The Heat Should Repeat

LeBron James silenced doubters leading Miami to a title

This weekend, the real basketball season begins.

After a long, 82 game season that stretched from November to April, 16 teams will compete for the ultimate prize, the Larry O’Brien trophy. All it takes is 16 wins and one team looks like the clear favorite to celebrate with champagne showers and parades. That team is last year’s champions, the Miami Heat.

Miami, who heads into the playoffs well rested with a first round matchup against the only team with a losing record in the playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks, has many distinct advantages which will help support their efforts to repeat. Without further ado, here are the top four reasons why the Miami Heat will repeat in 2013.

4. Erik Spoelstra

In the 2012 NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat found their identity.

Erik Spoelstra inserted Shane Battier into Miami’s starting lineup and the benefits were evident immediately. While Battier defended opponents with a significant size advantage, such as Indiana’s David West, his defensive instincts allowed him to defend capably. However, Battier’s insertion into the starting lineup allowed Miami to replace a dwindling Udonis Haslem with an additional threat from three-point-range.

Spoelstra’s cunning and ability to think outside the box have continued into this season. While Miami’s offense has been a force to be reckoned with , thanks to Spoelstra’s offensive approach that focuses on spacing the floor with shooters to complement his stars, their defense has come around after a below average start to the season. Miami’s offense is tops in the Eastern Conference, averaging 102.9 points per game while the defense finished the season allowing 95 points per game, good for seventh best in the NBA.

3.  Complementary Pieces

It takes five guys clicking on all cylinders to win in the playoffs.

Despite Miami’s cap situation as a luxury tax payer, the Heat have successfully been able to add complementary pieces to their championship-caliber roster.

While the signing of Shane Battier in the summer of 2011 helped Miami win its second NBA championship, the Heat continued to add to their roster in 2012 by signing the greatest three-point shooter of all time in Ray Allen. While Allen has had difficulty adjusting to his new role, evidenced by Allen’s career-low averages in minutes (25.8) and points (10.9) per game, he is still a dangerous offensive player who has hit many big shots this year, including a game-winner against Denver at the start of the season.

Following the game-winner against Denver, Erik Spoelstra commented on Allen’s late game heroics, "Do we expect him to do that every single night? That's not necessarily what he has to do. It's what he's done his whole career, but he's found a way to fit in."

If Ray Allen hits one key shot in the playoffs, he will more than justify his worth to the Heat. Along with midseason pickup Chris Andersen, the Heat have continued to add veteran players who should play significant roles in the playoffs.

2. An Easy Road Ahead

For years, the Western Conference has been the dominant one, and this year is no different. While there are a number of dangerous teams in the West, such as Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Denver, Miami has a relatively easy path to return to the NBA finals.

Miami’s first round opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, have many intriguing pieces on their roster, but they should mostly serve as a warm-up for the second round. Miami’s biggest challengers in the East, New York and Indiana, do not have first round matchups that they can take lightly. New York will face the Boston Celtics, a team with a successful track record in the playoffs, extreme dislike for New York, and extra motivation following the Boston Marathon bombings, while Indiana will face the Atlanta Hawks, a team that they split the season series with.

In addition to an easy first-round matchup, Miami has been blessed with good health. The Eastern Conference playoffs will no longer feature the exciting point guard play of Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo, while the year-long absence of Andrew Bynum has kept the conference’s most dangerous center out of the postseason. 

1. The King

2012 was the year of LeBron James. After winning his third MVP award, James led the Heat to victory in the NBA finals and Team USA to victory in the Olympics.

But 2013 has shown that LeBron James is still improving. Coming into the season, James was a tank who could bully his way to the rim with an engine that made him deadly in transition. While this is still true of LeBron James, who leads the NBA with 1.459 points per transition possession, the tank has been upgraded with improved attachments, making a deadly weapon even more dangerous.

The big knock on James coming into this season was his pedestrian jump-shot. This season, however, James has turned one of his weaknesses into a strength. By attaching long range accuracy upgrades to the tank, James has averaged a career high 56.5 percent field goal shooting and 40.6 percent shooting from downtown.

While James’ major improvement can be attributed to his work ethic, it would be remiss to not acknowledge Ray Allen’s influence in James’ development from downtown. At the end of each practice, James would participate in a shooting contest with some of the team’s best shooters. After one such contest early in the season, a reporter asked Ray Allen if he won. Allen replied, “Nope. LeBron did, believe it or not.”

While LeBron James’ improved shooting has made him a more deadly weapon, it is not the only way in which he has improved. This season, James has cut down his turnovers and fouls, averaging 3 and 1.4 per game respectively, rebounded the basketball to a tune of 8 boards per games, and played his most efficient basketball during a record streak of six games with at least 30 points and 60 percent shooting. As long as James stays healthy, the Miami Heat have to like their chances to repeat.

Windhorst Analysis

Windhorst took his talents to ESPN in 2010

After reading a handful of Brian Windhorst’s columns, it is very evident who his target audience is. Having started his career writing about the Cleveland Cavaliers and moving to ESPN following LeBron James’ departure to Miami, Windhorst focuses the majority of his columns on the team he is covering. While he credits James for influencing his decision to join ESPN, Windhorst does not solely write columns about LeBron James. As a writer for ESPN’s “Heat Index,” Windhorst targets Miami Heat fans from all over the world with his columns.

Windhorst, unlike many other ESPN columnists, tends to write without utilizing many statistics that could help convey his message. For example, in a recent article by Tom Haberstroh in which he names his top 5 candidates for MVP, Haberstroh gives the reader the ability to more greatly appreciate LeBron James’ magnificent season by analyzing and comparing James’ 56.2 percent shooting to other NBA superstars. While Haberstroh gives the reader perspective of James’ greatness by claiming that Kobe Bryant would need to make his next 349 field goal attempts to shoot 56.2 percent, Windhorst utilizes quotes more frequently and effectively. In Windhorst’s column about the Heat needing to play bigger, Windhorst quotes Coach Erik Spolestra and Dwyane Wade multiple times in addition to Udonis Haslem. Often, these quotes are used to transition between thoughts. For example, after Windhorst quotes Haslem talking about the team’s lack of size, he transitions to end the article by pointing out LeBron James’ box-score-stuffing performance.

Furthermore, Windhorst often writes his columns primarily based off of one game. Windhorst’s column about the Heat needing to play bigger focuses on a regular season game against Philadelphia while his column about the Heat being better with Wade focused on Wade’s return to action against the New York Knicks. By reading Windhorst’s columns, one can follow the Miami Heat at a deeper level than simply reading a game story and looking at the box score. Even though Windhorst does not venture into the subject matter too deeply, readers of his columns can keep up with key themes of the Heat’s season, such as a lack of size and success without one of the NBA’s most talented players.

As an avid Miami Heat fan, I wish that Windhorst went more in depth with his columns despite that the goal of his columns is to have wide appeal. For example, in his article about the Heat’s need to play bigger, Windhorst could have examined the Heat’s problem deeper by analyzing a specific player that worsens the Heat’s ability to rebound when he is on the court. If a specific player cannot be made into a scapegoat, Windhorst could broaden his analysis to observe the Heat in different game situations to try to find the main reason behind Miami’s problem besides their personnel. If Windhorst could successfully incorporate more statistics into his article without compromising his column’s readability to his target audience, Windhorst would give his opinions more credibility and potentially appeal to more avid basketball readers.

Although an increased use of statistics would give Windhorst more credibility, claiming that Windhorst is not a credible columnist would be naïve and wrong. One tactic Windhorst utilized in his column supporting Pat Riley for Executive of the Year was admitting his own faults. In the column, Windhorst evaluates and praises Riley’s shrewd free agent signings over the past two summers, such as Ray Allen, Chris Andersen, and Shane Battier. As Windhorst evaluates the Battier signing, calling Battier a “vital cog in the Heat’s small-ball lineup,” he admits that he wrongly criticized Riley’s signing of Battier when the consensus was that Miami needed to spend their limited money on a center.

Overall, I find Brian Windhorst to be a very interesting writer, although that is largely influenced by him covering my favorite sports team. Although Windhorst columns are not composed with the most enthusiastic basketball fans in mind, his use of quotes and ability to tell a story has a wide appeal to Miami Heat fans all over the world.

Haberstroh column: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/PerDiem-130409/nba-breaking-mvp-ballot

Windhorst - Heat Must Play Bigger

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/12965/heat-have-to-play-bigger

Shane Battier has stepped up in Miami's small lineups

In this column, Windhorst examines the one of the Heat’s main weaknesses within the context of a Miami victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. As Miami has elected to utilize smaller lineups in order to take advantage of their superior athleticism, Miami has struggled playing big.

While this column focuses on the consequences of Miami’s small-ball lineups, the Heat-76ers game serves as the feature story and provides evidence for when Miami is at its best and worst. Windhorst briefly recaps the game as a tale of two halves; in the first half, Miami’s “flying death machine” was in full force, while in the second half, Miami came out small and barely squeaked out a win.

When Windhorst describes Miami at its best, he makes it clear that the Heat are a force to be reckoned with. In the first half, the “flying death machine” played with energy, urgency, and focus as they ended the half with a 27 point lead. There was no mention of a lack of playing big until the second half, where Philadelphia cut Miami’s lead to four and outrebounded the Heat 35-12 in the final 24 minutes, making the team of superstars look like “a middle-of-the-pack team fighting to eke out a win.”

In order to make his point, Windhorst uses quotes from Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. Both Wade and Haslem described Miami as “not a big team,” and Windhorst points to Miami’s interior defense and rebounding as the team’s weaknesses.  With the trade deadline long gone, Windhorst and the Heat both recognize that the team needs to “play bigger.” Windhorst, when introducing Wade’s quotes, claims that Wade was trying to do his part by recording ten rebounds, despite only scoring 12 points.

While Windhorst is able to successfully analyze the Heat’s weaknesses by comparing and contrasting the first and second half of one game of basketball, Windhorst may place too much blame on the Heat’s inability to “play big.” While Miami clearly and significantly lost the battle of the boards in the second half, Windhorst fails to point out that Miami had more turnovers and scored fewer fast break points than Philadelphia, two categories in which Miami usually dominates and uses to fuel their “flying death machine.” Regardless, Windhorst’s use of quotes makes it clear that Miami’s personnel won’t change and that the team must collectively play bigger in order to play at a championship level. 

Windhorst- Miami is Better with Wade Column Analysis

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/11990/are-the-heat-better-without-wade-no-way

Wade led Miami to a Championship in 2006

In this largely opinionated column, Windhorst dismisses the idea that the Miami Heat are better off without superstar guard Dwyane Wade, who had just returned from a two week absence which happened to coincide with some of Miami’s best basketball of the season.

While Windhorst makes his opinion clear, his column also serves as a character study of Dywane Wade. Windhorst notes Wade’s agitation in missing big games against San Antonio and Los Angeles, acknowledges Wade’s struggles prior to missing games due to injury, and highlights key moments in Wade’s return to signify Wade’s superstar status. In Miami’s nine games without Wade, the Heat have only lost once, which has provided ammunition to the few who believe that Wade has lost a step or two.

In order to explain Miami’s success when Wade sits, Windhorst analyzed Wade’s performance in the four games prior to his absence over the past six games and compared it to his return to action against the New York Knicks. In the four games prior to injuring his foot, Wade shot only 38% from the field and only scored more than 17 points once. Clearly, Wade’s subpar play was due to injury, evidenced not only by Windhorst’s word choices to describe Wade as “ailing,” “not himself,” and “half-full,” but also by Wade’s 28 point return to action in which he dunked five times, “clowned” Landry Fields, and swatted Toney Douglass at the rim.

The way in which Windhorst informs the reader of the media’s criticism of Wade articulates the notion that Wade’s subpar performance at the start of the 2011-2012 season was due to injuries, disregarding that the team was better off without him. After outlining Wade’s two week hiatus, filled with numerous treatments and lots of television, Windhorst utilizes a well-placed quote from Wade responding to media criticism.

Well I agree with Windhorst that Miami is clearly a better and more talented basketball team with Dwyane Wade playing, I think that Windhorst could have backed up his opinion with more facts. The only evidence Windhorst provides to support his opinion is Dwyane Wade’s strong first game back from a stretch in which Miami won five of six games. It would be interesting to see Windhorst use more statistical data to assert his claim that Miami is better with Wade, such as Miami’s offensive and defensive ratings with and without Wade or Wade’s plus-minus for the season.

Windhorst-Pat Riley Best Executive Column Analysis

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/9150993/nba-pat-riley-executive-year

Riley won his first ring as an executive in 2012

In this column, Windhorst takes a look at the executive of the year race in the NBA and makes a case for Miami’s Pat Riley, who he considers as a longshot to win the award despite his team’s success and his big summer in 2010.

Windhorst begins his feature column by informing the reader that Pat Riley did not win the executive of the year award following his acquisition of the Big Three (James, Wade, and Bosh) nor is he considered to be the front runner to win the award this year.  While Windhorst depicts his opinions in the column and names Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey as the likeliest winner of the award this year, Windhorst exhibits a pro-Riley bias through his analysis of Riley’s newer acquisitions and use of well-placed quotes. In particular, the Daryl Morey quote, "Pat Riley should win every year for getting LeBron James," gives Windhorst credibility after establishing Morey’s strong case for the award. In addition, Windhorst examines the 2011 executive of the year race in which Pat Riley came in second to the Chicago Bulls despite his ”generational coup” of signing LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.

Windhorst’s ability to contrast the 2011 and 2013 award races and successfully analyze Riley’s lesser impact moves, such as the Shane Battier, Ray Allen, and Chris Anderson signings, makes his argument very compelling.  In 2011, Riley tied Bulls GM Gar Forman, each receiving 11 votes, but Chicago Bulls president John Paxson also received 3 votes. While Miami made the big name free agent signings in the summer of 2010, Chicago hired Coach Tom Thibodeau, made a number of smaller impact signings highlighted by Carlos Boozer, and clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Thus, Pat Riley has a case to win the award this year in spite of a relatively low key offseason due to his team’s strong and improving play.

After reading this article, I wonder if a similar story will be told of the Los Angeles Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak in a few years. While Kupchak clearly made the sexiest moves this past off-season by acquiring Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, the Lakers have not lived up to expectations on the court this season. If the Lakers resign Howard and live up to the lofty expectations set for them in 2013-2014, Kupchak could have a strong case to win the award in the future by sticking with a team of stars he put together this season.