Poe

Daequan will be back, only cause he won it last year. Gallo is a given. He's one of the top 3 shooters this year. Some other top shooters include Mo Williams, Channing Frye, Anthony Morrow, Peja, Nash, and Q-Rich. Shard will probably be back again. He'll keep coming until he wins

You're right. Q has been 3-23 the past four games. It's really hurt the team.

33 FTA to 18 FTA. Can you guess which team shot and made more free throws?

He was doing a horrible job boxing out Camby. I completely agree with Spoe's decision. Also, I'm liking his rotations today. Having Dorell, Q, and Wade together seems to have the best chemistry in the backcourt. The Heat have played better since the very beginning. Hopefully they can put on a run and put themselves in position to win.

I think it's best to develop players early in their careers to allow them to gain confidence and early experience on the court. Maybe I could understand if the team is successful and has a shot at the finals, but this is a borderline playoff team where many of these "veterans" may not be a part of their future plans. In their situation, you have to be thinking about the future and giving the young players a chance, or they'll wind up wasting talent with them sitting on the bench for the rest of their careers, cause a player doesn't become a veteran without ever playing on the court.

That was Lamar Odom-esque.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/677441169.png meh...

Here's an interesting trend I've noticed concerning Dorell Wright this year. The team has a winning record when Dorell is more involved in the offense. Here are all the games this year where Dorell has attempted 7 or more shots. W Suns – 15 points (7-13), 1 assist, 28 minutes, +15 W Pacers – 6 points (2-7), 1 assist, 22 minutes, -3 W Magic – 11 points (5-9), 0 assists, 26 minutes, +3 W Raptors – 16 points (7-11), 3 assists, 28 minutes, +17 *L Grizzlies – 16 points (6-9), 1 assist, 27 minutes, -16 W Kings – 19 points (9-13), 5 assists, 29 minutes, +18 *Note: +/- for all Heat players who played 25 minutes or more were at least -15 that game, the team lost by 28. Now, I understand a player's +/- is usually a product of how the 5 players on the floor performed as a whole, yet from watching all of these games myself, it's more than clear that good things happen when Dorell is included in the offense.

The Magic won't make it back to the Finals. Like I said before the season started, their finals' aspirations will die down by somewhere past midseason, and it looks like things are headed towards that after their hot start to the season. The main competition is now between the Celtics and Cavs in the East. Atlanta isn't a top team, IMO, and the only reason they are mentioned with the top teams in the East is because of their early season spurt. The Heat are too inconsistent, yet the addition of a veteran point guard may change that, but they still have a fragile center and 3 young rotation players going through growing pains. The Raptors are still basically a new team, and pure offensive teams haven't been known to do too well in the playoffs in recent history. As far as making it to the second round, the Cavs and Celtics are a lock. The Magic and Raptors will depend on whether the team is "hot" or not, the Heat will depend on a healthy Wade and O'Neal plus maturity in the young players, and don't count out the Bobcats to make a little noise.

Under first impression, and unsurprisingly, Rafer looks to be a great fit and a great move by Riley. Overall, I liked what I saw out there by the whole team, including Spoelstra, who was solid with his rotations overall, and gave players the right minutes at about the time in the game today. Yesterday I said the minute distribution should be something like: Starters: Alston (28m) Wade (38m) Richardson (24m) Beasley (36m) O'Neal (34m) Arroyo (12m) Wright (28m) Haslem (26m) Joel (14m) Today, they were: Starters: Alston (35m) Wade (39m) Richardson (20m) Beasley (36m) O'Neal (31m) Chalmers (13m) Wright (28m) Haslem (21m) Joel (17m) Aside from Chalmers playing over Arroyo, all the right players played and all of them played within roughly 5 minutes of the playing time I suggested yesterday. The shot distribution came from the right places as well. Wade attempted 25 with 10 FTA, Beasley had 18 attempts and 6 FTA, O'Neal with 10 FGA 6 FTA, Alston and Haslem combined for 18 attempts, and Dorell had 13 attempts. That is right around where the main scoring should come from. Wade and Beasley being the main scorers with JO as a third option, Haslem and Alston and Q-Rich score when open, and Dorell is the spark off the bench. Nothing against Jones and Cook, but I'm glad to see them stay on the bench. Hopefully they'll get traded to a place where they can get playing time, and the Heat can gain even more room this off season.

Yes, and started.

DORELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!! Edit: 4 field goals and 4 steals for Wright in 12 minutes of play so far.

I don't understand why Quentin is always getting all of the first quarter minutes. It's like Spoe is avoiding putting Dorell in the game.

I liked what Rafer had to say in that interview before the game.

+1 I'm the exact same way.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/63888/20100107/heat_sign_rafer_alston/ This is great. The Heat basically handed over Quinny to the Nets, with the exchange of 2nd rounders to make it work, and the Nets drop Rafer so the Heat could sign him for next to nothing. Good day

What an insightful topic.

JO has been in the league for 13 years. He should know how to defend a situation like this by now, if not a long time ago. I think JO thought they had the game won and got absent minded on the play. And sure, Riley could have led this team to more wins. I'm also sure Phil Jackson could have led them to about the same as Riley could, maybe more, and I'm sure Jerry Sloan could, too. That is some pretty tough standards to set for a second year, 39 year old head coach.

Whether he was lazy or not is a different problem. This is the school making a mistake which will affect his future. This problem needs to be straightened out.

Good ol Bron. Always full of surprises and originality.

That last play before OT wasn't Spoe's fault. It was more JO's than anyone else. With .6 seconds, everyone on defense should know what the first option on an inbounds play is. When Big Baby set the screen for Rondo, JO made a dumb decision to glue a bench player out of his range instead of moving into the paint to stop an all star from making a lob. And your right, btw. The ball should be in Wade's hands at crunch time. Anyway, past is past. Moving forward. With Rafer now in the mix, Mario needs to step out for at least a little while. Simply put, Mario had his chance, and Pat realized that he and Arroyo weren't going to cut it, so he made a move. For now, Arroyo should remain the starter until Rafer readjusts to the system, learns his role, and builds chemistry with the others. If everything goes well, Alston should become the starter after a short period of time, and Arroyo should be his first and only replacement off the bench. Mario has been babied minutes long enough. With Rafer in and Arroyo doing a solid job, I don't see the need to place Wright in at the point anymore this year. Wright should continue to receive minutes at the wings, and occasionally at the PF for matchup purposes. Bottom line, though. Dorell needs some [expletive]ing playing time. Cook and Jones need to go. Now. Cook has shot his way out of the rotation, and when he gets back in he's only eating minutes that other players need. Jones is a good system player, but that's not what the Heat need right now. The Heat need playmakers, and all the room in the world for cap space this off season. Let Cook and Jones go, bring back some expirings and/or draft picks. I think Spoelstra needs a set rotation, and this is how the rotation needs to work. Starters: Alston (28m) Wade (38m) Richardson (24m) Beasley (36m) O'Neal (34m) Bench: Arroyo (12m) Wright (28m) Haslem (26m) Joel (14m) Those don't have to be the exact minutes, but at least a rough area. The point guards add up to 40 minutes, leaving 8 for Wade... at crunch time. During those last 8 minutes, the line up should be (Wade - Rich - Wright) - Haslem/Beasley - O'Neal/Anthony. (I put Wade, Rich, and Wright in parentheses because none of those three players have a definite position. Wade plays 1-2, Q plays 2-3, and Wright plays 1-3.) Haslem or Beasley depending on situation or who's having the better game, and O'Neal or Anthony based on... whether JO is actually playing that day. I made the minutes so that JO and JA get all the minutes at the center position. Haslem should never, ever play center. If Spoe wants to even out the minutes between Haslem and Beasley, give Beasley more minutes at the wing, not Haslem more minutes at center. I think Dorell does actually deserve to start, and he would probably be a starter on most teams in this league, but I keep Dorell off the bench because he brings more offense and versatility to an offensively challenged bench group. Q-Rich starts because he brings energy, 3 point shooting, and just fits better with the starting group, but he shouldn't ever be receiving 40 minutes each game. Again, Cook and Jones need to be out of the rotation. The only players that should play wing from now on this year is Wade, Rich, Wright, and Beasley. So unless we want to cut into any of these guy's minutes, then Cook and Jones need to sit until they are finally traded. So anyway, if I were the coach, that would be my rotation. Spoe's a good coach, but his clearest problem is giving the right guys the right amount of minutes at the right time in games. Overall, put Cook, Jones, and Chalmers (for now) on the bench. Give more minutes to Wright and Beasley, don't play Haslem at center, and put Wade at the point in crunch time.

Put in italics the games where Calderon comes off the bench.

With twittering becoming fine-worthy, are you really that surprised?

Hurry skip's [expletive] to Miami. That's all I have to say.

Just when I was getting all excited over Wade's FTs, steal, and dunk.... Rondo......