Turn Up the Heat

While all of the attention in South Beach has been focused on the "Three Kings," the Heat have shrewdly pieced together a second "Big Three" that contains enough talent to significantly reduce the burden on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.  Udonis Haslem, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Mike Miller are not the first three names of the All-NBA team, but they are valuable pieces to a Heat team that does not need too much to be odds-on favorites.

Haslem is the best all-around player of this newer three.  A rock in the post, Haslem is a solid defender with a good 10-15 foot jumper.  He knows his role perfectly and is the rare player that never oversteps his boundaries.

Ilgauskas provides size so that Bosh can play his natural power forward position. Illgauskas also has perhaps the best range and shooting touch of any center in the league.  He will not play major minutes (maybe 20-25 per game) because he is aging and his body is breaking down, but when he is on the court he will stretch the defense out to 20 feet and open up space for the superstars.

Miller is a deadeye three-point shooter with some all-around offensive skill as well.  He is nothing more than a role player, and his defense is suspect, but he will space the floor nicely and should get plenty of open looks on this team.

Bosh, Haslem, and Ilgauskas form a very nice pivot rotation, while James and Miller will rotate at the small forward and shooting guard positions.  James may play some power forward as well.  Then Wade and Chalmers will play both guard positions at times.

This supporting cast is flawed, Miller and Ilgauskas are defensive liabilities, but they do have certain strengths, and if they stick to their strengths, they could just push this team over the hump.

Filling out the Heat's roster will likely be the three rookies they selected in this past draft, DeSean Butler, Dexter Pittman, and Jarvis Varnardo.  If they can find one immediate contributor out of that crop, the Heat could field a solid eight-man rotation with the three studs and just enough surrounding them to get by.

The extent to which this experiment in Miami will work out will ironically depend on how much James, Wade, and Bosh are willing to share the ball with their less talented teammates.  If teams only have to guard the Big 3, then the rest of the Heat will become useless because for the most part they contribute by knocking down jumpshots off powerful moves to the rack from James, Wade, and Bosh.

This supporting cast does not rebound all that well and does not defend very well at all.  The Heat is going to have to outscore other teams, and the only way they can do that is by sharing the ball.

--from Adam