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Is it possible We're 1 piece away from contending?

And we're not talking about an all-star caliber piece - just 1 decent, somewhat attainable player.

I think most of us are getting a good vibe about this team, it might be stronger then it looked on paper early this summer. But personally I still feel We're missing a good scoring PG to fill our biggest hole and become real contenders (Not favorites, but to have a shot). I just don't think Cole and Rio are good enough PG's, and Napier won't be ready this year.

So how close are we to being a real contender this year?

I do agree that a good pointguard is a bigger need then a solid center. Parameter playmaking, handling and decision making is what gets toughest in the playoff. I do have some hope for Napier in this regard tho and it seems to me that the organization is doing everything they can to fast track his decision making process at the NBA level. All we need (for how long has we said this? lulz) at point-guard is someone that isn't a net negative when the going gets tough. I don't think that's too much to ask of from Napier but the learning-curve is steep coming into this league.

Bosh, Bird & MacBob is a good enough big-man rotation to me and i don't think someone attainable would move needle at this point in time. If you sprinkle in some stretch 3-point shooting from Williams I actually wonder if this isn't our main strength. They haven't gotten the defense down yet but I'm hopeful it will come. Maybe if Birdman gets increasingly injured as the season goes along I can see us prioritizing someone at backup center but I don't think it's the primary focus.

To me a solid wing to go with Wade & Deng is the no'1 need, but getting one is easier said then done. Good wings comes at a premium in this league. Look at the Clippers they got no one and that will likely be their do in for the foreseeable future. It is however the position i think we would benefit the most from upgrading. I don't think we can survive for long with Chalmers as the 3rd guy behind WaDeng. Wade going thru, Butler, Marion, Leonard/Iguodala without someone to release some pressure with playoff tested play-making is with all likelihood just too hard. I don't know who or how we should try to attain but Mario, Granger & Brown ain't gonna cut it, and that I'm sure of. Where are you Phantom?

Short answer: A 3rd wing with some playmaking and 3-ball shooting could make us a dark horse IMO.

I don't think we necessarily need a good point guard because Wade is doing a great job of running the offense and when McBob gets comfortable, we're going to be even better in that regard. Not to mention we are a pretty good passing team overall and are willing to make the extra pass almost every time. While I agree that Cole and Rio aren't anything special in that regard, I think that Napier snags that starting spot sooner rather than later and silly turnovers and tunnel vision drives become a thing of the past.

With that being said, I voted for center. We're getting killed on the offensive glass and giving up too many easy buckets this way, not to mention there are also a lot of easy drives because we have close to zero rim protection. Sure, we have been missing Birdman for quite a few games now, but he's not going to completely fix our problem when he comes back. I really hope we can get Emeka Okafor or someone like that. It would make the game so much easier on defense for the whole team, give Bosh the ability to play the power forward on offense and give Wade somebody to drop passes to down low.

However, if we get a good center *and* a good point guard, we're a legit contender. No doubt.

dancing2thabeet wrote:I don't think we necessarily need a good point guard because Wade is doing a great job of running the offense and when McBob gets comfortable, we're going to be even better in that regard. Not to mention we are a pretty good passing team overall and are willing to make the extra pass almost every time. While I agree that Cole and Rio aren't anything special in that regard, I think that Napier snags that starting spot sooner rather than later and silly turnovers and tunnel vision drives become a thing of the past.

With that being said, I voted for center. We're getting killed on the offensive glass and giving up too many easy buckets this way, not to mention there are also a lot of easy drives because we have close to zero rim protection. Sure, we have been missing Birdman for quite a few games now, but he's not going to completely fix our problem when he comes back. I really hope we can get Emeka Okafor or someone like that. It would make the game so much easier on defense for the whole team, give Bosh the ability to play the power forward on offense and give Wade somebody to drop passes to down low.

However, if we get a good center *and* a good point guard, we're a legit contender. No doubt.

If you vote for a Center, you're basically saying Bosh will move back to PF. Which means Mcbob or S.Williams will never get on the court (probably Williams), and Mcbob will get very limited minutes behind Bosh, around 12 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Is that really the direction you vote for? Remember we're talking about a Robin Lopez type Center, not prime Dwight.

caliban wrote:I do agree that a good pointguard is a bigger need then a solid center. Parameter playmaking, handling and decision making is what gets toughest in the playoff. I do have some hope for Napier in this regard tho and it seems to me that the organization is doing everything they can to fast track his decision making process at the NBA level. All we need (for how long has we said this? lulz) at point-guard is someone that isn't a net negative when the going gets tough. I don't think that's too much to ask of from Napier but the learning-curve is steep coming into this league.

Bosh, Bird & MacBob is a good enough big-man rotation to me and i don't think someone attainable would move needle at this point in time. If you sprinkle in some stretch 3-point shooting from Williams I actually wonder if this isn't our main strength. They haven't gotten the defense down yet but I'm hopeful it will come. Maybe if Birdman gets increasingly injured as the season goes along I can see us prioritizing someone at backup center but I don't think it's the primary focus.

To me a solid wing to go with Wade & Deng is the no'1 need, but getting one is easier said then done. Good wings comes at a premium in this league. Look at the Clippers they got no one and that will likely be their do in for the foreseeable future. It is however the position i think we would benefit the most from upgrading. I don't think we can survive for long with Chalmers as the 3rd guy behind WaDeng. Wade going thru, Butler, Marion, Leonard/Iguodala without someone to release some pressure with playoff tested play-making is with all likelihood just too hard. I don't know who or how we should try to attain but Mario, Granger & Brown ain't gonna cut it, and that I'm sure of. Where are you Phantom?

Short answer: A 3rd wing with some playmaking and 3-ball shooting could make us a dark horse IMO.

You can't have the perfect team. Every team has limited recourses. We already have Wade and Deng starting on the wing, that's 2 all-stars. Investing the little resources we have left in another wing (when we already have Rio and Ennis which aren't great but might be decent) is just wasteful. Especially when you look at our needs to point and Center.

Also If you focus on a SCORING PG, someone that can create his own shot and get buckets - there's really no need for another creator behind Wade and Deng and next to Rio.

It's about priorities, When you have Cole, Wade and Deng in your starting five - you need to remove Cole for an upgrade, not worry about the bench behind Wade and Deng - both will play huge playoffs minutes anyway.

RexBoyWonder wrote:

dancing2thabeet wrote:I don't think we necessarily need a good point guard because Wade is doing a great job of running the offense and when McBob gets comfortable, we're going to be even better in that regard. Not to mention we are a pretty good passing team overall and are willing to make the extra pass almost every time. While I agree that Cole and Rio aren't anything special in that regard, I think that Napier snags that starting spot sooner rather than later and silly turnovers and tunnel vision drives become a thing of the past.

With that being said, I voted for center. We're getting killed on the offensive glass and giving up too many easy buckets this way, not to mention there are also a lot of easy drives because we have close to zero rim protection. Sure, we have been missing Birdman for quite a few games now, but he's not going to completely fix our problem when he comes back. I really hope we can get Emeka Okafor or someone like that. It would make the game so much easier on defense for the whole team, give Bosh the ability to play the power forward on offense and give Wade somebody to drop passes to down low.

However, if we get a good center *and* a good point guard, we're a legit contender. No doubt.

If you vote for a Center, you're basically saying Bosh will move back to PF. Which means Mcbob or S.Williams will never get on the court (probably Williams), and Mcbob will get very limited minutes behind Bosh, around 12 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Is that really the direction you vote for? Remember we're talking about a Robin Lopez type Center, not prime Dwight.

Uh, smallball will still be our bread and butter this year. But a center would allow us to stop our opponents comebacks by not letting them getting 20 offensive rebounds and 35 second chance points per game. Maybe something along the lines of what Oden did last year. I think this hypothetical center and Birdman would combine for ~25 min, so that still leaves ~23 min of Bosh at C.

Williams could in this instance also be plugged into the small forward spot, although I'm not sure how his defense would be there.

RexBoyWonder wrote:

caliban wrote:I do agree that a good pointguard is a bigger need then a solid center. Parameter playmaking, handling and decision making is what gets toughest in the playoff. I do have some hope for Napier in this regard tho and it seems to me that the organization is doing everything they can to fast track his decision making process at the NBA level. All we need (for how long has we said this? lulz) at point-guard is someone that isn't a net negative when the going gets tough. I don't think that's too much to ask of from Napier but the learning-curve is steep coming into this league.

Bosh, Bird & MacBob is a good enough big-man rotation to me and i don't think someone attainable would move needle at this point in time. If you sprinkle in some stretch 3-point shooting from Williams I actually wonder if this isn't our main strength. They haven't gotten the defense down yet but I'm hopeful it will come. Maybe if Birdman gets increasingly injured as the season goes along I can see us prioritizing someone at backup center but I don't think it's the primary focus.

To me a solid wing to go with Wade & Deng is the no'1 need, but getting one is easier said then done. Good wings comes at a premium in this league. Look at the Clippers they got no one and that will likely be their do in for the foreseeable future. It is however the position i think we would benefit the most from upgrading. I don't think we can survive for long with Chalmers as the 3rd guy behind WaDeng. Wade going thru, Butler, Marion, Leonard/Iguodala without someone to release some pressure with playoff tested play-making is with all likelihood just too hard. I don't know who or how we should try to attain but Mario, Granger & Brown ain't gonna cut it, and that I'm sure of. Where are you Phantom?

Short answer: A 3rd wing with some playmaking and 3-ball shooting could make us a dark horse IMO.

You can't have the perfect team. Every team has limited recourses. We already have Wade and Deng starting on the wing, that's 2 all-stars. Investing the little resources we have left in another wing (when we already have Rio and Ennis which aren't great but might be decent) is just wasteful. Especially when you look at our needs to point and Center.

Also If you focus on a SCORING PG, someone that can create his own shot and get buckets - there's really no need for another creator behind Wade and Deng and next to Rio.

It's about priorities, When you have Cole, Wade and Deng in your starting five - you need to remove Cole for an upgrade, not worry about the bench behind Wade and Deng - both will play huge playoffs minutes anyway.

I agree with this. Rio actually plays more than decently off the ball. He's hitting (open) shots and getting to the rack. I don't know how his defense will work against bigger shooting guards and of course he will have to eliminate all the stupid fouls, but it's not like he will see a lot of court time behind Wade in the playoffs anyway. As for the backup small forward, I'm still having high hopes for Ennis or Granger. Maybe even some Williams minutes there if McBob starts playing 35+ min.

Well, then we disagree. I think the 22min per game upgrade behind Wade & Deng on the wing is the biggest upgrade we can do and less of a waste then to ad a scoring point guard. A wing would also move Wario to back up pointguard (no reason why he can't continue to play the way he has off the ball) and thereby solve our wish to remove Cole. 22 min less Wario on the wing for replacement lvl wing and 0min Cole replaced by Chalmers is a bigger upgrade then just less Cole on it's own.

I think we need both a PG and Center. We have very few assets to attain either position without hurting other spots at our roster so I really don't think we're in a great spot to make moves.

We need a real defensive presence in the middle

i think that we are two pieces away from contending,because lets face it rio and nocole arent that great in the pg department and ditto for shabazz although there is a chance that he could greatly improve as the season goes on and yes we also need a center so that bosh can play at his more natural position even though he is currently playing great as a center.we are already a deep team but rebounding and passing are our greatest concerns right now

Contending is not about adding pieces with us as much as it is how you use them. We have a talented enough roster as it is to compete. We just need to consistently execute and stay away from our continual bad habits.

What we fixed - slow starts and having to climb back into games which was a problem and became full blown epidemic last year

What we didnt fix - Fourth quarter execution and team play in the 4th.

The sooner we commit to changing this the better team we will be at the end of the year. We are capable of being dangerous from every position. Teams area calling more timeouts against us in the first 3 quarters this year because what we are doing is not in their scouting report.

We don't need a PG. It's all about the end games and Cole, unless he has a stellar game, does not play in the end. Napier is being cultivated and I think he will be fine.

For the past 4 years we have been saying we need a Center. Bosh right now is our center, with McBob in the future as the PF.

We need bigs even off the bench who can rebound like hell. Like A Taj Gibson type player, or yes, Tristan Thompson. Just someone who comes off the bench and who's energy is too much for the other team and gets all the rebounds

When Birdman was that guy we played well and went on a huge win streak as you all know when we acquired such a a player. Birdman isn't exactly the same, not from what I have seen in the games he has played. Hopefully it's rust or something, but he been looking a little slow.

Anyway, unlike other years we can't mask any rebounding issues we have. So til then, we will see what happens. I was going to say we need a wing defender, like a 3 and D guy such as Battier, but Deng might be that guy. Need another one tho off the bench.

I don't think McRoberts would lose too many minutes if CB went back to the 4. McRoberts is our more athletic Boris Diaw and if we get a center of the Robin Lopez/ Tiago Splitter caliber then the frontcourt would be complete and more flexible. We could have more options and lineups while rotating CB to either position like Tim Duncan does with the Spurs. This would be most beneficial to Bosh, his minutes won't be too high and you could put less responsibility on him defensively. I think Shabazz can be the answer at point guard, and that we just would need a combo guard to be like the 6th or 7th man. A guard would be more attainable through trade, and there is a lot of centers in free agency in 2015.

I think the Heat need more depth at Center or Front court while an upgrade at PG would be nice. Yet, I think if this team stays healthy entering the playoffs, they will be a viable contender to run the gamut.

RexBoyWonder wrote:
Also If you focus on a SCORING PG, someone that can create his own shot and get buckets - there's really no need for another creator behind Wade and Deng and next to Rio.

It's about priorities, When you have Cole, Wade and Deng in your starting five - you need to remove Cole for an upgrade, not worry about the bench behind Wade and Deng - both will play huge playoffs minutes anyway.

I see where a scoring PG benefits this team, but the reality is this team still has very limited assets to give up in a trade. The vary player you want upgraded, Cole, is our biggest trade asset. Unless he picks up his play, a position for position swap is unlikely given his low cap number on expiring deal. No one is going to give Miami a superior talent, for minimal savings, and a late first rounder at best.

After all this, this why I believe Miami just needs a wing scorer/shoot creator off the bench (sg/sf). It is more likely in a trade scenario that Cole is picked up by a team with a weakened PG rotation and excess wings. Miami needs some offensive production off the bench.

Napier-Chalmers-Ennis/Granger-Williams-Bird

That rotation doesnt cut it, even with the supplementation of Wade, Bosh, or Deng in those lineups. Rio is playing better, but his issue is consistency and cant be counted on.

Heat won ships with Mario/Cole so I don't think the PG position will be what hurts them the most. If anything, it will come down to having enough size on the front court.

i look at the east and i think we're contenders already. adding better pieces won't hurt though

Cole for Hardaway? Eh? EH????

I think a true center would be amazing for us right now. DeAndre or Drummond type center!