Thoughts from the Heat's loss to the nets in London:
-Miami was almost impossibly bad in the first quarter. Scored only two field goals, I believe, and had close to double digit turnovers. Went incredibly long stretches without an open look at the basket. Many, many possessions ended without a shot at all. Started Wade, Banks, Marion, Haslem, and Blount, which is most probably the lineup that they will start the season with.
-Wade was awful in the first half. Forced plays that weren't there, turned the ball over at an alarming rate. Kept jumping in the air in traffic, hanging, and trying to spit the ball out late, usually with disastrous results. Wouldn't shoot the jumper. Did get to the line a little.
-Banks was equally terrible early. Couldn't get the offense organized. They ran a lot of high pick and rolls with Banks and Blount, but this rarely, if ever, created open shots. Banks spent a lot of time over dribbling.
-There is no defined role for Marion in the half court. He spends a lot of time motionless on the perimeter. When he cut, he often served only to clog the middle. He has no off the dribble game. Much like the Shaq situation last year, Marion's situation has the potential to get ugly for the franchise. He is an outstanding role player who is a former all-star. He whined his way out of a great situation in Phoenix because he wanted to touch the ball more. His skill set doesn't encourage a lot of touches, even on a lesser team. He is in a contract year so he will want to post numbers, but since he is unlikely to post numbers, and may not look particularly good in this system, his trade value may go down the more he plays. It still was a great trade because Marion's contract expires a year before Shaq's, and he is still a more productive player than Shaq. But it may be a loonnnngggg wait for Marion's contract to run out at the end of this year; he won't be happy, the Heat won't be happy; nobody will be happy. On the positive side, if Shaq were still here this year it is likely I would have immolated myself by this point.
-Mike Beasley looked good again. Scored easily, 12 points in 26 minutes. He got his own shots. They struggled to get him the ball. He rebounded better - 11 - and was aggressive, and showed stronger jumping ability. Twice took 50-50 rebounds away from the much larger Brook Lopez, and finished a huge alley-oop dunk. For a 19 year old kid, he has looked fabulous in his first couple of outings. He probably should start ahead of Marion, really, because they need his ability to create to help Wade, especially when playing teams that have a wing they can hide him against. For instance, he could play Yi - anyone who isn't inclined to drive, Mike could handle.
-In the second and third quarters Miami showed a little spunk, pressuring the ball effectively and turning the Nets over. Wade and Banks were particularly active, and Banks started to get to the rim, finishing with 19 points, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 1 turnover. He has the physical skills necessary to compete as a starter, but he lacks the ability to get others involved 0 no one really receives the ball in rhythm from him. Also, for Miami to be effective pressuring the ball consistently, they need to have a goaltender or two behind them, and they don't have anything resembling that.
-Daequan Cook has not learned what a quality shot is. He loves the quick pull-up three off the catch. He is not ready for regular minutes yet.
-Joel Anthony showed some spunk, but he is small and horrific offensively. David Padgett doesn't possess the athleticism to compete.
For Plumber: "Meet the Nets, pt 2"
-Devin Harris is going to score a lot, but I question his ability to run an offense. He looks shot first, not a real deft passer.
-For his first time out there, I though Brook Lopez did fine. He looked horribly nervous at first and dropped the first three entry passes they threw him. He also was tentative around the rim and didn't finish plays with vigor. But he looked NBA center sized, and rebounded well for the most part. He looks a little slow footed to be a defender, and he will certainly foul a lot as a rookie. But if learns to go to the rim strong, I think he will be a pretty good player. Even if he doesn't, he will still be a serviceable backup.
-Chairman Yi knocked down a bunch of jumpers early. He has a beautiful release. Wasn't very active in other ways.
-Lawrence Frank loves Trenton Hassell, a more experienced version of Antoine Wright.
In other news:
It occurs to me that, to my knowledge, I have never seen an uncircumcised penis. I have spent a lot of time in locker rooms, dormitories, etc, so it would seem likely that I have had opportunities to do so, but to my knowledge I never have. I think a major factor is my vision. Without my glasses I would really have to get close to check out a penal head-covering - and I don't need my glasses to get to the w.c. in a locker room, etc, so I would rarely be wearing them in there. The Captain tried to describe to me what they look like, but I am not sure I got the right picture. We both agreed that I could probably google "uncircumcised penis" and have thousands of pictures in a matter of seconds, but that seemed like cheating, and somehow unsatisfying. I don't even actually know what sort of individual would be likely to have an uncircumcised penis. Somehow I feel like Bill Clinton might have a big fleshy uncircumcised penis, but I don't know. Also, I don't even know how to spell it - I needed spell check to let me know to take out the "z" and replace it with an "s" at the end.
