August 26, 200521 yr In the course of a day last week, the offices at AmericanAirlines Arena became so hectic, so overheated with activity that word is three of Pat Riley's hairs came out of place. That's the price you pay when you agree to give Shaquille O'Neal $100 million and you acquire three starting-caliber players for Eddie Jones and a pair of spare parts. And you do it all with time for a nap before dinner. Despite the flurry of activity that brought Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey to Miami, though, a frosty fact hangs over the Heat: It's hard to envision Miami getting much further than it did last season, not with the Pacers back at full strength, not with the Pistons preparing to add veteran help off the bench and not with the Cavaliers having such a bang-up offseason. The Heat still has one more shot to add talent with its full midlevel exception, and how it uses that money could be a make-or-break decision. Miami's plan calls for Williams to play point guard, with Dwyane Wade at shooting guard, Posey (or, possibly, a player to be signed) at small forward, Udonis Haslem at power forward and O'Neal in the middle. Walker would be the sixth man. That's a better lineup than last season's, and with O'Neal heading into the twilight of his career, there's no doubt the Heat must do all it can to win now. But it won't be good enough to win the East, even in the unlikely event that the addition of Walker and Williams -- known as much for boneheaded antics as for their talent -- creates no chemistry problems. The Heat sorely is lacking in 3-point shooting. Williams and Walker are very willing to take 3-pointers, but, mind you, that's much different than being able to make 3s. Williams is a career 31.5 percent shooter from beyond the arc, and Walker is at 32.6 percent. O'Neal is at his best when he is surrounded by quality perimeter shooters. The Heat has none. Miami also lacks the backcourt defense to stop the likes of Detroit's Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton, who killed the Heat last postseason. If Cleveland goes with a big backcourt of Admin Hughes and LeBron James or if the Pacers go with Jamaal Tinsley and Ron Artest, the Heat will face similar problems. Miami hopes adding Williams will induce the team to run more. But Williams' reputation for running the fast break is overblown, thanks to his trick-passing past. He's turnover-prone and prefers to pull up for jumpers rather than attack the rim. Besides, no team with a big lug such as O'Neal in the middle truly can be a running team. Ultimately, even with all the tinkering the Heat has done, Miami's championship hopes will rest with the same thing they did last season: health. The Heat will need the cosmic forces of injury to nip other top teams in the East and clear a path to The Finals, much as injuries to Wade and O'Neal torpedoed the Heat's chances at beating the Pistons last season. The flood of early-August personnel moves was nice but not enough. ? 2005 The Sporting News http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8888436/
August 26, 200521 yr The Cavaliers? Did they clone LeBron? So they say our team is better...but that won't be enough to win the East. They seem to have conveniently forgotten that we were one Damon Jones mishap from making the Finals last year, even with a banged up Shaq and Wade. Also, way not to even mention the possibility of Michael Finley signing.
August 26, 200521 yr I'm remembering all these anti-offseason threads Accord posted when the Heat win it all next year.
August 26, 200521 yr wouldnt it be interesting if Finley signed with the Spurs. oh ya, the Spurs contingent was awesome. Gregg Popovich. Thats it. No bells and whistles like everyone else, just the head man and telling him how it is. Cant beat that.
August 26, 200521 yr wouldnt it be interesting if Finley signed with the Spurs. oh ya, the Spurs contingent was awesome. Gregg Popovich. Thats it. No bells and whistles like everyone else, just the head man and telling him how it is. Cant beat that. 916667[/snapback] To be fair, the Heat only brought Riley and SVG to meet with Finley. Plus we have more money to offer Finley and a starting role.
August 26, 200521 yr The way the Heat are heading, images of the 2003-2004 Lakers are dancing in my head.
August 26, 200521 yr Author I'm remembering all these anti-offseason threads Accord posted when the Heat win it all next year. 916647[/snapback] :lol
August 26, 200521 yr Author The way the Heat are heading, images of the 2003-2004 Lakers are dancing in my head. 916924[/snapback] Completely agree.
August 26, 200521 yr The way the Heat are heading, images of the 2003-2004 Lakers are dancing in my head. 916924[/snapback] That Laker team didn't win the title because Payton and Malone were past their primes, they had no depth, and because Malone was injured against the Pistons, not because of too many stars or chemistry issues.
August 26, 200521 yr Accord, how many times do you want to let us all know you didn't agree with the latest trade? How many more anti-articles do you plan on gracing us with? POINT TAKEN Jesus. Anyway, I really don't care for this article. I believe we're going somewhere this tear, Finley or no Finley. Plus, this Lakers comparison is just ridiculous. The fact that Shaq actually likes Dwyane is even enough of an argument.
August 27, 200521 yr wouldnt it be interesting if Finley signed with the Spurs. oh ya, the Spurs contingent was awesome. Gregg Popovich. Thats it. No bells and whistles like everyone else, just the head man and telling him how it is. Cant beat that. 916667[/snapback] To be fair, the Heat only brought Riley and SVG to meet with Finley. Plus we have more money to offer Finley and a starting role. 916786[/snapback] umm...dont forget all the images and whatnot produced by the organization.
August 27, 200521 yr I don't know, man. The less is more approach to free agency doesn't seem to work that often. Really, it doesn't work for any interview-type situation. More is more, as long as you don't seem desperate. And I don't think the Heat are desperate.
August 27, 200521 yr wouldnt it be interesting if Finley signed with the Spurs. oh ya, the Spurs contingent was awesome. Gregg Popovich. Thats it. No bells and whistles like everyone else, just the head man and telling him how it is. Cant beat that. 916667[/snapback] To be fair, the Heat only brought Riley and SVG to meet with Finley. Plus we have more money to offer Finley and a starting role. 916786[/snapback] umm...dont forget all the images and whatnot produced by the organization. 917190[/snapback] He never got to see those images.
August 27, 200521 yr I'm sure his agent or someone informed him about the banners. I mean, the whole purpose was for him to know about them. This is what they look like, if anyone was wondering: I don't really think it was a desperate move, just a little over the top. It's kind of false advertising though because I bet plenty of people who don't follow the Heat as closely think he's on the Heat now.
August 27, 200521 yr wouldnt it be interesting if Finley signed with the Spurs. oh ya, the Spurs contingent was awesome. Gregg Popovich. Thats it. No bells and whistles like everyone else, just the head man and telling him how it is. Cant beat that. 916667[/snapback] To be fair, the Heat only brought Riley and SVG to meet with Finley. Plus we have more money to offer Finley and a starting role. 916786[/snapback] umm...dont forget all the images and whatnot produced by the organization. 917190[/snapback] He never got to see those images. 917385[/snapback] Yes I'm sure he is not blind to their existence, I mean my point was that other teams used all types of bells and whistles.....the banners are....bells and whistles the spurs used gregg popovich and thats it. just simply an observation I'm sure his agent or someone informed him about the banners. I mean, the whole purpose was for him to know about them. This is what they look like, if anyone was wondering: I don't really think it was a desperate move, just a little over the top. It's kind of false advertising though because I bet plenty of people who don't follow the Heat as closely think he's on the Heat now. 917403[/snapback] it was over the top, its similar to what orlando did for grant hill and tim duncan a number of years back, what was it 2000 or 2001? I dont know why Miami did it, but to each their own, not a huge deal, it all is going to ultimately come down to what Finley wants...because the money shouldnt be that huge of an issue considering Cubes will be paying him some 50 million in the next couple of years.
August 27, 200521 yr wouldnt it be interesting if Finley signed with the Spurs. oh ya, the Spurs contingent was awesome. Gregg Popovich. Thats it. No bells and whistles like everyone else, just the head man and telling him how it is. Cant beat that. 916667[/snapback] To be fair, the Heat only brought Riley and SVG to meet with Finley. Plus we have more money to offer Finley and a starting role. 916786[/snapback] umm...dont forget all the images and whatnot produced by the organization. 917190[/snapback] He never got to see those images. 917385[/snapback] Yes I'm sure he is not blind to their existence, I mean my point was that other teams used all types of bells and whistles.....the banners are....bells and whistles the spurs used gregg popovich and thats it. just simply an observation I'm sure his agent or someone informed him about the banners. I mean, the whole purpose was for him to know about them. This is what they look like, if anyone was wondering: I don't really think it was a desperate move, just a little over the top. It's kind of false advertising though because I bet plenty of people who don't follow the Heat as closely think he's on the Heat now. 917403[/snapback] it was over the top, its similar to what orlando did for grant hill and tim duncan a number of years back, what was it 2000 or 2001? I dont know why Miami did it, but to each their own, not a huge deal, it all is going to ultimately come down to what Finley wants...because the money shouldnt be that huge of an issue considering Cubes will be paying him some 50 million in the next couple of years. 917410[/snapback] Good point, also Phoenix went way over the top for Finley. But the difference between the Heat and Spurs is that we can offer him a starting role while the Spurs can't.
August 27, 200521 yr Phoenix offers a chance to play with Steve Nash again, that's not too shabby either considering they're good friends. Ultimately though, I believe it will be between the Spurs and Heat. He could go either way, really.
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