Miami Heat Podcast: Haters and the Potential for Greatness

Bloggers from the Miami Heat Index and Hot Hot Hoops got together for a podcast to discuss the Miami Heat.

The podcast can be downloaded HERE, you can subscribe to the RSS feed HERE or you can check it out at iTunes.

There's a breakdown of the conversation after the jump.


Haters

When the Heat were going through a five-game losing streak, haters were coming out of the woodwork to declare the Three Kings experiment a failure. 

Things have calmed down after beating the LA Lakers 94-88 on national television and destroying the Memphis Grizzlies by 33 points, but where did all that hate come from in the first place?

• Hot Hot Hoops Editor Surya Fernandez says a lot of hate comes from Chicago fans, as evidenced by the responses to this post on Derrick Rose. Sounds like sour grapes in the Second City.
• Hot Hot Hoops Guest Writer Danny Martinez said the player movement seen during the summer of 2010 is nothing new, but the coverage by NBA writers and analysts (many of whom got the story wrong) is new and may be responsible for some of the hate the Heat get.
• I agreed that White Noise from NBA writers like Ric Bucher, Chris Sheridan and Chad Ford was part of the problem. Surya and Danny said Chris Broussard shouldn't be left off the list, either.
• The haters can be grouped into four buckets. For example:  
  • Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Allan Houston and Avery Johnson – washed up old school hating on the new school.
  • Bill Simmons, Michael Wilbon, Ken Berger and Matt Moore (Surya vouched for Moore) – homers who hate the Heat because they’re scared for their teams.  
  • Reggie Williams, Tracy McGrady, Marcin Gortat and Anthony Tolliver (Surya vouched for Tolliver) – Jealous children of a lesser god. Surya also added the entire Orlando Magic organization to this list.
  • Scott Raab, Jason Whitlock and Adrian Wojnarowski – haters trying to profit from hating the Heat.

The Bulls, crunch time and the lineup

Since Bulls fans are some of the biggest Heat haters, the bloggers discuss Bulls vs. Heat, close games and crunch time and the best options at point guard and center.

• The Bulls conversation ends with Mario Chalmers vs. Derrick Rose.
• What's the real problem with the Heat in crunch time? The fact that they blew a big lead and let the games get close in the first place.
• By a 2-1 vote, the podcasters support Mario Chalmers as the Heat starting point guard.
• Is Erick Dampier the best option at center? A 2-1 vote by the podcasters says, "Yes."

Greatness

Why haven't the Heat been an all-time, great team this regular season? Danny said injuries are a big part of the reason why and I agree with him.

Danny and Surya said greatness for the Heat can only come in the playoffs and we conclude the Heat can still be a great team in the playoffs.

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