Are you in the game?!

Patt Riley, the players and management, and most of all the fans could no longer sing the song, "the Heat is on... the Heat is o-on!" After winning the 2006 NBA crown and a good run in the 2006 season, the Heat now faces its worse standing since the Wade and Shaq tandemn came in. The heat holds the league's 2nd worse record at 8 wins - 26 losses for a percentage of 0.235. Thanks to the crazyness of the Wolves for letting go of KG, the Wolves now holds the worse record in the NBA.

This post is depressing for me because I am a Heat fan, particularly a D. Wade fan! I admired him the most during the 2005 finals when they were up against Dallas. D. Wade, "The Flash" really showed his stuff and carried the team to the crown. I wasn't surprised and bothered when the team traded James Posey and other guys during the off-season. I was thinking that as long as D. Wade, Shaq, and Alonzo Mourning (yes, his the 3rd man for me!), the Heat will still be a contender. Unfortunately, Wade didn't play in their opening games due to injury and I think the bad start really struck Miami. Now with Wade back, Shaq is the one sidelined with injury and other guys are not playing as well as they should be. I would especially mention Jason Williams, the "former" deadly shooter, skip-passer, and deadly finisher is dismaying!



I would also like to comment on the team's offensive strategies. Everytime I check out their boxscorse of their games in NBA, it is very noticable that Shaq has very few attempts in most of their games. I would say he roughly averages 10 field goal attempts in about 25-30 minutes of playing time! I think this is not a good sign for the Heat's offense. Despite Shaq's age and all the issues, I think he still has the Diesel in him, the power, the moves, and the smarts to get to the ring dunking baskets, or end up trying from the free throw line. Shaquille is still a threat down low. He can still get guys in foul trouble and make a couple of three-point plays down low.

Miami will never be a contender with Shaq only having 10 attempts per game. The Heat should not settle for outside shots. Their play must start at the post wil O'neal or Zo, then from double teams, kick-out plays may come for their shooters. Remember that the Heat was very effective playing this type of ball game. James Posey, Antoine Walker, Jason Williams made a living beyond the arc out of the drive-and-dish plays of Wade and the kick-out passes of Shaq from the post.

During the last week of December, 2007, Kyle Korver became a member of the Utah Jazz in exchange for Gordan Giricek and a conditional first round draft pick in next year's draft. Based on my readings, the Jazz was the one who initiated the trade. I wonder why the Sixers grabbed the offer considering that Korver has been their only consistent threat from the outside ever since he came to the Sixers. Korver was around 40% from the 3-point arc last season and through time, he has improved as an all around player including on the defensive end.


I think the trade definitely favors the Jazz. With Korver, the Jazz now have a formidable three-point shooter. Boozer can exploit more on the inside because the defense will have to extend out on Korver. Kick-out plays to Korver will always be present every for sure. Korver will join Okur and Williams in playing beyond the arc. The Sixers on the other hand, might see the fruit of this trade by the time they make a good move on their draft rights gained from Utah. For now, Philidelphia is a "so so" team. I feel Andre Iguodola isn't that ripe yet to carry a team on his young shoulders. Andre Miller also isn't really the type of player who can lead a team to strings of victory. The team needs a lot of reconstruction especially on their roster. If the Sixers wants to get back to their glorious days, they must do something with their line-up.

For more on the celebrity looking Korver, check out his site here.

The big three of the New Jersey Nets namely, Richard Jefferson, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter have yet to find their consistency in the NBA this season. A lot is expected from the trio which has been formed last 2004. It can be remembered that the Nets let go of forward Eric Williams, forward/centre Aaron Williams and centre Alonzo Mourning, along with two first-round draft picks in exchange for Vince Carter of the Toronto Raptors.

Unlike Boston's super impressive trio, Allen-Garnett-Pierce, the Nets has been a hot and cold team, since the trio was formed. They could beat the hottest teams in the league but at the same time, easily falter against the weak ones. This season they added youngsters like Sean Williams, Marcus Williams and Josh Boone. Currently, they hold a record of 17 wins-16 losses, which simply proves their being "hot and cold" team.

The good things is that the team is definitely out for the playoffs run this season yet. With other teams also struggling, the Nets can be considered as one of the middle teams in the NBA that still has very high hopes for the playoffs. There are a lot of things you can find in N.J. which I think is the reason why the Nets never runs out of supporters! The city itself is fantastic plus you have famous dentist New Jersey, beautiful spots, long and deep tunnels, and of course their humble NBA squad, the New Jersey Nets. The Nets are still able to attract a lot of fans because the team really has the potential to make it to the top in the NBA.

With Jason Kidd at the point, the Nets is always exciting and fun to watch. To spice it up, you have Carter and Jefferson on the wings which are both prolific high-flyers, and open-court finishers!