10 Reasons Why the Miami Heat Are the Team to Beat During 2011-12 NBA Season

The Miami Heat might have come up a few games short of their ultimate goal of winning a championship, but they could very well be on their way to making it once again and this time taking it home as soon as next season.

With free agency around the corner and the high possibility that the organization will obtain a few players to fill in some gaps mostly at center and in defensive depth off the bench. They will be joining the big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh who are coming off of an up and down first season together.

After the preseason hype settled down, we began to notice that it wasn't going to take talent just to win and the team had to come to terms with this immediately. After starting out 9-8, they would go on a run where they would win 20 out of 21 games between late-November and early-December. They would consistently win games and would falter to the elite teams from time to time as they couldn't figure out their Eastern Conference foes until post season time.

Miami only needed 15 games to get through their first three series before running into a roadblock in Dallas that would defeat them in six games. Among the biggest story lines concerning the team coming up short were the lack of perimeter threats, LeBron James faltering and coach Erik Spoelstra not managing the team correctly and adjusting against the opposing defense.

However it gives no reason to write them off for next year. In fact, they could very well be the favorite this upcoming season thanks to their experience together last season.

How can I explain this you say? Find out with the 10 reasons why they should still be considered title favorites.

The Return of Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem

When the Miami Heat lost Mike Miller in the preseason, they ultimately lost their top perimeter threat and were forced to use the likes of James Jones, Mario Chalmers and Eddie House as replacements.

When the Heat lost Udonis Haslem to a foot injury, they lost out on the heart and soul of their team as well as their top mid-range threat. The hard work ethic that he brought to every game, that could have very well rubbed off on his superstar teammates that sometimes decided to take it a little too easy, was gone and the team had no way of replacing him.

Haslem's replacements? Juwan Howard and Joel Anthony. Neither player can score or rebound and we can only thank the basketball gods that Anthony can play defense.

These two losses greatly affected the team as they didn't have any reliable mid-range or perimeter threat which caused defenses to focus more of their attention on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade's drives as well as Chris Bosh in the post. Each of the shooters replacing Miller were inconsistent and disrupted the rotation and all of Haslem's replacements were too much of a liability because of how significantly they slowed down the pace of the offense.

It also caused the big three to play more minutes than they originally expected since they had to make up for the loss of production from Miller and Haslem. The flow of the offense was also disrupted since there were no consistent shooting threats which meant that the big three were limited defenses loading up on James and Wade on the perimeter and Bosh in the post.

With the wishful thinking that Miller's hands will be back in working order by next season and Haslem's foot will be completely healed, the Heat will have more dimensions and threats to work with on both sides of the ball. They'll get the consistent shooter they want in Miller and the hard-worker and mid-range threat in Haslem which means more open looks and more easy makes from players that can actually hit open shots.

Learn from Past Mistakes

This completely brand new Miami Heat team might have come short of their goal of winning a championship, but you can't write off this season as a failure due to the implications and obstacles that they had to deal with.

First of all, no team is going to win with three people and a whole bunch of role players that can't hit open shots nor play defense. Even Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman had Ron Harper and Toni Kukoc making shots when they needed it.

What that first season represented was the trial experiment. We saw on paper that they had to talent to just go out and annihilate every team in the league in the regular and post season, but then we promptly realized that it actually takes more than talent to win games thus the reason for the slow start and the late-season losing streak that they had to endure in March.

The first season ended a little sooner than what the organization was hoping for, but they can at least take some positives out of it by taking a good, strong look at the negatives that held them back.

Perhaps they'll actually look towards getting a legitimate threat in the paint rather than relying on these lethargic centers that can barely get off the ground as their main post threats or maybe they'll actually allow Mario Chalmers to find his own way out of slumps instead of benching him and taking away his confidence.

The Heat can't forget about what happened in their first season as much as they'd like to forget. They need to take it in stride, learn from their mistakes and take it as a lesson learned so that they don't make the same mistakes in the future.

Hungrier Than Ever Before

I didn't think it was at all possible for this Miami Heat team to be more hungry and motivated to win a championship than last year.

After enduring criticism from every single analyst and NBA fan outside of Miami while having to deal with the jeers of 15,000 in every stadium they went to that wasn't called the American Airlines Arena, you'd imagine that this team would be so ready to go out and prove everyone wrong that they would go out and play with some heart in the championship.

Especially LeBron James, whose confidence was completely lost by the end of the NBA Finals. He was hesitant when he had the ball, made no effort to drive, and became more of a liability than anything else since his selfish jump shots and isolation plays were only hindering the offense. The most important aspect of James' game is his confidence and when that was gone, he was only a shell of the player that had dominated the Eastern Conference only a few weeks prior.

It came as a surprise since James was easily the most despised player in sports and he even mentioned how he was thinking of each and every one of his critics during the teams journey. It was the most disgraceful performance of his career and it's not even close. We expected to see James transition that play in the Eastern Conference right into the Finals, but he got foiled by a zone defense, pressure and the talk from the Mavericks finest bench players.

LeBron along with every other player on the Heat knows that this next season is make or break. It's championship or bust and if the Heat are doing anything other than holding up that trophy at the end of the season, it's going to be considered a significant failure for the entire franchise and this experiment as a whole.

With the way they suffered that loss, you have to imagine that this team is ready for another chance at redemption. They don't want to hear the criticism anymore and if they're honestly ready to go out and win a title than this will be the season.

A Better Understanding of Each Other

It takes time for a team composed of superstars of that caliber and magnitude to gel. We didn't want to believe that since seeing the names LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade on the same roster looked so attractive when you first looked at it. The problem is that this isn't Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, who had a better understanding of the game and know and understand their niche and role in the team.

These three players were all number one options for seven years with their team, but they still knew about the consequences and circumstances that were bestowed upon them when joining together. They knew their roles would diminish and they knew that their stats would decline, otherwise they wouldn't have joined together in the first place. They didn't come together to fight amongst each other for playing time or who dominates the ball, they came together to win and nothing more.

Considering that all three were so used to dominating the ball in their past basketball lives, of course wires would get crossed early on. James and Wade weren't used to playing off the ball and Bosh wasn't accustomed to playing the role of third option, so these early struggles should been expected. It takes time to completely change a players mindset in the span of a few months and not even Wade, James and Bosh could learn each others tendencies in such a short amount of time.

As I stated before, the first year was an experiment for this newly constructed team. It was a learning experience for each and every player on the team playing with their new teammates. Over time however, they did begin to learn each other tendencies and they did learn how to play as a team rather than three individuals attempting to figure this out on their own.

After 103 games of playing together, the Heat got their first years experience playing together and can now continue to improve on that.

The Possible Emergence of Mario Chalmers

It's not as horrendous a situation as the center position, but the Heat definitely had their fair share of trouble when dealing with the consistency of their point guards.

Carlos Arroyo started the season at the point and was eventually cut for his inability to stay consistent, Eddie House can't play defense and is too streaky of a shooter to rely on and Mike Bibby forgot how to play basketball near the end of the season which meant that the only dependable source of point guard help in the future will either be current starter Mario Chalmers or recent draft pick out of Cleveland State Norris Cole.

Cole could be one of the biggest steals of the draft considering he was one of the drafts top point guards, yet was still taken with the 28th pick. He's 6'1'', 174 pounds and is extremely quick and agile, if you couldn't tell by his size, and he showcased it on defense by averaging two steals per in his final year at the NCAA level. He also averaged 22 points per and can score a number of ways from the perimeter to the inside.

He's also already started working out with new teammate LeBron James.

Cole may be a little too inexperienced to be the starting point guard for this team, so for now we're going to have to rely on Chalmers. After an inconsistent season where he was benched twice, once in favor of Arroyo and another time in favor of Bibby, the Kansas Jayhawk product provided a huge spark during the NBA Finals as he attempted to fill the shoes of LeBron. He managed to average 11 points per while not making not nearly the same amount of mistakes he was making during the regular season.

Chalmers showed a lot of maturity through the post season coming off the bench and is also surprisingly clutch just in case you didn't watch the end of the 2008 NCAA Tournament finale. He is completely capable of being the teams starter and isn't hesitant at all to learn from the superior floor generals in Wade and James.

Set to only be 26 years at the start of next season, the Heat are going to need to put their faith and confidence in Chalmers if they want him to be their point guard for the next five seasons.

Filling in the Holes with Free Agents

And you thought your team had problems at center? Take a look at who the Miami Heat had play center last year.

Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Udonis Haslem, Juwan Howard, Dexter Pittman, Jamaal Magloire and Erick Dampier all took time playing at center and not one of them could fit the bill.

The excuses include the player either not being physical enough, too lethargic, too undersized or too inexperienced. In lament's terms, all of the big men the Heat had aside from Chris Bosh are inept at scoring in the paint.

Rebounding and defense was just as ugly too. Anthony was the teams top post defender once Haslem got injured and he actually started at center during the post season. The only problem is that he's 6'9" and most centers are at least 6'11" and are wise enough to take advantage of a player that they usually have at least two inches and 30 pounds on.

The Heat have already announced a number of players that they'll be on the look out for once free agency begins with names like Shane Battier, Tayshaun Prince and Grant Hill all set to be looked at. Those three will greatly help in the depth and defense department off the bench, but it doesn't help the main problem at center.

It's already been announced that Nene Hilario has shown interest in Miami and the Heat have done so right back. The problem however is that Hilario is too quality of a center and will be too coveted by other teams who will be ready to offer more money than the Heat could.

Another possibility is Samuel Dalembert who is currently with the Sacramento Kings and would greatly help the team as far as defense and rebounding in the paint goes.

Dalembert may come as too pricey as well as he recently made $13 million this past year.

Currently, the players most likely to fill the position appear to be either Kwame Brown or Eddy Curry. Neither player has done much with their career recently, but they will come cheap and they'll provide the size necessary to get the job done temporarily.

A Better Flow to the Offense

This slide is dedicated to condensing a few slides together. After talking about the returns of Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, the possible emergence of Mario Chalmers, and the big three getting a better understanding of each others tendencies, we can talk about how the offense is going to have a better flow to it.

There really isn't much improvement you can have with the defense aside from the obvious improvement needed in the paint since they already have the two quickest perimeter defenders and a terrific post defender in Udonis Haslem who is slated to return healthy by the start of next season.

The biggest surprise came with how badly the offense looked from time to time. A lot of their possessions would stall and end up with a rushed shot from the perimeter just to beat the shot clock due to the team being unable to find a shot.

This was either a direct result of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade attempting to force the issue inside and not finding a supporting cast member to rely on or Chris Bosh not being aggressive enough within the perimeter which causes the defense to continue to load up near the perimeter.

It's difficult enough to force two players to learn to play off the ball and it makes it even more difficult when they're reluctant when doing so. Wade and James had their struggles at the beginning of the season when it came to this and they even continued to see offensive possessions stall with the main reason being James getting too used to his old ways in Cleveland by relying too heavily on isolation's.

That's not to say Wade and Bosh are off the hook. Wade still attempted too many wild shots near the basket and Bosh was not nearly as aggressive as the team needed him to be.

The big three and the rest of the team had some difficulties getting into a flow throughout the season, but they did manage to have some consistency in the offense once Wade and James began moving without the ball, Bosh began to play aggressive, and the rest of the supporting cast hit the shots that the big three allows them to take with the attention that they receive from the defense.

Every offense has its faults and the Heat will next season still, but they'll at least have some consistency and that's all the team needs if they want to accomplish their main goal of taking home a title.

Chris Bosh Gets More Involved in the Offense

I've addressed this topic before because I do truly believe that Chris Bosh is the key to the Miami Heat winning a championship, so let me just condense my thoughts on the matter into one slide.

A huge problem that kept arising last year with the Miami Heat was the teams inability to involve Bosh in the offense. Despite being the teams greatest mid-range threat and their sole threat in the post as well, the team sometimes focused their offense too much on the exploits of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James or long distance bombs from James Jones or any of the other plethora of three-point shooters on the team.

We understand that Chris Bosh is the teams third scoring option, but that doesn't mean he should be treated like one because he's just as capable of being the first or second scoring option as well. He averaged 24 points per game in his final season with the Toronto Raptors and was widely considered one of the league's top scorers because of his ability to score from the mid-range and in the paint when he felt like driving.

The Heat need to allow Bosh to get more involved in the offense and sometimes take over the scoring duties as a first option. They let him do so on a number of occasions with his most memorable being a 35 point effort against the Phoenix Suns early on in the season. Given it was against the Suns and Channing Frye was the defensive assignment, but we saw how well Bosh plays when given the role of first option and when he's actually given the chance to produce.

Since he's their top mid-range threat and is one of the NBA's best power forwards when it comes to driving in the lane, the Heat need to allow Bosh to get more looks. Allow him to get his confidence early on and it'll carry over for the rest of the game and possibly the rest of the season. He's a multi-dimensional threat that would add a completely new threat to the teams volatile offense if they can sometimes lean off of relying on James and Wade constantly driving.

LeBron James Improves His Overall Game and Mentality

He averaged 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists during the regular season, finished third in MVP voting, led the Heat to a 58-24 record and a second seed and was the most dominant player in the Conference playoffs.

Yet, no player in the NBA had a worse season than LeBron James and it could have very well been avoided had he transitioned his game from the Conference playoffs towards the NBA Finals. The six games he played against Dallas was the worst of his career as he managed to only average 17 points per which caused the Heat to lose one of their primary scorers and the teams eventual demise.

How could a player as prolific as LeBron James play so horribly after being considered the best player in the post season only a few weeks prior? For one, the Mavericks threw a zone at James which hindered his ability to drive. He was forced to take jump shots and his confidence was gone once he started consistently missing them. A LeBron James without his confidence is basically useless and that's what he proved to be against Dallas.

Rather than sulking over the summer, James has taken the initiative to seek improvement. He has stayed out of the public spotlight in any sort of negative light and has even called upon Hakeem Olajuwon for help to improve his post game. Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard have called upon the help of Olajuwon before and have seen significant improvement with Bryant dominating in the post as far as guards go and Howard developing a consistent post game.

It shows a great deal of maturity that James is openly coming out and saying that he needs help to improve his overall game. If Olajuwon can drastically improve James' post game, it would make him an even more complete player as he could then assert his strength and authority in the post with his back to the basket.

Overall though, James is going to need to improve his psyche and I don't mean just in late game situations because he already proved that he can play under any circumstances with positive results. Losing in the Finals might have hurt at the moment, and the week after apparently, but he needs to realize that failures will happen and he needs to take it as a lesson learned and move on to the next season.

The Team Now Realizes Who the True Leader Is

Since becoming the Miami Heat featured columnist for this website, I've had to touch on all of these subjects numerous times. I've spoke of what the team should do with Mike Miller, Chris Bosh, the offense, coach Erik Spoelstra and most recently about Dwyane Wade and the teams leadership situation.

In the Finals, the Heat became too accustomed to LeBron James leading the way and it eventually caused the teams demise. Wade had already asserted his authority in game one and for the majority of game two before allowing James to take the reins. What we then became witness to was a travesty and mockery of everything the Heat had worked for all season long.

There was no flow or consistency to the offense. It was the Cleveland Cavaliers all over again with James pounding the ball at the top of the perimeter and letting the shot clock run for 22 seconds before taking an ill-advised shot that resulted in a miss. The only time James scored during the last eight minutes of game two was off of free throws when he actually drove for a change. It was poor leadership by James and it was the opposite of what the Heat wanted from their leading scorer.

While LeBron James has proven to us many times in the past that he's capable of leading as he did in the Eastern Conference playoffs, he needs to take a back seat to Dwyane Wade at moments like the Finals. He has the Finals experience and he's one of the best leaders the league can currently offer that's not named Kobe Bryant which he has proven to us just about every time in a post season setting.

Wade has the winning mentality that separates him from just about every player currently in the NBA today. He's a born winner that has a championship and has only missed the post season once during his eight year career. He knows how to lead a team no matter whose on it and he responds to pressure situations better than anyone else on the team and that includes James, who finally proved to us that he's a clutch performer.

Next season when the Heat make it to the Finals, they need to allow Wade to take over if they want to end up with the trophy.