Recap: There have been worse teams than the 07 Heat but none of them had two hall of famers on their team. The Heat went 15-67, just one year removed from the playoffs and two years removed from a championship. To say this team crashed faster than the stock market may be an understatement. D. Wade and Shaq were a big part of this disaster, Wade tired to come back from off-season shoulder surgery but it was clear from the get go that he was not 100%. Wade never had the same explosion that he had from years previous and by mid season he was done. One thing i can say for Wade is that at least he tried out there, the same cannot be said for Shaq. The Big Diesel limped through the first have of the season with his usual mentailty of im saving myself for the playoffs. Problem with that was there was not going to be any playoffs and Shaq was aware of this, so he packed it in, Manny Ramirez style and got traded to phoenix where suddenly he showed some life. Luckily for the heat they got a steal and got Shawn Marion in the deal. Shaq and Wade were not the only problems for the Heat though. Miami mortgaged away their future in order to win a championship, and well that bill came due last year. Jay Williams and Zo both broke down, and so when that happen the Heat turned to Ricky Davis, and Penny Hardaway to fix the bleeding, but neither helped.The only positive last season had was that they realized that they sucked so they began to tank it, and boy o boy did that pay off because they ended getting Michael Beasley who will come in and have an immediate impact.
Strength: Speed. This may be the new Suns, really. Your probably laughing but I'm dead serious no bullshit. The Heat picked up Shaun Livingston who if can stay healthy solves their point guard issue, i mean the kid is a potential stud still. Then you have Wade, If and i mean IF we see the Wade of the Olympics than i hereby put the rest of the league on notice to watch out. Wade when healthy can penetrate the lane as good as anyone. Then we have the matrix and Beasley, both are young, fast, and agile. Marion can slice and dice as well as shoot and rebound, Beasley is going to give you 17ppg and get around 7boards. With this type of team there is no reason that they cant score 100 points a game.
Weakness: Inside Scoring. This is obvioius. There 4 is Beasley and there 5 is Haslem. Beasley is going to be good, really good but he is a rookie and is going to have games when you just wont be able to rely on him, which takes us to Haslem. Haslem is well..., special yea special is the word im looking for. I mean the guy is not going on there and getting you 15-20 points a night, i mean just look at the guy he looks like predator with a touch of down syndrome. With that said the guy tries so i cant totally shit on him but hes undersized to be the teams center.
Outlook: I think i am the only person who truly believes in this team to the point that if they are fully healthy they can make a run at the Celtics and be in the Conference championship. All of the following have to occur for my prediction to come true. 1. Shaun Livingston can make it through an entire season an play like the lottery pick he was, he has so much raw talent its not even funny, when ever you tell me your staring point guard is only 1 inch smaller than your small forward and 2 inches smaller than your power forward im gonna tell you that you have a pretty dam good player. 2. IF Dwayne Wade can make it through the year. Wade was without a doubt the best player on the court every game during the Olympics, yes better than Kobe, and LeBrick, and it wasn't even close friends. If Wade stays healthy he will be in the MVP talks and will carry the team a long ways and deep into the playoffs. 3. Can Beasley live up to the hype. I think he can. Beside O.J. Mayo Michael Beasley was the next college player ready for the NBA. Now he wont average 26 ppg like he did at K-State but that doesn't mean that he wont get his numbers. I see Beasley being this years Kevin Durant, coming in getting 17 and 7 a night, and if the the Heat get that then mark my words this is a team that will contend for one of the top spots in the East. With all this said i truly believe all this will happen, i understand they have a rookie head coach that no one has ever heard of that's ok because he will relate good with this young team. Let me be the first to say that the Heat will be there, where is there you may ask ill tell you. There gonna be in the Garden for game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Prediction : 48-34
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