My thoughts on LeBron and the Heat

Not a bad “Decision”

7/20/10

So I know this is supposed to be a golf blog, but first and foremost it's my blog. I love golf, but basketball is my first love so I wanted to talk about LeBron James joining the Miami Heat along with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade, who resigned with the team. Personally, I think he should have joined the Chicago Bulls. He along with Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah would have formed a nice nucleus. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are a nice nucleus too, but with so much star power it will diminish LeBron's legacy from a competitive standpoint. Not so much Wade because he's already won a ring as the focal point of the offense and overall leader of the team. Bosh was destined to be a complimentary player regardless, so he has nothing to lose.

I thought James wanted to be considered the greatest individual player ever. He may eventually enter that conversation from a statistical point of view, but not from a championship perspective. Jordan, Magic, and Bird have all stated that they would have never joined forces for various reasons. Mainly because they were too competitive and wanted to prove that individually, they were superior to one another. It must be taken in to consideration that they all won titles with other future hall of famers as compliments. Especially the Showtime Lakers who had James Worthy and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. They were both perennial All- Stars and dominant players at their respective positions. The Celtics had a formidable front line with Mchale and Parrish along side Bird. Mike had Scottie. It has always taken multiple stars to win a championship.

Most recently the Celtics had the other Big Three. Kobe had Shaq, Wade had an aging Shaq. To me, Wade did the most with the least( and the most help from the referees). The 2004 Pistons may go down as the only team in history to win a ring without a future Hall of Fame player among their starting five but they had great chemistry and a better starting five than I can remember since the Lakers in the 80's. The Spurs had David Robinson and Tim Duncan on their first championship team. Then Tony Parker and Manu joined Duncan. You need stars to win, but I guess I'm from the old school and want to see the elite players compete against each other and not with, unless it's for the National team. The young guys call it “Hating”.

I will say that I do recognize the new generation. More good players are available than in generations past. The young guys don't all have the same “me against the world mentality” that many of the previous era players did so they don't mind teaming up. I guess they didn't grow up on 2Pac like I did. I wish 2Pac and Biggie would have formed a super group with Jay Z. Most of these ball players(even the bench players)have been coddled and praised since they could walk, or at least since someone realized their athletic potential. If an iota of talent was evident, they were crowned Kings(pun intended) and given anything they wanted. They are in the business for the love of life more so than the love of the game. It is a different mentality, but not necessarily bad unless you're a basketball purist. At the very least, the Heat will be entertaining to watch, and I will have a good view of every game they play here in Charlotte because I've got season tickets!

That brings me to my final point. No pun intended ahead of time. The comparisons to Jordan are way off aside from his freakish athletic ability. I always thought that LeBron was more Magic than Mike due to his size, ball handling ability, and court vision. Not to mention his jump shooting woes. My contention is that the Heat will do best by having LeBron play point guard. Good coaches build around personnel, and if Erik Spolestra wants to keep Pat Riley in the stands, he'll put LeBron at the lead guard position and let him run the show. Remember, Pat Riley coached Magic so I'm sure he's aware of LeBron's skill set.

What would LeBron be doing otherwise? Coming off picks and shooting jumpers. Probably not the best option. Will they isolate LeBron and let him go to work. Maybe sometimes, but again not the best use of resources with so many other good offensive weapons on the floor. LeBron should feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ . “Big Z, I've a feeling we're not in Cleveland anymore.” Dwayne Wade was physically tired of having to do so much last season. He had to score, distribute, rebound, defend,lead, and more. Now, his load is lightened tremendously. He can still, and will, take games over at times, but he doesn't have to set foot in the paint if he doesn't want to. LeBron and Bosh are good for twenty rebounds collectively. Also, LeBron can use his superior size in respect to other guards, along with his vision to distribute the ball in the half court pick and roll sets, with Wade coming off screens and Bosh either rolling to the basket or popping out for mid range jumpers.

With another small forward in the line up (like Mike Miller who can spread the court with his shooting ability) they will be an even tougher match up. Opposing teams will have to pick their poison. LeBron will still score plenty, especially in transition off of the turnovers the Heat will create. They will be amazing in fast break situations as well, and we'll get to see LeBron use his talents more freely and effortlessly than in Cleveland I'll go on record as saying he'll average a triple double for an entire season at some point during his tenure with the Heat!

So, I'm not mad at “The Decision”, although I prefer Kevin Durant's low key approach to reporting his contract by tweeting. I just want to see good basketball and I think the Heat will provide great entertainment. They still have to go through Orland, Boston, and the Lakers to win a championship, so they can't get sized for rings quite yet! I'm excited about next season in the NBA! I guess summer league hoops will do for now.