mike miller hurt for miami

[Fafnir]

If you put them on the court without a point guard, they're not only going to have to adjust to having the ball less but also to the fact that one or both will have to signficantly change the entire way they've played the game for almost their entire careers.

Going by your rigid definition of PG, has LeBron ever played with one?

Jeff McGinnis
Eric Snow
Daniel Gibson
Mo Williams
Delonte West
Larry Huges

[MBunge]

If you put them on the court without a point guard, they're not only going to have to adjust to having the ball less but also to the fact that one or both will have to signficantly change the entire way they've played the game for almost their entire careers.

Going by your rigid definition of PG, has LeBron ever played with one?

Jeff McGinnis
Eric Snow
Daniel Gibson
Mo Williams
Delonte West
Larry Huges

I'm not sure about Hughes, but those other guys all functioned as the point guard in Cleveland's offense.  Were they great PGs?  No.  But while LeBron dominated the ball, those other guys did most of the PG dirty work like bringing the ball up the court and defending the opposing PG.

Mike

[Fafnir]

If you put them on the court without a point guard, they're not only going to have to adjust to having the ball less but also to the fact that one or both will have to signficantly change the entire way they've played the game for almost their entire careers.

Going by your rigid definition of PG, has LeBron ever played with one?

Jeff McGinnis
Eric Snow
Daniel Gibson
Mo Williams
Delonte West
Larry Huges

I'm not sure about Hughes, but those other guys all functioned as the point guard in Cleveland's offense.  Were they great PGs?  No.  But while LeBron dominated the ball, those other guys did most of the PG dirty work like bringing the ball up the court and defending the opposing PG.

Mike

How the heck do you define PG?

Is it just bringing up the ball and defending the opposing PG to you? I think those are two of the lesser duties of a PG in this league.

[More Banners]

What I'm saying is...
Wade and LeBron ...are not magical fairies...

But maybe I'm wrong.

Mike

Mike,

Yes, you are partially mistaken.

Wade and Lebron are fairies.

[Who]

There is more than one way to play the point guard position.

LeBron's style of play will work extremely well. He'll be the best PG in the league.

Do you still think they'll play him at the PG all that much without Miller?

I'm skeptical about their wings without Miller to hold it together.

I don't know. I don't think they were planning on him playing the point all that much before hand anyway.

More along the lines of Cleveland trying to play James as a power forward. He got some of his time there, 10-15% of his minutes, but not a large amount.

I'd expect the Heat do a similar job with LeBron at the point + doubling up on that with him at the four. So about 20% of his time at either the PG or PF position but with the rest coming as a SF.

With Mike Miller out, they can still field a hugely effective lineup with James Jones (shooting) or Jerry Stackhouse (create matchup problem, Jerry still a good post player, can't hide PG on him defensively, can with J.Jones) ... with LeBron at the point or at the four. It'll likely be a bit less, maybe 15% of the time (PF + PG, split somewhat evenly), but the option is definitely still there.

I expect they'll only do this when both Wade and LeBron are in the game together. When one is resting, they'll definitely have a point guard out there on the floor with the other one. Once you have those two on the court together, it doesn't matter a [dang] if you have a PG out there with them or not.

[Who]

Spoelstra has made quite a few comments about Mike Miller's ball-handling ability and his ability to the run the point guard position too. Citing his good play in the backup PG role in Memphis a few years back (which I cannot remember but appearantly it happened in the latter months of one of those seasons).

Anyway, those three are going to be so interchangeable offensively that you could call anyone of them (Wade, LeBron, M.Miller) the point guard when they on the floor together. They'll share the PG duties. They'll change up who brings the ball upcourt, who initiates the offense, who is the playmaker or shot creator.

By having Miller initiate the offense, it'll be easier for LeBron and Wade to concentrate on their scoring. Be score first pass second players. Also allow them to catch the ball closer to the basket, or away from the defense, not have to face the defense from 25+ feet and try to create something. Keep some more player movement offensively.

Anyway, names, roles, positions ... it's fluid.

[MBunge]

If you put them on the court without a point guard, they're not only going to have to adjust to having the ball less but also to the fact that one or both will have to signficantly change the entire way they've played the game for almost their entire careers.

Going by your rigid definition of PG, has LeBron ever played with one?

Jeff McGinnis
Eric Snow
Daniel Gibson
Mo Williams
Delonte West
Larry Huges

I'm not sure about Hughes, but those other guys all functioned as the point guard in Cleveland's offense.  Were they great PGs?  No.  But while LeBron dominated the ball, those other guys did most of the PG dirty work like bringing the ball up the court and defending the opposing PG.

Mike

How the heck do you define PG?

Is it just bringing up the ball and defending the opposing PG to you? I think those are two of the lesser duties of a PG in this league.

Those and other things may be lesser duties, but they were still things that LeBron didn't do.  How many times did LeBron ever set up on the wing and feed somebody the ball in the post?  How many times did LeBron lead the fast break and set somebody else up for a layup or dunk?  Does LeBron know when he needs to get somebody else an easy shot to get them going?  Does LeBron know when to go away from a player that isn't hitting anything?  Does he know when to speed up the tempo of a game and slow it down?

There's a lot a PG does, even when the player doesn't have PG skills (like Mo Williams) and plays with someone else who dominates the ball (like LeBron).

Mike

[MBunge]

Spoelstra has made quite a few comments about Mike Miller's ball-handling ability and his ability to the run the point guard position too. Citing his good play in the backup PG role in Memphis a few years back

Because if you can be the back-up PG for one of the worst teams in the league, you can definitely handle the job on a team trying to win a championship.  I'm sure replacing Rondo or Derrick Fisher with Sebastian Telfair wouldn't have any effect on Boston or LA.

Mike

[hpantazo]

Spoelstra has made quite a few comments about Mike Miller's ball-handling ability and his ability to the run the point guard position too. Citing his good play in the backup PG role in Memphis a few years back

Because if you can be the back-up PG for one of the worst teams in the league, you can definitely handle the job on a team trying to win a championship.  I'm sure replacing Rondo or Derrick Fisher with Sebastian Telfair wouldn't have any effect on Boston or LA.

Mike

so by your definition, who was the pg on the 80's Laker teams, Byron Scott?  I agree with Who, the positions for the Heat this year will be very fluid. Calling any one of Miller, Lebron, or Wade the pg is meaningless, as they will all share the duties.

[Fafnir]

If you put them on the court without a point guard, they're not only going to have to adjust to having the ball less but also to the fact that one or both will have to signficantly change the entire way they've played the game for almost their entire careers.

Going by your rigid definition of PG, has LeBron ever played with one?

Jeff McGinnis
Eric Snow
Daniel Gibson
Mo Williams
Delonte West
Larry Huges

I'm not sure about Hughes, but those other guys all functioned as the point guard in Cleveland's offense.  Were they great PGs?  No.  But while LeBron dominated the ball, those other guys did most of the PG dirty work like bringing the ball up the court and defending the opposing PG.

Mike

How the heck do you define PG?

Is it just bringing up the ball and defending the opposing PG to you? I think those are two of the lesser duties of a PG in this league.

Those and other things may be lesser duties, but they were still things that LeBron didn't do.  How many times did LeBron ever set up on the wing and feed somebody the ball in the post?  How many times did LeBron lead the fast break and set somebody else up for a layup or dunk?  Does LeBron know when he needs to get somebody else an easy shot to get them going?  Does LeBron know when to go away from a player that isn't hitting anything?  Does he know when to speed up the tempo of a game and slow it down?

There's a lot a PG does, even when the player doesn't have PG skills (like Mo Williams) and plays with someone else who dominates the ball (like LeBron).

Mike

I've seen LeBron do all of the things you listed last year.

He was their best post entry passer for Shaq. LeBron frequently feed others for dunks on the break. And so on....