Doctor MJ wrote:What a formal post.
I believe I do recollect. Were your feelings based on the fact that you felt the Heat team strategy of optimization left some possibly major blind spots which were a big deal even if no team in 2013 could take advantage of them?
It's more to do with what SideshowBob said in his reply, although I also thought about their team philosophy as well.
I won't repeat the already sound points that have been made about James with regards to the 2011 MVP. The 2011 Heat was quite possibly the greatest unrefined basketball team in history; they nearly won a title with James, Wade, and Bosh unsettled in their roles (How can James and Wade both be slashers and playmakers on the same team? Does Bosh still play with his back to the basket? etc.); fringe peripheral parts (remember that the likes of Arroyo, Bibby, and Anthony logged significant minutes for that team at points during the regular season and playoffs); and a head coach who was still figuring out how to make everything work. It was literally simple PnR Bosh/James, PnR Bosh/Wade, spam-spam-spam, wait other teams are catching on so we have to have a counter for that, we don't have a counter for that, let's iso James or Wade since PnR doesn't work, spam-spam-spam. Repeat until the Mavericks blew up that strategy in the Finals. I'm glad the Heat didn't win that title, because there would be no incentive to, you know, construct an actual
team.
Now? James plays more like a big man instead of the perimeter player that he was (and needed to be) in Cleveland. Wade stops trying to do everything and gets his baskets as an effective slashing sidekick. Bosh morphs into a potent midrange floor spacer. Snipers on the floor everywhere. Andersen replaces Anthony as the high-energy big that can actually do something on offense. Spoelstra replaces a boring offense with a balanced, nuanced, and creative offense that uses all of its pieces on the floor in some manner. Even Rashard Lewis can step in when needed, and kick some ass. Lots of people deserve credit for their historic pace, and simply putting one name next to a team ORtg misses the point a bit IMHO. Zach Lowe did just write an article about the importance of the basketball ecosystem when he wrote about Ellis's renaissance in Dallas. We statisticians still have a lot to learn about the sport, and we must eat the delicious crow that is served up on our plates.
James gets his due credit for the work he put into his game since 2011 (and as documented by SideshowBob). But this isn't just about James. Not by any means. I would love for a similar phenomenon to take place in Oklahoma City with Durant and Westbrook, but Presti and Brooks aren't exactly inspiring confidence with their recent GM moves and coaching.
