Nitpicking and hyperbole.
Shane Battier, Ray Allen, Mike Miller > Henry Walker, Justin Hamilton, Shawne Williams. All the afformentioned guys weren't scrubs. They were solid roleplayers who spread the floor, shot lights out, and played defense.
* Shane Battier didn't score a single point in the Finals against San Antonio last year. Not one. In 16 playoff games last year, including 6 starts, he only hit 12 shots TOTAL and averaged 2 points/game. During the regular season he averaged 4 ppg on 38% shooting while starting 56 of 73 games. In 22 playoff games the previous year, he only hit 29% of his shots and averaged 4.7 points/game. The year before that, when he started 16 of 23 playoff games, he hit 38% of his shots and averaged 7 points/game.
* Ray Allen hit a few shots, but his defense was atrocious. Every single Spur he was matched up against destroyed him. Allen is a deadly shooter in the right situations, but Boston knew 3 years ago that he shouldn't be starting games for a contender.
* Mike Miller wasn't on the team last year, but the year before that he only averaged 3 ppg while starting 5 of 17 playoff games. And he often wasn't available or had to go to the bench with injury issues - only averaging 47 games/year in 3 years with Miami even though he started some games every year.
Yes, there were times in the last four years where Battier, Allen, and Miller all gave quality contributions. But there were also times when they were too hurt, too old and slow, or had lost their shot too much to be starting games for a championship contender. Hell, the three of them are almost 120 years old combined.
And those three guys aren't even in the top-5 of the worst starters that Miami had to play in playoff games during their Finals runs. That honor goes to Pittman, Turiaf, Anthony, Bibby, and Lewis.
So even when Bosh was out during the Indy series, and through 5games of the Celtics series, we still had Battier out there to play the 4, and spread the floor.
You see the two box scores I put up? Battier shot 1-14 combined in those two games. You want to guess what he shot for the entire series?
And you're conveniently forgetting that Dexter Pittman and Ronnie Turiaf were starting games that series. This is the same Dexter Pittman who was out of the NBA the next season and the same Turiaf who averaged 1.9ppg in 10 minutes/game for the Clippers the next season.
You're acting like LeBron led a bunch of scrubs to the Finals in the four years he was here. But then again, the "LeBron has to do everything, including winning championships by himself with barely any help, and LeBron is 95% of the team" narrative is a strong narrative that refuses to die. Remember how bad the Cavs were earlier this season? They added solid pieces, and voila. I bet some people are gonna act like that was all LeBrons doing(even with Kyrie going for 50 twice). So what if the Cavs don't win it all this year? Are we gon' start hearing "Kyrie didn't do enough" "Love didn't do his job", and, "LeBron needs more help".
Lebron didn't lead a bunch of scrubs to the Finals in the four years he was in Miami. But he did have to carry a lot of players who never should have been starting for a Finals team. Bibby, Anthony, Pittman, Turiaf, Lewis, and Allen/Battier/Miller when they got old/injured were good examples of that. That's a LOT of below-average players to be starting on Finals-destined teams.
And Miami wasn't a bunch of scrubs this year. Their center situation for half the season was better than anything in the last 4 years. At worst they had the same PG they've had the last 3 years (who should be hitting his prime), and at best they had the best point guard they've seen in a decade. Wade averaged just as many missed games over the last 3 years (58 total) as he had this year (20). Deng was an above-average replacement for Lebron who is solid on both ends of the floor. And Bosh was balling this season until he got injured. Birdman/Napier/Walker/Beasley/Granger/McRoberts/Cole weren't all available all season, but they were all available for some of the season and that's a better situation 6-12 than a lot of teams have.
Yet Miami was still sitting with a 24-30 record when Bosh went out, and still had a losing record after acquiring Dragic. They dealt with injuries this year, but they dealt with injuries (Miller, Wade, Bosh) at various times in previous seasons too without the team falling off the cliff.
Even with everything else that went on, if Lebron's on this team, they make the playoffs and are winning some series. You can't doubt that.
for one guy is unnecessary.
