The Miami Heat are NBA champions for the second season in a row and after making their third trip to the finals for the third straight time the team has even more pressure on them and one of the top things to deal with this year will be determining who will be the sixth man off the bench, with options like Ray Allen, Shane Battier, Norris Cole, Rashard Lewis or Greg Oden.
The Heat played very well with their primary starters on the floor last year with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers starting nearly every game for the team and that group likely was one of the tops minutes starters in the NBA during the season. Ray Allen played a big part for the Heat last year in the regular season and the playoffs, averaging 25 minutes per game and that put him right behind Chalmers.
Allen makes the most sense as a sixth man because he can produce, but since he is getting older there is a chance the Heat may want to use some of their younger players to keep him fresh for the postseason and stretch run. Norris Cole and Udonis Haslem played a big part for the Heat last season, especially in the playoffs and Allen was very healthy and played in 79 games for the team over their season and he could be a huge factor again this year.
Allen obviously has one of the best three point shots in the history of the league and that is one reason why he is so deadly and even though he averaged 10 points, he usually made them count and the Heat will need him back playing well again for the team to be crowned champs for the third year in a row. While Allen is 38-years-old, he showed in the playoffs last year in Game 6 that he is as clutch as anyone and he also was the only player on the roster apart from James, Wade and Bosh to finish with over 10 points in the regular season.
Battier also showed his value during the postseason last year and he has shown during his career at Duke and in the NBA that he is a winner and has that winning mentality on the court. He averaged just 6.6 points and 2.3 rebounds during the season and started 20 games, meaning he could be a prime candidate to be the sixth man this year. Battier hit some big threes in the playoffs and since he is younger than Allen, he could be a nice fit there. Greg Oden, Rashard Lewis and Norris Cole all could fit as the sixth man as well.