Cole's role

[Golabki]

(Celtics fan here)

What will Cole's role be this season? I ask because I don't think he is a very good player and this Heat team is fairly deep and shouldn't need minutes from him.

With Ray Allen (an excellent back-up SG) and a healthy, will we see a lot of Wade/Allen backcourts when Chamlers on the bench.

I assume Cole will get a fair amount of burn during the regular season, but in the playoffs I think the Heat would be be best served giving Cole a bunch of DNPs.

[SmushedPennies]

Fringe rotation player. He'll need to force Spoelstra's hand to get minutes by playing very well. Good sign for him so far has been his shooting, starting 9/10 from 3 before missing his last attempt tonight to go 9/11 overall in the preseason. He's turned the ball over too much, however, and hasn't made great reads.

Spo will give him opportunities to work out the kinks during the season, but he likely won't have much of a role when things are serious, unless, again, he proves he should get one.

[greg4012]

He will definitely get minutes regularly during the regular season. The staff wants to see him develop. He still needs a lot of work but is athletic, can drive (can't really finish), and has improved his shot this off-season (his 3 has looked good).

In terms of the playoffs, I think it will be tough for him to find minutes as the rotation of players gets cut down. That will largely depend on whether or not he shows improvement during the season. Last season's Cole will probably not be a part of the regular playoff rotation this season.

Chalmers
Wade
LeBron
Battier
Bosh

Allen
Haslem
Lewis
Miller

Barring injury that is our main 9 for the playoffs. A tenth guy may be able to work his way into the situational rotation depending on match up and what they show during the season. That 10th spot is likely out of Joel, Jorts, and Cole

[TheDon008]

(Celtics fan here)

What will Cole's role be this season? I ask because I don't think he is a very good player and this Heat team is fairly deep and shouldn't need minutes from him.

With Ray Allen (an excellent back-up SG) and a healthy, will we see a lot of Wade/Allen backcourts when Chamlers on the bench.

I assume Cole will get a fair amount of burn during the regular season, but in the playoffs I think the Heat would be be best served giving Cole a bunch of DNPs.

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iNeeBpQqW1c[/youtube]

You were saying?

Go bAck to your Celtic board homie and prepare for that beat down you'll get on Tuesday.

[OtW]

Yeah, Cole this year is going to be on a short leash with all the back up guards we have. He is going to have to prove to Spo that he is deserving of more minutes.

[DWadeno3]

Fringe rotation player. He'll need to force Spoelstra's hand to get minutes by playing very well. Good sign for him so far has been his shooting, starting 9/10 from 3 before missing his last attempt tonight to go 9/11 overall in the preseason. He's turned the ball over too much, however, and hasn't made great reads.

Spo will give him opportunities to work out the kinks during the season, but he likely won't have much of a role when things are serious, unless, again, he proves he should get one.

This. I also think it depends on the situation we're in. If we need to speed the game up, a Cole-Wade-Allen-James-Bosh lineup can just do that. During the regular season, Cole will definitely see regular minutes, since we don't wanna run Ray into the ground. If he performs well, he'll be in the playoff rotation, if not, we'll just play Ray 25-30 minutes a night and have a three-guard-rotation of Chalmers/Wade/Allen.

[jjgp111292]

(Celtics fan here)

What will Cole's role be this season? I ask because I don't think he is a very good player and this Heat team is fairly deep and shouldn't need minutes from him.

With Ray Allen (an excellent back-up SG) and a healthy, will we see a lot of Wade/Allen backcourts when Chamlers on the bench.

I assume Cole will get a fair amount of burn during the regular season, but in the playoffs I think the Heat would be be best served giving Cole a bunch of DNPs.

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iNeeBpQqW1c[/youtube]

You were saying?

Go bAck to your Celtic board homie and prepare for that beat down you'll get on Tuesday.

I really don't see the point of this post. He didn't come in with any hostility...and it's not like he was wrong, either.

[Slot Machine]

I've really never seen someone as good at penetrating as Cole is so unable to finish at the basket. Hell, even if his playmaking never comes around and he continues with that negative ast/to ratio, he would at least be able to play the JJ Barea role if he could finish. Unless he somehow finds out how to finish in the paint, I'd expect him to get pretty limited minutes, and when he's on the court I'd expect him to try to mostly stay out of the way like he did during the ECFs and Finals.

[Pimpwerx]

Cole will get minutes because we don't have a better option at the backup PG. Ray-Wade should close games, but I don't think you want to task the two of them with ballhandling duties when Rio sits in like the 2nd quarter. They're too turnover-prone IMO, but we'll see. That's funny to say given Cole's recent turnover issues, but at least he can consistently bring the ball up the court.

I feel like Spo showed his rotation yesterday. I think Cole, Ray and UD are first on for Rio, Battier and Bosh. Miller and Shard come on after a quarter for Wade and Bron. Chalmers will probably end up playing a longer stretch than he did this preseason, and thus Cole's minutes will be reduced, but I'm assuming he'll at least retain the kind of minutes he saw towards the end of last season. If nothing else, he's shooting well enough that he's not hurting us even with the turnovers. His +/- has been good this preseason, despite the mistakes.

The good thing is there are a lot more practices this season, so he's got a chance to learn how to be an NBA PG. Rio was pretty crumby at playmaking his first two seasons, but he's grown tremendously under the Big3. I have faith Cole will get it. PEACE.

[Vertical Limit]

Scouting report on Cole is he can't finish so put your hands up and you will likely get a block. Cole was great to start the season last year, he surprised everyone. He needs to go back to doing what he did from the start and he will be a player for us.

[DefenseWins]

Cole's role is to back up Rio lol.


On a serious note...


He gives us speed in the open floor. However we have to remember he's basically a sophomore. But last year to the beginning of the season he was really good.

I like his speed, but his shooting would have moments. Even at the end of the year last year he provided a spark off the bench. I forgot what game it was, but I remember him doing well and then Rio came back in the game and performed well. I think it was Game 3 or 4 of the Finals.

Haha that's another thing. Cole's role is big Rio's ego fluctuate to perform better

What I think his role will be as the season goes on is to provide a spark off the bench. Last year we didn't have that scorer we needed off the bench and I don't know about people here but I expected him to be that. And he was until the All-Star break. Now this season we have people like Ray Allen and Lewis who can contribute, Miller and Shane. He has to get a few assists, score buckets/penetrate. I think Spo would be satisfied with that.

[SmushedPennies]

EDIT: That was game 4, the only game we started off slow. And yeah, Rio started off last season slowly, only to pick up his game when the fans fell in love with Cole-Train.

And I agree we'd like him to be a scorer off the bench, since he's really our best driver at this point (Wade and LeBron don't quite get in the lane like they did in the past anymore). We could use that punch for when teams are walling off our drives well.

Chalmers was actually a surprisingly solid playmaker his first season. He averaged 10 and 5 next to Super-Wade averaging 8 assists.

I wonder if there's something about the Heat's 2nd offseason PG schooling that overwhelms them their second season, because Chalmers was inexplicably worse than his rookie season, which is a path Cole is looking at risk to go down.

I've really never seen someone as good at penetrating as Cole is so unable to finish at the basket. Hell, even if his playmaking never comes around and he continues with that negative ast/to ratio, he would at least be able to play the JJ Barea role if he could finish. Unless he somehow finds out how to finish in the paint, I'd expect him to get pretty limited minutes, and when he's on the court I'd expect him to try to mostly stay out of the way like he did during the ECFs and Finals.

I thought he had some very impressive finishes last year, particularly on the fastbreak. His problem is he thinks he can finish over anyone, with any amount of defenders, anytime, hence all of the ridiculous, wild attempts that skew our perception of his finishing ability. If he ever learns when to attack and when to pull back, or use a floater, he get his percentage around the rim way up.

Does anyone remember Chalmers' first 2-3 seasons? He couldn't finish for ****. Cole is more athletic, so once he learns what Rio learned, he should be finishing much better.

Does no one remember some of Cole's finishes in the finals? He uses the "launching pad" well when he's poised.

[twix2500]

Cole is going to get plenty of minutes. Yall need to stop this mess, dont tell me he going to be yall 2012 whooping boy.

[TRG]

Cole is going to get plenty of minutes. Yall need to stop this mess, dont tell me he going to be yall 2012 whooping boy.

But Juwan Howard and Eddy Curry are gone... We need to have at least one player to rag on this year.

[Slot Machine]

I've really never seen someone as good at penetrating as Cole is so unable to finish at the basket. Hell, even if his playmaking never comes around and he continues with that negative ast/to ratio, he would at least be able to play the JJ Barea role if he could finish. Unless he somehow finds out how to finish in the paint, I'd expect him to get pretty limited minutes, and when he's on the court I'd expect him to try to mostly stay out of the way like he did during the ECFs and Finals.

I thought he had some very impressive finishes last year, particularly on the fastbreak. His problem is he thinks he can finish over anyone, with any amount of defenders, anytime, hence all of the ridiculous, wild attempts that skew our perception of his finishing ability. If he ever learns when to attack and when to pull back, or use a floater, he get his percentage around the rim way up.

Does anyone remember Chalmers' first 2-3 seasons? He couldn't finish for ****. Cole is more athletic, so once he learns what Rio learned, he should be finishing much better.

Does no one remember some of Cole's finishes in the finals? He uses the "launching pad" well when he's poised.

Cole is alright on the fastbreak, I was more talking about his halfcourt play where gets into the paint then gets stuffed. I have other complaints about his fastbreak play, but that's for another time.

My problem with Cole is that he doesn't have what I call "feel for the game." He's almost moving too fast for his own good, he's quick as hell but never really seems to be in control. He gets in the paint and gets rejected or turns it over primarily because he doesn't really know what he wants to do with the ball. His body is moving too fast for his mind to catch up. If he can fix that, he'll be a great player in this league because he has a lightning fast first step, can penetrate at will and can shoot well. That's a big if though and if I was Spo, I'd urge him to slow it down, play good D and try not to do too much. He looked good when he played within the flow of the offense in the ECFs and played very good D on Rondo. I just think he needs to control himself better for extended periods of time and I don't know if he can.

[SmushedPennies]

Yeah his biggest issues seem to be understanding use of temp and reading defenses. He took a little while to become what he was in college, so maybe he just takes awhile to adjust. We've seen he has the talent, and in college he was a pretty good floor general.

[RexBoyWonder]

He should watch a ton of Tony Parker tapes, that's the player he should model his game after. learning how to finish in the paint with those floaters, pulling up for the open mid-range jumpshots, and learning when to pick his spots.

The fact that his 3 pointer is looking so much better is a good sigh for the future.

[Zasterror]

Cole should and will only get better with time. He has the tools to be a force at the PG position but he is inexperienced.

[Pimpwerx]

He's a late 1st rounder who's only season of experience was shortened with very little practice/coaching time. Despite all that, he still found a few shining moments throughout the season. He's a smart kid, so he has the potential to figure it out. As someone noted, once he combines his BBIQ with his speed and shooting, he could have a very productive career. PEACE.

[SmushedPennies]

Yeah I talked with some other Heat fans about Cole and Parker early last year. Definitely who he should shoot for, game-wise (not overall impact).