watching this guy play college, in the olympics, and in orlando, i have always thought carlos arroyo is a pretty decent pg. jason williams is a little bit better (but is always injured), and we dont know if tinsley can keep off the injury list either. i would have preferred iverson, to relieve wade of the scoring responsibilities, but overall, i think this team player would be good for the heat, especially for the price he's coming at. he might even be better than chalmers.

bosh is the hope for next year. but if we can't get him, dont you guys think a joe johnson, dwade, beasley, and jermaine o'neal group is good enough to get to the finals, especially since shaq will be a lot slower 2 seasons from now, and the celtics will be on the decline?

and im not blaming wade for not advancing. im just saying if wade played even just a little bit better in game 4, the heat advance against a much more talented team. i dont know how any other coach could have topped that. even phil jackson would have a hard time trying to beat the hawks with a team that had only 1 superstar, and a promising rookie.

thats what im trying to say. the heat clearly had the inferior team in terms of talent. and then people blame the coach for not being good enough. im not saying spo is the greatest. i just disagree that it was because of spo that we lost.

i dont think you remember game 4. wade came out shooting airballs. james jones almost single-handedly brought the heat back from a 20 point deficit. wade just came out so weak, it made me wonder if wade was bribed to play a subpar game. if only wade played half of what he is that game, the heat go up 3-1. jermaine played well that series, if not for his injury that kept him out the last 2 games. beasley couldnt do anything against josh smith. and chalmers and cook disappeared. but what do we expect from rookies? still the heat forced a game 7. that to me was a successful season.

you have to remember kobe, lamar odom and caron butler missed the playoffs. it's not about putting the best talent on the court, rather its about putting the team that jells the most. spo did the best any coach could have done with the heat last season. there was no realistic chance the heat would go as far as the conference finals. we were all just too happy to get into the playoffs and play against none of the big 3 (bos, orl, cle). i attended all 3 home games of the heat against the hawks, and beasley was mostly a non-factor. he just could not figure out how to outplay josh smith. the heat's loss in the first round was not because of bad coaching. it was because of lack of firepower. nonetheless, the heat had a good chance of stealing that series. if only wade came out to play in game 4, it would have been a semifinal match-up against lebron. but that's how it always is in professional sports. when a team loses, it blames the coach, excuses the players. but when it wins, it praises the players, and forgets the coach.

i think it's foolish to conclude that keith askins would have been a better coach. the heat did pretty well last season, for a team that was dead last prior to that season. remember, we finished ahead of the bulls, and the pistons, who arguably had much more talent than the heat. the sixers might have been even deeper than the heat last season. if anything, i think spo made a lot of us upset to see beasley play too few minutes, given that he was the second best offensive player. but at the same time, i'm sure beasley grew up plenty with his experience of last year. i'm sure he's learned that he has to work hard on defense and rebounding if he wants to be on the court, and if he wants to be great. i remember wade saying toward the end of the season that beasley has gotten a lot better on individual and team defense. for all the talent that beasley has, he needs to fall down some before he gets to the top, if he gets to the top.

williams46, what was it you were saying the other day about beasley again?