Jeff Van Gundy predicts 73 wins for Heat

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5450211

I have them under 60

I for sure think they'll win over 60, but 73..... nah. Maybe in a year or two though.

wait.

nah.

That guy always does this...attempts to make bold statements; but ends up sounding like a complete moron in the process. No more than 61 wins I think.

I wanna see them play first.

To me, they aren't strong enough downlow.

if they play well together.. I can see like 65ish.. but until they get someone who is very physical downlow.. I won't give them over 70

Joel Anthony

he's a scrub.

Z is washed up.

Howard is washed up.

Pitman is too slow.

they have deprth downlow.. but it isn't any good imo

He's really not a scrub. good at d. he was like 18th in blocks last season and i think he came off the bench(?)

he's really their only defensive presence down low

Andrea Bargnani was 17th in BPG. is he a good defender?

plus, he's not even that big. 6'9 245? he'll get owned by Howard, shaq, bynum, bogut, etc.

6'9 260.

He is a good defender though. I mean its not like he can stop Howard, Bynum or Bogut.. because who can? He's plays bigger than he is, but thats all he is. Defense.

those guys can stop each other.. that's the point. The heat aren't good enough down-low to stop other bigs.

look at the past few championship winners... all of them had an advantage downlow.. the heat wouldn't have that advantage next season.

But they still have two top 3 playeres, three top 15 players. No other team can say that.

Plus the supporting cast isnt bad. One of the bests, not as good as the lakers or anything, but its certaintly not bad.

Why does a big man matter? They have 3 of the top 10 players in the league, and 2 in the top 5. If those three guys play together, then nothing can stop them. I'm not saying 73 wins, but certainly more than 60. And so what if they have no one to stop Howard...be honest, was he going to score 40 points on them? I'd be more worried about Bogut than Howard. Either way, no one will be able to stop them cold because of a simple basketball concept: if you're double teamed, one man is always open. Think about it. If you don't double team, then LeBron or Wade will just kill you iso. If you double team them, then one of them is open. Even if Mario Chalmers' defender goes to double team LeBron or Wade, he can still hit the open shot, as can Ilgauskas. Coaches will have an extremely tough time designing a game plan to stop this team.

they are going to get exposed when they play teams like spurs and LA
they have no defense down low whatso ever

i still have them winning 62 games

Nah... I don't see it.

Wade, James, Bosh.

Then:

Miller, Haslem.

after that:

Juwon Howard
Joel Anthony
Diawara
Hasbrouck
Eddie House
Big Z
James Jones
Magloire
Dexter Pittman
Shavlik Randolph
Varnado

I just don't see it. Like everyone else I have to see how they play together.

Maybe the following season? I dunno...

but you guys act like wade, james bosh is just any old big three. Its not lol

No Longer DEAD wrote:

Why does a big man matter? They have 3 of the top 10 players in the league, and 2 in the top 5. If those three guys play together, then nothing can stop them. I'm not saying 73 wins, but certainly more than 60. And so what if they have no one to stop Howard...be honest, was he going to score 40 points on them? I'd be more worried about Bogut than Howard.

Howard scored over 40 on the cavs 2 years ago in the ECF... who guarded him? Z. Who's gonna be getting like 20 MPG with the heat at C? Z.

Yeah Howard can score 40 on the Heat.

But then LeBron, Wade and Bosh can score 20 at will. And having a star studded team automatically makes the supporting cast better.

cbi wrote:

but you guys act like wade, james bosh is just any old big three. Its not lol

I never said anything to that tune. But I'm not going to discredit other great teams that can put out solid players at their weak positions while they have great starters and have a deeper bench. Like I said maybe the following year. But as for Van Gundy's prediction... no... I don't see them winning 73 games.

cbi wrote:

Yeah Howard can score 40 on the Heat.

But then LeBron, Wade and Bosh can score 20 at will. And having a star studded team automatically makes the supporting cast better.

yeah that's true.

but still... I wouldn't guess 73 wins when u havent even watched them play.

if stan had made this statement, then i would see it as a good move by him to set their expectations high. then they could only meet them or fail, not surpass them.

but...since it's jeff, i don't care because he's lost nearly all of his credibility since going to work for ESPN. oh well

I don't think anyone will win 60 next season

Nobody?

not even the lakers?


damnn...

Nobody listens to Jeff haha

Dub C wrote:

if stan had made this statement, then i would see it as a good move by him to set their expectations high. then they could only meet them or fail, not surpass them.

but...since it's jeff, i don't care because he's lost nearly all of his credibility since going to work for ESPN. oh well

I don't think anyone will win 60 next season

Just curious... how come you think no team will win 60 games?

Nick C wrote:

Just curious... how come you think no team will win 60 games?

In the East:
I look at the playoff teams and see Boston only won 50 games last season. I don't think there's anyway they win less this season. Orlando didn't win 60 last season and they aren't better this season. Cleveland's chances at winning 60 are...yeah. I don't see Miami winning 60 because they probably will have very little chemistry to build off of at the beginning of the season. They also don't have a solid body in the post to stop teams from scoring inside. They could lose a lot of meaningless games that way, and a decent amount of important ones. Within Orlando's division they now have the Heat, and Atlanta is still there. Milwaukee and Chicago are better, but not win 60 games better. They are, however, good enough to make the East a little less top heavy as far as the best records go.

In the West:
The Lakers are the only team with even the slightest chance, because no one else has the talent to win 60 games in the West. But they get complacent on longer road-trips, especially in the east, and at the end of the season. I like their bench more this season, and their overall talent, but I don't think that was the reason they didn't win 60 last year. It was the mentality that not every regular season game mattered. And they don't, but that wasn't the mentality that the only team to win 60 games last year had. They had a deep, rotating bench, and a physical marvel that could stay healthy and play at full strength nearly every game of the season.

No way the heat are winning 73 games..