LeBron James: Would Starting Miami Heat Star at Point Guard Be the Right Choice?

Would life for the Miami Heat have been easier last season had they possessed a legitimate point guard that could run an offense while limiting turnovers and allowing the likes of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to learn to move without the ball?

Of course it would have. But the Heat had already received too much from the 2010 offseason that a point guard that could do all that work would have been too much for the league to handle. The team had countless problems over the course of the season when it came down to finding the right point guard or center to fulfill the key positions and finished the year off with only more questions left unanswered.

Can they really run an offense with a 6'9" center that can't catch a basketball?

Did Mike Bibby seriously just lose a jump shot in the course of a month that he had worked on for over a decade?

Is the serious answer to the team's point guard struggles a 25-year-old, fourth-year guard that only seems to perform when he's on the verge of being benched?

So many questions and so little answers. The Heat have two of the best players in the league as well as one of the top power forwards and they still struggled without a legitimate point guard or center to lead the offense and man the paint. Those are the two positions that usually need to be fulfilled since having a player with the best court awareness to lead an offense and a player who can clog up the paint and deter players from scoring close are significant advantages to any team.

In the Heat's case, they lacked greatly. All of their centers were either too old, too short or too slow and their point guards were too streaky or turnover prone. If the season started today, they'd still be relying on a 6'9" power forward Joel Anthony as their center and a mistake-prone guard in Mario Chalmers to lead the charge as the point guard.

While we assume that the troubles at center will be resolved since the free agency class this year has a plethora of big men that can actually fill the position and do their job, there is no type of player that can perform the same act as the point guard. There aren't too many quality point guards out there and the ones that can perform are going to be much too expensive for the Heat to afford since they have most of their money wrapped up amongst the Big Three.

Currently, the Heat are putting all their eggs in the basket of Mario Chalmers who is coming off of another disappointing regular season but a stellar postseason. He came off the bench for all but one game in the postseason and responded with six games of at least 10 points and committing three turnovers or less in every game that he played in.

His play in the NBA Finals was by far the best he had played since his rookie season. Chalmers hit a three-pointer in all but one game, hit a number of crucial shots in the waning moments of games and provided some support for the disappearance of LeBron James. Chalmers was arguably the third best player on the court for the Heat behind Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with four games of at least 12 points and three games of three or more three-pointers.

As nice as it was to see Chalmers perform above and beyond expectations, this actually only muddled up the point guard situation even more than it already was.

The problem that arose from Chalmers' outstanding Finals was that he showed signs of life after an otherwise abysmal regular season. The team had given him a chance to start after impressing off the bench only to disappoint in the few regular season games he had started in. It was as if he only played quality basketball when the pressure was on and there was a threat of being benched or the possibility of getting a starting job.

When he was starting, the Heat didn't get too much help which raises a number of questions for next season. Can the Heat truly rely on Mario Chalmers to run a Miami Heat team that has three of the top tier players in the game today? Which Mario Chalmers will show up for the Heat next season? Can he remain consistent enough so that the Heat might actually rely on him for future seasons?

All will be answered throughout the next season. But what happens if Chalmers doesn't perform up to expectations? What if he turns out to be the same player he's been for the past two seasons? The Heat will be out of luck once again with an inconsistent starter and a number of bench players that are too streaky with their shots to make any sort of positive impact, i.e Mike Bibby and Eddie House.

The team will look towards possibly signing a T.J. Ford or even a Patty Mills type of player, but there's no consistency to any player currently on the roster or in free agency. Since they went through a regular season where they started three different point guards, all the Heat are looking for at this point is consistency A point guard that can consistently make the open shots that the Big Three give them, can make the correct passes, and limit the mistakes and turnovers that prove costly.

However, what if I told you that the Heat might have had their point guard of the future this whole time? A 6'8" 250-pound behemoth that can play four positions effectively and most importantly run the point without causing too many mistakes.

Someone who is one of the league's top facilitators when it comes to running an offense. A player that has the court awareness of a quality point guard in the body of a small forward and has been one of the most unstoppable forces in the league over the past seven years.

Let's put this year-old question to rest once and for all: Should LeBron James be the Miami Heat's starting point guard from here on out?

We know he's completely capable of doing so since we saw him run the point for seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He might have been listed at small forward, but when it came down to it James was running the show and the rest of the team did his bidding. James performs better when the ball's in his hands and when he has capable understanding of what's going to happen in the offense since he's the one running the show.

James struggled last season since it was his first year without personally dictating the offense and the team either ran with Dwyane Wade or one of the team's many useless point guards. He had to learn how to move without the ball and sometimes the ball would either stick on the perimeter (an unforced turnover resulting from the teammates not knowing each other's tendencies) and in most instances tossed up in a desperation jumper at the risk of a shot clock violation.

By the end of the season, they seemed to become more aware of each other and how and where they like to be when it comes to scoring. It didn't exactly mean the offense was flowing as well as the Boston Celtics or San Antonio Spurs do since it was actually the most inconsistent part of their game.

There never seemed to be a consistent flow to the offense and there would always be a few desperation shots at the risk of a shot clock violation or unforced turnovers as a result of the team passing too much. Even with James and Wade, the team's offense just couldn't get it together and it cost them in the Finals when they had no answer to the Mavericks' zone defense.

Implementing shooters would have helped, but it's in the past now and the team must look towards the future from here on out.

James has shown plenty of success when running the point as it has resulted in the Cavs putting up back-to-back 60-plus win seasons and an NBA Finals appearance. The team never got the NBA Finals victory, but we can't blame that on James who was averaging over 30 points per game for a time during their postseason runs. Maybe we could blame his teammates for not making the shots that James was giving them when he drew double and triple teams.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Just replace Mo Williams, Anthony Parker and Daniel Gibson with Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Mike Bibby and the supporting casts look eerily similar.

Having LeBron run the point would be one of the greatest advantages any team possesses in the league today since there are absolutely no defensive answers. James' size, strength and athleticism is unmatched by any player in the game today, and there isn't one point guard that can match up with any of those key aspects of James' game. Even the quickest point guards would have trouble limiting James since he also has the speed to back it up as well.

Not only does James have the athletic build to run the show, but he also has the awareness and the mindset of a point guard as well. As I stated before, he has the experience at running the point with the Cavaliers and has the success to show for it. What's even more impressive and reassuring is that James can also run the point at a more effective rate than most point guards.

He has terrific court awareness, knows how to involve his teammates and most importantly knows how to lead a team. He can play just like any other point guard just with the advantage of having about five inches and over 50 pounds on most other players who play the position. Having LeBron run the point would not only give them the advantage of size, but of actually having a capable player run the offense.

It also allows room for Mike Miller to run at small forward in the starting lineup. Miami currently doesn't have any perimeter help in the starting lineup aside from their inconsistent point guards  and if Miller can return to the form he was prior to this most recent season, the Heat can be more volatile than ever with some actual consistent perimeter help.

Of course with every positive comes a negative and there are plenty of negatives to James running the point.

What the Heat are trying to deviate from is allowing this to be another repeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The last thing they want is another repeat of a LeBron-centered universe and that's what could end up as a result of him running the point and dictating how the offense is run. No good would come out of James dominating the ball at the perimeter and assuming that he is now the clear leader of the team since he runs the show.

Miami is attempting to do the impossible by allowing these three super egos to co-exist and the last thing they want to see is one player believe that they assume complete control with a more significant role than their two counterparts. It could cause friction amongst the team and on a team where three players are already fighting for possessions, the Heat would be in dire straits  with egg all over their face if these three begin to pull a Kobe-Shaq type of situation.

It would also impede the progress of Mario Chalmers. Miami needs to allow Chalmers to work through the good and bad times if they want to see him eventually become their point guard of the future. He's still only 25 years old with plenty of potential as a passer and three-point threat and the Heat shouldn't just give up on him for the possibility that James running the point would work.

We've seen James dominate the ball with Cleveland and with Miami. It brings about momentary success, but it turns out that a one-man show somehow doesn't work out as well as a team effort. Miami doesn't want James to be the same player he was in Cleveland. They want him to be more than that. They want him to learn how to move without the ball, play with a pure point guard and consistently learn how to score without having to set up his own play.

It would be an interesting experiment for the Heat to have James run the point, but it shouldn't be in their future itinerary to have him be the floor general for the next five seasons. The Heat need LeBron to be a consistent offensive threat without having to dictate the flow and the tone of the game with the ball in his hands. He's capable of more and the Heat need to make that side of James come out.