Official HEAT 2015-16 Regular Season Thread - Vol. II

[RexBoyWonder]

Miami Heat kid broadcasters Jordan Fishman & Raj Kumar were awesome!

Cut it out Raj

[RexBoyWonder]

winslow
jrich
tj

kudos to heat scouting department

Whiteside same. I doubt Riley himself was watching Dleage games..Scouting guys deserve a raise.

3 guys nobody saw coming (Winslow eas the obvious pick).

[Chalm Down]

Man, we're making chit Johnson look very serviceable!

Our spacing is supposedly better but our offense altogether has reverted to the chittier side, feels like our defense too. We'll see how much of an impact Joe has on both ends in the next few games or so, these last couple of games could mean nothing.

Shout out to J-Rixch and JJ tho, Rich has gone 10-18 from 3pt land his last 9 games Him and TJ are going to be some nice 3&D players if they ever become playable together

JJ is very slick, just like that Opie guy. He picked a good time in the schedule to make his Heat debut

[Chalm Down]

Spoiler:

What changed between Dragic and Whiteside?

Things are a little different lately between Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside. They are fitting increasingly better on the court and have been coming together for quick chats during games way more than they did early in the season.

“With Whitey, I don’t know what it was,” Dragic said. “At the beginning of the season, most of the time I would try to tell him something and he’d walk away, or he’d try to tell me something and I’d walk away. It was just– I don’t know. We didn’t click.

“But now after the All-Star break I’m looking for that lob more and I’m feeling more comfortable with him. I’ve never had big guys like Hassan to throw lobs to. It was a challenge for me to work on it, but he’s setting really good screens and I’m trying to find him every time. It’s working so far.”

Was their friction between them the first few months of the season?

“No, we were great off the court,” Dragic said. “Just—I don’t know. In the past, I never had a big guy in Phoenix or Houston to throw lobs to, and that’s one of his specialties. I needed some time to figure out those things and figure out how to get him involved. Once you have a few good games together, it opens up a little bit.”

Since the All-Star break, Dragic is averaging 19.3 points and seven assists while shooting 48.8 percent. Whiteside is putting up 18.4 points and 15 rebounds per game with a 60.7 field goal percentage.

Dragic had 21 assists to Whiteside in the entire first half of the season. Since the break, he has found him 12 times.

The big question: What changed?

“I don’t know,” Dragic said. “Probably that ejection he got. He got suspended and after that he’s really dialed in. Not only me, but he’s talking to all the guys more.”

http://heatzone.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2016/03/03/what-changed-between-dragic-and-whiteside/

Huge quote right here. Hassan realizing he needed to change his attitude. The results are clear,i hope he continues to Grow & mature.

I like how Goran calls Hassan "Whitey"

Nice to see those two build some chemistry lately

[Chalm Down]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/manny_navarro/status/706961542835732484[/tweet]

Goran Dragic is happy now.

It’s not that he wasn’t before.

It’s that this Miami Heat team — the one since the All-Star break that races up and down the court at a faster pace (100.38) than Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the one that’s averaging more points (108.1) than the Cavaliers, Clippers, Spurs and all but five NBA teams over its last 10 games — is finally running with him.

He’s no longer alone on the break.

“I felt like at the beginning of the season I was running, but nobody was next to me,” the Heat’s $85 million point guard said last week before Miami extended its season-long winning streak to five games with three victories in four days over the Suns and 76ers (twice).

“Then, when we found out [Chris Bosh] was out, we went small and we had no choice. We had to adjust ourselves. The Atlanta game [a 115-111 win Feb. 19] — that was the first game that we really ran and we played well.”

The Heat — before the break — ranked next-to-last in pace (94.67) and scoring (96 points per game), and last in field-goal attempts (79.5) per game.

Dragic, who averaged 12.2 points and 5.3 assists before the break, didn’t necessarily hate the way that team played.

He didn’t mind deferring to Bosh and Dwyane Wade if the Heat continued to win. But he was quietly frustrated with himself and his play and the fact the Heat wasn’t running the way he thought they would when he signed a five-year contract last summer. And so, he says, he would go to coach Erik Spoelstra to talk about it.

“I’m that guy that I don’t show that on the outside, especially around the team,” Dragic said of his frustrations. “So I didn’t show that because I didn’t want something negative around the team. Because in the end, I always thought a positive mind is going to help more. Plus, I didn’t feel right. I wasn’t happy with my performances. Now, everything has gone in the right direction.

“But it was hard, especially the beginning of the season. You’re alone. No family and you have too much time to think. That was the hardest part.

“I did talk with Spo a lot. I gave him my thoughts. He gave me his thoughts. Of course I understood. He said, ‘Look G, we’ve got CB, D-Wade. Most of the time we cannot play fast pace.’ I told him I completely understand the situation. He said, ‘We’re going to figure it out. Just be open, be there for the team.’ I said, ‘Look, you don’t have to worry about me.’ Of course, probably some fans, they’re going to talk bad. But it’s part of the game. I’m looking at the big picture, not those small pictures like in the past. It’s all about winning.”

The Heat, 8-2 since the break and only a half-game behind the Boston Celtics (38-26) for third place in the Eastern Conference, is not only doing that more now, but the team is also collectively happier.

Dragic, averaging 19.2 points, 7.8 assists and leading the NBA in plus/minus (107) since the break, is hardly alone.

“The biggest thing is everyone is happy,” Wade said Sunday night. “When you have a team and somebody isn’t talking in the locker room because they’re not happy with what their role is, it’s tough at this time of year. But right now everyone is happy with their role. Everyone is happy with their touches, minutes, involvement. I think the change of offense we had to do when Chris went out has been good for this team.”

Nobody is saying Bosh was the problem. Rather, his absence forced the Heat (37-26) to find other ways to fill his shoes. And so far, it has been a fruitful venture.

Miami has played smaller lineups with Luol Deng at power forward (16.9 points, 9.8 rebounds since the break) — and the team’s rebounding numbers have improved (up from 43.1 per game to 44.6).

Center Hassan Whiteside, once a starter, has become an invaluable weapon off the bench and his numbers (18 points, 15.2 rebounds, 4.2 blocks) have flourished as he has run more with Dragic and a younger, more athletic second unit.

Said Dragic: “It’s tough to say that [the loss of Bosh was a blessing in disguise]. I don’t see it that way. I feel like if CB was here we’d still figure out those things for sure. CB is such a great team player. Basically, he was our voice on the floor and he was our guy who gave us our second-chance situations a lot. If you run, CB would trail most of the time and be wide open on those threes. He would fit in this system.”

Even Wade (averaging 22.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5 assists since the break) said playing at this pace feels natural. “Not only are we’re scoring more than 100 points, but it doesn’t even feel like it,” he said. “We’re just playing basketball."

[3ballbomber]

“I did talk with Spo a lot. I gave him my thoughts. He gave me his thoughts. Of course I understood. He said, ‘Look G, we’ve got CB, D-Wade. Most of the time we cannot play fast pace.’ I told him I completely understand the situation.

It's fantastic when you give up alot to sign somebody & for 85mill and not cater to his strengths & are then forced to play to his strengths only because of drastic measures/desperation

We Wasted over a half a f*ckin season

We'd be 3rd or hell even 2nd if Spo wasn't such a nutless tool bag

[Chalm Down]

“I did talk with Spo a lot. I gave him my thoughts. He gave me his thoughts. Of course I understood. He said, ‘Look G, we’ve got CB, D-Wade. Most of the time we cannot play fast pace.’ I told him I completely understand the situation.

It's fantastic when you give up alot to sign somebody & for 85mill and not cater to his strengths & are then forced to play to his strengths only because of drastic measures/desperation

We Wasted over a half a f*ckin season

We'd be 3rd or hell even 2nd if Spo wasn't such a nutless tool bag

Careful now 3ball, you may get a concussion from banging your head that much

But yeah, I do agree that it's strange that they signed Dragic and then planned to use him in a slow-pace offense (until Bosh went out)

[3ballbomber]

“I did talk with Spo a lot. I gave him my thoughts. He gave me his thoughts. Of course I understood. He said, ‘Look G, we’ve got CB, D-Wade. Most of the time we cannot play fast pace.’ I told him I completely understand the situation.

It's fantastic when you give up alot to sign somebody & for 85mill and not cater to his strengths & are then forced to play to his strengths only because of drastic measures/desperation

We Wasted over a half a f*ckin season

We'd be 3rd or hell even 2nd if Spo wasn't such a nutless tool bag

Careful now 3ball, you may get a concussion from banging your head that much

But yeah, I do agree that it's strange that they signed Dragic and then planned to use him in a slow-pace offense (until Bosh went out)

It's quite ridiculous. And all because Spo wanted to please 2 players

So spite of us having players such as Dragic, Deng, Hassan, Winslow, J-Rich....who are all thriving in our faster paced system....Spo would much rather try to please 2 players on our roster. This to me is just highly deplorable. He failed the team for well over half a season since he also did not unleash Dragic even last season.

Imagine if Spo figured sh*t out earlier, all those horrible losses where teams come back from being down double digits could all have been avoided had Spo realized he needed to cater to the strengths of more than just 2 players.

I've been a Spo supported since he's been here. Through all the criticism he has gone through w/ the fans i had his back. He's lost me this season - there's really no forgiving wasting over half of our season just because he lacked the balls to stand up to our leaders.

One of my old sig quotes on other boards was "criticize the coach when we actually have talent". He wasted our damn talent for over half the damn season. I give him ZERO credit for the adjustments made out of desperation. He fluked his way to our current winning record post ASG.

I just hope Spo does not make the same stupid mistakes moving forward!

[HIF]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuZlO-Br5E[/youtube]

That kid was better than the adults we have doing the interviews. He's perhaps the first kid I've enjoyed on these crappy kids day games.

[HIF]

^ John Crotty's daughter looked so disengaged and that's been the case for a few years now. I do find Will Manso's kid adorable though.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

I could engage with her.

[Bishop45]

Man, we're making chit Johnson look very serviceable!

Our spacing is supposedly better but our offense altogether has reverted to the chittier side, feels like our defense too. We'll see how much of an impact Joe has on both ends in the next few games or so, these last couple of games could mean nothing.

Shout out to J-Rixch and JJ tho, Rich has gone 10-18 from 3pt land his last 9 games Him and TJ are going to be some nice 3&D players if they ever become playable together

JJ is very slick, just like that Opie guy. He picked a good time in the schedule to make his Heat debut

Eye got my eye on him, Chalms, he's skirmy but I'm watching him. If Chit Johnson is but a myth I'm going to have to reevaluate myself

[Prince Ali]

“I did talk with Spo a lot. I gave him my thoughts. He gave me his thoughts. Of course I understood. He said, ‘Look G, we’ve got CB, D-Wade. Most of the time we cannot play fast pace.’ I told him I completely understand the situation.

It's fantastic when you give up alot to sign somebody & for 85mill and not cater to his strengths & are then forced to play to his strengths only because of drastic measures/desperation

We Wasted over a half a f*ckin season

We'd be 3rd or hell even 2nd if Spo wasn't such a nutless tool bag

yea that was a rather disturbing comment to read. Makes you wonder where we might be if nothing happened to Bosh.

[NBADraft2003]

Been having some weird dreams about this team, yesterday it was CB coming back to play again and this morning it was GOAT theme song when he got dealt to Memphis. Woke up with watery eyes...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPMN8UnLjx0[/youtube]

[QUIZ]

“I did talk with Spo a lot. I gave him my thoughts. He gave me his thoughts. Of course I understood. He said, ‘Look G, we’ve got CB, D-Wade. Most of the time we cannot play fast pace.’ I told him I completely understand the situation.

It's fantastic when you give up alot to sign somebody & for 85mill and not cater to his strengths & are then forced to play to his strengths only because of drastic measures/desperation

We Wasted over a half a f*ckin season

We'd be 3rd or hell even 2nd if Spo wasn't such a nutless tool bag

Careful now 3ball, you may get a concussion from banging your head that much

But yeah, I do agree that it's strange that they signed Dragic and then planned to use him in a slow-pace offense (until Bosh went out)

Anybody can play fast on offense the problem is getting back and defending once the game is at that pace.

Defensively Spo's strategy of dragging the game into the mud worked. We were a top 6 defense and the best transition defense in the league.

Problem was the offense. Playing slow and having to execute in the half court really exposed our lack of 3pt shooting.

To put their overall play in context since the all star break Goran has been awesome averaging 19pts 7.5asts on 54TS%. For comparison Bosh over the entire season 19pts 8rebs 58TS%.

So I can see where Spo was coming from, problem is that we didn't have the right pieces to play to everyone's strengths so he chose to play to our best players strengths.

Bosh's ceiling as a player is higher than Gorans.

[Hallstar]

Are people really gonna act like we didn't win 4 straight with Bosh before running into the Clippers and the Spurs?

The changes to the offense started a while ago, they weren't just about pace they were also about getting Justise and Deng to cut rather than be spot up shooters.

Our schedule has been soft as hell and we've still lost games to the better teams in both respective conferences. The best win we've had is that over a 7th seeded Pacers team or the win over a broken Hawks team.

I like the way we're playing and I'm happy that we're winning but lets not get carried away.

Bosh when healthy is our best player.

It was essentially about giving our players the freedom and more opportunities (trust & faith).....But ULTIMATELY it was about playing as team!

Bosh may be our best player......but evidently we have looked far better w/out him regardless when the adjustments started.

This is where you're wrong, they simply CANNOT play like that for 48 mins because that relies on the opposing team being sorry on both offense and defense for 48 mins. PLUS you getting back at pace on defense

Dragic during this stretch has been effective when the opposing team shot long 3s that lead to long rebounds or turnovers.

And when they have played at that pace over a couple games, we heard that he was tired when he played bad

Whenever the opposing team forces half court, he looks lost initiating. Look at the last game when Wade and JJ were out, Philly played against their instincts to try to make it ugly and got back into the game.

[Hallstar]

Man, we're making chit Johnson look very serviceable!

Our spacing is supposedly better but our offense altogether has reverted to the chittier side, feels like our defense too. We'll see how much of an impact Joe has on both ends in the next few games or so, these last couple of games could mean nothing.

Shout out to J-Rixch and JJ tho, Rich has gone 10-18 from 3pt land his last 9 games Him and TJ are going to be some nice 3&D players if they ever become playable together

JJ is very slick, just like that Opie guy. He picked a good time in the schedule to make his Heat debut

Eye got my eye on him, Chalms, he's skirmy but I'm watching him. If Chit Johnson is but a myth I'm going to have to reevaluate myself

Man you're a fan of Lance Stephenson, but have to keep your eye on a former near franchise level talent that's both cheaper and better at everything.

[RexBoyWonder]

It's fantastic when you give up alot to sign somebody & for 85mill and not cater to his strengths & are then forced to play to his strengths only because of drastic measures/desperation

We Wasted over a half a f*ckin season

We'd be 3rd or hell even 2nd if Spo wasn't such a nutless tool bag

Careful now 3ball, you may get a concussion from banging your head that much

But yeah, I do agree that it's strange that they signed Dragic and then planned to use him in a slow-pace offense (until Bosh went out)

Anybody can play fast on offense the problem is getting back and defending once the game is at that pace.

Defensively Spo's strategy of dragging the game into the mud worked. We were a top 6 defense and the best transition defense in the league.

Problem was the offense. Playing slow and having to execute in the half court really exposed our lack of 3pt shooting.

To put their overall play in context since the all star break Goran has been awesome averaging 19pts 7.5asts on 54TS%. For comparison Bosh over the entire season 19pts 8rebs 58TS%.

So I can see where Spo was coming from, problem is that we didn't have the right pieces to play to everyone's strengths so he chose to play to our best players strengths.

Bosh's ceiling as a player is higher than Gorans.

As an individual, probably.

But Goran :

1. Is a guard, which is always a plus for "Top" guys, just because they have the ball lot and don't need nobody setting them up.
2. Goran, and his type of play, seem to bring more out of the surrounding players. At least OUR surrounding players. And that's a big factor. It's not just the direct assists, its' the style and pace and movement and drives that makes life easier for others.

[Bishop45]

JJ is very slick, just like that Opie guy. He picked a good time in the schedule to make his Heat debut

Eye got my eye on him, Chalms, he's skirmy but I'm watching him. If Chit Johnson is but a myth I'm going to have to reevaluate myself

Man you're a fan of Lance Stephenson, but have to keep your eye on a former near franchise level talent that's both cheaper and better at everything.

Former near franchise level talent...

I'm not sure what any of what I said or was alluding to has to do with the former but since Stephenson has to make his way into every unrelated conversation or thread. Go ahead, ask me more questions about Stephenson... anything.

[QUIZ]

Eye got my eye on him, Chalms, he's skirmy but I'm watching him. If Chit Johnson is but a myth I'm going to have to reevaluate myself

Man you're a fan of Lance Stephenson, but have to keep your eye on a former near franchise level talent that's both cheaper and better at everything.

Former near franchise level talent...

I'm not sure what any of what I said or was alluding to has to do with the former but since Stephenson has to make his way into every unrelated conversation or thread. Go ahead, ask me more questions about Stephenson... anything.

Why does Lance suck so much?

[QUIZ]

Careful now 3ball, you may get a concussion from banging your head that much

But yeah, I do agree that it's strange that they signed Dragic and then planned to use him in a slow-pace offense (until Bosh went out)

Anybody can play fast on offense the problem is getting back and defending once the game is at that pace.

Defensively Spo's strategy of dragging the game into the mud worked. We were a top 6 defense and the best transition defense in the league.

Problem was the offense. Playing slow and having to execute in the half court really exposed our lack of 3pt shooting.

To put their overall play in context since the all star break Goran has been awesome averaging 19pts 7.5asts on 54TS%. For comparison Bosh over the entire season 19pts 8rebs 58TS%.

So I can see where Spo was coming from, problem is that we didn't have the right pieces to play to everyone's strengths so he chose to play to our best players strengths.

Bosh's ceiling as a player is higher than Gorans.

As an individual, probably.

But Goran :

1. Is a guard, which is always a plus for "Top" guys, just because they have the ball lot and don't need nobody setting them up.
2. Goran, and his type of play, seem to bring more out of the surrounding players. At least OUR surrounding players. And that's a big factor. It's not just the direct assists, its' the style and pace and movement and drives that makes life easier for others.

That's a very good point. Guard play>

Unless you have LeBron.