Miami Heat

I know why Chris Bosh and Lebron James left their respective teams to join Dwyane Wade in Miami. In my opinion, their talents and skills were not meant to be leadership quality in Toronto and Cleveland. Their personality and versatility on and off the basketball court did not allow Bosh and James to be captains of their basketball team. They played well, I will give you that, but their ability to make clutch shots at the end of basketball games were not grand enough to call them superstars or give them the right to make Jordan-esque plays. I think that joining Wade in Miami will give James and Bosh a chance to become the supporting cast and it would be best to let Dwyane be the man or the superstar on the Heat team. In Bosh's and James' interest, it would be great to score, pass, rebound, and play defense as the second bananas to Dwyane Wade being Batman as Wade will make most of his opportunities taking control of the offense. If I can say anything about Wade being the leader of the Heat team, he needs to pace himself so he doesn't burn himself out like he does when he flies through the air and takes bumps and hits and tumbles to the floor. He needs to take a lesson from Kevin Durant, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. What Durant, Bird, and Jordan had in common was that they were willing to take shots when they saw opportunities and take what the defense gave them. Wade doesn't do that. He forces his offense through to the defense when he tries to initiate what the defense gives him. The Heat will play well as a team if they build chemistry and cohesion quickly in training camp. No egos allowed for this team. If anything happens to this team, one little bump in the road towards the NBA title, watch out for explosions.

Balance of Power in the NBA

The Miami Heat have a very strong team. They have Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. They also have a star-studded supporting cast that will help the trio with their shooting in Mike Miller, rebounding and defense in Udonis Haslem and Zydrunas Ilgaukas, and a couple of heady point guards to run the show in Miami in Carlos Arroyo and Mario Chalmers. I also like the two-time defending champion L.A. Lakers' chances of winning again. Their bench got deeper with two additions of a backup guard in Steve Blake and a backup small forward in Matt Barnes and a backup center in Theo Ratliff. I also think the Boston Celtics have a legitimate shot at repeating a second NBA Finals appearance. They added the O'Neals over the summer, Jermaine O'Neal and Shaquille O'Neal. Their starting lineup still remains the same, although the Celtics head coach Doc Rivers insists that the Lakers did not beat Boston at full strength, because the C's did not have Kendrick Perkins suited up for Game 7 in their last showdown of the 2010 NBA Finals. I also think the Orlando Magic have a good shot at returning back to the NBA Finals. They will not last long against the physically talented teams, such as the Lakers and the Celtics. The Magic's defensive presence Dwight Howard still mans the middle and he is still grabbing rebounds and blocking shots against all swing men who arrive in his lane. Although the Magic are thin defensively, they have shooters from all four positions on the floor when Howard is in the middle. They added Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson over the summer. I think they will fit in, especially Richardson. His three-point shooting will be lights-out and his shooting will be appreciated on a Orlando team that shoots the three ball more than any other playoff team in the NBA.

Basketball Thoughts #3

Typical. USA team basketball played a bit sloppy against Angola and Tunisia. Now, they're in the upper tier of tournament ball now and they are taking it easy against the lower-bracket basketball teams, even though Tunisia and Angola can give team USA a run for their money. Team USA really has a problem maintaining their focus and attention to winning ways when they want to approach basketball games. They need to maintain that focus every time they come to play basketball. They must not let down every time a basket is scored against them. The USA men's basketball team needs to take the defensive playbook from the Boston Celtics' swarming man-to-man defense and from Gregg Popovich's San Antonio Spurs. The USA men's basketball team can learn from the top defensive teams in the NBA, as well as from their opponents. They have managed to incorporate the play-defense-as-a-team philosophy with some success, but USA basketball management have always insisted on having a basketball star leading the squad. The USA men's basketball team has to fully engage themselves to commit to play defense as a team and score as a team, plus the bench.

International basketball competition has caught up on how USA men team basketball runs its basketball plays. Dribble, dribble, pass, dribble, dribble, and pass, then shoot. When I watch teams like Argentina, Angola, Serbia, Croatia, and Spain play, I saw all five members of the starting team play crisp ball. They do not drop their offensive and defensive assignments nonewhatsoever. They run, they dribble the basketball, all five starters can rebound, they can pass, they can defend the pick-and-roll, they can play man-to-man defense if they want to. The starters and the bench play together as a team, that is the key. One thing I have seen team USA get burned on a lot is the pick-and-roll between the point guard and the center.

They rotate late as the point man uses his quickness to score or pass if he sees an opening. Those USA basketball players need to get a hand on that ball once it leaves the point guard's hands. The point man will be able to see the open shooters on the court plus the screener, the center. He can decide to score if he wants to or give up his shot to an open teammate. This is the play team USA men's basketball always get burned on. If at all, team USA must help each other play defense if they are to defeat their international opponents at a blowout rate faster than my heart can beat. Team USA is relying on steals and individual player's defense to generate fast break points and offensive baskets. In conclusion, team USA can make little adjustments on their defensive end and tighten up their offense a bit. Then, they will succeed as being at the top of the world again. And again.