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The Eastern conference have looked extra terrible this year even with the best player in the Game in the east. With Teams like Atlanta and Toronto leading the East. Now do not get me wrong they are playing well, but in no way are they great teams. In Cleveland, the talent around Lebron is not as good as the media thought and wanted. In Chicago is the exact opposite, Derrick Rose is not as good as the media hoped and being carried by his surrounding players. So does Riley see this as a Golden opportunity for the Heat with two stars in Wade and Bosh to take advantage, make a run in the second half the season and in the playoffs?

Its a good possibility that is a yes. For one just look at the landscape in the east. Two now think about the moves the Heat are now looking at. The Heat are now focusing on veterans like Arron Afflalo and Andrey Blatch. When Riley go after veterans role players as such, is when he preparing for a title run. The Heat are now resisting any temptation to trade Deng for a lateral move or for any youth. If this is the direction they are going then they are preparing themselves to make a run. With the possible emergence of Hassan Whiteside as legit rotation player, the Heat now have holes that may be fillled to be good enough to compete in the east (adding adding vets like Afflalo and Blactch and some internal improvement).

If the can make the right veteran additions, do you think the Heat could possibly make a run for the Finals in the playoffs?

you talking about if the Heat thought so before?

Wade didn't, Bosh did but even later said he over estimated what they had

uh... make the Finals THIS YEAR? maybe ask that in 2 months, not after one good game from Hassan and when we looked competent >_< lol

we haven't even gotten a 2 game win streak since November. This team has a lot of work to do, and still needs better role players.

btw Detroit will make the playoffs and ATL will, and both those teams have our weaknesses, 3 point shooting and big men. Hassan not ready for that and I bet Spo would even lessen his minutes in those situations. I could see Spo putting in UD as Center (yes in the playoffs) cause he trusts him more cause he's a vet... lol...

DefenseWins wrote:you talking about if the Heat thought so before?

Wade didn't, Bosh did but even later said he over estimated what they had

uh... make the Finals THIS YEAR? maybe ask that in 2 months, not after one good game from Hassan and when we looked competent >_< lol

we haven't even gotten a 2 game win streak since November. This team has a lot of work to do, and still needs better role players.

btw Detroit will make the playoffs and ATL will, and both those teams have our weaknesses, 3 point shooting and big men. Hassan not ready for that and I bet Spo would even lessen his minutes in those situations. I could see Spo putting in UD as Center (yes in the playoffs) cause he trusts him more cause he's a vet... lol...

No Im not asking did they think this before. I am saying looking at the landscape now, do the Heat think its obtainable now. Regardless of Detroit strengths, they are not that good of a team. They both have glaring weaknesses.

twix2500 wrote:

DefenseWins wrote:you talking about if the Heat thought so before?

Wade didn't, Bosh did but even later said he over estimated what they had

uh... make the Finals THIS YEAR? maybe ask that in 2 months, not after one good game from Hassan and when we looked competent >_< lol

we haven't even gotten a 2 game win streak since November. This team has a lot of work to do, and still needs better role players.

btw Detroit will make the playoffs and ATL will, and both those teams have our weaknesses, 3 point shooting and big men. Hassan not ready for that and I bet Spo would even lessen his minutes in those situations. I could see Spo putting in UD as Center (yes in the playoffs) cause he trusts him more cause he's a vet... lol...

No Im not asking did they think this before. I am saying looking at the landscape now, do the Heat think its obtainable now. Regardless of Detroit strengths, they are not that good of a team. They both have glaring weaknesses.

their strength is our weakness though, same with ATL and thats 3 point shooting. they will wrestle us in the paint, but I dont want to go too far in talking about that stuff

again Bosh thought so, he has said he thinks the team could have made a run for it

Wade had lower expectations and mostly talked about himself having a good season and wants this challenge for his career.

we'll see what they say if they make defensive strides and win more ball games. ESPECIALLY playoff time, they'll be asked on their expectations.

If Whiteside is the player that we think he is (the Boogie matchup will tell us a lot), then we'll be well on our way to coming out of the East. Unfortunately, the crappy PG play and bench depth are some weaknesses that have to be fixed. McBob would help with the playmaking and depth, but it'll be a while before we get anything from him.

I wanna see how the rest of the month plays out. There are some games on the schedule that'll tell us a lot about this team.

For all the optimism I have, this team needs to show consistency. While I don't believe, as a lot of here do, that this squad isn't good enough, I do believe that a struggle with consistency is a massive obstacle to overcome. We're comparable to a young, talented player who'll give you 30/7/7 on 12/18 shooting on night and then go 10/3/3 on 4/18 shooting the next, regardless of the competition. If we can build consistency, we can beat a lot of teams in the East but if we can't, we could face an ugly first-round exit if we even make it to the postseason.

I'm a huge fan but I'm not deluded. We haven't a chance at all of winning the East. All I really want us to do is make the playoffs and develop our young talent. Next year I'd like to see us get to the finals of the East or at least semi-finals. 2016-7 we make a run for it.

DWadeno3 wrote:For all the optimism I have, this team needs to show consistency. While I don't believe, as a lot of here do, that this squad isn't good enough, I do believe that a struggle with consistency is a massive obstacle to overcome. We're comparable to a young, talented player who'll give you 30/7/7 on 12/18 shooting on night and then go 10/3/3 on 4/18 shooting the next, regardless of the competition. If we can build consistency, we can beat a lot of teams in the East but if we can't, we could face an ugly first-round exit if we even make it to the postseason.

Spo's coaching and lack of Whiteside is what made the Heat inconsistent most of this season. Injuries also played a part.

Not with a PG lineup of Rio/Cole.

Hell no. Ask again after we get rid of those two.

Nope, not even.

If Whiteside is what we expect and hope to be, a long side CB playing his natural position (PF) and living up to his max, with Wade getting open looks in the post a long side cb/whiteside.... then I do see us going pretty deep in the post-season.

Finals however... no way, not with our bone-headed pgs.

Take into account that also IF Spo gets his **** together with rotations as well.

I dunno....the team I saw at the beginning of the year looked like a team that could pose a challenge/threat to the top tier teams record-wise in the east. Then the injury bug hit us hard, and now we're at where we're at. Personally, there's nothing about Toronto or Washington that really scares me, especially if Hassan truly pans out and we start to show much more consistency on the floor. Atlanta would pose a probem, but they don't have the size up front nor the experience. Thing is, their guards would likely rip us to shreds. Honestly, can any of you guys give me a definitive answer on who's coming out of the eastern conference? This the first year in a LONG time where I really can't give you the two definitive best teams in each conference. Honestly, who the **** knows.....

Slime to none. Slime chickens.

I see 3 obstacles.

SPO. ERIC. ERIK.

And realistically we have a better chance of missing the playoffs entirely than making it to the finals. We are still in deep trouble despite the fact that things may look like they are looking up... facing the LAL tonight coming off a win at LAC and all.

Wait until we face GSW, SAC, and OKC in the next 3 games after tonight. YIKES

To make the Finals, HW has to play like an all star in his minutes on the floor, Rio/Cole have to be shipped to Siberia, TJ has to play mistake free bball past his current ten day contract, Napier has to earn trust and be our starting point, Wade and Bosh must stay healthy, and Spoelstra has to pull his head out of his arse.

We need a legit PG or 04 Piston defense. Both of which are impossible when Mario Chalmers/Norris Cole play.

DayofMourning wrote:To make the Finals, HW has to play like an all star in his minutes on the floor, Rio/Cole have to be shipped to Siberia, TJ has to play mistake free bball past his current ten day contract, Napier has to earn trust and be our starting point, Wade and Bosh must stay healthy, and Spoelstra has to pull his head out of his arse.

Everything sounded realistic and I got excited...then I got to the Spo part.

RexBoyWonder wrote:

DayofMourning wrote:To make the Finals, HW has to play like an all star in his minutes on the floor, Rio/Cole have to be shipped to Siberia, TJ has to play mistake free bball past his current ten day contract, Napier has to earn trust and be our starting point, Wade and Bosh must stay healthy, and Spoelstra has to pull his head out of his arse.

Everything sounded realistic and I got excited...then I got to the Spo part.

UD gonna be at center in the clutch in game 7 of the 1st round and we down 4 points with 1 minute left

cause he trusts him

Not with Cole/Chalmers and Spo, no.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I'd love to be wrong, but our PG rotation is terrible, and I don't think we have the depth right now to mount a serious charge. If Hassan ends up fluking into being baby Shaq, or even Deandre Jordan, I think we might have a shot at the ECF. Lots of variables though, and I really don't like our odds.

Bumping this one too, just to get a new perspective, and avoid the inevitable creation of a new thread.

(a) We fixed our pg rotation (see RH's last post)
(b) We lost our best shooter.

I can see us making the playoffs. After that, I really don't know. It depends on a lot of factors. I don't think we're good enough to be in the finals or the ECF, but you just never know. The postseason is a different beast.

One question I have is whether McRoberts might be back in 6 weeks. I think that's impossible, right? Or he might be back, but the Heat won't want to risk it.

Anyway, please add your thoughts.