Miami Heat: 5 Players Under the Microscope in 2011-12

Lets get one thing straight: this entire team—and its coaching staff— is under the microscope. We all know this, because we've been peering down that microscope for the past year and a half.

But of course, in light of year one, there are some players we will be fixing our gazes on more intensely than others in year two. Lets face it, nobody is waiting to see how many months James Jones will take to attempt a layup.

Meanwhile, we know ahead of time that the figureheads of this team will naturally inherit the highest degree of scrutiny, so the top three shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Rounding out the top five players we're all looking at this season, we have a guy who has yet to earn his paycheck on the floor and another who is intriguing people with his overachievement.

5. Mario Chalmers

While the big story was how poorly LeBron James played in the biggest games of his life, another subtext in the Finals was how well Mario Chalmers played.

While he didn't actually start until Game 6, Chalmers was key off the bench and played like a first-stringer for most of the series. He was the only other guy, besides Wade, who never stopped wanting the ball and he was second only to Wade in overall composure.

This wasn't the first time Chalmers was in a championship game, as he had won an NCAA title before being drafted. This experience seems to go a long way toward explaining why he was so conspicuously jitter-proof in the NBA Finals.

And yet, it begged the question: why haven't we seen this Mario Chalmers more often? Could it be that he was just a victim of the Heat's early chemistry issues, or that he was simply lost in the glare of pre-Finals LeBron?

Or, on a stranger note, could it be that it just takes a huge game to drag it out of him?

Sometimes, overachieving in big games can be a bad sign if it means that the far more numerous regular games don't bring out your best basketball. It's only a theory, of course; we have no evidence either way as to whether Chalmers will continue progressing or settle back into his spotty old self.

As of this writing, he would seem to make a viable candidate to fill the Heat's hole at point guard, as opposed to simply being a placeholder until something better comes along. Chalmers will be expected to confirm this at some point in the season.

Imagine that, though, a reverse-choker...

4. Mike Miller

If there were a numerical statistic representing the gap between expected usefulness and actual usefulness, Mike Miller would lead the league in it.

Miller was supposed to be the Heat's designated bomber, a guy also capable of mixing up his offense in a pinch. He turned out to be neither. Not that he didn't hit his threes at a decent rate, but like others on this team, those makes come anytime but when it counts.

Now Miami is winning the Finals, this much we know. The question, however, is whether it will be thanks to Miller's timely shooting, or despite his lack of it. Even with a ring, Miller's credibility dictates that he give observers a reason to stop calling him a waste of money.

Miller is the Heat's highest profile guy who still has yet to really justify being invited to the Miami championship tour. If he wants the respect he thinks will come from winning it all, step one would be to do a tad more of what the team envisioned when they essentially made him the Fourth Amigo.

Aside from a 32-point game against the defensive stalwart that is the Raptors, his main contribution to the club has been being from Florida.

Last year he had the luxury of blaming injuries and some family issues for his scatological level of play. This year, there will be none of that—assuming, hopefully, that all's well on the personal front. If there's one guy who could most benefit this team simply by playing up to expectations, it's Miller.

3. Dwyane Wade

Of the big three, Wade is and has always been the guy with the least to prove. He has a ring—which he almost single-handedly won—a tenure as the team's all-time greatest player, and he performed exceptionally well in the Finals, especially when compared to you-know-who.

Still, Wade is not entirely off the hook; as the leader of this perennial title favorite, he will ultimately have to answer for another failure no matter how much LeBron might be to blame.

Now that Wade has taken over best-on-team status on reliability, it's time to answer the next big question people ask a megastar: Can you elevate your teammates? His, however, is a very unique situation, as it's not just his role players who are starved for guidance.

Should Miami once again do the impossible—like fail to win a title—even if Wade shines,  people will accuse him of not providing LeBron the leadership he so desperately needs to be LeBron, and/or not helping Bosh connect with his masculine side—it's in there somewhere.

Much like his two amigos, Wade most likely made his decision to form this team thinking that by simply going out and playing impressive basketball, the winning would take care of itself.  Notions such as clutch play, chemistry and most of all leadership would be rendered obsolete by their massive talent and ease of execution.

Unfortunately, the process demands respect. This team will fritter when it counts if Wade is simply playing in some personal vacuum of eliteness. Not one single solitary teammate of his is immune to raging performance anxiety, and as their leader, he needs to figure out how to manage those episodes.

Now there's a delicate job for you, especially on this team. Many have speculated that Wade was responsible for LeBron's crushed confidence after chewing him out late in Game 3, most likely for the first time in the king's life. If you're Dwyane Wade, you have to be aware you're walking the same tightrope Mike Brown did in Cleveland.

The fans will expect Wade to graduate to all-time great leader, and soon. This includes Heat fans expecting their leader to lead, and Heat critics cooking up an excuse to grill him if he doesn't. You can add the press to that last premise.

The bright side? Of the Heat's three stars, Wade has the best chance of salvaging a shot at undisputed greatness, and this is the way to do it. Winning rings is too easy.

2. Chris Bosh

By donning the badge of other guy who ran into D-Wade's arms, Chris Bosh has endured his own share of questions about his intestinal fortitude. Unfortunately, unlike LeBron, Bosh's on-court playing style does nothing to combat the notion that he is constructed entirely of marshmallow and perhaps some nougat.

Is it just me—and this is not a rhetorical question—or has everybody given up on the idea of Bosh being an intimidator? Am I the only person who still thinks it's metaphysically possible? Has anybody else noticed we give LeBron a harder time for the missing pieces of his game than we do Bosh?

The Heat should be able to look to a 6'10" All-Star for more than post-up fadeaways and wing jumpers. They need some aggressiveness, not a stretched out shooting guard who occasionally gets to the rim.

Don't blame the slight frame; a little meat on those bones would be nice, but Tyson Chandler is just as skinny and look what he brings. Yes, Bosh and Chandler are completely different players, but we're talking about intensity at this point.

One of these days, Chris Bosh might play 48 minutes of physically assertive basketball and be amazed to find that it did not result in his spontaneous death. On that day, he might evolve into someone to be afraid of, but until then he will continue playing the role of Skip Bayless' piñata.

Bosh also has an unflattering legacy forming which he must shed: that of the emotional softie. The rap on Bosh is he gets way too high during the good times, and way too low during the not-so-good times. He can go from bellowing at the heavens in July, to drying his tears on camera in February, to crawling on his elbows in June.

Since Bosh has made it so easy and fun to ridicule him—and given people no reason to regret it—they will be waiting all year for the minor setback that makes him cry once again. Perhaps one day a pizza will arrive late, and perhaps it will have red peppers instead of green. I don't know, I'm not clairvoyant.

1. Come On, You Know This...

In case you moved to a ditch in Equatorial Guinea on May 31, allow me to inform you that LeBron James has him some 'splaining to do—on the court—after Games 2.5 through 6 or the Finals.

Even then, you had to be aware already that the world's biggest ego was on the world's biggest hot seat. Unless you moved to a mountain in Bangladesh on July 6, 2010. If this is so, I'm sorry but this article cannot afford to digress right now.

The media onslaught LeBron faced last year will not be any less relentless this season, as he once again embarks on his personal quest to induce mass amnesia with a championship, thereby cleansing his precious brand.

The booers will still be booing, and some will be pointing and laughing until LeBron does something about it. A couple highlight plays? Seen it. A triple-double? Come on, Bron, you wake up with 20, 8-and-8 before your slippers are even on.

The problem with LeBron's path to the Finals is that he's set the highest possible unfulfilled precedent for himself. He didn't just get to the Finals, he devoured the Eastern Conference. He's shown us dizzying brilliance already, and somehow managed to grind to a halt just before the finish line.

What this means in the opinions of many is that LeBron can go out and tear the NBA the widest new one ever for 66 games and three rounds, but we've seen that. He must show us something we don't know he can do, like close out the big one.

Believe it or not, the poor guy has somehow managed to make things harder on himself, because now he'll have to wait all the way until next June for even a shot at redemption. Just the climb back will impress no one, and he faces unspeakable ridicule if he flops again.

I'm talking suicide watch, people.

LeBron doesn't even have the benefit of a first-year pass anymore; he must seal the deal in 2012 if he wants to silence a segment of his critics—I say a segment because some people will always view him as a gutless wonder.

Until then, LeBron's odds of obtaining the respect he so dearly craves are slim to none, and slim just signed a five-year deal to team up with none.