RealGM

now i know we seen mnay teams win w/o centers like bulls...but imo blount would be considered the worst starting center in the nba and i just don't see how he can start on any nba team,he was are 3rd string center coming into this season. do you think we can get a mid level center in the offseason or whoever is available?

wedll with 2 of the Marion/Haslem/Beasley playing with him (as opposed to last year) his lack of rebounding wouldn't be a problem. He is a decent shooter, if we play to his strengths.

I would rather deal with blount at center for a year than hand out a bad contract to someone who is only a little bit better.

Absolutely not, no team starting Mark Blount at center will ever do anything significant.

We need to ship him as far away as possible from Miami, a guy i'd really love us to get who is an unrestricted FA is Rasho Nesterovic. He's a solid center, and he's definitely not going to hurt you. (like Blount does every time he plays defense)

Rasho? Really? Rasho?
REALLY?

LOL Sal, you and PJ are stuck on Rasho... He blows man.

I have deep despise for The Blount. He sucks donkey balls.

But we're stuck with him and his salary. And by all means he'll probably be the starter barring any god send trade that Riles pulls out of his ass gain.

He's works well with Wade on the pick and roll, and can hit the median range shot (though he is very streaky, he's no Senator Doleac on the pick and pop).

His defense though, and his inept rebounding? That's another story...

salqaddoumi wrote:Absolutely not, no team starting Mark Blount at center will ever do anything significant.

We need to ship him as far away as possible from Miami, a guy i'd really love us to get who is an unrestricted FA is Rasho Nesterovic. He's a solid center, and he's definitely not going to hurt you. (like Blount does every time he plays defense)

Rasho isn't a FA... he picked up his option...

Linky

You would have to trade for him and he has a rather big expiring contract, and we have seen what those can net you nowadays.

He is solid for 25 mins, he doesn't f'up things in the flow of the offense or defense. He can block shots, defend, and basically do the little things to help win a game.

I disagree that Doleac is a better pick-and-pop player than Blount.

If we have a strong rebounder and a good defensive team around him, why not?

He can't be our main option going into the season, but if we're left with him, fine....

we need shotblocking from our center IMO, Blount is the type of offensive minded player that should be providing us points off the bench.

Zo is a top shotblocker but we cant rely on him, I think Diop is going to be our main target with the MLE or a portion of it at least.

Haslem gets dealt for help at PG if Beasley is viewed as a real PF.
Marion gets dealt for help at PG if Beasley is viewed as a SF.

Mutombo truly is the best free agent Center available cause of his defense..

Then theres Diop, Kurt Thomas, and Brian Skinner are all upgrades over Mark Blount.

All this hate for Blount is hillarious. Do none of you people remember Duane Causewell?

Blount may be a temporary stiff, filling a roster spot until we can get our hands on Brand. But at least this stiff can actually do something out there on the court. Causewell could do nothing.

The diffrence with that comparison, Duane Causwell wasn't making a starting center's salary of 8 million dollars like Mark Blount is currently. He was, and was signed as a bench scrub.

Lane1974 wrote:wedll with 2 of the Marion/Haslem/Beasley playing with him (as opposed to last year) his lack of rebounding wouldn't be a problem. He is a decent shooter, if we play to his strengths.

I will have to disagree. Blount no matter how you slice it, or frame it. Will be a huge liability.

If the Heat plan to be a descent team, I agree, Blount has to be traded, or a guy like Joel Anthony has to develop enough, that he can eat away any chance of Blount playing.

I think some people have no idea how bad of a defensive player Blount is. Is not just rebounding, is about everything.

I think the aim for this team is to be competitive next year but not really a playoff threat. A few factors have to be considered

A) Cap space plan. If Pat is serious about his FA plan then were not going to sign player for more than a year limiting us to players with equally or worse flaws

B) Next years draft pick has some lottery protection which lines up with factor A that were not going to upgrade for a while to save cap space. Remember this team is in dire need of talent all around

C) What can we get for UD/Marion and can Marion play SF? We cant keep both of them because they have Rosie O'Donnell sized flaws and would take up near 23 mil dollars of cap space. UD is undersized with no post game and limited athletic ability but can defend and is making more than the avg MLE. Marion is a sf that plays best at pf, is more undersized than UD and makes UD look like Shaq when it comes to a post game. His game is based on his declining athletic ability and gets his points out of hustle plays but can play def and he wants an extension which is unrealistic for a lottery team.

Think about it the worst thing we could do is go all out for the playoffs with a vastly flawed team and then get stuck mediocrity land like the Cavs/Nets before the kidd trade.

i love him off the bench

i hope we can pick up more of a rebounding presence in the starting lineup though

Lane1974 wrote:Rasho? Really? Rasho?
REALLY?

Yes really, I hate how people expect to fill a starting five with an all-star at every position. What is wrong with having a solid defender/rebounder who isn't going to do anything to hurt you like Blount will? A guy i'd love to have is Joel Pryzbilla but I doubt we're able to pry him away from the Blazers.

But lane, you're really overrating Blount if you're going to have that type of reaction to Rasho. Blount has the most overwhelming negative effect I have EVER seen, worse than 'Toine did. He's a freaking center that doesn't jump for rebounds and is the softest inside presence you can find in the league. Rasho is 10x better than him by default because he actually puts some effort on the court. I could care less if Blount had a great mid-range jumper, that's not what I want my center to be doing anyway.

Both Rasho and The Blount suck equally.

I'd like to have neither as my starting pivot.

BFRESH44 wrote:Both Rasho and The Blount suck equally.

I'd like to have neither as my starting pivot.

Same here.

On a team that will feature 3 potential all-sta scorers in the starting lineup (Wade at 26ppg, Marion at 19ppg, and Beasley at 15ppg-20ppg) we need defense at center above anything. Blount and Rasho do not fit that bill.

I'll take Jeff Foster, Diop, Turiaf (all potential MLE guys) or someone like them via trade before I take Blount or Rasho.