There is no real reason for Mark Blount to stink. In '03-'04, he averaged 10 and 7 in 29 minutes a game for Boston and shot 56% from the floor. That was the year that earned him his current contract which will pay him 7.9 million this year, and a similar amount next year. That offseason, he flirted with the Heat, who reportedly offered him a full midlevel contract - he ended up going back to Boston for quite a bit more. Promptly, his rebound rate plunged nearly two rebounds a game, in similar minutes, and has remained there ever since.
(In a related story, rebuffed in their efforts to sign Blount, the Heat swapped Caron Butler and Lamar Odom for Shaq, and ended up winning a title two seasons later.)
Why does Blount stink? Though he is 32, he doesn't yet suffer from a lack of athleticism - he runs the court well, and his jumping ability is suprisingly good. Every eighth game he will catch a ball moving to the hoop and dunk it with extreme authority. And, while he is legitimately big, he is not overly out-of-shape or leaden-footed (see upcoming post on Jamal Magloire). He obviously possesses superior hand-eye coordination for his size, as evidenced by his ability to shoot from distance. It doesn't make any sense that the guy doesn't rebound (or block shots).
At the beginning of last season I asked Mami what was going to happen when the Heat realized that the best way for them to play was to sit Shaq, play Blount, and let he and Wade play high screen and face? Was Riley going to have the cohones to sit Shaq down? But even with Shaq's deterioration, it never happened because Blount didn't offer anything - 8 points and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes per game, with essentially the worst shooting percentage in his career, with most of his minutes late in the season, after Shaq had moved on and the season had already descended in to hell.
It wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if the Heat didn't need something from that spot this year. While Haslem, Beasley, and Marion offer a variety of skills at the other forward positions, none of them are legitimately big. Udonis is going to be forced in to the unfortunate position of having to defend far bigger guys all year at the center spot. It is going to kill him - and force the Heat to double the post constantly, which means open shots all over the place. Thus, it is going to irk me all year that Mark Blount doesn't help. I don't like to label guys as lazy or unfocused - to me that is usually just a lazy way to characterize a guy who doesn't have the athleticism or skill set to compete - but I think Blount does have the necessary skills to be, at a minimum, competent. The evidence would suggest that he is lazy and unfocused, which is unfortunate for the Heat, and for Mami, at whom I will be complaining constantly all year whenever I see Blount line drive another quick, long jumper off the back iron.
In other news:
Two well-worn topics of pop culture today in the Dos Minutos office:
1) O.J. - Since nobody was killed, why can't we - society - just agree that we got off easy this time and let O.J. go without a trial?
2) Kevin Federline - Isn't it hard to believe that he was a backup dancer? I mean, does he look like a guy who can dance? Or is coordinated in any way? As The Captain points out: "A lot of people have started out as backup dancers and used that as a stepping stone to better entertainment careers. If Federline hadn't married Britney, I don't think he would have been one of those people." Plus, aren't most of those people women?
