Haslem and Miller are both shells of themselves, I said they were good last year but watching them this year, you can tell the lockout effected them.
Any guy in their 30s will be a shell of themselves, and most any notable role player will be an aged veteran that is no longer a star but still has the skills, minus the physical decay. Haslem is doing what he does best, rebounding, at as good of a rate as he has his entire career. His minutes are down, but his rate is as good as ever.
Miller, while not playing a ton of minutes, is shooting the ball as well as he has his entire career. Like Haslem, his rebounding rate is as good as ever as well. Miller is especially not what he used to be, but as a former Olympian, his fall from grace has him down to the level of "role player".
You can read into the Heat however you'd like, I still think they'd be better off with Wade + Bosh and lots of other players who can fill in the positions vs. the team now, or asking the big 3 to take a 2-3mm cut and be able to fill in around them with players that can fill in if one of the big 3 actually get injured for a sustained amount of time. Especially with Wade right now, it'll be interesting to see what the pace of the playoffs will do to him with the physicality.
I know you don't like Lebron, many people don't
like him. But to say the Heat would be better taking four quarters for a dollar at the expense of Lebron is odd. He is in the middle of what is statistically the best season any player has ever had in the history of the league. His dominance on both ends of the floor is something to behold, and the blur offense variant the Heat are running is only possible because of his skillset. That is why they held strong with Wade out. I'm pretty sure if Leborn were out, Wade himself couldn't drive the blur offense.
The biggest difference I see with this year's Heat versus last year, even moreso than the extra time to gel, is the depth. Not only is their second unit entirely composed of players that weren't part of their second unit last year, but they fill in for Wade and Lebron. Lebron was logging absurd minutes in the playoffs last year, and not in a good way. They had no real way of taking him out of the game and replacing his minutes. Eddie House? James Jones? This year Miller or Battier can step in and hold the fort down for 8-10 minutes.
No worries, no one ever agrees with me about the Heat. They won't win the championship this year, even if they make it.
They were three baskets away from sweeping the Mavs last year. That is awfully close to a championship, in fact it was one of the closest Finals in a long time. Since then the team has gelled, created an offensive identity and found considerable depth. If all those things aren't worth 3 more baskets in the grand scheme of things, then I don't know what else they can do.
It isn't like the Bulls did anything at all to better match up with the Heat. OKC is almost a mirror of the Heat in that they have their big three and a bunch of pieces after them, that can only amplify what the big three do, but never stand on their own.
Dwight Howard has told teammates and associates that he will play the option year of his contract with the Magic, sources have confirmed.
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