Miami Heat NBA Season Preview 2012-13

MIAMI HEAT

Last season was the season where not only Lebron James showed everybody again that he is the best player in the world, but also the season when he was finally able to win a NBA title!

The humiliation suffered by Miami against Dallas in the previous season’s NBA finals made Miami gain an extra motivation to work hard in the offseason and it wasn’t a surprise when Miami started the season very well by completely destroying the champions Mavericks.

2011-12 Regular Season numbers:

Advanced Numbers				4 Factors
Overall	#'s	Rank		Offense	#'s	Rank	Defense	#'s	Rank
Pace	89.94	15		eFG% Off	50.5%	6	eFG% Def	48.1%	9
Offense	108.81	6		TO% Off	14.44	23	TO% Def	15.78	3
Defense	101.24	4		Reb% Off	26.42	19	Reb% Def	25.97	11
Rebound	50.23	16		FT% Off	24.06	4	FT% Def	20.22	12

It was interesting to see that Coach Erik Spoelstra implemented some ideas on offense that made the Heat an even more dangerous team in transition and also turn them into one of the teams with the fastest pace on the first month of the season. However, as time went by, Miami started playing slower and slower until becoming the typical half court team that takes well the opportunities to score in transition. The main reason for that was the lack of depth on the roster to play at a frenetic rhythm and the numerous injuries suffered by some key players throughout the season.

Miami Heat month-by-month record:

Months	W	L	PACE	Off. H	Off. A	Reb%
January	16	5	92.3	111.1	101.5	50.1
February	11	2	90.4	115.2	100.3	50.3
March	10	6	87.9	108.8	102.9	48.4
April	9	7	88.6	100.7	100.0	52.2

Just like it had happened on the previous season, Miami wasn't able to be very consistent during the regular season by losing at least two games in a row in six different occasions.

Dwayne Wade missed 17 games, Chris Bosh missed 9 games and even Lebron James missed 4 games of the regular season. In the middle of the season, Coach Spoelstra lost his trust on Joel Anthony and relegated him onto the bench. To replace him, Spoelstra made some experiments with Ronny Turiaf, Udonis Haslem and even Dexter Pittman!

On the playoffs, Miami quickly destroyed the Knicks in the first round just to see Chris Bosh getting injured and become questionable for the remaining of the postseason. Miami had a lot of problems in stopping the starting lineup of Indiana until Lebron James and Dwayne Wade started playing at a whole new level, especially on the game 4 of that series, where Wade scored 30 points and James had 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists.

Against Boston in the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat struggled again and they played an elimination game in Boston that could have ended with this actual era in Miami, but Lebron James had other plans and had one of the best individual performances ever on the playoffs with 45 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists. On the decisive game at home and already with Chris Bosh playing major minutes, the Heat destroyed the Celtics on the second half of that game.

In the finals, Spoelstra was brilliant on the gameplan he used against Oklahoma City. The Thunder have a good frontcourt with Perkins and Ibaka, but it is limited offensively and Spoelstra had no problems in putting Lebron James in the PF position, as the Heat never had to worry a lot about the Thunder’s frontcourt was going to do offensively, even though they had a clear edge. For several moments we saw Perkins being defended by Battier without the Thunder being able to take advantage of this physical mismatch.

Offensively, James looked more focused than ever in attacking the basket and especially in operating more near the basket in order to attract the attention of Oklahoma City to double team him. James then used his superior court vision to find his teammate that was left wide open and the Heat capitalized on that by being red hot behind the arc. Lebron James made the same kind of passes that he had made in the previous season’s finals against Dallas, but the difference was that Miami shot 42-98 (42.8%) 3pts against the Thunder, while they had shot 45-130 (34.6%) 3pts against the Mavs.

Offseason moves 2012-13:

Pat Riley kept all the pieces that were important for the title win last season. There was the doubt if Mike Miller was going to retire, considering his recurring back problems, but Miller decided to play one more season.

For this new style of the Heat, the “small ball” will be an evident feature in Miami. Chris Bosh will play in the center position and Lebron James will play major minutes in the PF position. It was evident in the final against Oklahoma City that the Heat will have a lot of chances from scoring on the outside due to Lebron James’ actions near the basket and with that, Pat Riley wanted to improve the outside shooting skills of the team.

With that, he “seduced” Ray Allen to join the Heat, while receiving less money that he would receive if he had remained in Boston. Also Rashard Lewis signed with the team and if Lewis is able to play at the same level he played in Orlando with Howard, then Miami will have another deadly shooter on his roster. Without these two players, Miami didn't have any other relevant change.

Atlanta Hawks NBA Season Preview 2012-13

ATLANTA HAWKS

Joe Johnson isn't a Atlanta Hawks player anymore and even though he had been very criticized, including by the Hawks fans, especially about his overpaid contract, the truth is that Johnson went to six All Star games in a row, he watched his team turn from a terrible team with 14 wins into one of the most competitive teams in the East, while being the team’s leading scorer and carrying the Hawks into the postseason over the last five seasons.

However, it was clear that with their current configuration, the Hawks were always be a good team, but not good enough to become an elite team. The new GM Danny Ferry realized that and by taking advantage of the Nets’ desire in impressing Deron Williams, Ferry traded Johnson to the Nets in exchange for some players with expiring contracts and a future first round draft pick.

2011-12 Regular Season numbers:

Advanced Numbers				4 Factors
Overall	#'s	Rank		Offense	#'s	Rank	Defense	#'s	Rank
Pace	88.84	23		eFG% Off	50.1%	8	eFG% Def	48.2%	10
Offense	106.68	16		TO% Off	13.38	12	TO% Def	14.41	6
Defense	102.84	6		Reb% Off	23.72	26	Reb% Def	25.53	7
Rebound	49.09	25		FT% Off	19.22	25	FT% Def	18.81	5

Atlanta had a problematic year last season, especially when they lost Al Horford in January. Still, the team reacted well to Horford’s injury and won 9 of their following 11 games, until they reached February where Atlanta simply stopped scoring. The main reason for that was easily to realize: Joe Johnson shot 39.3% FG, Josh Smith shot 41.1% FG and Jeff Teague shot 42.2% FG. No team can survive when their three best players shot that poorly for a full month.

Atlanta Hawks month-by-month record:

Months	W	L	PACE	Off. H	Off. A	Reb%
January	16	6	89.3	107.4	98.9	49.8
February	4	9	87.7	96.9	105.2	47.9
March	11	8	88.1	106.7	105.9	49.1
April	9	3	90.5	115.9	102.7	49.1

After having recovered from a terrible month of February, the Hawks finished the season with the 5th best record in the Eastern conference and so, they faced Boston in the first round of the playoffs. The series became especially interesting with the return of Al Horford in the 4^th game. Horford played 3 games and had good numbers, but Atlanta was never able to deal with Boston’s bigger experience at this level.

Offseason moves 2012-13:

Besides the already mentioned trade of Joe Johnson to the Nets, the Hawks made other moves during this offseason.

Several players had expiring contracts with Atlanta and they had no interest in renewing with Kirk Hinrich, Jerry Stackhouse, Vladimir Radmanovic, Jason Collins and Tracy McGrady.

To improve the backcourt, Atlanta traded Marvin Williams, who never confirmed the potential the Hawks saw on him, for Devin Harris and also improved the unit with several good shooters: Kyle Korver, Anthony Morrow and Louis Williams.

On the frontcourt, the team expects that the returns from Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia will be enough to take care of the team’s needs for this unit, while at the same time they only added Anthony Tolliver to give more depth to the unit.

Charlotte Bobcats NBA Season Preview 2012-13

CHARLOTTE BOBCATS

The good news for the Charlotte Bobcats is that they won’t be able to do worse than what they did last season, so the future looks promising for this team.

2011-12 Regular Season numbers:

Advanced Numbers				4 Factors
Overall	#'s	Rank		Offense	#'s	Rank	Defense	#'s	Rank
Pace	89.86	17		eFG% Off	44.0%	30	eFG% Def	51.3%	28
Offense	96.20	30		TO% Off	13.85	16	TO% Def	12.76	26
Defense	112.39	30		Reb% Off	23.26	26	Reb% Def	28.85	26
Rebound	47.21	28		FT% Off	20.94	16	FT% Def	20.86	15

Jokes aside, it’s impossible for a team that has at the same time the worst offense, the worst defense and the 3rd worst mark on rebounding to be minimally competitive. By achieving this, the Bobcats were historically bad by finishing the season with 23 losses in a row.

Charlotte Bobcats month-by-month record:

Months	W	L	PACE	Off. H	Off. A	Reb%
January	3	19	90.8	96.4	110.7	48.2
February	1	10	88.5	94.5	115.8	45.4
March	3	14	90.4	98.7	110.1	46.2
April	0	16	89.0	94.5	114.7	48.2

There isn't much to say about Charlotte’s last season that doesn’t include a negative adjective.

Offseason moves 2012-13:

The Bobcats used the draft once again to improve their roster for this season. Last season, the Bobcats drafted Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo and this season by having the second pick in the draft, the Bobcats chose Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who was consensually the second most talented player on the draft. Meanwhile, Charlotte chose Jeffery Taylor on the second round.

To improve their shooting skills, the Bobcats didn't bother in paying Ben Gordon’s contract in exchange for Corey Maggette. Already on free agency, the Bobcats didn't trust in D.J. Augustin, while the same didn't happen with Ramon Sessions, as they offered him two years of contract that he gladly accepted.

Charlotte also won the auction for Brendan Haywood, who had been amnestied for Dallas, in order to improve their frontcourt.