With an injury to Mario Chalmers, Mike Bibby is the new starting point guard for the Miami Heat. Chalmers will miss 2-3 weeks with a sprained knee. This leaves the Heat with only one point guard on the roster for the rest of the regular season.
While this certainly makes the Heat thin at point guard, it is not necessarily such a bad thing. Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are both more than capable of handling the ball, even Mike Miller can bring the ball up the floor if needed so depth is not going to be an issue. Furthermore, increased minutes for Bibby is going to make him more comfortable with this team.
Having a true point guard like Bibby on the floor allows Miami to do more thing with its offense. Depending on who is handling the ball, Miami could run pick-and-roll using Bibby to space the floor with his shooting, or Bibby could trigger a pick-and-roll wish Bosh, with Wade and James out on the wings.
Bibby can be dangerous in a pick-and-roll because of his ability to hit the three-pointer. When the defender goes underneath the screen, it leaves Bibby wide open for a jumper he has made a living on throughout his career.
An area where Bibby clearly lacks is on the defensive side of the ball. The wishful thinking here is that James and Wade are good enough defensively that the Heat can overcome having him on the court. Miami can get by most nights with Bibby on defense but against the elite point guards it will be Wade that gets the call.
Remember, Bibby is still new to this roster and has been making an impact. Getting starter’s minutes will allow for better on-court chemistry to develop between Bibby and the big 3. It is important that Bibby learn everyone’s tendencies before the playoffs.
When Bibby goes to the bench, it will be either Wade or James playing point guard. This means more playing time for James Jones and Eddie House depending on the match up. Udonis Haslem is close to returning from his season long absence as well.
As the season’s end draws near the Heat are still having to play with maximum effort each night as they are not only in need of improving, but playing catchup as they trail both Boston and Chicago in the standings. It begs the question whether the Miami Heat thought the regular season would be this difficult when the roster was initially constructed back in the summer.