 quality players in here for the price of a Melo, Riley needs to stop trying to buy depth and start trying to cultivate it, do what he did with guys like Bowen, Brown and Lenard back in the day, find some gems for crying out loud and force Spoelstra to give these guys burn. If this team isn't the #1 overall seed next year with a defense at or near the top of the league, they're just not serious anymore. I hope what just happened to the Heat burns their collective asses into becoming Supermen and frankly, I'd love to return the favor to the Spurs next year, I mean humiliate, don't just beat them, beat them down. Rant over.

Some really good points here.

1) About the Big 3 being able to ameliorate and make up for out deficiencies: With the Wade of 2009 it was possible but probably not very sustainable for a long time due to two or three players being run into the ground. 2009 Wade would have caused havoc if Green or Manu or whoever guarded him. He would be in the lane, he would be at the rim, and he would be at the line (I think; James was at the rim and constantly and was hit without a call).
He would be a much better defender and not give up as many wide open threes and transition baskets. His offense would put more scoreboard pressure on the Sours and they wouldn't be able to shoot as freely. That little stretch in game 5 with Patty Amile was downright disgusting.

Wade not beig Wade anymore (which is what it looks like) completely destroys the notion of what a Big Three was supposed to be able to do. When the Big Three formed, Wade was playing at an all-time level and could do everything on court. With the version if Wade we have now, we don't have a Big Three as was first intended and to further complicate matters, Bosh is now a jump shooting big who doesn't rebound very well, but can defend. Who even knows if he can be a reliable second option anymore. I think he can, but utilizing him as such is probably going to cause some growing pains.

2) Completely agree about getting Melo. We're going to have the same problems and are going to have to make up for all the deficiencies the same way, i.e., out talent teams. The defensive strategy employed onky exacerbates things. When I look back to the regular season, even to win games against bad teams, a lot of energy had to be used because we couldn't win any other way because every team outrebounded us, scored a bunch of cheap points that prevented us from going on runs, etc. To take over those games James especially had to exert a LOT of energy because with the roster make up and the decline of Wade and the whatever usage if Bosh, he had I do too much even against scrub teams. As Bosh said, "winning was a relief" more than anythig else.

[Smash3]

Great posts we need some serious retooling starting with dropping the old players, adding good valuable role players, letting chalmers walk, and making sure Wade comes of the bench.

[Tony15]

I agree with everything the OP's stated, but man it's easier said than done....hence why Pop is so great at his craft.

1) Wade & 'Bron are slashers, who've definitely improved off the ball. That said, they're still pretty ball dominant guys that need the ball to be effective. LeBron's the better player of the two, but Wade's a rhythm player; that in of itself is problematic and it reared it's ugly head in these Finals. Wade's still an elite player to me, but he needs to improve his 3pt shot and his jumper in general because he doesn't have the explosiveness to the rim anymore, consistently at least.

2) DWadeno3 said something that I think was the biggest issue, even beyond Wade's performance. Bosh is WAAAYYY too underutilized and it hurts our offense. Whenever Bosh is in the post, he gets doubled a TON and there's no way you can convince me that it won't generate open looks. Battier is retiring, 'Rio will probably be gone, and Ray is at least thinking about retirement so we'll likely need a new batch of pure shooters to make it work with Bosh in the post, but regardless that is Bosh's strong suit. A system that ultilizes everyone's strength on the team is an absolute must. With it, there's no team that should be able to stop us on either end.

3) We just need to get younger. As great as the Spurs are, OKC and even the Dallas Mavericks gave them trouble. Hell, if the Houston Rockets got past Portland in the 1st round, I'm sure many people would've picked Houston to beat the Spurs. Match ups mean a great deal in the NBA, and athletes in the front court are the Spurs' greatest Achilles heal. Just hope there are guys like that available.

[DayofMourning]

I agree with everything the OP's stated, but man it's easier said than done....hence why Pop is so great at his craft.

1) Wade & 'Bron are slashers, who've definitely improved off the ball. That said, they're still pretty ball dominant guys that need the ball to be effective. LeBron's the better player of the two, but Wade's a rhythm player; that in of itself is problematic and it reared it's ugly head in these Finals. Wade's still an elite player to me, but he needs to improve his 3pt shot and his jumper in general because he doesn't have the explosiveness to the rim anymore, consistently at least. Wade is not elite anymore, but can still be very good. As you've noted, that jumper has to get good. Really damn good. 40% 3 point shooting good. He doesn't have the athleticism anymore and his career will fade rapidly if he doesn't make his weaknesses his strengths.

2) DWadeno3 said something that I think was the biggest issue, even beyond Wade's performance. Bosh is WAAAYYY too underutilized and it hurts our offense. Whenever Bosh is in the post, he gets doubled a TON and there's no way you can convince me that it won't generate open looks. Battier is retiring, 'Rio will probably be gone, and Ray is at least thinking about retirement so we'll likely need a new batch of pure shooters to make it work with Bosh in the post, but regardless that is Bosh's strong suit. A system that ultilizes everyone's strength on the team is an absolute must. With it, there's no team that should be able to stop us on either end. I agree that Bosh needs to be a focal point. He should be averaging close to 20 a game, and playing closer to the basket. He's been used as a spacer for Lebron and Wade during his time here, but Wade no longer brings that consistency to the game. Bosh is in his prime years. My expectations of him would be 18 and 8 in 30 minutes a game. He doesn't have to bang necessarily, but just make smart plays.

3) We just need to get younger. As great as the Spurs are, OKC and even the Dallas Mavericks gave them trouble. Hell, if the Houston Rockets got past Portland in the 1st round, I'm sure many people would've picked Houston to beat the Spurs. Match ups mean a great deal in the NBA, and athletes in the front court are the Spurs' greatest Achilles heal. Just hope there are guys like that available. We have to get younger. Battier was nonexistent, though Rashard was good. Ray couldn't play his game against the Spurs as no one else did enough to create separation for him. Regardless of that, we need youth who can grow in our system and produce. We have a five or six year window with Lebron and Bosh as key componenets moving forward. If we can get one or two mature rookies to give effort and give rest to our vets during the regular season, then we'll have a more rested team and guys ready to play minutes.

Comments in red.

[theFRANCHISE]

A lot of you guys always talk about wades inability to develop a 3pt shot. The most important part of 3pt shooting is having the leg strength to jump higher from that far distance when shooting. If he doesn't have that same leg strength to make a lay up or blow by his defender or stay with his man on defense, how do you expect him to even come close to hitting a three pointer? His health is the issue.

[Sign5]

Meh, I'm over it. I trust RIley enough that they'll we'll retool the roster and be good enough for at least another two titles.

The only thing that I really did not like was amnestying Miller just to clear money for Mickey, especially knowing about Wade's condition. Reports say LeBron wasn't too pleased about it as well.

Miller would have been HUGE in these playoffs. We saw how LeBron and co dominated the Spurs in game 2 last year with a hobbled Miller making big buckets. It's actually quite ironic that he was healthy this year after being plagued with injuries since he signed with the Heat.

[dancing2thabeet]

A lot of good points in this thread, I agree with most of them. Love the discussion!

A lot of you guys always talk about wades inability to develop a 3pt shot. The most important part of 3pt shooting is having the leg strength to jump higher from that far distance when shooting. If he doesn't have that same leg strength to make a lay up or blow by his defender or stay with his man on defense, how do you expect him to even come close to hitting a three pointer? His health is the issue.

Well Jason Kidd wasn't a good shooter to begin with and he developed a pretty good 3pt shot while not having much lift on it.

[DWadeno3]

A lot of good points in this thread, I agree with most of them. Love the discussion!

A lot of you guys always talk about wades inability to develop a 3pt shot. The most important part of 3pt shooting is having the leg strength to jump higher from that far distance when shooting. If he doesn't have that same leg strength to make a lay up or blow by his defender or stay with his man on defense, how do you expect him to even come close to hitting a three pointer? His health is the issue.

Well Jason Kidd wasn't a good shooter to begin with and he developed a pretty good 3pt shot while not having much lift on it.

It's not just lift, it's also balance. Ideally you wanna jump from two feet, land on two feet and land on the same spot you started. You also wanna have the same kind of lift from both legs because otherwise you won't have a straight jump. Look at the elite shooters in the league, the Kyle Korvers and Ray Allens, most of the time they have outstanding balance on their jumpers. A huge reason why LeBron's jumper became much more consistent during his time in Miami is balance. A huge reason Wade learned to become a good midrange shooter in Miami is balance.

From the midrange area you can still somewhat compensate for it, but the further you're away from the basket, the less room for error there is. Wade needs to be kept healthy and I think the only way to do it is a minute restriction. Once that's the case, he'll be a solid three point shooter. Outside of the Finals he shot 7/18 over the course of 15 games in the playoffs, that's 38.8% with a little more than an attempt per game. If he's healthy and focuses more on it, he could be a 34-35% shooter on a small amount of attempts, which is all he really needs.

Like I said before though, our issues go way beyond Wade. We have to stop looking for one-dimensional specialists or stop using them as such and start using players in a more complete way. Look at Danny Green for example. Everybody knows him as a shooter, but Pop made him a driver as well. It's not his number one game, but when the defense plays him tightly, he's good enough to punish you and attack you and most NBA players are.
At the same time, this requires constant ball and man movement and no ball stoppage. Keep the rock moving, trust everybody and don't go looking for LeBron or Wade when the first or second option of a play isn't working.

[RSCD3_]

If we want to use bosh in a way how varejao/illegauskus where used in Cleveland, Bosh needs to learn how to catch a ball in the paint

He has a bad habit of flubbing quick passes that the two big men in Cleveland could catch, I assume it's because of either never having to receive hard passes and mostly just easy tosses into the high post, or maybe he just has too small of hands to involve in the LeBron bounce pass off the pick and roll.

[Rock Hardy]

Eloquent as ever, but I largely disagree.

I'll keep it simple. Pat, Spo, LeBron, Wade and Bosh will collectively figure this out and decide on changes needed to ensure prosperity. The combined bbiq of those 5 is enough to leave me confident in whatever they do.

We had less flexibility going from 2011 to 2012, but built an unorthodox powerhouse. Now this reload can be done with full cap flexibility and foresight. We'll be fine. Another 4 years like the last and would anyone seriously complain? I won't.

[Alex Trevelyan]

Eloquent as ever, but I largely disagree.

I'll keep it simple. Pat, Spo, LeBron, Wade and Bosh will collectively figure this out and decide on changes needed to ensure prosperity. The combined bbiq of those 5 is enough to leave me confident in whatever they do.

We had less flexibility going from 2011 to 2012, but built an unorthodox powerhouse. Now this reload can be done with full cap flexibility and foresight. We'll be fine. Another 4 years like the last and would anyone seriously complain? I won't.

I agree with you. Riley and company will get this figured out, but significant changes are going to need to be made. They'll re-load, but with a different kind of ammo this time around. The team will need to figure out a new offensive and defensive identity first of all and that's going to be a prickly situation because D-Wade is just done as a dominant basketball player. He's tried everything: he lost weight, he trained with Grover, he's sought out exotic therapies for his knees, he rested for long stretches of the season, it still didn't work and it's only going to get worse from here on out. His future will need to be as a completely different kind of asset, but does he have the will and does Spoelstra and Riley have the will to force it on him? Bosh has to be the dominant guy close to the basket he used to be. Spoelstra needs to figure out a way for Bosh to exhibit his natural skill set without interfering with LeBron and this is easy to do. Many teams have utilized dominant guys down low while still maintaining enough space for a guy like LeBron to go wild, but the need to accommodate Wade and LeBron complicated this issue. It may be less complicated now.

I realize some of the roster decisions were made because of the cap, but this team has to get significantly younger quickly. Riley needs to evolve his thinking a bit on roster construction. You don't just get younger, you must get young and better. Riley has demonstrated an eye for young talent in the past, but for some reason he has chosen to go an easier path. It's just not tenable anymore, not in a league with a punitive cap, you need young, good and cheap. I still don't know why we let a guy like Patrick Beverly go for instance. A guy like that would be invaluable to this team now. What a shame.