Ray Allen begins the play in the left corner.
At the top of the key, LeBron James dribbles, refuses to use a Chris Bosh screen, and backs out with 30.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter. LBJ is set to begin a crucial drive into the paint.
Perkins: LeBron is better, but why?
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MIAMI – LeBron James is averaging 23.9 points, 10 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. And all things considered, this might end up being the best statistical year of his career.
James, the undisputed leader of the Miami Heat’s Big Three, has averaged more points and dished out more assists per game (it’d be a career-best in rebounds). He’s looking like a better player this season.
The thing is, it’s tough to say for sure why he’s so good right now. Is it his all-around game that’s most impressive, or his leadership?
Watch him tonight when the Heat (6-2) visit the Los Angeles Clippers (5-2). You decide.
You’ll probably conclude James is taking the title of “Best Player on the Planet” to a new level of effectiveness.
Five reasons to feel positive about the Miami Heat
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(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS)
Honestly, it’s nearly impossible to list just five reasons to feel positive about the NBA champion Miami Heat. The “Big Three” could take up three spots by themselves, and the fact that they are in possession of the Larry O’Brien Trophy is another great reason to keep partying on Biscayne Boulevard right in front of AmericanAirlines Arena.
But the 2012-13 season is finally ready to start, and this will be a different challenge for the Heat. While the Eastern Conference doesn’t appear to present much of a challenge, gritty teams like the Boston Celtics won’t go down without a fight. In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder would love the opportunity to seek revenge, while the Los Angeles Lakers have plenty to prove themselves.
From the outset of training camp, coach Erik Spoelstra has stressed that the team has a fantastic opportunity to win a title this season but purposely refused to use the word “repeat.” That’s because the Heat start 0-0 like any other team, and the mindset is to avoid complacency.
Then again, when you can count on the reigning MVP and Finals MVP to help out the cause, I’d say that’s a pretty good start. Which leads to the first of five reasons to feel excited about the Heat.
1. LeBron James plays for the Heat
A no-brainer. James isn’t just the best basketball player in the world, he’s at the peak of his 
considerable powers and it almost feels like he is just getting started in absolutely dominating the game at both ends of the floor.
As the centerpiece of the new “positionless” style that will be emphasized more this season, James can truly control the game with his court vision, ballhandling, devastating drives to the rim and dogged defense that is a hallmark of the Pat Riley vision of Heat basketball.
We’ve witnessed, ahem, a willingness to add to his game and incorporate more post-up moves to his arsenal. But his growth off the court is evident as well. Perhaps it helped playing for a stable franchise led by longtime owner Micky Arison and a legend in Riley that knows how to win rings.
Maybe that had a lot to do with it, or maybe it’s overstated. But James the player has never been more comfortable playing alongside Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and a talented supporting cast. That’s a good enough reason to be quite excited if you’re a Heat fan – and depressed if you’re a fan of any other team.
2. Dwyane Wade is rested and healthy again
It’s amazing to realize that the player formerly known as “Flash” is now one of the Heats’s elder statesman. While it may be fair to question his durability the past few years, Wade took this summer off and got proper treatment for his troublesome knee.
Spoelstra insisted at Heat training camp that we would see that quickness and lateral movement that Wade enjoyed earlier in his career. It remains to be seen whether that will hold up over the course of an 82-game season, but he looked better and better once he began to play in the preseason.
The Heat have a chance to be utterly dominant if Wade can truly be healthy and at the top of his game.
SH Blog: Howard sheds tears, Spoelstra regrets first season with James
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It’s always intriguing to read the minds of general managers of the NBA: they are the ones who produce the teams we watch, afterall. NBA.com’s annual GM Survey was released on Monday and predictably, the Heat and LeBron James were on top of many of the winning categories.
Along the way, though, you’ll find some interesting – if not somewhat funny (see “Who will win the 2012-2013 MVP” section) – votes that went to places you may or may not expect. For example, you won’t find Kobe Bryant anywhere near the list of “best leader”. Make of that what you will. I’m sure some player out there that shares a part of Peter Parker’s name would agree with the notion.
Moving onto notable news around the league from Monday, see why Dwight Howard’s debut as a Laker immediately changed the complexion of the team, Erik Spoelstra’s regret about James and much more below:
Emotions got the best of Dwight Howard before the start of his first preseason game with the Lakers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “As the bright lights of the Hollywood stage enveloped Howard in the embrace of a deafening din, the strangest thing happened to the planet’s most dominant, most indomitable force: The moment moved him to tears. ”Emotional,” Howard would say outside his locker Sunday night. “A very humbling experience.” On the occasion of his preseason Lakers debut, perhaps his truest and most important introduction to this most scrutinized job in sports – center for the Los Angeles Lakers – had come after the tears and ovation and his teammates pranking him by pushing Howard to lead them out of the tunnel – only to stop and let him run out there alone.”
SH Blog: NBA to finalize new procedure to help put an end to flopping, Mark Jackson won’t guarantee playoffs
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Flopping has been a major issue in the NBA for quite some time, especially when the playoffs are in session. Players like Manu Ginobili, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Paul Pierce and a countless number of others have lived off of faking out the officials with sneaky tactics that have gone unpaid for, but that could all change as soon as the upcoming season. See what rules the NBA may implement in order to cut down on flopping as much as possible, along with other noteworthy news from Thursday below:
Commissioner David Stern was adamant about his dislike of flopping during the playoffs, and something will be done about it for the upcoming season, from Ken Berger of CBS Sports: “The NBA is finalizing a new procedure to deal with flopping this coming season, with an off-court remedy expected to be in place before the start of the regular season. After meeting with their newly revamped competition committee two weeks ago in New York, the league anticipates that incidents of flopping will be adjudicated on a postgame basis with fines assessed for the offenses, a league spokesman said Thursday. ”The procedures will likely involve a postgame review as opposed to calling it as an in-game infraction,” the league spokesman said in a statement to CBSSports.com and other outlets. The new policy does not need to be approved by the Board of Governors, which meets next month in New York, because it does not involve a rule change for on-court play. In that way, the new policy will be similar to a crackdown several years ago on so-called “respect for the game” rules violations, which resulted in a brief uptick in technical fouls.”
- Keyon Dooling explained why he walked away from the game recently, from Jessica Camerato of CSNNE: “The average career is 4 1/2 years and I tripled that, almost,” Dooling told CSNNE.com as he settled into a brown leather chair at the marble high top table in his dining room, his usual three-piece suit traded for a tailored, buttondown shirt and jeans. “The grind of the NBA just has taken its toll on me, on my body. More so than that, my family . . . I’ve missed birthdays, school conferences, dropping my kids off, school plays, school dances. I’ve missed just being daddy so much. ”I have enough. I have all the resources I need, I’m a blessed man. I’m not limping away; I was able to walk away.”… ”It just all came to a head. To be honest with you, I blocked a lot of things out of my life. I’m a man who’s been abused, sexually, emotionally, mentally. I’ve been abused in my life, and there’s so many guys around the NBA who have been abused and I know it because I’ve been their therapist. I didn’t even have the courage because I blocked it out so much that I couldn’t even share that . . . “It took literally a meltdown for everybody to see how serious I was about not playing ball anymore.”
Randy Wittman touched on what he expects from John Wall heading into the season, from Michael Lee of Washington Post: “This is a big year for him and its time to take the next step. It’s his third year he knows the ins and outs if what to expect. . . . He’s done a lot of those things this summer to try to make that happen, work ethic being a big part of it. It just doesn’t happen. You have to be willing to put time, effort, it doesn’t matter who it is, John Wall, Okafor. I’ve seen a lot of that this summer that I’ve been pleased with.”
- Danny Ferry is expecting the Hawks to be a different team this season, from Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The leader of this team is the team,” general manager Danny Ferry said Tuesday. “There are guys who are going to be more vocal. Kyle is going to be more vocal than people have had here, I think. I think Lou will definitely [play a leadership role]. As far as roles, certainly Devin and Jeff [Teague] and Al and Josh, these guys have been around. There usage rate may go up a little more. Hopefully in that their efficiency stays strong. Lou is used to coming in and taking a load off a game, for example. Devin Harris has been an all-star and has played at a high level. “I think we will just be a different team. Some roles will change some and evolve. Whether that’s Josh, whether that’s Al, whether that’s Jeff or Devon, that’s going to have to unfold by itself. I can’t create that. The guys in the locker room create that. The coaches create that.”
- Sam Presti is not willing to sign James Harden to a max contract if it means having to pay too much luxury tax, from Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman: ““There are certain realities that we face, and there are some inherent challenges that we face,” Presti said. “I don’t feel comfortable, quite honestly, talking about limitations and things that we ultimately will have to decide on. But I think we’re making a commitment to try to continue to put a competitive team on the floor. “But we also have to do the right thing for the organization in the short and the long term.”
Tyson Chandler hopes to see Rasheed Wallace join the Knicks, according to Tim Bontemps of New York Post: “He looked good,’’ Chandler said Wednesday at a charity event featuring his photography, including pictures of former Knicks Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields.. “Rasheed can be a great addition to us.” Despite his extended break from the NBA, with Wallace’s last game action coming with Boston in the 2010 Finals, Chandler said Wallace still has skills that can help the Knicks. “I hope he [comes],” Chandler said. “I don’t know what the situation is, butHe’s a great communicator on defense and we know he can knock down the open 3 and jump shot.’’ “To have myself and Amar’e [Stoudemire] with Marcus Camby and Rasheed as backups … That’s pretty nice.”
Dwight Howard is slowly working on his game again (with video), from Mike Trudell of NBA.com: “Assistant coaches Darvin Ham and Chuck Person went through low post moves with the six time All-Star center (see video below), with Howard adding some shooting from the paint and the free throw line. Howard dropped in a high percentage of his patented baby hooks with either hand, spinning either to the baseline or the middle depending on Ham’s defense, and showed his quick first step getting to the hoop when Ham closed out. The team continues to stress that no timetable has been determined for Howard’s return, but allowed that there have been no set backs to this point in his rehabilitation.”
Mark Jackson would not make any guarantees of making the playoffs in his second season with the Warriors, from Tim Kawakami of San Jose Mercury News: “Hey, isn’t it time for Mark Jackson to promise a playoff berth this season? “No, I’m not going to say it,” the Warriors coach shot back quickly and seriously as he sat in a team conference room Wednesday. “Not because I don’t believe it, but ultimately there comes a point where, enough of the talking, go out and do it.” Maybe this is a signal that things are clarifying for Jackson, who opened his rookie coaching season by loudly and inaccurately claiming that the Warriors were set to make the postseason. Maybe now that the playoffs are actually realistic for this beefed up roster, Jackson understands he can eliminate much of the bombast. And maybe Jackson also realizes that in Year 2, he’s being judged by results and reality, not rhetoric.”
How did Stephen Curry feel about not getting an invitation for the Olympics team? Surprised and frustrated, from Jason McIntyre of Big Lead Sports: “Oh yeah I was surprised. I couldn’t believe it. I was very frustrated I didn’t get an invite, and I never got to have a conversation with them about it. Coach K and Mr. Colangelo put together a great roster for the World Championships in 2010, and I was fortunate to be a part of it and win a gold medal. I thought I played well and I thought I’d get a shot at making the Olympic roster but it didn’t happen for me. I definitely had it in my sights. When they started making decisions in April, I was out with the ankle injury, but the invite decisions came down before that.”
Kyle Lowry is looking to be the leader of the Toronto Raptors, according to Steve Buffery of Toronto Sun: “I just go out there and play,” said Lowry, who was enjoying an all-star calibre type year last season before suffering a groin injury and bacterial infection in March. “I’m trying to do anything it takes to help my team win. So for coach to give me that compliment, I accept it. I’m a winner and that’s what I want to do.” Though he’s a new kid on the block, Lowry does believe that he can be a leader on the Raptors. Calderon is also a leader, but more of a quiet-type. The Philly Pit Bull, it’s been noted, won’t hesitate to bark at his teammates (and even his coach), if he feels they’re not competing up to his level. “I definitely feel like I am the leader, I am a leader that can push my teammates and get after it and I think guys will follow me,” he said. “So as long as I come out there and show what I can do and be attacking and professional and do what I know how to do, it’s definitely going to do some good.”
Vinny Del Negro explained how there isn’t much of a discussion for a contract extension between him and the Clippers, from Broderick Turner of Los Angeles Times: “Del Negro said there has been “a little bit” of discussion about his contract extension, but there is “no sense of urgency for either side” to get a deal done right away. ”Of course, I wish it was under maybe a different situation,” Del Negro said. “But I was on a one-year deal last year and I’m still here and enjoying myself and believe in what we’re doing. I think all those things work themselves out over time.
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports had a string of news on twitter:
Sixers signed free agents Dan Gadzuric, Devin Searcy, Xavier Silas and Damien Wilkins. The Sixers' training camp roster now stands at 17.
@SpearsNBAYahoo
Marc J. Spears
Spurs add Derrick Brown, Josh Powell, Tyler Wilkerson & Wesley Witherspoon to training camp roster. San Antonio's roster now stands at 18.
@SpearsNBAYahoo
Marc J. Spears
Kenyon Martin will only take minimum NBA contract in a "comfortable" team role,his agent Andy Miller tells Y! Nothing imminent with any team
@SpearsNBAYahoo
Marc J. Spears
When it comes to Dwyane Wade and Mike Miller, Erik Spoelstra will think about the big-picture, according to Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: “Wade, who played with pain and swelling in his knee throughout the playoffs, underwent surgery on his left knee July 9 – forcing him to miss the Olympics. Miller, who was limited by a sore back for most of the postseason, has undergone rehabilitation throughout the offseason. “We’ll be very big-picture oriented with both of them and make sure they’re progressing at a healthy rate and getting stronger and getting conditioned ,” Spoelstra said. “They know the system and what to expect, so I believe we’ll all be on the same page with that.” Wade resumed his conditioning a month ago and Spoelstra said he hopes Wade “won’t miss any regular season time.” “He’s not 100 percent,” Spoelstra said. “So we’re going to be very vigilant on how we progress him.”
Charles Barkley explained why he still doesn’t believe in the pairing of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, from Bernie Augustine of Daily News: “The TNT analyst and Hall Of Famer dubbed the Brooklyn Nets “the best team in New York,” and predicts another frustrating year for the Carmelo Anthony-Amar’e Stoudemire experiment. “It’s not going to work, and it’s not going to click,” Barkley said of the All-Star pairing. “I’m not a believer that a leopard can change its spots.” The Knicks are 30-33 in the regular season when Stoudemire and Anthony are healthy and on the floor together. In the postseason, New York is 1-7 when they’re together (Stoudemire missed Game 3 of last season’s series with the Heat after he tore his hand open punching a fire extinguisher case. “They’re both very good offensive players — Carmelo is a great offensive player, Amar’e is a very good offensive player. But I don’t think all of a sudden they’re going to become great rebounders and great defenders,” he added in his breakdown of the Atlantic division on NBA.com.”
Did Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen have a dance-off at Pippen’s birthday party? They just may have, according to the New York Post: “Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan surprised his former teammate Scottie Pippen for Pippen’s 47th birthday party Monday night. Pippen’s wife, Larsa, planned the secret bash at Chicago hot spot Sunda. Bulls family, including team president Michael Reinsdorf and his wife, Nancy, NBA power brokerWilliam “World Wide Wes” Wesley, Antoine Walker, Ahmad Rashad, and new Bulls recruit and Chicago native Nazr Mohammed gathered to celebrate at the club with Pippen. Sources told us the fun night ended with a dance-off between Jordan and Pippen to the Trey Songz and Fabolous song, “Say Ahh.”
- Dwight Howard joined the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” to talk about his move to Los Angeles and impersonated Kobe Bryant once again:
Darrell Arthur suffers broken leg
