2010-11 NBA Blogosphere Previews: Miami Heat
Posted by Neil Paine on October 21, 2010
Welcome to our 2010-11 NBA Blogosphere Previews, in which we contact the finest team bloggers on the web and ask them to contribute their thoughts on the squad they cover. What follows is their take, along with the team's depth chart (courtesy of ESPN.com), projected 2011 stats via our Simple Projection System, and polls where you get to have your say. Enjoy!
Miami Heat
Coach: Erik Spoelstra
2010 Summary:
Record: 47-35, Finished 3rd in NBA Southeast Division
Pythagorean W-L: 48-34 (13th of 30)
SRS: 2.00 (13th of 30) ▪ Pace Factor: 89.6 (28th of 30)
Offensive Rating: 106.6 (19th of 30) ▪ Defensive Rating: 104.1 (6th of 30)
2011 Depth Chart (with 2010-11 projected per-36 minute stats ... yellow = newcomer)
| Pos | Player | Age | PTS | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | FG% | 3PM | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Mario Chalmers | 24 | 11.1 | 3.1 | 5.1 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 0.420 | 1.5 | 0.345 | 0.761 |
| PG | Carlos Arroyo | 31 | 10.6 | 3.2 | 5.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 0.467 | 0.3 | 0.312 | 0.831 |
| PG | Patrick Beverley | 22 | ||||||||||
| SG | Dwyane Wade | 29 | 26.3 | 4.8 | 6.5 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 0.479 | 0.9 | 0.307 | 0.761 |
| SG | Eddie House | 32 | 14.8 | 3.7 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 0.405 | 2.7 | 0.385 | 0.859 |
| SG | Kenny Hasbrouck | 24 | ||||||||||
| SF | LeBron James | 26 | 27.1 | 6.9 | 7.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 0.500 | 1.5 | 0.339 | 0.768 |
| SF | Mike Miller | 30 | 12.2 | 6.9 | 4.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 0.491 | 1.6 | 0.433 | 0.777 |
| SF | James Jones | 30 | 11.3 | 3.9 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.393 | 2.2 | 0.394 | 0.823 |
| SF | Da'Sean Butler | 22 | ||||||||||
| PF | Chris Bosh | 26 | 22.8 | 10.1 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 0.509 | 0.2 | 0.326 | 0.809 |
| PF | Udonis Haslem | 30 | 12.2 | 9.5 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 0.495 | 0.0 | 0.344 | 0.762 |
| PF | Juwan Howard | 37 | 10.2 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 0.492 | 0.1 | 0.323 | 0.757 |
| PF | Shavlik Randolph | 27 | 13.9 | 8.0 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 0.442 | 0.7 | 0.385 | 0.737 |
| C | Joel Anthony | 28 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 0.475 | 0.1 | 0.350 | 0.704 |
| C | Zydrunas Ilgauskas | 35 | 14.6 | 9.4 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 0.452 | 0.3 | 0.410 | 0.769 |
| C | Jamaal Magloire | 32 | 9.0 | 10.6 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.474 | 0.2 | 0.356 | 0.453 |
| C | Dexter Pittman | 22 | ||||||||||
2010-11 Blogger Outlook by Neil Paine, Basketball-Reference.com
What else can be written about the 2010-11 Miami Heat that hasn't already been said?
Everyone seems to agree that when Pat Riley's grand experiment commences play in earnest, we'll witness an impressive combination of superstar teammates the likes of which may never have been seen before. We also pretty much agree that this group is long on frontline talent and still lacking in depth, despite Riley's best intentions to find solid role players (in a salary-capped league, spending $43 million on 3 guys will do that). But the consensus of most observers is that, at the very least -- and barring major injury -- this Heat team will rank among the East's top seeds when the smoke clears.
Beyond that, though? It's anybody's guess as to how things ultimately play out here. The numbers are enthusiastic, as are certain coaches-turned-commentators. But as we've seen with the preseason so far, health is not a given for this team, nor is synergy between the 3 megastars without any rehearsal games to work out the kinks in their collaboration. Starting without a warm-up lap, so to speak, it may be too much to expect this Heat team to roll at full speed right away, much less at an historically-dominant pace.
Then again, that's just guesswork, too. All we really know for sure about this Heat team is that, on paper at least, Miami is one of the most talented squads in the league. As to whether being presumptive champions of the offseason will translate into challenging the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, etc. in June... Well, like most things Miami Heat, we'll just have to wait until the games count to know for sure.
Poll Time
October 21st, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Neil, be honest how do you really feel this team will do in the season and playoffs? I think that they have great chance at going real far in the playoffs, Championship parade far? I don't know as of now but as the season progresses I'll able to know how far. All I know now is that if they play on the defensive end with at least 3/4s of the same intensity that I saw from that 08 boston squad they will dominate like few teams have before. 48mins of Intensity is the key for this team.
October 21st, 2010 at 2:04 pm
The first preseason game vs. Detroit, even after Wade got hurt, they were dominating so easily with Bosh & LeBron that I felt my '07 Pats analogy was going to fit perfectly. I've never seen another team come out and destroy a team so effortlessly, like they could just show up and suddenly be up by 3 touchdowns before the other team even knew what happened. The Heat had that same feel for me.
But then I watched some of their other games, and I've seen LeBron get hurt as well (albeit briefly)... I'm not sold on their defense, I'm not sold on their durability, and I'm not sold on their depth. I think they'll be one of the best teams in the league, and my projections next week may very well rank them 1st (I'm not sure b/c I haven't run the simulations yet), but I'm not totally convinced anymore that they can challenge 72 wins even if they wanted to.
October 21st, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Today I picked them up in the latest version of NBA Jam and I just barely beat the Toronto Raptors in a game of Slam. Andrea Bargnani is really good at blocking James at the three-point line. So...
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Who are the three jokers who voted for Miami to either miss the playoffs or lose in Rd 1? What, the Milwaukee Bucks or the Bobcats are going to beat out this team? Come on.
That being said...I think it's nearly impossible to predict how well this team will do because we have just never seen a team assembled like this in NBA history. The closest comparisons are the Lakers with Elgin and West, but there were what, 8-12 teams back then?
I am incredibly interested to see what happens. I think they're winning it all, but hey, who the hell am I.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Bitter Cleveland fans?
October 23rd, 2010 at 10:54 pm
61-65 wins, Conference Finals (to Boston), Wade will be their MVP.
October 24th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Wade won't be any MVP, he's in his off peak and LeBron will have better numbers.
Everyone thinking otherwise is just bitter, and holding on to the past. Go James. :]
October 24th, 2010 at 8:55 am
The analogy to the 07 Pats is interesting, but still faulty Neil. LeBron is much more dominant than Brady ever was, Brady had one 50 TD season, LeBron already has two Jordan-level seasons statistically. And he's in his prime, this is something we haven't seen yet.
And LeBron has 33 and 38 points, coming back from that injury. Don't hate Neil. ;)