The 1-5 Washington Wizards take on the 4-4 Miami Heat in south Florida tonight. After winning 15 of 16 in this division rivalry, the Heat lost all 4 games against the Bullets last season as the franchise sunk to a 15-win campaign and served as a league-wide doormat. It’s a new team now, though. First of all, Dwyane Wade is back, healthy, and tearing it up. After saving Team USA’s bacon in Beijing earlier this year, Wade is now doing the same thing for the Heat in the NBA. He has scored 30 or more points in 4 consecutive games, capped by a 36-point effort in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Heat are starting two rookies, Mario Chalmers at point guard and #2 overall pick Michael Beasley at power forward. Beasley is averaging over 16 ppg and almost 6pg, so he’s rounding into NBA shape pretty quickly. However, the Heat will be without C Jamal Magloire [broken hand], James Jones [torn right wrist tendon], C Alonzo Mourning, and possibly F Shawn Marion.
Could Head Coach Eddie Jordan start going with bigger lineups, featuring Caron Butler at SG, Antawn Jamison at QF, Andray Blatche at PF and Javale McGee in the pivot? Possibly. I have my doubts about Butler’s ability to defend the 2 spot, but his power and strength would definitely pose problems for the other team, as well. Jamison would also have problems defending quicker opponents. Blatche should be fine at the 4, which is his natural position anyway. McGee could be the key to this, as his athleticism, freakish wingspan and leaping ability make him a natural center who can cover up on the weak side for his teammates if they get beaten to the rim. Perhaps we’ll see something like this big lineup in tonight’s Miami game, something Post beat writer Ivan Carter is advocating.
Still, when the Wizards go for their second win of the season tonight in Miami, fans can anticipate seeing Jordan utilize a few large lineups. For one thing, the Heat often plays with 6-8 Udonis Haslem, a natural power forward, at center, and 6-9 rookie Michael Beasley at power forward.
Miami had huge problems up front during Wednesday night’s 104-96 home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and their front-line rotation of 7-1 Joel Przybilla, 6-11LaMarcus Aldridge, 6-11 Channing Frye and 7-foot rookie Greg Oden.
During the second quarter of Washington’s win over Utah, Jordan briefly experimented with a lineup that included McGee at center, 6-11 Andray Blatche at power forward, 6-9 Antawn Jamison at small forward, 6-7 Caron Butler at shooting guard and 6-5 DeShawn Stevenson at point guard.
“We’ll go with what was good for us [Wednesday], we’ll go sort of big, and our bigs can be athletic,” Jordan said. “I think JaVale’s a little bit athletic. Andray, if he really puts his nose to the grindstone, can be athletic, Antawn at the 3 can be good. We had Caron at the 2 in a pinch and D-Steve play some point, so we can certainly play small or big just as long as we keep the harmony and the rhythm and the chemistry we are trying to develop.”
Butler has mostly played small forward as a Wizard — he’s a two-time all-star at that position — but he’s open to the idea of moving to shooting guard, where he can post up smaller defenders and use his quickness and instincts for diving into passing lanes for steals.
The defensive part of the job is much easier when Butler knows McGee and Blatche are behind him protecting the basket. Against Utah, the Wizards held a 42-37 rebounding edge and blocked 10 shots after blocking 19 shots in the first five games combined.
Much of that was attributed to the bigger lineups employed by Jordan.
“We can get a lot of mismatches with that look,” Butler said. “That’s a big lineup. And with JaVale back there covering the basket, it’s like it was with Brendan back there. Without him, you really can’t gamble as much because I’m kind of scared that if I go for that steal and don’t get it, will someone be back there protecting the rim? So it’s a look that can work for us.”
It’s an interseting idea and one worth considering if only because most of what has been done during his young season hasn’t worked. Almost anything done to get and keep Javale McGee on the floor is a good idea right now, since he appears to be the only big man on the team capable of giving the team a defensive presence, shot-blocking and rebounding all at the same time.
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