Could Chris Bosh Get Extended Minutes as a First Option on the Miami Heat?
On a team like the Miami Heat, shots are going to come sparingly to those not associated with the big three.
It’s basically set up like ‘Reaganomics’ or the trickle-down effect where the biggest stars get the most shots and the role players get the remainder of shots that are left to take. The only problem with that is there aren’t too many shots for players like Mario Chalmers or Mike Miller to get into a stable rhythm, and it could cause the offense to lean too heavily on the shoulders of the big three.
Most of the time though, the big three becomes a big two with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade playing the role of the duo and Chris Bosh on the outside looking in. Can you blame them though?
They’re the two most prolific scorers and finishers in the game and could change the outlook of any game within seconds because of how quickly they work. If you want to win a game, James and Wade have proven many times before that they’re the ones to call.
The Miami Heat finished 58-24 with a No. 2 seed, an Eastern Conference crown and an NBA Finals appearance thanks to those two leading the way. With James and Wade constantly threatening slashing over the course of the game, it allowed the Heat to tire out their opponents by the fourth quarter, which gave them the advantage on both sides of the ball.
Athleticism greatly played a huge role under those circumstances since Wade and James were able to persist into the fourth quarter while the oppositions defense might have been too winded to keep with the two for another quarter.
It also helps when you have three different players that you could rely on at any time to keep your team in contention throughout the entirety of the game.
We know how James and Wade play, and we know how prolific they can be when leading their team to victory. In the second half of just about every game during the post season, those two were being depended on to end games against the likes of the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks.
The only problem was that the coaching staff failed to acknowledge that there was a third option just as capable of supporting a team than either of those two.
Chris Bosh spent his first seven seasons on a Toronto Raptors franchise whose second best player was Andrea Bargnani or Jose Calderon for most of the time. A player who had averaged over 20 points per for five consecutive seasons before joining the Miami Heat was being vastly ignored on too many occasions throughout the season, and it might have cost the team a title considering that they were still attempting to work LeBron James into the offense rather than giving Bosh an increased role.
I’ve stated before that Bosh may be the most important player on this team, and I’ll continue to stand by it because of just how significant he is to this Heat team. He’s the best rebounder on the team not named Udonis Haslem, the most consistent mid-range threat, and is a terrific slasher for a player of his size. Bosh is one of the fastest players off the dribble, and there aren’t too many power forwards or centers who can stay in front of him.
With so few consistent jump shooters on this team, you would think that the Heat would defer to Bosh a little more than they usually do. When there are no jump shooters on the floor, it allows defenses to collapse on slashers like Wade and James who spend the majority of their time in the paint and prohibit the offense from moving, which then makes it stagnant and keeps the ball at the perimeter.
The Miami Heat proved to us last season that they’re built for the postseason, and it clearly showed when they went 8-2 against the Celtics and Bulls as opposed to the 1-7 they went against both teams in the regular season.
Knowing that this team is most likely to coast through the regular season one more time, why not give Chris Bosh a chance to prove that he can lead an offense by letting the ball run through him?
I only remember a few occasions where the Heat made an effort to feed Bosh throughout the game with one of those instances coming in an early season against the Phoenix Suns where he scored 35 points, and throughout their Conference Finals series against the Bulls where Bosh dropped over 30 points twice and proved to be the X-factor in a series where the Heat trampled Chicago to a five-game series win.
If the team is going to allow Bosh to be a first option, they’re going to have to feed him early on. He’s an extremely emotional player, and he thrives heavily on his confidence which means that the ball is going to go to him early so he can establish a rhythm that he can carry on for the rest of the game.
Once Bosh gets into a good shooting rhythm and has the confidence to attack, he’s capable of being one of the deadliest players in the league because of how multi-dimensional he is.
Aside from just feeding Bosh for his scores, it also means that the offense gets into a better flow that allows James and Wade to learn how to play off the ball. The Heat attempted to run the offense last year with neither player controlling the ball, and it was an ugly sight sometimes considering that neither player had played in a system where the offense wasn’t revolving around them since joining the NBA.
With the ball in Bosh’s hands, you draw attention off of the perimeter which is already a huge advantage for the Heat since they have two slashers who crave driving any chance they get. The focal point of every team’s defense when they play the Miami Heat is to limit Dwyane Wade and LeBron James at all costs and the team could throw a wrench into those plans by establishing Bosh as the focal point of their offense instead.
The opposing defense then gets centered around Bosh, which allows more room for Wade and James to cut to the rim and continue learning how to play without the ball in their hands. The beauty of this Miami Heat team is that even though there’s an extreme drop off in the quality of the players on this team after Bosh is that the team could still greatly rely on two of those three players to carry them in an entire game.
Most of the time though, all three players are working at a high rate since they’re all terrific offensive stars and two of them are famed defenders. Another great thing about the Heat is that it’s impossible to limit all three of them since a double-team is needed to at least stop one player against the majority of teams. It’s a rare sight to see Wade or James get shut down by one player, and it causes other teams to load up on those players.
Bosh as a first option will be an experiment that needs to be seen at least a few times during the regular season in preparation for the postseason. To be equipped with a deadly mid-range shooter and one of the fastest power forwards and not use him correctly is something that the Miami Heat are going to need to improve on and soon.
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LeBron James: 3 Reasons Extended Lockout Is Helping King James and Miami Heat
After LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh fell just short of an NBA title last season, they clearly aren’t far from obtaining one.
While many teams will struggle to assimilate back to NBA life after the lockout concludes, the Miami Heat‘s core will mostly remain the same, allowing them to continue to build right where they left off.
Pat Riley will only have a few minor tweaks to make to the current roster, as the Heat came extremely close to winning an NBA championship with the superstar theory being barely outdone by the Dallas Mavericks.
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‘NBA 2K12′ braces for extended lockout (AP)
Video game makers are bracing for an extended NBA lockout by focusing on former players who made the league popular in hopes of taking the attention away from the impact labor strife will have on their product. In the upcoming “NBA 2K12,” which goes on sale Oct. 4 despite the lockout, 2K Sports plans to introduce a new mode called, NBA’s Greatest, that will feature the league’s…
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NBA Lockout: 10 Consequences of an Extended Work Stoppage
The NFL’s labor parties averted a doomsday scenario by concluding Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations just before the scheduled start of training camps. That lockout’s lone casualty, the Hall of Fame exhibition in Canton, should not matter to anyone outside of the area.
I tried to compile a list of items, events and people more stolid and useless than the annual Ohio joust. Kim Kardashian’s embarrassing single “Jam,” Final Destination 5 and those plastic singing fishes came to mind.
Point being, the league’s work stoppage did not cause any irreparable damage. Roger Goodell escaped unscathed. Few will remember that fans booed him at the 2011 draft two years from now.
My reaction when I hear others rejoice that “football is back:” where did it go?
Barring a miracle save, the NBA stands to lose a lot in its CBA dispute. Basketball will leave for at least a month or two. I can almost guarantee missed games without boasting marvelous inside connections or exclusive access to the boardroom.
Even Beavis and Butthead would say, “Uh, this sucks.” Prepare for a contentious clash as gruesome as a Susan Boyle sex tape and as unforgiving as Clint Eastwood in kill mode.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss forked up $112 million for a team that bowed in the second round.
For those living under city-block-size boulders, a band of distraught, mostly small-market owners wishes the system prohibited Mr. Buss from embarrassing them so. Despite the drivel peddled to you that the chiefs want a new deal that allows all 30 franchises to compete for a championship (thanks for that priceless quote, Adam Silver), understand that many of these supposed revolutionaries are just tired of looking like cheapskates.
The much bandied about hard cap, would lessen the gulf between the highest and lowest spenders. The NBA’s biggest problem, in this writer’s mind, is that both of those organizations operate in California. It doesn’t help that the Lakers and Sacramento Kings also boast the most and least lucrative local television deals.
Do not put any stock in the slated Monday meeting. The players and owners will negotiate with urgency and purpose when the lockout begins to injure the bottom line.
Only when those checkbooks become susceptible to a Tonya Harding-esque beating will either side rush back to the bargaining table.
This cockamamie rumpus forced already substantial personnel cuts and threatens to swallow much more than just the careers of team employees and scouts. Thank David Stern for his staggering sanctimoniousness in this opaque cataclysm.
“[The 1999 lockout] provided an instructive lesson,” he said at his All-Star weekend news conference.
It wasn’t instructive enough. The two sides sit in the same catastrophic position 13 years later, with no resolution in sight.
The obvious question here—whether any work-related dispute is ever worth such carnage—is a topic for another column. What matters now is that owners want the players to solve the league’s financial crisis by giving back salary privileges decades in the making, and the players think the owners can accomplish most of their objectives with robust revenue sharing.
Until one labor party moves closer to the other or makes a significant concession, expect darkness to shroud the NBA.
If labor Armageddon forces the cancellation of the entire 2011-2012 campaign, Stern might rue the casualties 10 years from now. Some pundits might argue the sport had just recovered from its last infuriating quarrel when this one began.
Every die-hard hoops fan should hope for that unlikely revelation. Can we survive an entire fall with college pigskin, heaping helpings of Peyton Manning and no professional ballers on the hardwood? Please excuse me while I suppress the vomit approaching my esophagus.
Here are 10 consequences of an extended layoff and a terminated season. Some qualify as positive developments, while others will stain the product for years.
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NBA Rumors: Why Kobe Bryant Benefits from Extended NBA Lockout
Kobe Bryant is easily one of the toughest players in the Association. He is the NBA’s iron man, as he plays year in and year out with a myriad of injuries—fingers to knees to ankles and even a boo-boo to the back of his head after sliding into one of the chairs courtside at the Staples Center.
Today, we wake up from a difficult night of sleep as the current lockout haunts our every thought. We have nightmares of the looming possibility of missing the entire 2011 season.
Yet Kobe sleeps tight as he now recuperates from offseason knee surgery in Germany.
According to Mike Bresnahan and Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times:
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has taken an unusual step to try to strengthen his ailing right knee, undergoing an innovative procedure in Germany about a month ago, according to four people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly. The treatment is a derivation of platelet-rich plasma therapy. PRP procedures are less invasive than many surgeries involving the knee and are viewed as either an emerging solution to knee problems or a financial gamble on unproven science.
Kobe looked visibly aged, bruised and battered during the postseason for the first time in his illustrious career. It was the first time doubt ever crossed my mind regarding the future Hall of Famer’s abilities on the court.
Attempting a fourth-straight finals appearance clearly took its toll on his body, which is why an extended offseason works in his favor, but an extended lockout would prove to be his fountain of youth.
Kobe, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and the rapidly aging superstars of their ilk might be wishing for the entire season to be lost so they can heal their bodies and regain lost form. An extended lockout would extend their careers and allow them to come back in 2012 rejuvenated and ready for a legitimate championship run.
Two to three months off is simply not enough time to rest for these men, especially Bryant, as he will need to regain lost strength in his knee.
If we are forced to miss a season, we can only expect Bryant to come back feeling five, maybe 10 years younger than he does now. He would dominate this league once again, as he would return healthier than he has been in years, quicker, stronger and more mentally prepared.
The current crop of superstars—Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade—should not be worried less about lost time or potential pay cuts due to the potential lengthy lockout and more about the return of the a Black Mamba unleashed from his cage.
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Kansas’ home win streak barely extended (AP)
Mario Little hit a free throw with seven-tenths of a second remaining, lifting No. 4 Kansas to a pulsating 77-76 victory over UCLA on Thursday night, extending the Jayhawks’ team-record string of homecourt wins. Tyler Honeycutt had 33 points for UCLA, including a 3-pointer with 5 seconds to go that tied the score between two of basketball’s most storied programs at 76-76.
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Why the NBA Age Limit Is Unfair and Why It Should Be Extended
It’s no secret that David Stern wants to extend the NBA age limit rule, making high school players wait two years before they could enter the draft.
Despite detractors on both sides of the issue, extending the rule isn’t about the players, the college game or even the NBA.
It’s what’s best for the game of basketball itself. And that’s why Stern’s wish should come true.
Speaking on behalf of the players, Congressman Steve Cohen, who represents the recruiting hotbed of Memphis, gave a forceful interview with the New York Times about Stern’s proposal:
Cohen said that one of his primary arguments against the rule, which is part of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and union, was that soldiers can fight for their country at age 18 but not play in the N.B.A. He also noted that predominantly white sports like hockey, baseball and golf lack similar restrictions.
The age limits rule’s detractors aren’t just on the players side; former coaches like Indiana’s Bobby Knight have expressed concerns about forcing kids to take classes who don’t want to be there damages the integrity of the game.
The age limit rule was never about its stated intention—improving player development and getting high schoolers more ready for professional basketball.
Preps-to-pro players have been overwhelmingly successful in the NBA; the careers of future hall of famers like Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant certainly weren’t affected by missing out on college. For physically mature players like LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire, there was hardly even a transition phase—both were rookies of the year.
The rules’ proponents often point to the many young high schoolers who never made it but just as many four-year seniors, if not more, bust out of the NBA every year.
In reality, the rule was designed to strengthen the college game and make NCAA basketball resemble NCAA football.
College sports play an important role for both the NFL and the NBA—the free promotion of the sport in more rural parts of the country and the construction of ready-made narratives for the league’s young players.
Tim Tebow, without playing a snap of pro football, already has one of the highest-selling jerseys.
In his one year at UT, Kevin Durant created countless fans willing to follow him on the next level, to the point where the Thunder have scheduled exhibition games in Austin. Even when his team struggled through a 3-29 start in his second year, Durant was still marked for stardom by national columnists like Bill Simmons because of his days at Texas.
If he had come straight out of high school and then played in relative obscurity for bad teams in a small market like Oklahoma City, no one would know who he was. But now, after one playoff series against the Lakers and starring in an international competition no one watched, Durant is one of the league’s biggest stars.
In David Stern’s ideal universe, LeBron would have spent two seasons winning collegiate player of the year awards at Ohio State, racking up comparisons to Kareem and Bill Walton. His image, instead of being defined by a shoe company, would have been defined by exploits in the (seemingly) pure NCAA Tournament.
The anticipation for his entrance to the NBA, while similar in intensity to the anticipation of his debut in Miami, would have been the complete opposite in terms of fan approval.
None of this makes it any fairer for truly hard-luck cases like Oklahoma City’s Byron Mullens, who grew up in dire poverty and whose family desperately needed the money he could have provided as an NBA first-round pick out of high school.
But what makes an extension of the age limit palatable, despite Cohen’s objections and stories like Mullens,’ are the growing number of options young basketball players have.
Brandon Jennings blazed the trail in terms of going to Europe and making money without sacrificing his NBA career, while Latavious Williams, a completely disinterested student, earned a living playing in the NBDL last year before being drafted by the Thunder.
What players have to remember is that their physical abilities can lead them to successful careers only because of the game of basketball itself.
Without basketball, Mullens would be a freak gawked at in public—too tall and uncoordinated to try any other professional sport. He owes the game something, and if that’s a two-year internship playing collegiate basketball, then so be it.
The game of basketball is better served in America by the NCAA being a functional minor-league system, promoting its star players in regions of the country—Tobacco Road, the Upper Northwest and the Great Plains—with few NBA teams.
It’s not fair, especially considering the people benefiting off these young basketball players’ labor—the wealthy boosters that run college athletic departments, non-scholarship players for sports like golf and tennis and the student bodies of elite schools, the majority of whom come from vastly different economic backgrounds.
But life isn’t fair either, and that’s maybe the most valuable lesson these players could learn at college anyway.
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UConn’s deadline to respond to NCAA allegations extended
The NCAA is giving Connecticut another week to respond to allegations that the school’s basketball program committed eight major rules violations. …
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Seton Hall’s Herb Pope released after extended hospital stay
Seton Hall forward Herb Pope is back home resting after a nearly month-long stay in a hospital. Pirates athletic director Joe Quinlan confirmed …
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NBA Daily Dribbles: Extended Stay in New York for Tracy McGrady?
What I’m Reading
• So T-Mac can still play. Duh. In other news, the Knicks may have to part with David Lee if they intend on making a run for LeBron. They’re OK with that…Duh.
• Good one, Utah. Make your franchise point guard upset, why don’t you?
• So much for the Clippers being a realistic option for LeBron in 2010-2011.
• The Pistons know their weakness. They’re tiny. But they didn’t do anything at the deadline to help themselves out. Maybe this summer?
• Drew Gooden is quickly becoming Joe Smith. This is not a good thing for Drew Gooden.
What I Think About It
McGrady
“If he’s healthy,” McGrady’s former coach Jeff Van Gundy said Saturday,”Believe me; if Tracy is healthy over the last 29 games, you can put him in the conversation with the rest of the top free agents in 2010. That’s how good he is.”
Bold statement. But let’s face it; Van Gundy’s a bold guy.
But is there some truth to Van Gundy’s comments? Believe it or not, there might be.
In his initial game with the Knicks, McGrady dropped 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting against the Thunder in 32 minutes. In all likelihood, he was probably showing off in his debut. But there has to be some validity to McGrady’s line on Saturday.
The Knicks might not want him to play that good for the rest of the season, however.
If they know he still has the ability to be an elite member of the league, they’d obviously like to keep him. But if he’s looking for max money, they can’t. It interferes with their pursuit of LeBron.
Ideal situation: Tracy performs well yet under the radar, and they are able to resign him. Then LeBron sees this and signs with the Knicks. Left out of the situation? David Lee.
Jazz
I’m sure Jazz management would defend their trade deadline action by claiming that they had a gut feeling that Ronnie Brewer had it coming and was bound to injure himself.
But that, of course, is ludicrous.
And Deron Williams has a right to be upset.
“I think if we’d make a trade it would be something a little different than that,” Williams said, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “You look at all the teams that are getting better around the West and we essentially get worse, if you ask me.”
Well, yeah. Brewer wasn’t outstanding, but if you take away a starter who averaged 9.5 points a game and don’t get anything in return except for a draft pick, your team is going to get worse. Simple.
Williams will be entering the second to last year of his deal next season. I wouldn’t expect him to want to stick around Utah much longer if they continue to impede his chances of winning a title.
His escalating contract does include a player option for 2012-2013 for near $18 million, but he’s likely going to test the market.
LeBron
Alright, I wouldn’t be so quick to write off any of these teams. The assumption that James would be reluctant to play second fiddle to Kobe in L.A. is a bit shortsighted.
He’d always technically take a backseat to Bryant, but it would be like playing second chair to Kobe’s first in the London Symphony Orchestra. In the grand scheme of things, he’s basically just as good and will get nearly the same amount of attention.
If he went to L.A., he’d create a buzz that the city has never seen before. He’d be in the spotlight, and the rivalry between LeBron and Kobe would vault to astronomical proportions. Writing about the mere speculation of this is getting me excited already.
And to bring things back to an east coast mentality, he could still feasibly end up in either New Jersey or Miami.
Getting to hang out with Jay-Z on a regular basis is an extremely underrated draw, in my opinion. If I had the option to do so, I would jump at it immediately.
And LeBron and Wade teaming up still can’t be ruled, either. They’d love to get together, sign long-term max deals, and have a solid five years to take a stab at a championship.
Pistons
For a team that has detailed itself as a big-man, defense-first organization over the years, it’s tough to grasp the current situation of the Pistons not having a viable low-post player. But it’s true.
Kwame Brown, Charlie Villanueva, Chris Wilcox, Jason Maxiell, Jonas Jerebko, and the Afro-Formerly-Known-as-Ben Wallace aren’t going to cut it.
And they didn’t do anything at the deadline to get bigger, stronger, or even meaner.
They’re going to be re-tooling over the summer. They might be looking to move franchise players Tayshaun Price and Rip Hamilton, as well, as they reconstruct what was once a solid franchise.
Joe Dumars is due for another blockbuster trade. Expect it to come before the start of next season—potentially even before the draft.
Drew Gooden
Eight seasons. Eight teams.
How did this happen to Drew Gooden?
The NBA’s developing journey man has certifiably transformed himself from promising young talent to solid role player to annual trade bait.
Where will he end up next season? Possibly Minnesota? He hasn’t explored the northern half of the States much yet. It might be a nice change for him.
He might even consider making it a goal of his to play for every NBA team. He doesn’t exactly have much else to define his career up to this point, except for one awkward patch of hair .
Go for it, Drew.
‘Til Tuesday…
PD
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