Ray Allen is really bad on defense

[King_John]

I have to say after the last couple of games you can see how much of a defensive liability he is. As soon as he comes into the game the defensive of our team gets considerably worse. He is just too slow gets caught up in screens all the time and can t get to his man in time. Also he doesn t hit his shots on offense anymore which makes him pretty much useless on the court. Just my opinion though

[DWadeno3]

No s*** we knew that when he came to Miami, so it's not really thread-worthy. We signed him for instant offense off the bench, not to be a lockdown defender.

[puppa bear]

No s*** we knew that when he came to Miami, so it's not really thread-worthy. We signed him for instant offense off the bench, not to be a lockdown defender.

This. We signed him to hit shots & spread the floor.

[krikor]

he will come big come playoffs

[King_John]

No s*** we knew that when he came to Miami, so it's not really thread-worthy. We signed him for instant offense off the bench, not to be a lockdown defender.

Well I didn t know he was THAT bad on defense. Right now he is easily the worst defensive player on the team (maybe R.Lewis)...maybe his defensive defencies were masked in Doc Rivers system but under Spoelstra he just look terrible on defense. If you combine that with his poor shooting on the offensive end you don t get much value out of him. Just thought he would be better...that s all

[RexBoyWonder]

Things Spo should know by now, but somehow still doesn't :

1. Mario has trouble defending quick PG's. he just does. making him defend Bynum for most of the game will not make his feet get magically quicker. When you see this issue starting to hurt us in a game, put Cole in BEFORE the opposing guard is having a carrer night and gets into a crazy confidence rhythm.

2. Allem, Miller, and to a lesser extent Mario have trouble keeping their man infront of them on defense.
when you play them togther, it feels like the ship is leaking from multiple holes. we cant keep track. that's too much liabilities at once to overcome. When you play Miller and Allen without Joel around, it's even worst beacuse we have no other great rim protector and we need one when those 2 play.

3. Haslem isn't really a better offensive weapon then Joel. its time to face the music. he's a slightly better rebounder and a MUCH worst defender. He's not a real big man, doesnt change shots on D..let alone block them. he offers very very little at this point..mainly effort.

4.Cole is struglling to get confidence in shot, if he start a game hot, maybe you should'nt put him back on the bench for an hour, maybe it's better to BUILD his confidence and rythem and not break him.

5. Bosh needs a strong physical player next to him to bring the best out of him. Battier is fine for SOME games, NOT ALL GAMES. Haslem is a place holder that brings nothing significant. If Spo doesn't believe in Joel and Jorts, fine. in that case we have to trade for a decent big..it's the biggest issue this team has. Bosh next to Battier and Haslem isn't cutting it on the defensive end, it's not about effort..it's about skills and physical tools they dont have.

[Miaheatfan3]

No s*** we knew that when he came to Miami, so it's not really thread-worthy. We signed him for instant offense off the bench, not to be a lockdown defender.

This. We signed him to hit shots & spread the floor.

And he has been doing it since last few games, every player has bad days-week, and before this he was shooting more than 50% from 3pt... Some patience.

[ricochet]

No s*** we knew that when he came to Miami, so it's not really thread-worthy. We signed him for instant offense off the bench, not to be a lockdown defender.

[ricochet]

Well I didn t know he was THAT bad on defense. Right now he is easily the worst defensive player on the team (maybe R.Lewis)...maybe his defensive defencies were masked in Doc Rivers system but under Spoelstra he just look terrible on defense. If you combine that with his poor shooting on the offensive end you don t get much value out of him. Just thought he would be better...that s all

If Spo was sane he wouldn't put out those stupid line-ups out there and we could easily mask his defensive deficiencies.. Last night Spo-bot went crazy.. Some semblance of D in the 2nd quarter and we would've won..
Although no one could've stopped that team getting so hot.

[Pimpwerx]

It's odd that someone who made a living running around screens on offense, has had difficulty getting through them. You'd think he'd be able to read the gaps better. Anyway, his defense is terrible, which is why I think Spo pairs him with Cole. It's not enough though.

Ray's purpose is spreading the floor and handling the ball. I'm more concerned with his penchant for turnovers than his defense right now. We can hid him at times, but on offense, he's touching the ball every possession. He's prone to making sloppy passes, and I don't know if that's chemistry or his norm. I like him putting it on the floor and slashing, but if he does that, he can't be making careless jump passes. I'd rather he use the shot fake when he gets stuck in traffic. He's so lethal, guys have to bite on it, and then he can make a cleaner pass. PEACE.

[SweetTouch]

I'm just glad he stopped putting his dead and driving at the rim trying to dunk on these youngstas
Your time has gone Ray

[TheKiteDesigner]

He's been doing what he was signed for all season long. Come off the bench and score. Everyone knew his defense was suspect. Also, he's a streaky shooter. He will have those nights when he can't hit the side of a barn. Yesterday was one of those nights.

[RexBoyWonder]

Defensive ratings, from best to worst (when we play hard) :

Lbj = +3
Wade = +3
Joel = +3

Cole= +1.5
Battier +1.5
Bosh = +1

Haslem = 0
Mario = -1 (having the most trouble against quick PG's )

Allen = -3
Miller= -3

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to realize that if you play Allen, Miller, Mario and Haslem big minutes in the same game, you're going to give up a lot of points. they are all slow and with the expection of Mario, way past their prime.

Miller can hardly guard SF's, when Spo makes him guard SG's it makes me cringe. He also can't score like Allen, so there really is no reason to play him big minutes unless he play next to our strongest defeders.

Haslem brings nothing over Joel, he's not a better offensive player at this point and his slightly better rebounding doesn't make up for the huge gap in their defense. there's no real reason he should get big minutes over Joel.

Allen can score, but he needs to play next to our strongest defenders so we could cover for him on D, not next to our worst defenders.

[caliban]

Spo knows these things. The reason why he tests it out now is so that he doesn't have to make these mistakes later. It's also very important for a coach to show confidence in his players. Yea, it might get the team a few losses in the short term but in the long run it's a winning formula for the reason that everyone feels important and therefor buys in to whatever it is that needs to be done. Sometimes you have to lose now to win later. If e. g. Allen or Haslem are net-negatives in every possible 5-man-unit-combination at the end of the RS they won't see meaningful minutes when the scoreboard determines the team's success in the PS.

The team is clearly still in an evaluation period and everything is on the table when it comes to the player rotation. The offense looks crisp and they seem committed to showcase as little as possible from the playbook. It's all about the post-season.

[Slot Machine]

Seriously, I hate to pile on, on Mike because he seems like a good guy, but whenever he gets more minutes, our defense gets worse. He's too slow to play the 2 now due to injuries and age but Spo keeps putting him there for some reason, all he can play is the 3 now. I honestly think he's worse than Ray on defense, at least Ray seems to know how to funnel his man toward the paint defenders(probably from learning in Boston) but Mike just gives them way too much space and gives his man a wide open jumper or gets blown by, even when he gives his man a significant cushion. He's shooting a good percentage on 3's but it sure doesn't feel like that sometimes.

I think Spo should just do what he did in the playoffs with Mike, give him 5 minutes, see if his jumper is hot, and if it isn't sit him down.

[RexBoyWonder]

Spo knows these things. The reason why he tests it out now is so that he doesn't have to make these mistakes later. It's also very important for a coach to show confidence in his players. Yea, it might get the team a few losses in the short term but in the long run it's a winning formula for the reason that everyone feels important and therefor buys in to whatever it is that needs to be done. Sometimes you have to lose now to win later. If e. g. Allen or Haslem are net-negatives in every possible 5-man-unit-combination at the end of the RS they won't see meaningful minutes when the scoreboard determines the team's success in the PS.

The team is clearly still in an evaluation period and everything is on the table when it comes to the player rotation. The offense looks crisp and they seem committed to showcase as little as possible from the playbook. It's all about the post-season.

Very well put, and i thought about this option. that's what im hopeing for - that he's willingly hurting us on games now in order to gain something for the "bigger picture". i just dont get how overplaying Haslem is going to achive that goal. Or why Miller needs to guard SG's. Or why not try some Jorts in the same spirit of "it will hurt now but it might help later".

I really hope Spo's lack of adjusments is a result of "Big picture" planing, the other option is that he's just very bad at seeing what works and what doesn't.

[Tien]

I really hope Spo's lack of adjusments is a result of "Big picture" planing, the other option is that he's just very bad at seeing what works and what doesn't.

You think a guy that talks to Pat Riley every single day of his life won't see what works and doesn't?

Come on man. Miami is built for the playoffs, and regular season is to experiment different matchups. Spo was doing this all the way until the playoffs last year and everyone was questioning how unstable his rotations were.

I'm not concerned until Miami drops 3 games in a series in the playoffs.

[Pimpwerx]

I think it's probably clear now why we focused so hard on stockpiling wings instead of trading around the surplus for a center. Our perimeter defense is throwing everything else off, so it's nice to have good backups for nights like last night when Wade was out. Unfortunately, Cole and Harris are our only defensive-minded backup wings, and only one of those guys can shoot and handle the ball reliably. Hence, Harris doesn't even sniff the court. I actually wanted to keep Temple over Harris, but I can't really complain about the last spot on the roster. Neither of them are gonna factor big into important games, so it's whatever. PEACE.

[krikor]

Ray isnt athletic , he is old. But he is very smart defender imo.Not a reliability on that end imo, you'll see in playoffs when it matters

[kyphi]

but the Heat do have LeBron - Wade - Bosh, but not a bunch of money left to play with. I'd play Ray about half the game as a 1 or 2, depending on the opposition. And I am not complaining.