RealGM

Mourning To Return Next Season
May 12, 2008 - 11:33 am
Miami Herald -
Alonzo Mourning is expected to play next season, barring a health issue, according to several of his associates. [READ]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... xt_season/

Question now is, does he come back to Miami or go elsewhere for a shot at a title?

Miami WILL contend for the title next year if they get Derrick Rose; if they get Rose (And apparently Wade wants him), Zo should come back to Miami.

Imagine a starting line-up of:

Alonzo Mourning

Udonis Haslem

Shawn Marion

Dwyane Wade

Derrick Rose

That's a championship contender; and Riley WILL look like a genius for trading Shaq.

They could have a turn-around similar to the one Boston had this year if Zo returns to the Heat and they get Derrick Rose.

I think he will, but this is just Barry Jackoff talking to entourage people and not the source... his usual style. The waiters at Prime are rich thanks to him.

mmm Prime 112

I really think Zo ought to hang it up as a player already. Honestly there's no way we're gonna go deep into next year's playoffs unless we make a big splash in free agency. Obviously that's not going to happen until the offseason in 2009, however.

The Diesel wrote:Miami WILL contend for the title next year if they get Derrick Rose; if they get Rose (And apparently Wade wants him), Zo should come back to Miami.

Imagine a starting line-up of:

Alonzo Mourning

Udonis Haslem

Shawn Marion

Dwyane Wade

Derrick Rose

That's a championship contender; and Riley WILL look like a genius for trading Shaq.

They could have a turn-around similar to the one Boston had this year if Zo returns to the Heat and they get Derrick Rose.

So a 19-year-old from Conference USA will take us from 15-67 to 66-16?

Maybe I missed the anouncement, are we moving to the WNBA?

Hey, major turnarounds have happened before.

- Look at Boston this year with Kevin Garnett

- Look at how much San Antonio and Orlando improved during Duncan and Shaq's rookie seasons with them, respectively.

A Zo/Haslem/Marion/Wade/Rose line-up is already one of the best in the East.

Also, Rose is NBA ready; he might be young, but he has an NBA body.

This team would be the most exciting team in the NBA.

Haslem/Marion/Wade/Rose are all terrific athletes and Zo STILL runs the floor well at his age.

The gap is not that big for a turnaround. Lots of our losses were close, especially before we had to shut down half of our roster.

Lost by 1 point: 4
Lost by 2 points or less: 6
Lost by 3 points or less: 11
Lost by 4 points or less: 13
Lost by 5 points or less: 19
Lost by 6 points or less: 21
Lost by 7 points or less: 28
Lost by 8 points or less: 29
Lost by 9 points or less: 33
Lost by 10 points or less: 37

So we need to improve by maybe 7 ppg in a combo of D and O to get 43 wins. 2 more stops and 2 more scores a game or so.

The Diesel wrote:Hey, major turnarounds have happened before.

- Look at Boston this year with Kevin Garnett

- Look at how much San Antonio and Orlando improved during Duncan and Shaq's rookie seasons with them, respectively.

A Zo/Haslem/Marion/Wade/Rose line-up is already one of the best in the East.

Also, Rose is NBA ready; he might be young, but he has an NBA body.

This team would be the most exciting team in the NBA.

Haslem/Marion/Wade/Rose are all terrific athletes and Zo STILL runs the floor well at his age.

Oh, OK.

So adding Derrick Rose is like getting Shaq, Duncan, or Garnett.

Gotcha.

Well, when you consider that Zo is coming back, that Wade will be 100%, that Marion will be back, that Haslem will be back, and Derrick Rose MIGHT come, yeah, I would expect a huge turn-around.

we will be much better with rose or beasley or even bayless but rose is not an impact player yet

I would say the Heat roster as it stands without the draft pick, but with Wade, Haslem and Marion at full health for a season is worth 30 wins as a bare minimum and upgrading from J-Will to Derrick Rose should push that up 10 games further. We lost a lot of tight games and would have had a lot more close ones if we hadn't shut down every player with NBA experience to get blown out by 30 for the last two months of the season.

The problem is that there are so many "IF's" without getting into the drafting of Rose. "IF" wade play like the Championship year, "IF" Zo can still run the floor for more than 15mpg, "IF" Marion can be healthy and adapt to playing with his new team etc etc...

I do think we are a better team, even a playoff team in the LEast with that core of players + Rose but there are plenty of other needs that need to be addressed like the center position besides Zo's 15mpg, outside shooting from anyone else not named Chris Quinn, bench dependability (Ricky back? Cook consistent? Wright consistent and healthy for a full season?)

Too many question marks if you ask me to put our hopes on a quick and huge turn around. Very possible but equally improbable.

I think upward momentum should be the goal, and that is attainable... not to languish like the Knicks or Bobcats or Pacers seemingly forever, let this downturn be a blip on the radar

I pretty much saw this coming by hearing him in interviews over the last few months but it's glad that this could be official now. We REALLY need to get another center to share minutes with him at center (around 20 minutes each would work fine) so that we can throw Mark Blount and Earl Barron in the trash.

HeatSince88 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Oh, OK.

So adding Derrick Rose is like getting Shaq, Duncan, or Garnett.

Gotcha.

No but getting Wade, Haslem and Marion back 100% along with the addition of Rose will certainly bring us back to the playoffs IMO.

I know not everybody is happy with just making the playoffs, but you have to think realistically. A 15-67 turned into a 43/44-39ish team or better is a huge turnaround in one year.

miamiballer wrote:we will be much better with rose or beasley or even bayless but rose is not an impact player yet

So you're telling me that Rose can't do a better job then Jwill? Quinn?

I'd say your crazy. Jwill was pathetic this year, and Quinn is a good 3rd stringer, and average at best backup.

At the very least he could come in and play much better defense then both Jwill and Quinn, which would make his impact felt much more throughout the team.

MartyConlonJr wrote:upgrading from J-Will to Derrick Rose should push that up 10 games further.

10 games better? How good are people expecting a 19 year old rookie PG to be? It usually takes PGs a while to develop.

PGS drafted in top 10 their Rookie seasons:

Deron Williams averaged 11-4 on 42% shooting his rookie season...
Felton averaged 12-6 39% shooting
Ford averaged 7pts 6assists 38%
Conley, Harris, Daniels was pretty irrelevant their rookie season.

The only exception is Chris Paul who put up 18-8-5 his rookie season..hes arguably the best player in basketball in now..we might set ourselves up for dissapointment expecting those numbers.

Wade2k6 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

So you're telling me that Rose can't do a better job then Jwill? Quinn?

I'd say your crazy. Jwill was pathetic this year, and Quinn is a good 3rd stringer, and average at best backup.

At the very least he could come in and play much better defense then both Jwill and Quinn, which would make his impact felt much more throughout the team.

i think your misinterpreting what i said

i meant that rose wont be an all star type pg in his 1st yr...anyone can do better than j will did last yr so it wouldnt be far fetched to say that rose would do better

the difference is that i think beasley can have a kevin durant type season and a much more immediate impact than rose will..and its not like beasley doesnt have any potential either...not to mention he would make us more well balanced than rose would