SUNDAY BUZZ COLUMN

With the start of the NBA season days away, where does the post-LeBron Heat stack up in the East?

I asked four TV analysts off the air and here's what they told me:

### ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy: “Cleveland and Chicago are the favorites, but I like Miami as well as anybody after that. It’s a 45-to-50 win team with a real chance to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. They will guard and share the ball and won't beat themselves. They will be very solid playoff contender. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are going to have great years.

“The last four years have been hard to take the second role for Wade. He’s still a great player and I see him playing in the 70s [as far of number of games]. I don’t see him diminishing in skill. I love Josh McRoberts, and Luol Deng is still very good.

If their team had come back intact, it would have been hard for them to be as excited about the process as they are now. There are a lot of people who will feel the responsibility to play well and that sense of responsibility will grow after you lose a great player.”

There’s another reason Van Gundy is bullish on the Heat: “Great coaches find every possible way to energize a team. Erik Spoelstra proved he was a great coach the first two years when Wade and Udonis Haslem were his best players and they made the playoffs. His finest hour as an NBA coach will be the next four or five years and he will prove he can take the loss of James and put out an outstanding team.”

Van Gundy said even though the James/Kevin Love/Kyrie Irving trio is “clearly the best trio in the East, are you sure that the Bulls’ top three of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and [Pau Gasol] is better than the Heat’s top three?”

Van Gundy isn’t certain of that because of Rose’s health.

“Miami will match up well [with Chicago],” he said. But “barring major injuries, I can't see Chicago or Cleveland not finding a way to the Eastern Conference Finals.”

### NBA TV’s Isiah Thomas: He asserts this Heat team is comparable in talent to the 1993-94 Bulls, who overcame Michael Jordan’s baseball-inspired retirement the previous offseason to win 55 games and finish third in the conference with a cast of Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Horace Grant and role players, before losing in the second round to New York.

“This Heat team is similar to that Chicago team,” Thomas said. “They have championship intelligence, like the Bulls did. They’re still one of the two top or three teams in the East. If Derrick Rose is healthy, Chicago is the favorite because they have a defensive mindset and you have to give Chicago the edge [over Cleveland] from a coaching standpoint. There will be a learning curve for Cleveland to get on the same page.

“But the Heat isn’t going to go away. Dwyane will figure out how to help this team win. They have PHDs in championship basketball.”

And Thomas predicts Mario Chalmers will blossom in his new combo role of point guard and backup shooting guard.

### ESPN’s Doug Collins: He ranks the Heat between third and sixth in the conference, clearly behind Cleveland and Chicago and nestled in a tier with Washington, Toronto and Charlotte, but ahead of Brooklyn and Atlanta.

But he said he doesn’t believe this Heat team is as good as the aforementioned 1993-94 Bulls.

“I would not make that comparison,” Collins said. “I don’t see anyone on that team being as great as Scottie Pippen. Those teams played together a long time.”

Also, Collins has concerns about Wade’s health.

“I don’t know if there is a team with more questions marks than the Heat,” he said.

“I like the names on paper but they are older and Wade missed 28 games last season. How can they be the team they want to be if he misses 28 games? How many is he going to miss? Can Bosh go from a No. 3 to a No. 1 option? He can no longer be just a spot-up shooter.

“I love Luol Deng and how hard he plays. But how much mileage does he have on his legs? Can his efficiency be lifted?”

He likes the McRoberts pickup --– “very good playmaker, has a nasty side to him” --- but said Danny Granger “is not mobile enough to defend small forwards any more. He’s a hybrid four. Maybe he can be Rashard Lewis for them.”

### TNT’s Reggie Miller: “They will be competing for one of those top four slots. I could see them easily slipping as low as sixth possibly. You don’t get to four straight NBA Finals, winning two of them, without some championship resolve.

"To have Dwyane Wade, Erik Spoelstra, Chris Bosh, and then to add Josh McRoberts and Luol Deng…these are guys that understand what winning is all about. Are they still going to be that championship force? No, but they understand what it will take to compete at the highest level. A veteran team like that… knows how to win.”

### News note: The Heat reduced its roster to the maximum permitted 15 by cutting UNLV rookie center Khem Birch. The Heat instead kept rookie shooting guard Andre Dawkins, who shot 7 of 12 on threes in pre-season after shooting 42.1 percent on three-pointers for Duke last season.

DOLPHINS CHATTER

### Against every team Miami has played this season, an opposing coach or player has gone up to Jarvis Landry to praise him, Landry tells us.

“But I’m nowhere near my potential,” he insists.

Remember that pre-draft criticism of Landry’s speed?

“I hope they keep underestimating my speed,” he said. “Thirty one teams passed on me because of my speed. I don’t consider myself one of the fastest guys, but I have good enough speed to separate and make plays.”

Brian Hartline said Landry "puts a lot of pressure on himself," so much so that "at times we tell him good job, and it’s still not good enough for him."

### Where has Ryan Tannehill most improved?

For starters, he’s making faster decisions, which was a point of emphasis after Bill Lazor’s hiring.

When given 2.5 seconds or less to throw, he has a 94.8 passer rating and 69.6 completion percentage, compared with 84.8 and 65.3 last season, according to Pro Football Focus.

Also, on intermediate throws across the middle (10 to 19 yards), his passer rating is an astounding 130.1 --- 47 points higher than those same throws last year.

### For those concerned about Tannehill possibly getting injured on read option plays, keep in mind that the Dolphins don't seem to be.

Tannehill and Joe Philbin indicated they're not worried about it, and Philbin hasn’t placed a per-game limit on how many times Tannehill runs the read-option.

Philbin said he was fine with Tannehill fighting through tacklers for extra yards on one long run against Chicago. But he likes him to slide when he's about to take a direct hit.

### Jelani Jenkins has been so impressive that even Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, between quarters of their recent game, told him to keep up the good work.

### Philbin has been spending Thursday nights watching the final minutes of close NFL games from the week before, hoping to “learn” things he should and shouldn’t do based on their success rate in other games.

### The Dolphins have cut and re-signed a bunch of players over the years (former offensive lineman Ray Feinga is the modern day poster child for that), but Daniel Thomas might be the rare player who looks better his second time around. He’s averaging 5.4 yards on 14 carries and 14.2 yards on five receptions.

During his time away, he changed his number (from 33 to 30) hoping it would change his luck, and bemoaned that he didn’t pursue a career at safety (Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops thought he would be a good one) instead of running back.

“When I was [unemployed for a month], I started questioning the whole thing, got down on myself,” said Thomas, who's averaging much more than 3.7 yards per carry for the first time since his Kansas State days. “People don’t understand how hard it is. My dad was getting impatient, calling my agent, asking what’s going on.”

CHATTER

### The Marlins front office will meet with Jeffrey Loria this week to finalize an offseason plan, which likely will include trying to add a pitcher and first baseman (Adam LaRoche --- whose $15 million Nationals option is expected to be declined --- is among several hitters who likely will get a call from the Marlins during free agency).

Only one Marlin, catcher Jeff Mathis, has a player option; his agent said the Marlins indicated they likely will exercise it, at $1.5 million.

### MLB.com said the Marlins might need to move in the fences at Marlins Park to increase the chances of Giancarlo Stanton accepting a multiyear offer. But the Marlins do not want to do that.

Stanton hit .310 with 24 homers and 67 RBI at home this season (much better than his road numbers) but has said he still would prefer the fences be closer.

### Among ACC schools, Clemson ranks second, FSU ninth and UM 14th in rivals.com's rating of oral commitments for the 2015 football signing class.

### An AFC scout who believes this UM team had underachieved --- before Thursday --- lists four Hurricanes players in his top 100 draft-eligible prospects: juniors Duke Johnson and Ereck Flowers and seniors Denzel Perryman and Philip Dorsett.

### Twitter: @flasportsbuzz