The Old Men in Miami

In case any of you missed it, the Miami Heat had a pretty good summer. As if taking the Larry O'Brien trophy to Southern Florida wasn't enough, they followed it with a few marquis free agent pickups. Fans rarely celebrate when their team signs two players born before 1980, but when those two players have accounted for nearly 4,500 three pointers, we can make an exception. Three point king Ray Allen and his new teammate Rashard Lewis (yes, the $23 million man himself) have taken their talents to South Beach and are on their way to bringing the King another ring. When coach Erik Spoelstra began touting his new ideology of "positionless basketball", he knew he needed shooters not named Mike Miller to spread the floor. Pat Riley delivered. If we've learned anything over the past few weeks, it's that the new "positionless" Heat are going to be very scary for the rest of the league (think somewhere between Murderer's Row and Ivan Drago). Ray Allen, in particular, has looked unstoppable, creating plays for himself in a way that he hasn't since he was a young buck in Milwaukee. Therein lies the problem. Jesus Shuttlesworth has been too hot for the team's good. He has clocked over twenty-six minutes per game this season and already exceeded the deservedly significant hype surrounding his signing. Unfortunately, the sprightly man taking on this workload suffers from chronic bone spurs and the wear and tear of sixteen years in the NBA. For the Heat to repeat as champions, anything short of which would mean failure, they need Ray Allen to reserve himself for the moments that count; namely, the fourth quarter. The Heat have too many potent weapons between the Big 3 to need Ray Allen to be anything more than a spot up shooter and an infallible decoy. With the best shooter in the world complementing the best player in the world, there is no way for the Miami Heat to fall anywhere short of a repeat.

-MA