Round Table Discussion: Do The Miami Heat Make The Playoffs?
By Wes Goldberg
Welcome to another Miami Heat Round Table Discussion. On today’s agenda, we’ll be discussion which Heat player you would want on your side in a bar fight, if Michael Beasley will or Henry Walker is more likely to make the team, time travel and if the Heat will make the playoffs.
1. Let’s play a game: Pick one of each of the following Heat players to be in your posse, your boss at work and a guy you get into a bar fight with. Henry Walker. Udonis Haslem. Chris Andersen.
Chris Posada (@CPoTweetsStuff): What? The answer to everything is Birdman. Every posse needs a crazy person, and Andersen delivers that in spades. Also, can you imagine him a Lumbergh-type boss from “Office Space”? Because that visual is too great to pass up. And yeah, Haslem is definitely the guy who you’d want watching your back, but you won’t get into many fights with him around. Birdman? He’s the lunatic that’s picking the fight, then swinging a pool cue in a bar that you’d definitely want on your side.
Luke Colgan (@lukecolgan): Definitely have UD in my posse, he’s proven over the years with his friendships with Dwyane Wade and Mike Miller that once you’re his boy, he’s got your back for life. Birdman would be a fantastic retail manager, he’d have the highest customer approval rating because everyone would be too scared to say anything to him and I guess that leaves me to fighting Henry Walker.
Allana Tachauer (@chitownheiress): Can I answer Chris Andersen for all of the above? Listen, Birdman is one of a kind. Who would not want to experience this, this and this? (Hanging with Birdman as part of your posse, having a conversation with Birdman as your boss, and Birdman versus you in a bar fight, respectively…)
David Ramil (@dramil13): This question about personalities reveals more about the person answering it than the individuals included in the question. So, my posse? Henry Walker, because that posse would automatically extend to include B-Easy and that makes it much more unpredictable. Boss? Probably Birdman. Never in the office (out getting tattoos) doesn’t remember what he asked you to do so you can probably slack off, and he probably has some crazy office parties. Haslem’s gotta be your guy in a fight. That’s a no-brainer.
Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg): Chris Andersen is in my posse. He can be my straight guy to my hilarious jokes and sense of humor. Clearly Henry Walker is my boss. He’s more mature now that his name is Henry, but he isn’t really, you know? When his boss is around he might try to crack the whip, but I’ll deal with that since we will totally slack off and order pizza the rest of the time. Haslem is the guy I’m in the bar fight with. Since Birdman is in my posse, he will be there, too. Might as well call us The Avengers.
2. Who is your odds on favorite to earn a second 10-day contract, Henry Walker or Michael Beasley?
Posada: Walker, because his 10-day contract is coming up in a few days and he’s shown enough to get a second one. Of course, Beasley probably has the advantage of sticking with the team for the remainder of the season, as he’s already very familiar (as familiar as Beasley gets with anything) with the Heat’s system.
Colgan: I think the money is even on both to not only get a second 10-day contract but to be signed to the remainder of the season. Both men fill gaps this team needs and I think when you hit two three’s back to back to send game into overtime that you then go onto win, you’re guaranteed a second 10-day contract. It’s probably in the fine print.
Tachauer: I definitely see Henry (Bill) Walker earning a second 10-day contract. He has been on quite a roller coaster ride so far in his career but has certainly put the past behind him. As of Saturday, he scored double-digits three games in a row and comes out with an unmatched enthusiasm. I think calling him up was a great idea. As for Michael Beasley, as long as he stays out of trouble, I actually see him getting signed. I may have been hesitant when his name first reappeared on the Miami Heat’s radar but I’m putting all my faith in him now. He has a long history with the organization, played a hell of a season in China, and desperately wants to prove himself to this league.
Ramil: Walker should get the contract automatically. One, because he’s been more productive and has played better. Two, because Beasley hasn’t changed. Any claims that he’s finally “got it” have been disproven. I still think he can provide some value but if I had to chose one over the other, The Man Formerly Known as Henry gets my vote.
Goldberg: Walker. He’s scored in double digits in every game he’s played in a Heat uniform and Beasley and the Heat is the definition of an on-and-off relationship.
3. If you could go back in time and redo one thing from this Heat season (assuming you had the abilities to both time travel and either run the team or prevent physical injury for a moment) what would it be?
Posada: Um…try harder to sign LeBron? No? Ok, then I probably would have kicked the tires on a Plan B, in case he wasn’t planning on coming back. Once Riley went a couple of days without hearing from LeBron, he should have had a contingency plan in place. Whether it was Carmelo Anthony, Chandler Parsons, or Pau Gasol, no one would have faulted Riley for playing it safe, just in case.
Colgan: Chris Bosh’s blood clotted lungs. When Goran Dragic was acquired, Wade was poised to come back from his injury and this team was ready to make run. I think we all had dreams of dreams of Dragic and Bosh Pick and Pop’s that night.
Tachauer: Is this a trick question? Convince LeBron James to stick around, obviously. “No one man should have all that power” but…
Ramil: That is tough to answer. I’d like to say that I’d warn Chris Bosh that he’d eventually develop blood clots and that he should get them taken care of earlier. But, as Jules Winfield says to Ringo in “Pulp Fiction”, that shit ain’t the truth. The truth is I’d probably tell Riley that LeBron’s departure is a foregone conclusion and that he should shock the world by signing Kyle Lowry and Luol Deng (as well as re-signing Wade and Bosh) and build a “Big 4”. I’m a horrible person.
Goldberg: I just realized I should have added “other than make LeBron sign in Miami” as a caveat. Oh well. Way to find the loophole, Chris and Allana. Anyway, I try to save Chris Bosh from those blood clots. Oh, and sign Greg Stiemsma in the offseason.
4. Do the Heat make the playoffs?
Posada: Yes, because somebody has to. In a vacuum, the Heat have a very favorable stretch coming up, with games against the Suns, Lakers, a reeling Wizards team, Kings, Celtics, and Nets, before they run into the Raptors on March 13th. Sadly, the Heat can’t seem to be trusted to go 3-3 during that run, but hope is a wonderful thing. If this team can gel, even with the loss of Bosh, that can help prop the Heat up over the final few weeks.
Colgan: The Eastern Conference is a wonderful thing. I think the question of how the standings finish determine how far the Heat go. Should there somehow be a first round series against the Wizards, well that would certainly be interesting.
Tachauer: Yes. And no, this is not just blind optimism speaking. As everyone and their mothers like to note, this is the Eastern Conference after all. The loss of Chris Bosh certainly hurts but Goran Dragic has already made quite an impact in terms of attitude moving forward. Couple that and his raw talent with the return of Beasley, the addition of Walker, and a hopefully healthy rest of the squad (stay with me Dwyane Wade! Stay with me!) and the Heat should be good to go. Their upcoming schedule (in other words the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, and Boston Celtics) will hopefully allow them to get into a successful rhythm and put them back on track for the postseason.
Ramil: No. And I ain’t happy ‘bout it.
Goldberg: My brain is telling me no, but why start listening to that now? The fact that the Heat has the seventh seed after everything they have dealt with this season, it just feels like they will sneak in and then get slaughtered in the first round.