Basketball By Buzz

Written by Buzz Breeden

Dec 3, 2101

November to Remember?

This first full month of the 2010-11 NBA season has come and passed. Looking at the league standings, most of the pre-season picks are atop their division standing, except Miami (I will get to them later). November brought us Kevin Love’s great 31 points and 31 rebound game earlier in the month, a feat not seen since 1982 (Moses Malone). Blake Griffin started a new YouTube sensation. With the slip in numbers of Steve Nash the debate can begin with this month’s performance by Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rando, Derrick Williams, and Barron Davis (Just kidding) as to who is the premier point guard in the league. Here is what I thought was hot and not for the month.

HOT

Derrick Rose

An excellent month for Rose: Not only did he average 26 points, 5 assist, and 8 rebounds, but also starred in the great Adidas commercial that featured a “Lady Pyramid”. Rose has the bulls on top of the central division even without Carlos Boozer.

Pau Gasol

Gasol has to be the tallest homeless- looking man I have ever seen. The Spaniard averaged 21 points, 12 boards, and 4 assists for November. Gasol led the Lakers to one of the best records for the month. The only thing Gasol can do better in December is possible tightening up that beard .

Blake Griffin

So his team is terrible. The Clipper’s record is 4-15. However of all the terrible teams in the league, when the Clippers are on you need to check them out. His amazing jumping ability is second to none in the league. Blake put on a legendary clinic against the Knicks last month that is legendary. Combine his ability at any time to make a Sportscenter top ten with his 20 points 10 rebounds game; and we understand why more than 500 people show up to the Clippers home games.

Chris Paul

Is Paul hot, or is this just how good he is? He currently has the Hornets in the discussion for contenders in the Western Conference. Paul is averaging 16 points and 10 assists per game. With the addition of paul in the line-up since the terrible season the Hornets had a year ago, the Hornets are going back to the playoffs.

NOT

The Entire Miami Heat Organization:

The Fans

They are practically a no-show to the games and that is too bad. This team has so much star power and yet they still decide not to come to the games. What better is going on in November in South Beach?

The Team

This team was supposed to be the super team of the NBA. The Heat was to remind us of the dream team they are, but it is the 2004 dream team. Lebron, Wade and Bosh are not playing like a unit yet and it is killing their chemistry. Wade has games where he doesn’t have any field goal attempts in a half, or make a shot for the game. Lebron has too many turnovers (league leading to be exact). Bosh is not sticking his face in the paint enough on either side of the ball and thriving on clean-up points and boards. Add the poor early season play of the three mentioned and add that no one from the bench has stepped up consistently, and you have a team that struggles to close out games.

Front Office and Coaching

A lot of the above mentioned issues that the Heat are having you can blame here. First, how did the president and GM not see the lack of big men, especially when Boston was loading up on them and they play in a Conference with Orlando and Chicago? Other than adding Erik Dampier, will Riley go after a few other names in trades? Also, as a president how can you allow one of you star players (Lebron) already have a meeting with the head coach on offensive philosophy? Isn’t this setting up the scenario of the players running the team?

The head coach, Erik Spoelstra, has many flaws with this team early on. First, why do you not utilize Bosh in the post? Same can be said about Lebron. The main issue the average fan is seeing is that Lebron and Wade are playing the same role on the floor and it is not working. Why not try Lebron more as a low post presence and utilize Wade more of the defensive side where he flourished in the 2008 Olympics. Lebron and Wade alternating offensive series will not work and will not wear down the defense. The two need to get to a point of playing off each other, in different roles, to improve the quality of play from the bench. Spoelstra is in major trouble at the beginning of the year if the Heat has another down month.