Entries from June 2007 ↓

Daequan Cook. Technically, the Heat did not draft him, but after a bit of wheeling and dealing, that is who the Heat ended up with. Miami originally picked Jason Smith, the man with the most boring name ever. But after being a member of the Heat for all of five minutes, Smith was traded to Philadelphia for their pick, Daequan Cook. The Heat really needed some help in the athleticism department, but can Cook deliver?

Continue reading →

If you were to ask that question to Pat Riley, he would reply with a resounding “yes!” It seems that wherever Riley goes, wily old veterans follow. And no matter what their age, he will take the proven tested veteran over the young phenom any day of the week. But as any wine connoisseur knows, wine does not always get better with age. At a certain point, the wine turns into vinegar. This is exactly what happened to the Miami Heat this past season. The team waited until the end of the season to uncork the bottle, only to find that many of the players had gotten sour and undrinkable.

Continue reading →

With a banged up Wade and an aging roster, the Heat could not make it past the youthful Chicago Bulls. In my estimation, it was a lack of scoring ability that killed the Heat; especially at the guard position. This is the position that Heat need some major improvement. They feature one incredibly bright star along with… well, there is nothing but Dwayne Wade. So should this be a place to pick up a young player? Should we trade for someone with ability now? Let’s analyze this situation…

Continue reading →

In the upcoming draft, the Portland Trail Blazers are set to take the first pick. But do they really deserve to be in this position? I don’t think that anyone would argue that they were the worst team this past season; although to be fair, they have been consistently bad for quite a while now. Nevertheless, many feel that other teams were far more deserving of the number one pick. Others have proclaimed the draft to be “basketbawful.” Shouldn’t it be the team with the worst record that gets the first pick? Why is the NBA the only major sports league that has a lottery? Let’s see if we can’t figure this idiotic situation out.

Continue reading →

Just in case you’ve forgotten, the Miami Heat did play in the playoffs this season. Against the Chicago Bulls? First round? Four game sweep? No, not coming to you? Well they did, so just deal with it. Now, I’m not saying with a healthy Wade we could have won the whole shibang, but at the very least we could have taken care of the scrappy (see flopping, see sissy, see Dallas) Bulls. Game 1, in Chicago, final 96-91 Bulls. Wade’s night, 21 pt, 3 ast, 2 ribs. Not exactly your classic Dwayne Wade playoff night (see 30+ pts averaged in last year’s finals). More telling than that though was the fact that he dunked only once (to my knowledge) in that game (though my memory is forcibly fuzzy on the whole subject). Three similar games followed, but without defense or the benefit of 20 points from Antoine Walker. The closest, game three, didn’t even have that close of a final score (104-96) due in part (see whole) to the fact that Miami was outscored 32-20 in the final period, something that’s usually the other way around with a healthy Wade on your side. So, no we probably would not have been able to beat the Spurs, but Chicago was well within our ability.
Continue reading →

This is the second part of my Offseason Moves Series. You can use the table of contents above to navigate to any other part of the series that you want to read about! At any rate, in this issue, we are going to be talking Forwads; both small and power. Incidentally, the difference between saying small and power is huge! I mean, who wants to be called a small forward… It is just embarrassing. They should change it to quick forward, or something less demeaning. I mean, look at king James. He is technically a small forward, but there is nothing about him that is diminutive or weak. However, let’s get back to the Heat. This is a position where the team definitely needs to get better. But how? Younger, more athletic players? Bigger, stronger rebounders? Well, let’s analyze the situation.

Continue reading →

It has now been about 5 weeks since Dwayne Wade underwent surgery to repair both his left knee and left shoulder. If the Miami Heat are to have any hope of being a contender for the upcoming season, they will need Wade to be full strength. The former Finals MVP, who proved capable of carrying the team when healthy, has been showing marked signs of improvement lately. While he still has a long way to go in the rehab process, he is confident that he will be ready for next season.

Continue reading →