Defensively, even tho Wade and Lebron covered a lot of ground….which made defending the paint, switching, and transitioning a lot better, I would say when CB stepped up on that end of the court he was the most important. Either him or Lebron.
Offensively, idk. The argument can be made (and is pretty clear to me) is that the Heat’s offense finally made great strides when CB got injured vs Boston I believe and Spo was forced to play D’Antoni ball with Shane Battier. CB was literally replaced.
Edit: actually, imma walk back the defensive part.
At the time I don’t think there was anyone with the defensive smarts and instincts combined with athleticism to make the Heat small ball defense work outside of Lebron, other than Wade. And the Heat needed both.