Perimeter Play Plagues Heat

Wesley Person got the start last night against the Raptors. Butler, who has been terrible of late, got bumped to the bench. It isn't a shock that a change came, just that it came packaged as it did.

The basic debate, at least among the Heat intelligentsia, is why Butler and not Eddie Jones? Butler has a 35.5% while EJ is shooting 34.7% right now. Maybe, we should start calling him Eddie Ones. So, why, coach, Butler instead of EJ?

Here is what Van Gundy said in an article found in the Sun-Sentinel:

"I think two things sort of led to the decision," the Heat coach said. "No. 1, I'm hoping at some level it will help Rasual. I think he's been pressing a little bit. I think we need contributions from him. And the second thing is trying to sort of balance shooting and offensive stuff with defense. Our two best shooters have been Damon and Wes. So you've got one of them in the lineup and one off the bench. And our two best perimeter defenders have been Eddie and Shandon, so you've got one of 'em in the lineup and one of them off the bench."

"The difference there is that Eddie has been, in my opinion, our best perimeter defender," Van Gundy said. "I have a comfort level with him that gives him a little bit longer rope in terms of lack of offensive production."

So, it seems EJ has more 'cred' with the coach at this point. That is fair. We all know EJ is more of a proven commodity than Butler is. At least at this point. Person is a vet, too, and it confirms what we can suspect about Van Gundy - he is looking for some sign of consistency.

It seems though that some of the best play is also coming from a source not familiar to the Heat - Keyon Dooling. He has been putting together some defensive highlights as well as maximizing the minutes he plays. He is pressing for more minutes with every outing.

This begs the question, what is going to happen? Something has to give. The Heat needs a third scoring option. Eddie Jones is there most marketable commodity to net a player of worth in return. But his contract is big and he is struggling right now with his offense. If he wasnt, the Heat would not be in the perdicament they are currently in. And that is the conundrum.

So, with EJ, Butler, Person, Damon Jones, Keyon Dooling, the Heat has to be able to extrapolate some kind of rotation where they can get consistency from their perimeter play. How that happens, is anyone's guess at this point.