Miami Heat: 10 Reasons It Will Take The Heat Until Christmas to Hit Their Stride
The Miami Heat will be a magnificent team, it will just take until Christmas for it all to work out.
Please refrain from losing your collective heads. I am not a Heat hater. They are a great team already, without even playing one single season game together. They will make the playoffs and more than likely challenge to play in the Finals.
But I am of the opinion that it is not as easy as signing players then planning a parade. There is also that whole trivial thing of playing the games during the season too. The Heat will suffer growing plains as all contenders do. Their pain's will come in the first half. Here is how I see it.
10: Schedule
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The schedule is extremely important in the NBA. This is especially true for a team that is still trying to get to know one another. Largely the Heat will have extended stays at home until December when they go on their first extended road trip.
These road trips are crucial to the growth of a team. This is where a team grows as one unit. Being away from home allows for guys to hang out together and form a chemistry that translates to the court. The Heat will have to wait until early December for an extended road trip when they go on a west coast swing starting December 6th.
9: Bench Players' Comfort
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The first issue a newly formed team will have is with their bench players.
The sixth through ninth guys feed off the comfort they find in knowing their roles. Who is first off the bench? Mike Miller? Udonis Haslem? Where do players like James Jones and Juwon Howard fit in as far as minutes.
With so many new pieces, the bench players will be scrabbling early on to define their roles.
8: Starters Defining Themselves
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The Growing pains are not limited to just the role players. The big three could find issue in some of the roles coach Erik Spoelstra puts them into.
Every week a team will find themselves in a tough game that needs a last second shot to seal the win. The Heat have two fantastic closers in Wade and LeBron. However, the season is about grooming a player for moments he may have to excel at in June. So a good portion of high pressure plays will have to go to one of these players.
Wade and James are also great cutters through the lane. Which will be the man with the ball and who will be the slasher inside. All of these things are being worked out in their preliminary stages and it will be interesting to see where it goes.
7: The Heat Are Behind In Camaraderie
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The Heat have immense talent with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh leading their charge. Yet, they lack what the great teams in the East already have, camaraderie.
The Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, and Chicago Bulls are all contenders as well. The plus they have is that they bring back the same core they had a year ago. While the Heat roster is amazing, a complete overhaul is never a great proposition. Which brings me to...
6: Too Many New Players
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Dwayne Wade, Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Udonis Haslem are the only leftovers from last year's Heat team. Pat Riley essentially bought a whole new roster. What great teams like the Lakers and Celtics have found in their title runs is that sometimes pieces don't fit.
Their whole team is essentially new and untested in the Heat system. It will take some time before they can form their identity.
5: Coach Under Fire
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Pat Riley would love to coach this team. I know it. You know it. And Erik Spoelstra knows it. Riley has been known to kick coaches to the curb so he can wield himself a championship as he did with Stan Van Gundy.
This season may be no different. Spoelstra is a great coach but if the Heat falter even for a second he will be out and the hair slick will be in. This is another added amount of undue pressure for the young head coach.
4: They Have No Center
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So far, in six preseason games, Joel Anthony has 11 rebounds and two points. It may be the preseason but you would think he would have accidentally hit at least a free throw.
But, we knew this going into 2010-2011. Chris Bosh is a great power forward but what will hurt the Heat is he will have to score and rebound for two. In the East, with Howard, Noah and, when healthy, Perkins, this will not do at all.
3: Media Scrutiny
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The 2010-2011 Heat are a big deal. The Heat will remember this at every practice, away game, and event because the media will be swarming them. Meanwhile teams like the Lakers, Celtics, Magic and Bulls can sit back and improve, quietly working on their games without distractions. This is what the Heat will have to deal with all season, a big media distraction.
They can say they can handle it but it will get tired after a while. Every team loses close games and when the Heat lose theirs, they will have to answer questions ad nauseum.
2: Injuries
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Another season means another round of injuries. This is true for every team throughout the dawn of the Association. This is why the deeper teams are so successful. While the Heat may keep their stars healthy it is not a certainty. Both Wade and James are already nursing sore hamstrings.
Granted they are minor injuries that will heal soon. They are not exactly a comforting sign though. If Wade or James were to miss extended time for whatever reason the cost would be disastrous.
1: Winning In The NBA Is Tough
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My last argument for the Heat's growing pains is also the most obvious. The NBA is a lot tougher than signing elite players and calling it a day. There is an immense amount of work that needs to go into forming a team that will make it through the powers of the East.
Sure there are Heat haters out there that downgrade the Heats chances for pure envy's sake. But in all reality, their time will come after at least some tribulations. Nothing in life is ever easy. This is just as true in the NBA.
The Heat's rivals will be deeper and more contiguous. It goes without saying that they will hit their stride. It just may take a couple of month's
