Look at this garbage team LeBron took to the Finals.

[Fred Roberts]

Agreed that it was odd that James Jones didn't play at all. I thought he was one of their best options. Better than Miller. Odd that House suddenly got TONS of minutes. He hit his 3 quick three's but GET HIM OUT after that. Weird coaching decisions.

Either way, James and Wade hogged the ball and got COLD (from the line and the field) and they CAN'T get it done without the softy calls from the refs. THANK GOD Wade finally got his TECH last night for whining. Whew!

[mc34]

Agreed that it was odd that James Jones didn't play at all. I thought he was one of their best options. Better than Miller. Odd that House suddenly got TONS of minutes. He hit his 3 quick three's but GET HIM OUT after that. Weird coaching decisions.

Either way, James and Wade hogged the ball and got COLD (from the line and the field) and they CAN'T get it done without the softy calls from the refs. THANK GOD Wade finally got his TECH last night for whining. Whew!

Jones supposedly had a foot injury that was worse than Spo was letting on. That's the rumor going around. I also thought it was weird House played 21 minutes in an elimination game. Hit some threes but he was getting lit up by Terry and whoever he was guarding. How we managed to get by with him as our only backup PG for 2 and a half years is beyond me

[cman88]

how would a better point guard realistically do anything for the Heat??

Lebron/Wade handle the ball 90% of the time and run the offense....whomever plays point is going to end up being a spot up shooter...

You cant really compare the makeup of the Celtics with their "big 3" to the heat given their age and playing style differences...

with the heat, being that they are young are going to play ALOT of minutes, and wade/lebron strive handeling the ball...

the celtics big 3 are old and cant create offense much like they used to.. Rondo runs the offense to get them good looks in the right spots and they rely on alot of ball movement and more on their depth than a team like Miami because PP, RA and KG cant play 40minutes a game like the heat can

[17wasEZ]

Looks like Wade can only win with Shaq. 

Don't be a naive. Looks like Wade can only win with Antoine.

And Antoine can only win without Pierce.

[BCelts]

I know this thread is a joke... but the thing is... beyond Miami's big 3, I don't think anyone on that team would even crack the Celtic's rotation.  Maybe Haslem.  

Give them a year, the MLE, LLE and some title chasing vets and that team will be scary.

LeBron took a team to the finals that had Larry Hughes as the 2nd best player... Drew Gooden and Sasha Pavlovic as starters.  That was pretty impressive.

There are different approaches to team building.  The old model was to get one or two great players and surround them with specialists with one or two great skills that complement the stars.  Examples of specialists include Bruce Bowen.  The team that best shows this philosophy, in my opinion, was the Sixers team that went to the finals.  They had iverson - the best (volume) scorer in the league at the time - and surrounded him specialist/role players.  Ratliff/Motumbo for rebounding and defense.  Eric Snow to play point on offense but guard the 2 on D (and hide Iverson's defensive weaknesses) and Aaron McKie to hit threes on the drive and kick and play D.  

This model is changing, likely because the league has more talent.  Dallas' team has less specialists and more ball players than last generations' teams.  They use ball movement and a team approach to create offense without a second "superstar."  Instead of having all defenders to account for Dirk's weaknesses in that area, they make up for it in all around good players.  The Thunder, anohter up-and-coming team, is similar in construction.  

With those thoughts in mind, Cleveland with LBJ was built like an old team - specailists and limited players to make LBJ more effective.  Miami is not built the same way.  But there is still only one basketball.  LBJ is so good he should lead a team.  He cannot be paired with Wade and reach his potential.

He relegated himself as the greatest second banana of all time.  I really dislike his "Decision" both for him and for the league.

[Lucky17]

Check out this interview with LeBron, shortly after the Cavs lost to the Spurs in the 2007 Finals:

http://www.insidehoops.com/lebron-interview-061507.shtml

Hard to believe this is the same person.

[eugen]

The problem of Miami is that is a team build more ofensivly than difensivly. Bosh is great shooter, but not a good defender. In addition Heats do not have a great CENTER as good as Shaq was for LAL 10 years before. Plus the coach is not the right one.

[ayer]

Check out this interview with LeBron, shortly after the Cavs lost to the Spurs in the 2007 Finals:

http://www.insidehoops.com/lebron-interview-061507.shtml

Hard to believe this is the same person.

his answers really shows he dont know what to do.. poor james...

. What did you think of your performance individually in this series and what you learned from this series?

LEBRON JAMES: It definitely could have been better. It could have been better in order for us to win. You know, if I don't play well, our team is not going to have a good chance to win. You know, I've got a lot of things to work on to get better for next year.

Q. To follow up with that, I mean, what's the first thing? Prioritizing in terms of what you need to work on for next year.

LEBRON JAMES: There's no one thing that I want to focus on intensively, it's just everything. I need to definitely get better, and once I get better, our team will automatically get better, and I know that. I have to do everything that I've done well and try to improve in order for us to be a better team next year.

Read more: http://www.insidehoops.com/lebron-interview-061507.shtml#ixzz1PD5SiRQu