Inside Enemy Territory with “Crazy from the Heat”
As the Miami Heat adjust to the addition of “The Matrix,” there have been some pressing matters regarding the direction of the team.
HoopsAddict.com once again sat down with Vivek from Crazy from the Heat about the changes and the direction of the Heat for the rest of the season
Q: What added dimensions does Shawn Marion bring to your team? Do you believe you were adequately compensated for the departure of Shaquille O’Neal?
Obviously you can’t compare Marion’s body of work to Shaq’s, but relative to where they stand at this current point in their career evolutions, I think it’s safe to say that you get much more out of adding Marion to the mix in Miami than you get in adding Shaq to a team with a very opposite identity. Statistically speaking, Marion gives you far more across the board, (points, rebounds, steals, etc) and the fact that he’s more youthful gives the Miami Heat a longterm objective with a huge upside. Putting Marion on the court with guys like Wade, Wright, and Haslem gives the team an extra gear that could eventually help ignite that “Championship Flame” of two years ago. How long it takes that “spark” to happen remains to be seen, but where there’s smoke there’s fire, and eventually I think we’ll all see this team “HEAT” up…
Q: Do you believe that Reggie Miller was unfair in his assessment of Dwayne Wade? Can Wade return to the heights that we saw a few years ago?
Speaking on behalf of what’s probably a very silent majority, I think that Reggie Miller’s comments were candidly on point, but the perception of what he meant was taken out of context because he chose a poor alignment of words to shape his point. My reference is to his statement that “Kobe Bryant takes this same supporting cast in Miami to the playoffs, while with Wade they currently sit at the bottom of the league.” Fans around the country may not be privy, but locally, there’s much talk of Wade not being a “vocal” enough leader and those sentiments were echoed by a statement directly from the mouth of Wade two years ago where he said “if you’re looking for speeches, don’t look at me”, when a reporter asked what could he do differently to motivate his team who was currently on a downward spiral. This statement was the proverbial ‘birth-canal’ which delivered that sentiment - which I do share with Miller - that Kobe could deliver better results in a similar situation.
Trouble is, Miller (in my opinion) meant that statement in the sense of Wade not demanding the most out of his supporting cast, but the media nature is to spin such a statement and make it controversial, which gave life to the notion that Miller meant Kobe is better than Wade. For the record, if Miller did mean it in the sense that Kobe is better than Wade, it’s unfair because we’ve never seen Kobe perform at an optimal level coming off of a season that ended with a major knee and shoulder operation. So until we see Kobe deliver those same “eye of the tiger” type moments in the clutch with a knee and shoulder operation close in his rear view mirror, you probably can’t justify such a comment with any true validity. A polished jumpshot aside, there really isn’t much difference between the two players from a talent standpoint, and I have no doubt that when healthy, Wade can give us more than a glimpse of the same heroics that single-handedly gave his team its most coveted moment in franchise history.
Q: Why is Miami sending their picks to the NBDL when they obviously have a lost season? Shouldn’t the Heat be developing their talent at the NBA level while they have the chance this year?
Many people look at Miami’s recent move to send Daequan Cook and Anthony Johnson to the NBDL as a ‘head-scatcher’, but when you look at the history you have to favor the decision. Not too long ago, Dorrell Wright was summoned to the NBDL and despite his heavy protest, his game had never been able to elevate to that level without it. You look at Daequan Cook who had admittedly hit the “rookie wall” and went into a complete shooting slump for the Heat, and in his first competition in the NBDL he scored 26 points with ease. The good thing about the Heat organization is unlike most other NBA teams who you know are considering a slow separation with players when they make this move, the Heat actually use the NBDL as designed, which is to groom players on a more developmentally fundamental level. For the record, few Miami Heat players have been sent to the NBDL that didn’t eventually find themselves in the regular rotation. That bodes well for each of the guys involved and their ability to execute those lessons eventually against the leagues elite.
HoopsAddict.com would like to thank Vivek for his contribution. Please check out Crazy from the Heat for all your Heat-related information!
