Even though the above write-up is linked with the words “Miller out three months,” the article seems to dedicate more space to the return of Dwayne Wade to the Miami Heat than it does the fact that Mike Miller will miss three months after having surgery on his right thumb.
SportsReaction
We’ll choose to react to the link title and talk a little about the loss of Mike Miller.
With LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade now running the show in South Beach, does losing somebody like Mike Miller really make any difference? My initial answer is “No.” With three stars like that a role player shouldn’t be that big of a concern. But Mike Miller isn’t just any role player; he’s a sharpshooter that can spread the floor a great deal and give the “Big Three” more room to work with.
Miller’s three point numbers show that he is a player that cannot be left alone at anytime. If ever left alone the former Florida Gator has the ability to make opposing teams pay dearly by hitting kick-out three pointers at an alarming rate. Last season Miller was second in the NBA in three point field goal percentage (.479), and is currently 17th on the all time list in that same category (.4052).
To make matters worse Miami doesn’t have anybody on their roster to replace him. The closest they have is Eddie House who has shown the ability to hit a good percentage of his three point attempts, but only has a .390 career mark in that category. Not to mention he is a short point guard (6 ft 1 inch) whose presence would not be felt nearly as much as that of the six foot eight inch Miller.
But, while all of those statistics and demographics are nice my answer to the above question hasn’t changed. The “Big Three” are too good to let this affect them. If Miami’s winning percentage with Miller after three months was going to be .900, it’s still going to be .900 without him…it’ll just be a little harder to come by.
Now, if the Heat didn’t have Bosh, Wade, and James we’d be looking at Miller’s injury as a more serious detriment…possibly costing his team a few wins. But not with the Heat since there’s far too much talent there and James, Wade, and Bosh--while they most certainly would love working in a more spread out offense created by Miller’s presence--will be able to function just fine without him.
The Heat are still the team to beat without Miller…they’ll just be even harder to beat when he comes back.
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