Wednesday, March 4, 2009

HEAT ADD SHOOTING TO THE BENCH

LUTHER HEAD SIGNS WITH THE MIAMI HEAT

The Miami Heat added scoring guard, Luther Head, to their roster, taking the spot left vacated my Marcus Banks when he was traded at the deadline to Toronto in a 2 for 1 deal. Since the All Star Break, the Heats bench has been struggling to find some consistent scoring. Forward Michael Beasley has been the only threat, because Daquan Cook seemed to leave his shooting stroke in Phoenix at the 3-point contest. In hopes to fill this need the team has signed Luther Head. Head is a 6-3 guard out of Illinois who has played both guard positions in his 3 year career, but will be used primarily for the Heat at the point guard spot. The combination of Mario Chalmers and Chris Quinn has not been working out recently, so Head could get lots of minutes right away. Head is not a traditional point guard, but that is probably not needed with Dwayne Wade being the lead guard in the 4th quarter. Head can focus on what he does best which is space the floor with his outside shot, while Wade penetrates and dishes. He is a career 39% 3-point shooter, who connected on 177 3's only 2 seasons ago. He is never going to be thought of as a lock down defender, but he has the size and quickness to make much more of a mark on that end than Quinn had been. Opposing point guards eyes light up when Quinn covers them, and that has been an issue for the Heat all year. Chalmers has been great as a rookie, but as we saw the other night in the Cleveland game, he is still just a rookie, and can not be expected to be at the top of his game on a consistent basis. The Heat hope that in adding Head they can put a 2nd unit on the floor that can really fill up the hoop, with Head, Cook, James Jones, Beasley.

No comments: