Time Travel: Unraveling the Miami Heat

[Myles Nelson]

I'm not expecting much my first couple of months. It's weird, I feel like I've lived through a situation like this before. I honestly feel like so long as I go 9-8, I might end up okay by the end of the day. I mean I only have 3 returners who will get PT in Wade, Beasley and Haslem. Chalmers and Jones won't play much at all so it's not like I have that many returners.

With that said, I was not prepared for the Opening Night 99-83 Loss the 76ers handed us. I want to believe our 34% shooting came from new players learning a new offense and getting used to each other, but it just seems like one bad night. We did force 14 turnovers, but that was really our one highlight.

Playing the Warriors at home was a lot better as we beat them for a 107-90 Win. Bosh and Wade went for 26/10 and 23/10 (assists for Wade) to give us two double doubles on the night. We shoot 50% from the field and force 15 turnovers, but turn over the ball 19 times ourselves, 4 each by Beasley Bosh and Wade, so that's not promising.

We travel to Charlotte to take them on to the tune of a 105-97 Win. We got good games from the usual places, 24/13 from Bosh and 13/8 from Wade, but we also got 21 points from a red-hot Raja Bell, 11 and 17 from Brendan Haywood, and 17 points from Duhon.

Apparently Josh Howard/Wes Matthews are having serious problems and so are Chris Bosh/James Jones. Unfortunately, all four of these players have the 90 day restriction. It's going to be a long 90 days.

The undefeated Boston Celtics come down to Miami to get a whooping, a 102-90 Win for us as we improve to 3-1. Again we had a balanced attack with five players in double digits, Bosh the leader with 25. We hold the Celtics to 40% shooting and force 18 turnovers.

In something that feels like a rematch of sorts, though I'm not sure why, we get lambasted by the Mavericks, a 102-75 Loss in Dallas. We shoot 35% from the floor, Dirk gets 26, Kidd turns back the clock for 20, and Bell gets 17 but he had to chuck 17 times to score that much.

We force overtime in San Antonio as we try the Texas Two-Step but can't hang on and lose 133-124. Wade goes off for 31, Haywood gets 20, Bosh scores 19 and Beasley has 16, but we can't stop the Spurs as they shoot 57% from the floor.

We're all about beating undefeated teams as we hand the New Jersey Nets their first loss of the season with a 103-93 Win. A battle of friends, LBJ has the best individual performance with 27 points and 9 rebounds, Amar'e gets 16 and 10; on our side, Wade gets 17 and 9, Bosh gets 17 and 10. Luckily, our role players showed up more than LBJ's did, which I designed that way.

We have a disappointing game as we let the Jazz score 108 points on 49% shooting, but we score 120 on 55% shooting as we win over the Jazz at home. We have 6 players in double figures and force 15 turnovers, which ultimately helps us beat them.

We take on the struggling Magic at home and beat them 107-85. Wade and Haywood lead the way for us with 24 and 20, and most of Haywood's points came on free throws as he fouled Dwight Howard out, and also, held Howard to just 6 points. That allowed us to win as the Magic's best and most dominant player was sidelined for a lot of the game.

A wrist sprain to D-Wade helps the Knicks beat us 109-104 as we are handed our 4th loss of the season. Wade was limited to 6/17 shooting from the floor, and Bosh couldn't do it all by himself. Johnson and Lee combined for 45 points. Bosh was heroic with 32 points, but we just didn't supply him with enough help.

[Myles Nelson]

EVALUATIONS

(6-4)

Chris Duhon 11.8 ppg, 4.1 apg, 1.2 topg, 52.4% fg, 39.6% 3pt, 67% stop
Dwyane Wade 18.9 ppg, 4 rpg, 6.7 apg, 1.6 spg, 4 topg, 41% fg, 83.3% stop
Michael Beasley 10.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.1 topg, 45.3% fg, 94.4% stop
Chris Bosh 19.4 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 2.9 topg, 43% fg
Brendan Haywood 13.4 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 3.7 bpg, 53.9% fg

Raja Bell 11.7 ppg, 42.4% fg, 37.3% 3pt, 90.2% stop
Udonis Haslem 6.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.4 spg, 40.7% fg
James Jones 6.8 ppg, 42.4% fg, 37.9% 3pt, 100% stop
Josh Howard 5.2 ppg, 38.2% fg, 100% stop
Patrick Patterson 2.7 ppg, 54.5% fg
Mario Chalmers 2.7 ppg, 2.1 apg, 36.8% fg, 90.3% stop
Wes Matthews 1.3 ppg, 37.5% fg, 100% stop

Chris Duhon is honestly beasting it right now. His defense is a little suspect but his shooting is way better than expected and he has a good A/TO ratio of around 3.4.

Dwyane Wade has been a bit disappointing, his percentages are low and he's not dominating games like I'd hoped.

Beasley has been a solid starter, scoring points at an efficient rate and playing good defense.

Although Bosh leads the team in points per game, I'm disappointed in his percentages. He's rebounding and playing good defense though.

Haywood is my MVP at the moment. The guy is scoring decently, but rebounding and blocking shots at an insane rate, and he's incredibly efficient when shooting the ball.

Bell needs to chuck less, but other than that he's doing just fine.

Haslem's field goal percentage is low, but he's playing good defense and rebounding well.

Jones is a wonderful surprise. I wasn't sure he'd get much PT but he's getting out there and shooting the ball well.

Howard is a serious disappointment. I hope he picks his game back up.

Patterson/Chalmers/Matthews don't play enough for me to care about them.

TEAM STRENGTHS AND NEEDS

We need an offensive player who can take over games consistently and score points in bunches without chucking and missing.

I need a shooter who's a bit more well rounded (as opposed to a specialist like Raja or Jones)

I'd like to upgrade at SF and bring Beasley in off the bench, if at all possible.

[bobbyr]

Great to read another one of your dynasty reports!

Wade is really underperforming so far, as is Beasley.
Duhon is scoring too much imo, he should focus on passing.
D-Wade is passing too much and not looking for his points agressively.
Bosh is doing ok.

What happened to your dynasty "coaching the pros"? I loved that one, is it dead?

[Myles Nelson]

Yeah I looked into it, it turns out a lot of Wade's minutes are coming as backup PG when Duhon is sitting. I'll have to figure something out to fix that. Maybe Chalmers needs more minutes or something.

No it's not. I'm actually going to update that one tonight. I just haven't had the inspiration to play PB2 in a little bit but I've gotten the bug back so expect quite a few posts tonight in each.