Are the Pacers the favorites after Miami?

[Flauge]

"a weapon of mass destruction". lol, so basically they can't because you say so. got it...

weapon of mass destruction = lebron. they have nothing for it. we will beat them. a 23 point ass whipping in a game 7. they cant beat miami when miami has to win.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

Like I pointed out earlier, as much as people are jumping on the Pacers bandwagon, Vegas still has them as the 4th choice in the East.

This has a lot less to do with team strength than you think.

I think your other account has proven that some where someplace and then some how will find a way to detract from what some one else has done in hopes to make them feel less shitty about their own life.

well, that's YOUR reach. guess you're simply going to interpret it however you like...

maybe you should simply read things at face value...

at face value...? I think I read a lot at face value which is why I think most of the posts on here are hilarious, mainly because people actually think the shit they are saying.

If the Heat sign Greg Oden or a big man similar to his size, they will match up much better w/Indy than they do now.

Oden has to stay healthy for that to be a factor. Big men with knee problems do not get healthier, they get worse.

 

[trojanfan12]

If the Heat sign Greg Oden or a big man similar to his size, they will match up much better w/Indy than they do now.

Oden would have to stay healthy!! When has he shown he can do that? For his sake, I hope his knees are somehow okay, but that seems like a huge if!!

 

[bksballer89]

Oden's knees are roached. There's a very good chance he won't be available for the playoffs.

There's no big available right now that can match up with Roy.

I disagree. If the Heat sign Oden his minutes will be managed. He will be playing 15 MPG at most and probably get the game off on off nights.

Oden can match up with Hibbert. Roy is overrated. He is only really good when he has a significant size/weight advantage over his opponent. He would never be able to do what he did against the Heat against a center like Asik, Noah, Howard, Marc Gasol, and every other center close to his size/weight.

There is a reason he avg 12 and 8 in the regular season. Oden is 7 feet/285 and Hibbert is 7'2/280

Oden does matches up with Hibbert.

 

[Flauge]

oden matches up well. oden is an insane talent. i remember the 2007 title game.. he looked like the best player on the court and florida have 4 nba players on their roster. al horford and noah are both very good big men and he was dominating them like it was nothing.

but that was before the knee issues. i like oden. i hope he signs with miami. but i put exactly zero faith in him not getting injured. we clearly dont need him to win titles.

 

[bksballer89]

Oden would have to stay healthy!! When has he shown he can do that? For his sake, I hope his knees are somehow okay, but that seems like a huge if!!

As I said before if he comes to Miami, his minutes will be managed and he won't be starting. He will avg 10-15 MPG and get off nights on B2B. Some nights against the smaller teams of the league he will not even be needed as they can just go with UD/Bird against those teams. The only teams he would really be needed for would be Indy, MEM, CHI, BKLYN, HOU, LAC, and SAS. I may be missing a few teams but he won't really be needed for much minutes against a team who biggest player is 6'10 and 270.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Oden would have to stay healthy!! When has he shown he can do that? For his sake, I hope his knees are somehow okay, but that seems like a huge if!!

The one thing we all seem to agree on.

The thing about Oden IF all of the above happens would be that is is a BONUS.

Fact is, without him, like Flague pointed out, the Heat won every time they needed to.

All of you people keep telling us what other teams are doing, but what you aren't considering is that Wade was hobbled for all of the playoffs, and for the most part, the Heat was playing some of their most inconsistent ball of the season during the playoffs.

Will Wade be healthy next post season? Who knows? What we do know is that the focus of his regular season will be to try to make sure that he is.

Every year, the experience you gain also equates to knowledge.

I think they learned that the 27 game win steak lead to some very adverse effects once it ended.

Lets hope that they are smart enough to stay out of any potential situations like that again.

 

[bksballer89]

I love how people act like Hibbert is some superstar because he dominated a smaller team in Miami with one of the softest Centers in the NBA. He is an avg C w/good size.

He avg 22 and 10 against MIA in the playoffs but he wasn't anything special in the first 2 playoffs series because those teams had decent centers who actually play like a C.

In the NYK series he avg 13/10 and in the ATL series he avg 15 and 9.

Decent numbers but far from great.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

As I said before if he comes to Miami, his minutes will be managed and he won't be starting. He will avg 10-15 MPG and get off nights on B2B. Some nights against the smaller teams of the league he will not even be needed as they can just go with UD/Bird against those teams. The only teams he would really be needed for would be Indy, MEM, CHI, BKLYN, HOU, LAC, and SAS. I may be missing a few teams but he won't really be needed for much minutes against a team who biggest player is 6'10 and 270.

Exactly. These people act like Riley is stupid.

ALL that matters for the Heat next season doesn't even begin until round 2 of the playoffs.


If Oden decides to come here, it will be no secret to him what his role is.
It's up to him to decide if he thinks he can handle a bigger role somewhere else.
With his history, he would be much wiser to crawl with a team like the Heat then try to walk into a bigger minute situation somewhere else IMO.

 

[jayviabay]

P. George
D. West
R. Hibbert
D. Granger
L. Stephenson
G. Hill
C. Copeland
L. Scola
CJ Watson

That's one heckuva roster!

CJ Watson would be a better starter than hill but to really put the pacers over the top, I would trade for a true facilitator.

The Nuggets Have Lawson as the starter and just picked up foye and robinson. I dont know their plans but it seems like Andre Miller might be available?

You put Andre Miller on this Pacers team, and I think they come out of the east

 

[Flauge]

I love how people act like Hibbert is some superstar because he dominated a smaller team in Miami with one of the softest Centers in the NBA. He is an avg C w/good size.

He avg 22 and 10 against MIA in the playoffs but he wasn't anything special in the first 2 playoffs series because those teams had decent centers who actually play like a C.

In the NYK series he avg 13/10 and in the ATL series he avg 15 and 9.

Decent numbers but far from great.

hibbert is soft and garbage. he dominants miami because of size only. miami won back to back nba titles by going through his team. he can dominate a small joel anthony and udonis haslem. birdman was breaking all sorts of records for FG% on the guy in his off the bench role.

hibbert is far from a superstar. his contract is a noose. the pacers are a solid tough gritty squad. but they are playing for #2 in the east. it's their ceiling. im not trying to knock them. but outside of the 2004 Pistons.. when was the last time a team won the title without a superstar? it just doesnt happen in the NBA very often.

 

[trojanfan12]

The one thing we all seem to agree on.

The thing about Oden IF all of the above happens would be that is is a BONUS.

Fact is, without him, like Flague pointed out, the Heat won every time they needed to.

All of you people keep telling us what other teams are doing, but what you aren't considering is that Wade was hobbled for all of the playoffs, and for the most part, the Heat was playing some of their most inconsistent ball of the season during the playoffs.

Will Wade be healthy next post season? Who knows? What we do know is that the focus of his regular season will be to try to make sure that he is.

Every year, the experience you gain also equates to knowledge.

I think they learned that the 27 game win steak lead to some very adverse effects once it ended.

Lets hope that they are smart enough to stay out of any potential situations like that again.

Agree with much of this!! But as pointed out, Oden staying healthy is a big if!! Not sure that I'd want to pin my title hopes on it!! Not that you are, but adding a big with fragile knees that you're hoping to get 10-15 minutes a game from isn't that big of an addition!!

Wade has been injury prone for the past few seasons and it seems doubtful that he is suddenly going to go into next season 100% AND stay healthy!!

Add to that, the wear and tear of 3 straight finals appearances and it's a very tall order!! As I pointed out, no team has made 4 straight finals appearances since the Showtime Lakers in the early 80's and I believe that prior to that, you have to go all the way back to the 60's Celtics!! There is a reason for that!!

Not saying that the Heat can't or won't get it done, just that it's going to be a lot tougher than some Heat fans seem to think!!

 

[Black Adam]

weapon of mass destruction = lebron. they have nothing for it. we will beat them. a 23 point ass whipping in a game 7. they cant beat miami when miami has to win.

i knew what/who you meant, Flauge. i'm just not as convinced as you are that the results would be the same as the last time. let's face it, even WITH that "WMD" the series STILL went 7 games. and no matter WHAT you or any other Heat fan says, that a HELLUVA lot closer than any of you would've liked...

 

[trojanfan12]

hibbert is soft and garbage. he dominants miami because of size only. miami won back to back nba titles by going through his team. he can dominate a small joel anthony and udonis haslem. birdman was breaking all sorts of records for FG% on the guy in his off the bench role.

hibbert is far from a superstar. his contract is a noose. the pacers are a solid tough gritty squad. but they are playing for #2 in the east. it's their ceiling. im not trying to knock them. but outside of the 2004 Pistons.. when was the last time a team won the title without a superstar? it just doesnt happen in the NBA very often.

The problem with your logic is you are forgetting that the big that you are counting on (and haven't signed yet) to neutralize Hibbert will be coming in off of the bench and only playing 10-15 minutes a game. Hibbert will be playing 35-40 minutes per game. Even if the Heat use Oden only on Hibbert, it'll still be for less than half of the time Hibbert is playing!!

The rest of the time, it will be vs. the same bigs that we all just watched him dominate!!

 

[Black Adam]

in THAT case i can assure you we're even. i find it pretty unbelievable the other way...


Oden has to stay healthy for that to be a factor. Big men with knee problems do not get healthier, they get worse.

now THAT we agree on...

 

[Black Adam]

oden matches up well. oden is an insane talent. i remember the 2007 title game.. he looked like the best player on the court and florida have 4 nba players on their roster. al horford and noah are both very good big men and he was dominating them like it was nothing.

but that was before the knee issues. i like oden. i hope he signs with miami. but i put exactly zero faith in him not getting injured. we clearly dont need him to win titles.

boy, all of a sudden i'm seeing a LOT of faith being put into Oden's bum knees...

 

[bksballer89]

The Heat doesn't need Oden to come here and avg a double-double.

All he really needs to do is defend the centers and grab rebounds.

 

[Flauge]

boy, all of a sudden i'm seeing a LOT of faith being put into Oden's bum knees...

see what you want. we have gone to 3 straight finals and won back to back championships without oden. we dont need him to deal with the pacers.

 

[Black Adam]

The Heat doesn't need Oden to come here and avg a double-double.

All he really needs to do is defend the centers and grab rebounds.

AND stay healthy. and in his case that'd be the biggest factor...

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Agree with much of this!! But as pointed out, Oden staying healthy is a big if!! Not sure that I'd want to pin my title hopes on it!! Not that you are, but adding a big with fragile knees that you're hoping to get 10-15 minutes a game from isn't that big of an addition!!

Wade has been injury prone for the past few seasons and it seems doubtful that he is suddenly going to go into next season 100% AND stay healthy!!

Add to that, the wear and tear of 3 straight finals appearances and it's a very tall order!! As I pointed out, no team has made 4 straight finals appearances since the Showtime Lakers in the early 80's and I believe that prior to that, you have to go all the way back to the 60's Celtics!! There is a reason for that!!

Not saying that the Heat can't or won't get it done, just that it's going to be a lot tougher than some Heat fans seem to think!!

I think all of the fans as well as the Heat players know how hard winning again will be.
The players are using this offseason to rest. That's why you won't be seeing Olympic tryouts and other outside activities. The only goal now is NBA championships.

As much as some people want to deny it, the Heat has a player who is as special as special can be, and it just isn't prudent to bet against him right now.
No matter what teams add, it isn't LeBron James.

As far as Oden, who knows?
At the start of last year, we didn't know we would get Birdman.
Fact is, every year there are difference makers let go around the trade deadline and they all seem to migrate to contenders, so the Heat will be fine if they need to find another piece at some point.