The Heat's supporting cast has been sporadic, at times, but Chalmers, Battier, Jones, etc., have 3 pt shooting ability, and they can play tough D.
The other issue is getting the ball to the right players at the right time- i.e., within the flow of the game. The supporting cast also has to feel that they have a green light to do their thing at the right time, and not overly defer to the alpha males.
In Wade and James, the Heat have two stars who are comfortable taking charge of a game, or passing to the open man. The overpaid Bosh has accepted the role of being a jump shooter/cutter to the basket who waits to get the ball without going 1/1 too much. Need I also add that James, Wade, and even Bosh, also make the effort to play defense.
The Heat's offense will frequently break down into a James/Wade top of the key/do your thing type offense, the kind that Anthony likes, but they are both good passers when necessary, especially off the drive, and you have to think that they feel just as good dishing out an assist as scoring.
Our two stars are reluctant passers. Anthony knows how to pass the ball, but lets face it, he helped drive out MDA because he was unwilling to be part of an offense that was not channeled through him- which seemingly involves Anthony isolations, where he will pass when stopped, but not necessarily to guys in good positions to score. Amare has limited vision on the court, limited ability to assess, or even see what is developing, and is a sub-par passer.
I've actually seen some of Anthony's game in Durant and Westbrook- the head down, I'm going 1/1 no matter what attitude, and it seems to me that this has hurt the OKC offense.
We need a Ray Allen type scorer, who can move without the ball and come off screens and hit a J, and we need Amare to hit the midrange shots he was making his first year. I love Landry, but, unless he has really worked on his jumper, he is better coming off the bench as an energy-type player, and I'm not sure Shumpert will ever be the consistent jump shooter we need (Hell... who knows what we can expect from him after he recovers.) You can see what good D does against a guy like Novak, who rarely got open looks in the Heat series because of our lack of ball movement. Novak is actually a barometer... when he is not getting open looks, you know our offense is going iso and our spacing is non-existent.
I don't see any dominant teams in the East except for the Heat and Chicago, and who knows how much Wade has left in him, or what Rose's injury will do to his game. Both have games dependent on their athleticism. Orlando is a damaged franchise at this point, the Celtics have to retool someday, and teams like Atlanta and the Pacers don't exactly inspire fear. Have to watch Philly, I suppose, but they are beatable.
If we can stay relatively healthful, and don't lose too many players to free agency, I can't see why the Knicks won't be in the 45-50 win range over the next few years, but to reach any kind of finals (NBA or ECF)we are really dependent on the health of Wade and Rose, the head of Howard, and the development of young talent, or the FA signings, of other teams.
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities- C.N. Bovee
