2010-11 Season Preview: Miami Heat

Overview

The circus surrounding this team is unmistakable, the hype is like nothing I’ve seen since MJ picked up a baseball bat, and if I were a betting man, I’d say that if the Heat don’t win it all this season, next summer will be ever more intense in South Beach. So, the real question is what may hold them back from a championship this year.

Roster

Name Pos Yrs 2009-10 Stats
Joel Anthony C 3 2.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG
Carlos Arroyo G 8 6.1 PPG, 3.1 APG
Chris Bosh* F 7 24.0 PPG, 10.8 RPG
Mario Chalmers G 4 7.1 PPG, 3.4 APG
Udonis Haslem F 7 9.9 PPG, 8.1 RPG
Eddie House* G 10 7.0 PPG, .923 FT%
Juwan Howard* F 16 6.0 PPG, 4.6 RPG
Zydrunas Ilgauskas* C 12 7.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG
LeBron James* F 7 29.7 PPG, 8.6 APG, 7.3 RPG
James Jones F 7 4.1 PPG, 1.3 RPG
Jamaal Magloire C 10 2.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG
Mike Miller* F 10 10.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG
Dexter Pittman* C R –
Jerry Stackhouse* F-G R 8.5 PPG, 1.7 APG
Dwayne Wade G R 26.6 PPG, 6.5 APG

* New to team

Head Coach: Erik Spoelstra
Assistant Coaches: Bob McAdoo, Keith Askins, Ron Rothstein, David Fizdale, Chad Kammerer

Meaningful Offseason Moves

  • Traded Daequan Cook and the 18th pick to Oklahoma City for a second-round pick
  • Drafted Dexter Pittman, Jarvis Varnado and Da’Sean Butler
  • Signed James Jones for 2-years, veteran’s minimum
  • Traded Michael Beasley to Minnesota for a 2011 second-round pick and a 2014 second-round pick
  • Re-signed Dwayne Wade for 6-years, $108 million
  • Traded a 2011 first-round pick and returned Toronto’s 2011 first round pick in a 6-year, $110 million sign-and-trade with the Raptors for Chris Bosh
  • Traded 2013 and 2015 first-round picks, a 2012 second-round pick from New Orleans, rights to a future second-rounder from Oklahoma City and right to exchange first-round picks in 2012 to Cleveland in a 6-year, $110 million sign-and-trade for LeBron James.
  • Released Quentin Richardson, Jermaine O’Neal and Dorell Wright
  • Signed Mike Miller for 5-years, $30 million
  • Re-signed Udonis Haslem for 5-years, $20 million
  • Signed Zydrunas Ilgauskas for 2-years, $18 million
  • Signed Joel Anthony for 5-years, $18 million
  • Re-signed Carlos Arroyo for 1-year, veteran’s minimum
  • Signed Eddie House for 2-years, veteran’s minimum
  • Signed Juwan Howard for 1-year, veteran’s minimum
  • Signed Jamaal Magloire for 1-year, veteran’s minimum

Why the Heat are Contenders

I had some initial trouble in thinking through this write-up, in that every blogger, pundit, fan and hater I know has a *strong* opinion about the Heat this season. Let’s be clear about one thing, the Hype Monster has taken it’s talents to South Beach as well. I read somewhere this morning that there will be something in the neighborhood of 500 accredited members of the press attending tonight’s Heat/Celtics match in Boston. Those are NBA Finals numbers. Everywhere I turn, I see more and more coverage getting thrown to the Heat storyline, to the point where ESPN has launched a new section of their site specifically focused on the day-to-day, hour-to-hour goings on of the Miami Heat and it’s players. The Heat Index will be staffed by four (though it may now be five) full time reporters and bloggers

I don’t want to get too meta on you here, but I find the orbiting hype media circus surrounding LeBron and Heat to be just an interesting storyline as the actual on-the-court storyline for this team.

(In fact, I just wrote – and promptly deleted – a 2 page rant about how seriously people are taking the move in an effort to prove that people shouldn’t take the move so seriously. Yes, I know. I’m just as guilty as anyone).

Let there be no mistake. The LeBron-to-Miami storyline is currently *the* top storyline of this upcoming season, eclipsing what was a great Finals featuring the league’s greatest rivalry, or the fact that both squads are re-loaded to face each other again, or that it’s probably Jackson’s last year as coach, or the rise of Kevin Durrant, or the prospect of the Knicks returning to relevance, or… or… or…

And, begrudgingly, I get it.

The success or failure of the Miami Heat this season is a big deal, if for no other reason than it features two of the biggest stars in the league – and Chris Bosh. 😉

It matters because Pat Riley is in the luxury box watching the games with a whiteboard in his briefcase, waiting to take the reigns from Coach Spoelstra at the first sign of trouble.

It matters because the Heat will be booed every time they take the floor on the road, and because their home crowd will go crazy after every LeBron dunk.

And it matters because every meaningful basketball pundit will be watching every game, looking for cracks.

Video

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~ by djepperson on October 26, 2010.

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