Basketball Thoughts #11

The trade for Kendrick Perkins and signing Nazr Mohammed to a deal has helped the Thunder immensely. They have now a four man rotation at power forward and center now. They are deep and they have the physical size to tangle with the best teams of the NBA, like the L.A. Lakers and the Boston Celtics. With a rotation with Nick Collison and Mohammed coming off the bench to spell Serge Ibaka, who is starting at power forward and Perkins at center, Oklahoma City is deep with their physicality of big men. I like Ibaka's ability to shoot and spread the floor for an athletic big man. I think Ibaka can play small forward too. He has the quickness and agility and athleticism to play the 3 position. In all certainty, I believe that Serge is underrated at his offensive game. He has the ability to be a very good offensive player, although he claims he is better on the defensive end. With a Thunder bench that has athletic backup point guard Eric Maynor, rising 2-guard and scorer in James Harden, I see no reason why Oklahoma City can rise to the occasion and win crucial basketball games, especially when Kevin Durant is leading a humbled team. Let's go, Thunder!

Derrick Rose for MVP

This is going to be a fabulous NBA playoffs to watch. If Derrick Rose is voted NBA MVP for the regular season, I wonder how far Rose can carry the Chicago Bulls. He is a young man and Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau is a dictatorial, one-man wrecking crew. With Rose and Thibodeau, this is a unique partnership. Their personalities are introverted, hard working, and smart. If I see the Bulls anywhere down the road, the Miami Heat are a more talented bunch of players especially when you have a team that has Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh. The Heat are more talented than Chicago are, and I think they are in for a long run if the Bulls can expect to beat either Miami or the Boston Celtics for a longer playoff run. I definitely think Derrick Rose deserves the MVP award. He really has become the Bulls' captain and leader of the locker room with his inspired play. Joakim Noah is the Bulls' hustle, much like Dennis Rodman with his rebounds and defensive ability. I find the Bulls to be much deserving of winning the NBA title this year, but no one can take away Kobe Bryant's hunger for his sixth NBA title. With running big men like Carlos Boozer and Noah, Rose has two big men he can pass the ball to. Keith Bogans is Chicago's best perimeter defender, which is why he is Chicago's starting shooting guard. I see Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer coming off the bench and spelling Bogans for either the 2-guard or the small forward where Luol Deng is starting. Omer Asik is a great backup center. His ability to play defense and score on the offensive end makes Asik's skills set valuable to have. With two more pivot men in Taj Gibson and Kurt Thomas, the Bulls have big men who are able to run, rebound, score, and defend. Derrick Rose is getting a lot of time on the court, because he is Chicago's Most Valuable Player. Rose leads the team in scoring and assists with 24.8 and 7.8 respectively. His backup, C.J. Watson gets playing time spelling for D-Rose, but he is not getting more playing time ahead of the eventual-MVP.

Basketball Thoughts #10

Watch for the Memphis Grizzlies. They are on a roll right now. They acquired Shane Battier from Houston. Too bad they don't have Rudy Gay. They could be doing much better with Gay in the starting lineup. To make up for Gay's absence, Tony Allen and Leon Powe have stepped up their basketball games. These former Celtics player, part of the 2008 Boston Celtics' championship team, are helping the Grizzlies maintain a hold on the 8th and final spot for the Western Conference playoffs. Zach Randolph is a dominant low-post threat and with a big guy, pivot center like Marc Gasol, you can't go wrong. Mike Conley, Jr. is running the point so I believe the San Antonio Spurs who will be likely to be facing the upstart Memphis Grizzlies be in for a competitive basketball series.

Job Security for Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra

I know that this is Erik Spoelstra's first job as head coach. I have faith that Spoelstra is doing his job the correct and right way. Why? Because Pat Riley hired him. Knowing who Pat Riley is, he is the former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. In his third NBA pit-stop, Riley led the Miami Heat to their first NBA championship in 2006. Pat Riley has a reputation for building strong championship teams, from his experience-building resume days with the Lakers and Knicks. If I know something about how Riley wanted to choose Erik Spoelstra as Miami Heat head coach, he knew what he was doing. He saw himself in Spoelstra. He saw a winner in Spoelstra. He saw potential in Spoelstra. Like himself, Riley saw what Spoelstra can do. Like any budding head coach in their first job at work, I believe that Riley knew that there were going to be struggles in their first year at year. From what we saw in the beginning 2010 NBA season, Spoelstra coached the Heat to a 9-8 start. Riley knew that the Heat were going to have struggles. This is common, in Riley's experience. If anything happens to this Heat team that have had its second consecutive win over a +.500 team like the Lakers just recently, it means nothing. It means that Erik Spoelstra knew what he was doing and he knows why Pat Riley hired him. To win a championship. To build a contending team out of Lebron James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Surround them with tough-minded enforcers like Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Illgaukas, Erik Dampier, and Jamaal Magloire. Give the Heat dead-eye perimeter shooters and Spoelstra has Mike Miller, newly acquired Mike Bibby, Eddie House, and James Jones. Spoelstra has Udonis Haslem, a hard worker and probably the defensive sparkplug of this Heat team that will come back from his injury and give Miami some supporting boost for defense, rebounding, blocks, steals, and intangibles. Like Riley, Spoelstra preaches intangibles. No x's and o's for Erik. Spoelstra had faith that he knew why Pat Riley wanted him for this job. Spoelstra's not getting fired. I think that Miami will give opposing teams fits in the playoffs. I guarantee it.

Basketball Thoughts #5 and #9

If it is any consolation to the Miami Heat and their 4-game losing streak, I would like to say something that could upset them. Their strength is at the shooting guard, small forward, and power forward position. They have a glaring weakness at point guard and they have no true center that can dance and play with the talents of Chris Bosh, Lebron James, and Dwyane Wade. If anything, James should take on the task of guarding the opponent's best opposing point guard and center as the Heat's free safety. This is an unusual task for Lebron James to try. As the team's best perimeter defenders, Wade and James need to help out on their team's poor perimeter defense. Bosh is a fine athlete at defending the paint. Wade and James know that they have his back. Miami needs a center who can thrive on the running game with Lebron and Dwyane. That will make Heat basketball much more fun to watch. I think that having an athletic center will help Wade and James' transition games from the fast break to the defensive boards easier to play with. At the point guard position, I think they need a point guard like who Miami acquired recently, Mike Bibby, to play some point, make some shots, and pass the ball to spots where Wade and James like to have in isolation plays. If the Heat can solve their problems at the point guard and center position, they will be able to figure out why they crumble at clutch time to the best teams in the NBA.

Keys to the Miami Heat Success 2010-2011

1) Give Lebron James and Dwyane Wade lots of isolation plays. They'll love you because they like to score with the basketball. When James or Wade are double-teamed, pass it to the open man. From there, it is up to the open man to make the jump shot.

2) Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are your free safetys on defense. The rest of the Heat team are primary perimeter defenders. James and Wade are to help out on defense with their athleticism. Have no fear, Erick Dampier, Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, James and Wade are your help defenders.

3) Lebron James and Dwyane Wade do not become distributors with the basketball. They hold onto the ball and score whenever they feel like it. The Heat offense will suffer because James and Wade miss shots. When James and Wade grab those defensive rebounds, it's a race to the end to the basket. Their speed and athleticism will help them get by opponents as they score points with one-hand rebounds. It all starts on the defensive end.

4) The Miami offense is stagnant when James, Wade, and Bosh make most of the shots. The Heat are a better offensive team, if their teammates (Mike Miller, Mike Bibby, James Jones, Mario Chalmers) make shots too as well.

Basketball Thoughts #8

I think the Miami Heat are staggering a bit. They're swaggering. They're talking. They're breathing. Play! Play! Stop talking! No wonder why Lebron James misses free throws. When he gets the ball in the closing seconds of ball games, he needs to go strong to the basket and finish the play. Quit laying the ball up in the hoop. That's why he got blocked by Amare Stoudemire in the closing seconds of the Heat-Knicks game when they lost 91-86 on February 27. Wade and Bosh didn't help out on James when he lost control of the basketball. The Heat lost the game when they had a big lead. The same thing happened again today on March 3rd. The Heat were up by 24 points and lost the lead and eventually lost their composure on the ball game. If the Heat losing ball games like this were the playoffs, I'd be in trouble. There's still time to shape up and toughen up and win in those tight, closing seconds of those ball games the Heat just keep on losing.