LeBron is playing point, Bosh is playing center. Sometimes.
After the Heat brought in LeBron and Chris Bosh to play with D-Wade, and the Miami roster began to take shape, the next obvious question was, “Where will they play?” It’s not like the ’07 Celtics, where it only made sense to plug in Ray Allen at the two and KG at the four because Boston had pieces set in place elsewhere. With this Miami group, having Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo at PG, and everybody yet nobody at center, plus throwing multi-positional Mike Miller into the mix, there are lots of possibilities. Coach Erik Spoelstra cleared up some confusion in an interview with the Miami Herald. According to Coach Spoelstra — contrary to what you’ve been led to believe, Pat Riley is not (yet) the coach of the Heat — Bosh will play some center but not a lot, and LeBron will play some point guard. “He will be a playmaker,” Spoelstra said of LeBron. “But he has also been a scoring champ. He will be at the end of plays to finish them. He will be a facilitator. He’ll be so many different things. We want to take advantage of all his skills.” … Michael Ruffin is one of those guys we were half-expecting to sign with the Heat this summer, but instead he’s gotten into coaching, taking an assistant job with the Colorado Kings of the ABA. First drill of practice: How to throw the ball high enough in the air to allow the clock to run out … And who says the Cavs won’t contend without LeBron? They filled the gap at small forward by signing ex-Georgetown and Nuggets star Reggie Williams. The Baltimore native is kind of old, but he’s got experience … Oh wait, never mind. The Cavs signed Jawad Williams to help fill the LeBron void. He’s the guy who arguably wasn’t even the best “Williams” on his college team. Yeah, good luck with that. Seriously, is there a worse team on paper right now than Cleveland? Maybe the Wolves, perhaps the Raptors, but the list ain’t long … Surely you heard over the weekend about Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio, who suffered a mild heart attack just hours after his team beat Notre Dame in maybe the most exciting college game of the year so far. Dantonio’s situation again brings to the forefront the culture of coaching at big-time levels of sport and the stress that comes with it. Who do you think is under more stress consistently: NFL coaches, college football coaches, Major League Baseball managers, NBA coaches, or college basketball coaches? … And as long as there are millions of dollars on the line, will the profession ever change to where guys aren’t as stressed out? Sadly, we highly doubt it … We’re out like Ruffin’s arm …
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September 20th, 2010 at 1:47 am
ChuckTaylor says:
uhhhh….first…
September 20th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Thestradiosmiles says:
Jawad Williams filling the SF position in place of LeBron will bring Cleveland the title before Miami, mark my words…
September 20th, 2010 at 2:01 am
icey says:
im more of a basketball fan but i definitely think NFL coaches take more heat. Just because there are so much less games played, and every game means THAT much more
September 20th, 2010 at 2:18 am
UncheckedAggression says:
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I really don’t like football and hardly ever watch it. But I can’t imagine an NBA coach being under as much pressure as a college or NFL coach. Too few games and you have to get your team to play well together quickly. Shit, bad luck is enough to get you fired it seems. Being an NFL coach would be insane given the amount of attention is payed to every game.
September 20th, 2010 at 2:55 am
Hi, Jurg from Denmark says:
Hi hi from jurg,
I say mr Phil Jackson know what do with stress. I read his book one day and he like to smoke herb from mountain somewhere and lot of sex in the season. And now you know ha
and like you jurg can wait fir fantasy draft time and I play yahoo with 9 stats. Every time jurg nail that draft and I smile and give friend Vladimir the busines and dikembe finger, no no no vlade
from jurg The Great Dane
September 20th, 2010 at 3:20 am
dagwaller says:
Yesssss nice pull on Michael Ruffin. Ugliest dude in pro sports, right ahead of Terrell Suggs.
September 20th, 2010 at 3:44 am
superfreak says:
jurg, i only understood about half of what u said, but that is awesome haha
September 20th, 2010 at 4:31 am
spit hot fiyah says:
we need more jurg on this site
September 20th, 2010 at 4:50 am
2 Easy says:
LBJ playing point fair enough that makes perfect sense, CB1 playin center tho? Ya no so much. Id really rather Haslem at center. Wow beyond the lowest expectations from the Cavs and I have a feeling they’ll STILL be worse than we’re predicting
September 20th, 2010 at 6:22 am
HoopBot says:
Always thought LeBron would play the point. Dwyane Wade is as effective without the ball and a little slow with it. He’ll create lots of space and dish it off to Wade, but if Wade can’t get a good look, LeBron will be running down to receive it like a dragon. If that doesn’t work, Bosh will be the garbage man and clean it all up. How can you stop them?
September 20th, 2010 at 8:05 am
hoopspew says:
I hate saying this because he’s seems like a real stand up guy but Sheldon Williams is a monster, during the finals the camera would pan down at the Celtics bench he would stick out like a sore thumb.My girl would look at the tv with the “confused and befuddled” toddler face smh.
September 20th, 2010 at 8:21 am
hoopspew says:
I’m hoping that they shift wade over to the one spot and keep bron @ the 2 or 3. Bron is 6’8 260, I want him working out of the post. Your going to lose a rebounder having him on the perimeter. D- wade is as much as mismatch from a physical stand point as Bron. Pat Riley is pervert for putting these monsters on the same team.Watching a backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Turner defend wade and bron for 40 mins will be worse than watching that scene Jodie Foster in “the accused”
September 20th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Mike "Yahoo! Exclusive" Mihalow says:
LeBron should come off the bench. He and Wade need the ball too much, and it’d be easiest to not have them on the court at the same time. I’m sure they thought of that already before signing though.
September 20th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Patrick says:
Jawad was definitely the best williams on that unc team. marvin got drafted only on potential.
September 20th, 2010 at 9:25 am
QazQami says:
@2 LMAO ^^
September 20th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Cha-Ching says:
Mario Chalmers or Carlos Arroyo will walk the ball up. Pass to Lebron or Wade, then go to their respected perimeter spots. LB and Wade may(MAY!) feed Bosh in the post in the first half. Lebron and Wade clear outs the rest of the way taking turns. Basically who every has the weakest defender on them at the moment. If its Deng on LB forget about it.
September 20th, 2010 at 10:10 am
bobby stew says:
Football coache have it the worst because they have to stand the entire game and be outdoors in hot and cold wheather. There also seems to be more overweight/obese football coaches than bball coaches. I know the job is stressful but they gotta take care of their health. As a player I usually respected my coach more if he was in decent shape.
September 20th, 2010 at 10:15 am
RC says:
Haslem at center? the dude is already slow because of injuries and plus he is 6’8 and not even that athletic to guard bigger faster centers. He will get killed by the likes of Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol, even old Shaq will still kill Haslem and even Bosh at the post. They better play Big Z or Joel Anthony and split minutes between them if they need to.
Lebron and D-Wade will dribble the ball most of the time that they wont even need Chalmers or Arroyo anymore.
September 20th, 2010 at 10:21 am
bobby stew says:
pg Bron
sg Wade
sf Miller
pf Bosh
c Haslem/Z
House can come in for Miller thus shifting Wade and Bron to sg and sf. This should be their main 7 player playoff rotation.
September 20th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Heckler says:
the way the Miami Heat are built, the best center for the team (..wait for it…) would have been Darko (cue laugh track).
Nah man….Im serious. as much as he (still) sucks, Darko would have been the perfect center for this team. He has the height and size, young enough to play the minutes, athletic enough to make an impact on offense and defense and skilled enough (passing and 8ft shooting) to have a slight impact. at least the Heat can run with Darko.
they wont be able to run too much with Haslem or Z on the court. nor will they have driving lanes in the half court with Haslem or Z. they need a center who can step out and hit (up to) 18ftrs reguarly and still defend the center spot on the other end.
laugh if you must, but truly think about it. Darko would be the right center for Miami right now….
September 20th, 2010 at 10:57 am
JAY says:
Jurg off today
September 20th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Joe's Momma says:
I guess all that talk Bosh did during the offseason about not playing center went on deaf ears…
They seem pretty good at the center spot. Z should start and Anthony as primary backup. But against bigger 5′s Magloire will see lots of time.
LBJ at point, doesn’t seem like any difference than what he did in Cleveland. He had the ball 99% of the time. When he doesn’t have the ball in his hands is where it might get hairy
September 20th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Ekstor says:
We should put together a list of top 100 reasons why Dime should hire Jurg!
September 20th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Heckler says:
Jurg is in. the rest of us are out like Celtsfan…
September 20th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
JAY says:
Great idea Ekstor
#100 Reason why Dime should hired Jurg…
Because Chicagorilla, Heckler, Lakeshow and myself chug Hatorade by the gallon but even we approve Jurg.
September 20th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
bballfan says:
I pray for the health of Mark Dantonio. Please get well soon.
September 20th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Sporty-j says:
Bosh has a solid back-up PF in Haslem. Wade has a solid back-up in Mike Miller. A lot of people are forgetting about Da’Sean Butler{top 10 steal pick} who will be back after all-star break and be Lebrons solid back up guy SF. These guys are going to be so fresh come playoff time and in the 4th quarter. Eddie will recieve a lot of playing time as our Zone for team USA/Americas favorite team/MIAMI HEAT and Pat Riley has done the best job of any GM IN SPORTS HISTORY PERIOD and he did not even have the MLE this year lol. The only teams that can match us first team and second string is L.A. and Boston and they better hope Pat Riley does not come back after all-star break while Coach Wade and Lebron coaches this team until than…
September 20th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Sporty-j says:
Oh yeah football coaches are under the most pressure but Eric Spoelstra is already on the hot seat and is under the most pressure of any coach in sports HISTORY…
September 20th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
S.A.C says:
@ Sporty J.
Not sure if they plan for Butler to come back next year/season. The word is; he might play in Europe after he rehabs. We’ll see.
But from what I read, I don’t think they expect him for anytime this season. At least at this point; it’s up in the air.
September 20th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Sporty-j says:
I meant Eddie House as our Zone BUSTER and im hearing Butler is recovering faster than expected. Im hearing Riley only wants to use 1 PG going into the playoffs to create miss matches with a big line-up and thats where Butler comes in at because he would be the SF at all times when Lebron or Wade are running the Point when either 1 are resting. Starting line up: Chalmers, Wade, Lebron, Bosh, Dampier{hearing its only a matter of time unless a contnding team makes a good offer}. Start of 2nd qrt Lebron, Miller, BUTLER, Haslem, Joel. 8min mark of second is when Lebron will rest and than it will be: Wade, Miller, Butler, Haslem, and Bosh. 4min mark the starting 5 will be back but expect Big-Z and Eddie house to get a little burn as our floor stretchers by than since the game will be over and the big 3 can continue to fest some more inside. Bulls 72 record is in trouble and i dont know how teams are going to deal with the DARK AGES OF THE NBA…
September 21st, 2010 at 1:01 am
quest??? says:
FUCK KOBE……
September 21st, 2010 at 1:25 am
King says:
When The C’s put together the team us n the city knew what was gonna happen and they showed everyone else by coming out smacking everyone in the mouth the first two months.
If you don’t think the heat are gonna come out strong you are crazy
They can throw out
Lbj wade miller bosh and the popcorn guy and blow out most teams in the league. Thesis in haslem for big man d n boards or chalmers for guard d and they got everything covered . If your dumb enough to bet on NBA spreads take the heat all November. Except for the celtics game of course.
September 21st, 2010 at 2:07 am
Chicagorilla says:
LMAO@ Jurg
I’m casting my vote now for Jurg as ROTY on Dimemag.com blogspot.