madness
Taking my talents to South Beach
what are the chances we sign e. okafor if he's healthy after all-star break
The Trophies Remain, The King Never L3ft #HeatLifer: Miami Heat 2014-15 Season Thread
- Thread starter HiphopRelated
- Start date
He Who Posts Well
Superstar
He creates a lot of high percentage shots for himself by moving so well without the ball.
havoc
Superstar
I don't like the line-up with Napier, Chalmers, and Wade together; that line-up is too small. I would like to see Spo to give Ennis more minutes in the SF position so that we won't get dominate by bigger wing players.
WaddupDoe!
Steez.
Nah he is shooting jumpers & of course his cuts to the basket. The system has been good to him & Spo isnt running him into the ground. Also Bosh & Wade getting attention is helping him too. I just hope he can stay consistent.
Of course i dont expect 30 points every game. But if he can be in the 15-25 points range throughout the season, we will be straight.
Ennis needs more PT but his defense is still a bit suspect so i'm assuming thats why he isnt getting it. I watched him come in the other day and get 2 really quick fouls within a minute and got yanked out.
I like McRoberts but he needs to work on his defense too BTW. I mean.. i know Dirk is Dirk but there was a play i saw last night that had me with the
face at him.
No game today but it looks like orlando and charlotte will prolly be taking losses, and that equals a win for us imo.
we better give the pacers that work tho. hopefully birdman will be ready for that game. stop hibbert and they have no chance.
we better give the pacers that work tho. hopefully birdman will be ready for that game. stop hibbert and they have no chance.
practice pics, team preparing for Indy .... looks like Napier gained about 10-20 pounds
Photo gallery: Miami Heat practice | Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014
Photos from Miami Heat's practice Tuesday, Nov.11, 2014 in preparation for Wednesday night's home game against Eastern Conference rival Indiana Pacers.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article3787908.html#/tabPane=tabs-a4bdeb03-1
Photo gallery: Miami Heat practice | Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014
Photos from Miami Heat's practice Tuesday, Nov.11, 2014 in preparation for Wednesday night's home game against Eastern Conference rival Indiana Pacers.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article3787908.html#/tabPane=tabs-a4bdeb03-1
TOP LAD
WOAH, HEY GUYS WELCOME TO EB GAMES /COPY THAT/
No game today but it looks like orlando and charlotte will prolly be taking losses, and that equals a win for us imo.
They have no chance even if Roy plays well, this pacers team is offensively challenged
they have only hit 100 points once so far this season and had alot of 80-90 point games
unless Miami has an off night shooting they should win this one pretty convincingly, not to mention Miami is at home
NahI feel like I need to apologize to Rio.
Maybe we just weren't using him right last year but he's been looking great
He worked on his game a lot during the offseason. + He lost weight and got much faster. When we resigned him he did say he was "going to turn heads this year". I'm glad he's keeping his word. He had to after they pretty much blamed the finals on him
They have always been that way, tho.They have no chance even if Roy plays well, this pacers team is offensively challenged
they have only hit 100 points once so far this season and had alot of 80-90 point games
unless Miami has an off night shooting they should win this one pretty convincingly, not to mention Miami is at home
Their goal has always been to slow the game down and stop us and then get what they can on offense. Except now they have even less offense with Lance and prettyboy hurt (cant recall his name). Sadly, they tend to be successful at it and we no longuer have the horsepower to just overwhelm them.
I think Bosh and Wade got this, tho. Plus UD has looked fresh in the few minutes of action he's gotten so i expect him to give Hibert a hard time
Last edited:
Green Ranger
I Am Legend
i wasI feel like I need to apologize to Rio.
Maybe we just weren't using him right last year but he's been looking great
for rio hard when most everyone wanted him gonealot dudes was
when he resigni think alot of people forget dude was like 23/24 went the big three formed he was a young dude that became the whipping boy anytime shyt went wrong.. You can tell he worked on his game but i think lebron not being there always yelling at him helps. Having a new found offense role and more freedom he playing with way more confidence.
The evolution of Chris Bosh
CB 3.0 is better than ever thanks to a new role and more versatile arsenal
Originally Published: November 12, 2014
By Tom Haberstroh | ESPN Insider
Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesChris Bosh has emerged as the Heat's go-to player in the early going.
Chris Bosh declared himself dead this summer. Or at least a version of himself -- the Toronto one.
"Everybody's like, 'We need CB4,'" Bosh said. "And I'm like, that's dead. He's dead. He's not coming back. This is me. I can't hold on to the past and think I'm going to be who I was back then. It's impossible. Because I'm much better now."
That was several months ago, before news hit that LeBron James would head back to Cleveland. That last line about Bosh being better is what he and coach Erik Spoelstra have been repeating ad nauseum since training camp began. While everyone wondered if Bosh could be the so-called Toronto Bosh again in LeBron James' absence, the team internally believed that would set the bar too low. He's better now, they insisted.
Hard to disagree with that now. Bosh has helped push the Heat to a 5-2 record with a big win on the road against Dallas on Sunday, the second night of a back-to-back. Bosh has been a monster in the early going, but have you seen the numbers so far? It's one thing to flirt with the 20-and-10 that he averaged in Toronto back in 2009-10, but it's another thing to duplicate them. Like, almost exactly.
Here are his per-game numbers this season compared to his final season in Toronto.
Chris Bosh 3.0
Season Team PTS REB AST FTA EFG% USG% TS%
2009-10 TOR 23.6 10.8 2.4 8.4 .522 28.7 .592
2014-15 MIA 23.6 10.3 3.0 8.4 .527 28.4 .602
Let those numbers sink in a bit. Same player, right? Wrong. On the surface, Bosh looks like he's back to being Toronto Bosh. His scoring rate and ability to get to the charity stripe is just about unchanged. His efficiency numbers and usage rate are pretty much carbon copies of one another. Rebounds? He's got 'em.
But look under the hood and you'll find a different player with a new set of weapons. Bosh 3.0 may be better than ever.
Bosh 3.0: now with more shooting
If you ask Bosh about his growth as a basketball player, the 3-point shot is the first thing he mentions. And with good reason. In just seven games this season, Bosh has already made more 3s (nine) than he did in the entire 2009-10 season with Toronto (eight). It's a role transformation, not necessarily an ability transformation. Bosh always had the range, but the Raptors kept him anchored on the elbows without much freedom to step beyond the 3-point arc where Andrea Bargnani, Hedo Turkoglu, Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon roamed.
CB 3.0 is better than ever thanks to a new role and more versatile arsenal
Originally Published: November 12, 2014
By Tom Haberstroh | ESPN Insider
Subscribe
Chris Bosh declared himself dead this summer. Or at least a version of himself -- the Toronto one.
"Everybody's like, 'We need CB4,'" Bosh said. "And I'm like, that's dead. He's dead. He's not coming back. This is me. I can't hold on to the past and think I'm going to be who I was back then. It's impossible. Because I'm much better now."
That was several months ago, before news hit that LeBron James would head back to Cleveland. That last line about Bosh being better is what he and coach Erik Spoelstra have been repeating ad nauseum since training camp began. While everyone wondered if Bosh could be the so-called Toronto Bosh again in LeBron James' absence, the team internally believed that would set the bar too low. He's better now, they insisted.
Hard to disagree with that now. Bosh has helped push the Heat to a 5-2 record with a big win on the road against Dallas on Sunday, the second night of a back-to-back. Bosh has been a monster in the early going, but have you seen the numbers so far? It's one thing to flirt with the 20-and-10 that he averaged in Toronto back in 2009-10, but it's another thing to duplicate them. Like, almost exactly.
Here are his per-game numbers this season compared to his final season in Toronto.
Chris Bosh 3.0
Season Team PTS REB AST FTA EFG% USG% TS%
2009-10 TOR 23.6 10.8 2.4 8.4 .522 28.7 .592
2014-15 MIA 23.6 10.3 3.0 8.4 .527 28.4 .602
Let those numbers sink in a bit. Same player, right? Wrong. On the surface, Bosh looks like he's back to being Toronto Bosh. His scoring rate and ability to get to the charity stripe is just about unchanged. His efficiency numbers and usage rate are pretty much carbon copies of one another. Rebounds? He's got 'em.
But look under the hood and you'll find a different player with a new set of weapons. Bosh 3.0 may be better than ever.
Bosh 3.0: now with more shooting
If you ask Bosh about his growth as a basketball player, the 3-point shot is the first thing he mentions. And with good reason. In just seven games this season, Bosh has already made more 3s (nine) than he did in the entire 2009-10 season with Toronto (eight). It's a role transformation, not necessarily an ability transformation. Bosh always had the range, but the Raptors kept him anchored on the elbows without much freedom to step beyond the 3-point arc where Andrea Bargnani, Hedo Turkoglu, Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon roamed.
Bosh was the dump-it-down-into-the-post weapon on the team. According to Synergy tracking, Bosh put up 600 points off of post-ups in 2009-10, which was the fourth most in the league behind Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson and Tim Duncan. But Bosh was the most efficient of any high-volume post player, scoring 1.09 points every post-up play (shot attempt, free throw or turnover). Believe it or not, Bosh scored more buckets on post-ups than Zach Randolph did.
Indeed, that Bosh is dead. Nowadays, Bosh finds himself more on the perimeter where he's an elite scoring threat -- especially from the top of the key. He's shooting 36 percent from deep, his highest rate since he adopted the shot. But he's not always beyond the arc. Take a look at the following heat maps generated by STATS LLC's SportVU cameras that illustrate where he has touched the ball this season compared to last season.
Although the SportVU cameras weren't installed in 2009-10, we can see that Bosh is spending more team on the right block this season (from the perspective of the point guard bringing up the ball). Notice he's spending less time in the right corner. That's where Spoelstra says he spaced him out with James occupying the left block.
As you can tell, Bosh is still holding residency in the top of the key, where he drove Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki crazy on Sunday night en route to 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Bosh is moving closer to the block a tad more this season, but it's not nearly Toronto levels. Indeed, SportVU has found that Bosh is averaging 3.7 touches in the post this season, compared to just 1.1 post touches last season. Bosh just about gave up that part of his game up in order to help maintain the Heat's spacing in previous seasons.
"People continued to criticize how he played the last four years, and that's an absolute crying shame," Spoelstra said. "When you're talking about somebody who had a willingness to sacrifice to help our team. That's what pro sports should be about. Not about your numbers, not about being the No. 1 option or whatever it is."
Most touches per game (bigs)
Stats via SportVU
Blake Griffin 85.6
Kevin Love 82.3
Chris Bosh 72.6
Marc Gasol 72.3
Bosh has just about solidified himself as a No. 1 option again. He touches the ball a team-high 72.6 times per game, which is a smidge higher than Dwyane Wade's allotment even if you adjust for playing time. In fact, Bosh is getting 21.7 more touches per game than he did last season, which, according to the brilliant research of ESPN Stats & Info, is good enough to place him third in the league in touches per game among big men (see chart at right).
Bosh is doing everything, really. Passing, too. He has more games with at least four assists than he did all last season. But what's fascinating is that Bosh has maintained his efficiency from the Toronto Bosh days even though he's stepping back farther from the basket.
Sure, his field-goal percentage has dipped from 51.8 percent in 2009-10 to 48.6 percent so far this season. But once you account for the added value of a 3-pointer, he's effectively shooting 52.7 percent, which is slightly higher than his effective field-goal percentage in Toronto. If you want to get more granular, Bosh's average field-goal attempt is 14.4 feet away from the basket, which is about 6 feet farther than 2009-10 (8.8 feet) -- and amazingly, he's still hovering around 50 percent.
Offensively, this is why Bosh 3.0 is so different from Bosh 1.0 in Toronto. He's maintained his elite efficiency despite shooting much farther away, which helps pull opposing big men away from the basket.
"If they play off him, he's one of the very best perimeter shooters in the league," Spoelstra said. "If they guard him, that's where he's really unique, because he has an ability to put the ball on the floor and put pressure on the defense."
Playing both ends of the floor
Speaking of defense, a question was posed to Bosh at Tuesday's practice ahead of Wednesday's tilt against the Indiana Pacers.
What was your priority defensively in Toronto?
"Get rebounds," Bosh deadpanned.
That's not far from the truth. The Raptors ranked dead last in defensive efficiency in 2009-10 and Bosh wasn't absolved from the blame. Bosh points to the instability at the coaching seat as one reason he never valued the defensive end.
"Everything was changing," Bosh said of his time in Toronto. "We switched coaches a lot, so here it's more of a system. Different calls, different coverages."
That's not the case in Miami, where Spoelstra has been at the helm for seven seasons. And Bosh has spent more time doing his homework and reading the scouting report.
"Here, it stays the same," Bosh said. "I know exactly how to guard things. I pretty much know damn near every play in the league. You figure out what's coming and tendencies, and you put that together and you become a better defender."
According to Synergy Sports tracking, Bosh was the NBA's best pick-and-roll defender last season, holding opponents to just 33.8 percent shooting on scoring plays. In Toronto, he ranked below average in the same category. This season, Bosh continues to rank among the best in pick-and-roll coverage, thanks to his smarts and mobility. The Heat rank 18th this season, but are much better with Bosh on the floor.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesBosh's rebounding numbers -- and pretty much all other stats -- are on the rise.
"He will do whatever it takes to win," Spoelstra said. "He's proven that time and time again on his résumé. He commits as a two-way player, which is very tough to deal with in this league. 'CB' is a player of this new generation. More people will be comparing themselves to CB in the next generation than people will compare him to the last generation."
Remember when Bosh couldn't rebound? It's fascinating to look at how Bosh's board numbers have been affected in the context of his teammates. Bosh experienced the "Bargnani Effect" in Toronto, where he saw his rebounding numbers soar. It went the other direction last season. Bosh averaged 8.6 rebounds per 36 minutes with James on the bench, compared to just 7.2 with him on the floor.
Those on/off numbers aren't a fluke. Interestingly enough, at Tuesday's practice, Bosh said it was part of the game plan to help give James more boards.
"Sometimes, if [LeBron] had trouble, I would say, 'Hey man, come over the top because I'm going to box this guy out.'" Bosh said. "But now I have to do both."
Rebounding included, Bosh's numbers across the board are mimicking his Toronto days. We'll see if he can keep this up over the long haul. But Bosh 3.0 is differently the same. He's much more defensively focused these days. Although his block numbers are down (he has one swat all season), he boasts the lowest foul rate in the NBA (1.0 fouls every 36 minutes). Shooting 3s, defending at a high level and putting up a nightly 20-and-10, Bosh is redefining who he is and what it means to be a modern big man.
"We ask a lot of him," Spoelstra said. "He has to do all of it for us to be successful. He has to be able to guard pick-and-rolls -- 30 or 40 a night -- he has to often guard the best post-up threat, he has to help at the rim and be a rim-protector and, of course, he has to finish possession and rebound for us. Welcome to our world this year."
News and notes
• Kobe Bryant now holds the NBA record for most misses (13,421). He will still go down as one of the greatest ever, but he's chucking at record levels right now. Granted, it's just seven games in, but he's missing more shots per minute than any player in NBA history (see chart below). Said another way, he has 20 more missed field goals than any of his teammates have attempted this season. He's not going down without a fight.
Courtesy Tom Haberstroh
• I'll echo the thoughts of renowned NBA bettor Haralabos Voulgaris about Anthony Davis. The SportVU cameras tell us that Davis averages 5.2 close touches per game, which ranks 25th in the NBA. How is that not higher? I mean, Tim Duncan averages twice as many in fewer minutes. It always seems New Orleans' ball handlers look for Davis only as a bailout option when they foolishly leave their feet with nowhere to go and frantically chuck it in his general direction. Davis deserves better.
• This summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves hired former NBA player Mike Penberthy, 39, as a shooting coach primarily to help improve Ricky Rubio's jump shot. Before Saturday's game against the Heat, Penberthy casually took the floor after his team had finished warm ups and got some shots up. I've never seen anything like it. He's a machine. Not exaggerating, Penberthy must have hit 30 3-pointers in a row without any touching the rim. He made 10 in the right corner, then 10 on the right wing, then 10 at the top of the key. On his first try from the left wing from 3-point land, he missed. He laughed it off. Here's what Penberthy did next, just for good measure: He made the next 10 -- banking it off the backboard.
• This week's trivia question: Lots of talk about touches today. There are four rotation players in the NBA who touch the ball, on average, less than once per minute on the floor. One of those four players makes more than $10 million this season. Who is it? (Last week's answer: Kyle Lowry ,with an NBA-high 127 charges over the last three seasons, according to Synergy tracking. Rubio and Ersan Ilyasova came in second and third, respectively.)
Indeed, that Bosh is dead. Nowadays, Bosh finds himself more on the perimeter where he's an elite scoring threat -- especially from the top of the key. He's shooting 36 percent from deep, his highest rate since he adopted the shot. But he's not always beyond the arc. Take a look at the following heat maps generated by STATS LLC's SportVU cameras that illustrate where he has touched the ball this season compared to last season.
Although the SportVU cameras weren't installed in 2009-10, we can see that Bosh is spending more team on the right block this season (from the perspective of the point guard bringing up the ball). Notice he's spending less time in the right corner. That's where Spoelstra says he spaced him out with James occupying the left block.
As you can tell, Bosh is still holding residency in the top of the key, where he drove Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki crazy on Sunday night en route to 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Bosh is moving closer to the block a tad more this season, but it's not nearly Toronto levels. Indeed, SportVU has found that Bosh is averaging 3.7 touches in the post this season, compared to just 1.1 post touches last season. Bosh just about gave up that part of his game up in order to help maintain the Heat's spacing in previous seasons.
"People continued to criticize how he played the last four years, and that's an absolute crying shame," Spoelstra said. "When you're talking about somebody who had a willingness to sacrifice to help our team. That's what pro sports should be about. Not about your numbers, not about being the No. 1 option or whatever it is."
Most touches per game (bigs)
Stats via SportVU
Blake Griffin 85.6
Kevin Love 82.3
Chris Bosh 72.6
Marc Gasol 72.3
Bosh has just about solidified himself as a No. 1 option again. He touches the ball a team-high 72.6 times per game, which is a smidge higher than Dwyane Wade's allotment even if you adjust for playing time. In fact, Bosh is getting 21.7 more touches per game than he did last season, which, according to the brilliant research of ESPN Stats & Info, is good enough to place him third in the league in touches per game among big men (see chart at right).
Bosh is doing everything, really. Passing, too. He has more games with at least four assists than he did all last season. But what's fascinating is that Bosh has maintained his efficiency from the Toronto Bosh days even though he's stepping back farther from the basket.
Sure, his field-goal percentage has dipped from 51.8 percent in 2009-10 to 48.6 percent so far this season. But once you account for the added value of a 3-pointer, he's effectively shooting 52.7 percent, which is slightly higher than his effective field-goal percentage in Toronto. If you want to get more granular, Bosh's average field-goal attempt is 14.4 feet away from the basket, which is about 6 feet farther than 2009-10 (8.8 feet) -- and amazingly, he's still hovering around 50 percent.
Offensively, this is why Bosh 3.0 is so different from Bosh 1.0 in Toronto. He's maintained his elite efficiency despite shooting much farther away, which helps pull opposing big men away from the basket.
"If they play off him, he's one of the very best perimeter shooters in the league," Spoelstra said. "If they guard him, that's where he's really unique, because he has an ability to put the ball on the floor and put pressure on the defense."
Playing both ends of the floor
Speaking of defense, a question was posed to Bosh at Tuesday's practice ahead of Wednesday's tilt against the Indiana Pacers.
What was your priority defensively in Toronto?
"Get rebounds," Bosh deadpanned.
That's not far from the truth. The Raptors ranked dead last in defensive efficiency in 2009-10 and Bosh wasn't absolved from the blame. Bosh points to the instability at the coaching seat as one reason he never valued the defensive end.
"Everything was changing," Bosh said of his time in Toronto. "We switched coaches a lot, so here it's more of a system. Different calls, different coverages."
That's not the case in Miami, where Spoelstra has been at the helm for seven seasons. And Bosh has spent more time doing his homework and reading the scouting report.
"Here, it stays the same," Bosh said. "I know exactly how to guard things. I pretty much know damn near every play in the league. You figure out what's coming and tendencies, and you put that together and you become a better defender."
According to Synergy Sports tracking, Bosh was the NBA's best pick-and-roll defender last season, holding opponents to just 33.8 percent shooting on scoring plays. In Toronto, he ranked below average in the same category. This season, Bosh continues to rank among the best in pick-and-roll coverage, thanks to his smarts and mobility. The Heat rank 18th this season, but are much better with Bosh on the floor.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesBosh's rebounding numbers -- and pretty much all other stats -- are on the rise.
"He will do whatever it takes to win," Spoelstra said. "He's proven that time and time again on his résumé. He commits as a two-way player, which is very tough to deal with in this league. 'CB' is a player of this new generation. More people will be comparing themselves to CB in the next generation than people will compare him to the last generation."
Remember when Bosh couldn't rebound? It's fascinating to look at how Bosh's board numbers have been affected in the context of his teammates. Bosh experienced the "Bargnani Effect" in Toronto, where he saw his rebounding numbers soar. It went the other direction last season. Bosh averaged 8.6 rebounds per 36 minutes with James on the bench, compared to just 7.2 with him on the floor.
Those on/off numbers aren't a fluke. Interestingly enough, at Tuesday's practice, Bosh said it was part of the game plan to help give James more boards.
"Sometimes, if [LeBron] had trouble, I would say, 'Hey man, come over the top because I'm going to box this guy out.'" Bosh said. "But now I have to do both."
Rebounding included, Bosh's numbers across the board are mimicking his Toronto days. We'll see if he can keep this up over the long haul. But Bosh 3.0 is differently the same. He's much more defensively focused these days. Although his block numbers are down (he has one swat all season), he boasts the lowest foul rate in the NBA (1.0 fouls every 36 minutes). Shooting 3s, defending at a high level and putting up a nightly 20-and-10, Bosh is redefining who he is and what it means to be a modern big man.
"We ask a lot of him," Spoelstra said. "He has to do all of it for us to be successful. He has to be able to guard pick-and-rolls -- 30 or 40 a night -- he has to often guard the best post-up threat, he has to help at the rim and be a rim-protector and, of course, he has to finish possession and rebound for us. Welcome to our world this year."
News and notes
• Kobe Bryant now holds the NBA record for most misses (13,421). He will still go down as one of the greatest ever, but he's chucking at record levels right now. Granted, it's just seven games in, but he's missing more shots per minute than any player in NBA history (see chart below). Said another way, he has 20 more missed field goals than any of his teammates have attempted this season. He's not going down without a fight.
• I'll echo the thoughts of renowned NBA bettor Haralabos Voulgaris about Anthony Davis. The SportVU cameras tell us that Davis averages 5.2 close touches per game, which ranks 25th in the NBA. How is that not higher? I mean, Tim Duncan averages twice as many in fewer minutes. It always seems New Orleans' ball handlers look for Davis only as a bailout option when they foolishly leave their feet with nowhere to go and frantically chuck it in his general direction. Davis deserves better.
• This summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves hired former NBA player Mike Penberthy, 39, as a shooting coach primarily to help improve Ricky Rubio's jump shot. Before Saturday's game against the Heat, Penberthy casually took the floor after his team had finished warm ups and got some shots up. I've never seen anything like it. He's a machine. Not exaggerating, Penberthy must have hit 30 3-pointers in a row without any touching the rim. He made 10 in the right corner, then 10 on the right wing, then 10 at the top of the key. On his first try from the left wing from 3-point land, he missed. He laughed it off. Here's what Penberthy did next, just for good measure: He made the next 10 -- banking it off the backboard.
• This week's trivia question: Lots of talk about touches today. There are four rotation players in the NBA who touch the ball, on average, less than once per minute on the floor. One of those four players makes more than $10 million this season. Who is it? (Last week's answer: Kyle Lowry ,with an NBA-high 127 charges over the last three seasons, according to Synergy tracking. Rubio and Ersan Ilyasova came in second and third, respectively.)
