New Looks for the Miami Heat

Exploring the Miami Heat‘s Lineup Options

There are so many on-court options for the 2010-2011 Miami Heat given the size and the talent they’ve signed in the offseason. Yours truly will delve into some potential looks for next season utilizing an outline from a chapter in The Sports Guy’s book.

Although occasionally it’s tough to cope with the man’s ubiquitous Boston bias, Bill Simmons is one of the preeminent commentators writing on the NBA. The Book of Basketball tells you everything you’d ever want to know about the history of the league and more, and it’s written in Simmons’ pop culture-nodding, wisecracking, smart-aleck voice, which makes the 700+ pages fly by much faster than one would assume.

In this article, I borrowed a concept from Simmons’ final chapter, “The Wine Cellar.” In the thirteenth chapter, Simmons assembles his All-Time-All-Star Team. The premise is this: you have to pick a twelve-man roster with players to defend the planet from annihilation at the hands of roundball-jamming Martians á la Space Jam. One of the especially interesting pieces of this premise is that Simmons chooses specific “vintages” of the greatest players, usually during the peak years of production, like fine wines in a Parisian restaurant’s basement cellar. This is such an interesting concept that it’s worth reading every previous chapter just to squirm when he gets to write about the team of greats he assembles. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it. Just go buy Simmons’ book.

The portion of “The Wine Cellar” that I’ll borrow is close to the end of the chapter when Simmons describes the different on-court looks after filling out the roster, but I’m going to adapt it to the Miami Heat’s 2010-2011 roster, which looks in many ways like an All-Star East roster anyway.

It doesn’t need to be reiterated, but here goes: the Miami Heat roster is stacked. It will include guards Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Mike Miller, forwards LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, James Jones (who also re-signed recently), and centers Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire, Joel Anthony, and rookie Dexter Pittman. Additionally C/F Juwan Howard, G Kenny Hasbrouck, and G Jason Williams have been linked with the Heat. For now, let’s just utilize those that have signed contracts in Miami.

Best defensive lineup: Wade, Miller, James, Haslem, Anthony. Start D-Wade at the point. Both his and LeBron’s inclusion here need no justification. Mike Miller has enough size to defend many players at the 3-spot, but perhaps not enough speed to guard the 2. Playing a kind of flex-defense where LeBron, DWade, and Mike Miller switch men depending on the personnel makes sense here and still affords the team a solid 3-point threat. Udonis Haslem is a team leader and a tenacious defender. He’s been a defensive specialist in South Florida and a consistent one at that. Additionally, Joel Anthony has been brought on for leadership ability and although he may give up inches to 7-footers, Anthony is rugged when it comes to enforcing in the paint. If the Heat somehow land Matt Barnes, he would take Mike Miller’s spot for his widely known aggressive defensive presence.

Best fast break lineup: Chalmers, Wade, James, Haslem, Bosh. Because of its speed, this lineup best affords Coach Spoelstra the opportunity to score on the turnover. With an average age of 26.6 (its oldest player, Haslem, a mere 30) and young legs means this lineup can run up and down the court with any team all night. This lineup has Bosh at the 5, however, where he has said numerous times he would like to avoid playing.

Best smallball lineup: Chalmers, Wade, Miller, James, Bosh. Although this lineup isn’t really especially small, especially with a frontcourt measuring 6’8”-6’8”-6’10”, it does offer a style of play that may resemble a strategy that Heat fans see this season: a non-center-dominated, pass-happy version of the Heat that scores 120+ every night. We may not see this lineup for extended minutes, however, given Bosh’s expressed desire not to play minutes at the 5. The smallball option was especially difficult to piece together given the height of the roster this year.

Best bigball lineup: James, Miller, Haslem, Bosh, Big Z. No one on this roster is under 6’8”.  This is a big, intimidating squad. Although Ilgauskas leaves a bit to be desired on the boards, this look should be horrifying to opposing teams, and may even double as a secondary best-defense roster. With LBJ at the point-forward, which he played in his first season in Cleveland, distribution will be more than adequate. Even shooting will be taken care of with Big Z’s ability from beyond 16 feet and Mike Miller’s deadeye from beyond the arch. This lineup is scary.

Best three-point shooting lineup: Chalmers, Wade, Miller, Jones, Big Z. Both Chalmers and Wade can distribute and shoot and Mike Miller and James Jones are money from beyond the arch. Even Big Z has shooting chops from beyond 16 feet. More importantly, all of these players are efficient passers as well. With D-Wade and LeBron’s abilities to dribble-drive and distribute, as well as opponents’ need to cover both players with a double team, this lineup could shoot the lights out for 10 minutes every night.

Most intriguing lineup: Wade, Miller, Jones, James, Bosh. This is a big squad with two deadeye shooters, three players that command a double team, strength, speed… it’s insane that Pat Reilly has pulled this together. The only problem here is that Bosh has said repeatedly that he doesn’t want to get stuck playing the 5. If Heat fans see this look, again, it will be limited because of Bosh’s desire to play the 4, although it may grow on him if the Heat start scoring 140 points per night. Seriously, this is the Globetrotters lineup.

If you’re following along in Simmons’ book, you’ll realize I’ve left off the free-throw lineup and the murderous press. Because Miami is good, not great at free throws on the new roster, with most players shooting around 75%, it would interest very few to come up with an entire lineup for shooting from the charity stripe. The murderous press is an idea Simmons took from Rick Pitino. Pitino is paraphrased in the book as describing 4 or 5 bench players who would come in for 4 minutes at the end of halves and play the nastiest press defense ever seen, creating mayhem for the other team’s offense. These players would spend portions of each practice together working on the “murderous press,” fighting bears, going for days without food, punching each other in the groin, and basically just being hardasses. Spoelstra needs ‘em mean. While this is intriguing, a murderous press seems a bit off the table considering the seeming offensive focus of this team.

But for the hell of it, stick whichever guard signs (Hasbrouck or Arroyo probably), Juwan Howard (if he signs), Joel Anthony, Jamaal Magloire, and Dexter Pittman together for 30 minutes during practice while everyone else watches the mayhem develop. What could it hurt?

The one thing that Simmons was adamant about is that a winning team has to have good chemistry. Throughout the book, there are examples of successful players on winning teams that embodied the team mentality. The Heat have so many options next season, it will be ridiculous. Heat fans have a lot to be excited about, and one of those things is the chemistry that the team will grow into; the Three Kings obviously have chemistry in their friendship, but not one player on the Heat has shown himself to be a “me first” player. Expect lots of passing and lots of points, and maybe, if NBA fans are lucky, multiple new looks.

What’s Wrong With The Atlanta Hawks?

Joe Johnson’s Ridiculous Contract Was A Necessity.

Pay close attention; I don’t do this a lot. I’m about to admit that I was wrong. Yours truly wrote the following statement on July 1, when it was first announced that Atlanta’s Joe Johnson was about to be resigned for the absolute maximum:

It was written in a moment of frustration. Joe Johnson received what has turned out to be the biggest free agent contract of the biggest free agency period ever. With LeBron, Chris Bosh, and DWade teaming up in Miami for less money, Joe Johnson has become the wealthiest player during this free agency, at least in terms of salary. Does Joe deserve to make more money than ESPN’s three top-ranked free agents? Most assuredly not.

Joe Johnson antagonized Atlanta’s 14 fans after the team’s hasty playoff exit against Dwight Howard and the Orlando  Magic.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s the home team and I enjoy playing there and I enjoy when the fans do come out,’ Johnson said. ‘But by no stretch of the imagination have we got one of the best home crowds. We don’t. I can’t really even say it’s getting there. In the playoffs, yeah, they’re there. Throughout the regular season, it’s not much of a big difference from what it was. It’s different, but it’s not that big of a difference than what is was when I first got there.”

SLAM Online 5 January 2010

Joe Johnson is best-suited to play two roles on a basketball court: running mate to a  phenomenal player, a Dwyane Wade, a Kobe Bryant; or on a team like his previous one, the D’Antoni  Phoenix Suns that played incredibly fast team ball. Instead, he’s going to make his money and try to  be the leader on a mediocre team in what will be the most difficult division in professional basketball.

However, my criticism of the Hawks organization was unfounded, and here’s why.

Many Hawks fans (myself included) wanted the Hawks to take a year or three and start over. Get rid  of Joe and preferably Marvin Williams, focus on Josh Smith’s emotional development and keeping Al  Horford happy with a healthy contract extension, and rebuild with some savvy free agent signings  and through the draft while Jamal Crawford plays the 2 in Joe’s absence. Everyone that thought this  sort of strategy could work was not really thinking about the plausible future, only the potential.

Here’s the issue: The Hawks were in the red $20 million after last season. The Atlanta Spirit, the  management group that owns the Hawks, the NHL Atlanta Thrashers, and Philips Arena where both  teams play, has put the team up for sale. Without a superstar, The Atlanta Spirit would almost surely have to consider moving the team, although this would increase the timetable for paying off Philips Arena, which is only 11 years old.

Signing Joe Johnson – albeit to a grossly inflated contract – was a necessity. Hawks management had to get Joe for the maximum before another team with exorbitant cap space set aside for LeBronnukah came in and gobbled him up as a consolation prize. If the Hawks had attempted a sign-and-trade with Joe, what player(s) would they have received? Tracy McGrady from New York? Luol Deng from Chicago? Courtney Lee and Devin Harris from New Jersey? All of these trades make for interesting conversation, but none of them cures what ails the Hawks. Good players in their own respective rights, none of the above-mentioned trades sell more tickets than Johnson, and assuredly none of these players pushes the Hawks further into contention than Joe.

While it’s not a lesser of two evils argument, it is difficult to see the positives in the short-term. However, one positive is that the Hawks only need to struggle in the short-term. Next year, the Hawks owe Josh Smith $11.6 million, Jamal Crawford a hair over $10 million in the last year of his contract, Marvin William a bit over $6.7 million in wasted funds, Mike Bibby $5.5 million, Zaza Pachulia $4.2 million and the other salaries which total nearly $48.7 million, that is, before Joe Johnson’s colossal contract is added. They currently owe $63.7 million before the Phoenix trade exception from received for Josh Childress, which helps a bit. However, the Hawks are getting dangerously close to the luxury tax, which is set at $70.307 million this year, and they still need to sign three more players to meet the league requirement.

Next year, however, the Hawks are off the hook for Jamal Crawford and Maurice Evans, and if the management has any sense, they’ll package one or both of these expiring contracts (and maybe Marvin Williams?) near the trade deadline. Maybe they’ll use it for more space to offer Al Horford the money he’ll deserve in 2011, or maybe they’ll use it to assemble some pieces around the young nucleus.

The biggest argument for keeping Joe Johnson and paying him an exorbitant salary is the one it hurts me the most  to make: No one wants to play in Atlanta. Superstars don’t long to come to Atlanta. There’s no basketball  pedigree. The South is a bastion of college football; it’s not the urban environment that the NBA trends toward. The  only title the Hawks have is from the 1950’s when the franchise was located in St. Louis. I don’t get this; if anyone  in Atlanta’s marketing department is awake, it doesn’t show. Atlanta is a hip-hop capital right now. Musical acts  are discovered there year after year. The culture is decidedly urban. How have they not capitalized on this?

For both the short term and the long term, the Hawks had to resign Joe. Is Joe’s ridiculous contract going to keep the Hawks afloat long enough to avoid moving the franchise to a different city? Probably not, although the mechanism that speeds up the timetable for Philips Arena’s building cost if the Hawks move probably would prevent a move.

Bright side? The Hawks will look better than last season. No one got considerably better besides Miami, Memphis, New York, and Chicago, with several teams losing significant pieces of their teams (Cleveland, Utah, Phoenix, Toronto), with many teams remaining similar in makeup as last year. 6^th Man of the Year returns in Jamal Crawford. A nucleus of Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson is still formidable. We may put more butts in seats if we’re able to land Shaq or Brad Miller in free agency as was reported several times last week. A new coach in Larry Drew will offer our players more options than Mike Woodson’s ISO-Joe offense. Free agency got us excited about the potential.

All 14 of us Hawks fans felt betrayed by Joe’s ridiculous contract and the apparent ineptitude of the management. This was frustration and the passion of wanting more than mediocrity. However, if it means saving the franchise, people should put their money where their mouth is and buy season tickets. It’s tough to swallow the realization that no one wants to play for your team, but that’s a mentality that fans can help change.

UPDATE: Maybe the basketball gods aren’t such jerks. According to Dan Aldridge of NBA.com, the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to ship Shaq off for Marvin Williams. Silver lining!

UPDATE II: And just like that, hope is destroyed.

All Hail St. Donovan

On 23 June 2010, Landon Donovan went full ham. He is scheduled to be canonized this Saturday.

Michael Bradley and Moby

Michael Bradley (US Soccer player) and Moby (washed-up musician/animal activist) share more than a chronically shiny dome.

It is obvious to anyone watching US Soccer during the World Cup that Michael Bradley is bald, like his father US Coach Bob Bradley. And more than once, I’ve overheard some jackass yukking it up to this effect: “I didn’t know Moby played for the Americans!”

High fives, bro hugs, and the occasional bro icing abound, devolving into the ubiquitous and unavoidable homoerotic chest bump/handshake/wrestling match. That’s living in Miami for you. There is something in the water, and it reeks of date rape.

Michael Bradley, savior of US soccer fans’ hopes and dreams against Slovenia, does share a few traits with Moby. Both men were trained from a young age: Moby was learning piano and classical guitar at age nine, Bradley was playing soccer under his famous MLS player-and-coach father since he could walk. He played for the US Under-17 team for four years (meaning he started when he was thirteen). Both Bradley and Moby worked hard to gain their skill and led their peers: Moby in the late nineties with his ambient electro-pop movement (I’m not judging) and Bradley on the pitch with passionate leadership of his fellow Americans. Moby spent time in Europe traveling and perfecting his craft; Bradley spent time in Germany playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In fact, the two share so much in common – hey, wait – has anyone seen Moby lately?

I’m not suggesting the two men are one and the same. Just kidding. Yes, I am. Count me among the bros, I guess. It’s not so bad. We even get to drink Smirnoff Ice. Damn you, Miami, you win this one.

The Hermit Kingdom, Soccer, and the World Stage

North Korea’s Football Strategy Reflects Its Global Identity

The World Cup has power that no other sporting event can claim. Every four years, the entire world pauses for a month of festivity, fierce competition, and national pride. Even Americans are finally catching the fever. It is said that the World Cup is the singular time when nations are meant to put away politics and focus on the competition. It’s supposed to be a party. No one likes the guy who wants to talk about politics at a house party; why should a worldwide sports party be any different? However, politics have come to define the international reputation of some nations. North Korea is one of those nations.

Known as the Hermit Kingdom for its intense secrecy, the People’s Republic of Korea is the world’s last Stalinist dictatorship. The country controls its economy with central planning and has stifled the civil – and in many cases human – rights of its people since a shaky armistice ended the conflict that divided North and South. The aging dictator Kim Jong Il still rules the nation with an iron fist and controls all aspects of North Korean life, limiting access to new technology like the Internet and mobile phones. The dictator is grooming one of his three sons to replace him in his old age, so it seems a change in the political system above the 38th Parallel on the Korean peninsula is farfetched, barring any serious changes.

It was noted by commentators during North Korea’s Tuesday match against Brazil that the small contingent of North Korean fans were mainly Chinese citizens paid to represent the Hermit Kingdom. There was even a “conductor” that signaled when the “Koreans” should cheer. North Korean citizens were not allowed to leave the country to watch their athletes compete.

It is no secret to Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, Portugal, and soccer fans around the world that the North Korean team is a longshot in the so-called “Group of Death.” The North Koreans came into the tournament ranked 105th in the world. 32 teams will compete for the World Cup. It is no surprise then that their strategy would reflect the long odds they face. A primarily defensive strategy is not unheard of when a team is clearly inferior, but playing so defensive-minded that a team starts 8 of its 10 field players in its own half is remarkable.

The Hermit Kingdom played about as well as could be expected against World Cup favorites Brazil. They scored a moral victory, falling 2-1 to the top ranked team in the tournament. The North Koreans accomplished this using the 5-3-2 defensive strategy and occasionally switching to 8-1-1(!), which involved keeping between five and eight players in the defensive half of the field for sizable portions of the game. The Korean strategy depended on pooling limited resources and waiting for a time to strike. When examined alongside the foreign relations of the Hermit Kingdom, there are clear parallels.

North Korea views the world as frightening, more powerful than itself, and filled with potential enemies. It keeps few friends in the realm of international relations and is seen by other states as a pariah. The nation’s leaders spit vitriol in the faces of Western leaders, keeping diplomats, the United Nations – basically all outsiders – at least a few arm-lengths out of reach. In essence, North Korea plays out its existence constantly on the defensive. It bides its time, staving off international overtures, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take advantage and get ahead. The Hermit Kingdom used these tactics to build its nuclear weapon in secrecy. It is believed that a North Korean torpedo destroyed a South Korean sub, however, the North Korean government denied any wrongdoing. Just like the North Korean players on the field with Brazil, the nation took brief offensive actions hoping for success, and then scurried back to defense. The offense is based solely on the counter attack.

There are two possible outcomes if one examines both halves of play as separate scenarios. In the first half, North Korea held Brazil scoreless with its overpowering primarily 8-man defense, although it remained scoreless as well. In the second half, Brazil scored twice and the People’s Republic was able to manage a single point in the 89th minute. In neither half was North Korea impressive in any way outside its defense. In neither of the two halves did North Korea win.

Its best outcome would have been a tie, not a win. Perhaps these outcomes are all a nation can hope for if its leadership views the world with suspicion and contempt, if its leader strategizes from the perspective that there is no such thing as true international cooperation. The parallels between policy and the pitch are there. One wonders if the Hermit Kingdom’s subjects feel satisfied with a leadership doomed to tie or lose, but never win?

Welcome to Miami-Wade County

Dwyane Wade has given every indication he’s willing to re-up in Miami. It appears he’s on the recruiting  trail, too. In his honor, Miami-Dade officials are renaming the county after him:

“By unanimous vote, Miami-Dade County commissioners declared Tuesday that the area would be  known as ‘Miami-Wade County’ from July 1-7, a week that coincides with the start of NBA free  agency.“

Full story here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5290610

More on DW3′s role as The HEAT’s chief marketer to come.

The Miami Hurricanes Still Have Balls

…and Why That’s a Bad Thing in the Changing World of College Football

The college football offseason seems to drag on longer each year. Waiting patiently for your team’s first game is torture, especially during the so-called “dead period” in the sports world after the NBA Finals, before baseball games become important, and while we drag our feet through the NFL preseason. Not this year. At least not for now.

The Pac-10 tried to liven things up for college football fans last week, and in doing so, assured Texas (or Oklahoma) a seat at the table for the BCS National Championship starting in 2011. Don’t believe me?

In 2010, Texas will play a cupcake out-of-conference schedule, where they’ll be favored in Houston against Rice and against UCLA, Florida Atlantic and Wyoming in Austin. Their tests will come at the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma in Dallas and at Nebraska. This has become the MO in Austin.

Because of conference realignment and the lack of a championship game in the Big 12-cum-10, Texas and Oklahoma will basically play for the conference title in Dallas starting in 2011. The rest of the schedule will be filled with powerhouses like Kansas, Iowa State, and Baylor year in and year out. There’s considerable squawking about how big name teams get away with obliterating cupcakes in order to increase win total and rack up stats, especially when rising programs like Miami and Florida State are playing brutal schedules (see: last year’s gauntlet and this year’s lineup featuring games at Ohio State and at Pittsburgh). Because of the changes to the Zombie Southwest Conference, Texas and Oklahoma will have the easiest time getting into the national title game starting in 2011.

It’s not that Texas, which is being reported to have single-handedly saved the Big 12(Ten), sees itself as a savior in this picture. Money is god, and everyone understands that. It is exactly for this reason that Texas will seek its own television network and ride its weak schedule to the big game.

The realignment that heavily favors Texas is just an extension of the trend that has  already been seeping into BCS-level college football like a poison. Last year, Florida  played Troy, Charleston Southern, Florida International and Florida State out-of-  conference. Alabama played Virginia Tech, Florida International, North Texas, and UT  Chattanooga. Big programs schedule soft because they argue their conferences are  brutal. Texas will not have that excuse in 2011.

This brings me to my worries. I’m a ‘Cane fan. I love the attitude, the aura, the mystique.  I love the ‘Canes of the 80’s and I’m excited about the ‘Canes of today. The mantra has  always been anyone, anywhere, anytime. When I saw the football schedule for next year,  I nearly cried – from joy. Ohio State in Columbus. Pitt in the ‘Burgh. South Florida,  which always seems like a nasty trap game. Little brothers play with a chip on their  shoulder; The U did it for years. But anyone, anywhere, anytime may not be in our best interest anymore when high-profile programs are willing to cut corners and play the Troys of the world if it means one more guaranteed win.

So how does an AD react in the new college football world, where an undefeated season played against inferior competition trumps a one-loss season playing the very best foes? There are two options: fall in line and schedule Sun Belt schools like the rest of the big boys or continue to shoot for the stars. Kirby Hocutt seems to like the reach. The U plays Florida, Ohio State, and Nebraska in the next five years.

Other schools are taking the inside track to titles. I suppose The U wants to earn it. The situation poses a legitimate question. What’s worse: A watered-down athletic product or being seen as a program that lacks what it takes to win the big one?