Various ways the Heat could definitely not win

[Eja117]

1. Wade, Lebron, and Bosh. We have four players here to talk to you about ankle, knee, back, and multiple injuries. They're names are Grant Hill, KG, Larry Bird, and Bill Walton

2. Nothing good happens to these guys after midnight. See Rothlisburger, Mike Vick, Tiger Woods, Rae Carruth, Len Bias, and Delonte.....something tells me these guys will have lots of after midnights.

3. Doc said the Big 3 couldn't have worked if they had been in their 20s. I disagree but Doc knows more about bball than me

4. Believe it or not there are other good teams out there with other good players. Orlando, LA, Boston. Good luck Miami

5. I want to see that bench first. Let's see what happens the minute Starbury or Iverson passes up a way open Lebron and says "Well yeah, but you can't make that shot"

6. Pat Riley and the front office. i don't trust them. Something weird will happen

7. YOU'VE BEEN CURSED!

8. Everyone in America and probably some people overseas hate you

9. Stern has messed with this league before. He can do it again.

10. The refs. They're like the KGB/Russian Secret Police/Masons/Knights Templar of this league. They are more powerful than you know

[Rashi]

Honestly more than anything the one thing that I am really worried about with this team is the officiating.

The refs love to babysit Wade and Bron, and now that both are on the same team they have a good chance of spending half of the game on the FT line.

I really hope Stern pulls the plug on giving this team any star treatment (wishful thinking); but if refs keep the game fair then am not too scared of this team.

[Who]

Miami are the team to beat in the East.

Injuries and/or a poor bench look the only things that can hold them back.

[vinnie]

Miami are the team to beat in the East.

Injuries and/or a poor bench look the only things that can hold them back.

Miami will be the team to beat, period. They will be odds-on favorites to win it all next year.

[Who]

Miami are the team to beat in the East.

Injuries and/or a poor bench look the only things that can hold them back.

Miami will be the team to beat, period. They will be odds-on favorites to win it all next year.

Not sure if I'd take Miami over LA. The Lakers size inside will cause Miami a lot of problems. At the moment, I think that matchup is fairly even.

However, I do like the Heat, by a comfortable margin, to win the East.

Edit: Actually, scratch that. I like Miami over LA too. I think the quickness of Miami's wings will make it difficult enough for LA's post scorers to stop them from dominating (as scorers). Similar to how OKC were successful against LA defensively.

From there, I think the Heat have enough offense to win that series.

[MBunge]

Miami are the team to beat in the East.

Injuries and/or a poor bench look the only things that can hold them back.

Miami will be the team to beat, period. They will be odds-on favorites to win it all next year.

Only proving once again how foolish people can be.  Unless Wade, Bron and Bosh are going to play 44+ minutes a game next season, the Heat will not have the best record in the East.  They're also not winning a title next year unless they avoid Orlando in the East playoffs and somebody knocks off the Lakers out West.

Wade, Bron and Bosh might be the best trio in the league since the days of Bird/McHale/Parish, but the rest of their team is going to be worse than any other title hopeful in the history of the league.

Mike

[action781]

Honestly more than anything the one thing that I am really worried about with this team is the officiating.

The refs love to babysit Wade and Bron, and now that both are on the same team they have a good chance of spending half of the game on the FT line.

I really hope Stern pulls the plug on giving this team any star treatment (wishful thinking); but if refs keep the game fair then am not too scared of this team.

I'm actually hopeful that Stern will after this.  Can you really imagine the Heat averaging a 40-20 fta discrepancy every game?  Under previous circumstances, yes.  But I think it will get too boring even for Stern.  He'll want them to win in close games, won't he?

[bobdelt]

Miami are the team to beat in the East.

Injuries and/or a poor bench look the only things that can hold them back.

Miami will be the team to beat, period. They will be odds-on favorites to win it all next year.

Only proving once again how foolish people can be.  Unless Wade, Bron and Bosh are going to play 44+ minutes a game next season, the Heat will not have the best record in the East.  They're also not winning a title next year unless they avoid Orlando in the East playoffs and somebody knocks off the Lakers out West.

Wade, Bron and Bosh might be the best trio in the league since the days of Bird/McHale/Parish, but the rest of their team is going to be worse than any other title hopeful in the history of the league.

Mike

I dont know how anyone can say they won't have the best record, when the CAVS HAD THE BEST record, with NOBODY on the support cast/coming off the bench.

So yes, they will have the best record, because for 30+ minutes a night they will dominate. They will get big early leads, the starters will take a break, the bench will blow them, the starters take over a finish the game.

[jdpapa3]

Something we have to hope for is that their offensive games don't mesh. Our big 3 were a pretty good traditional fit: slasher/shooter/post man.

Miami will be more slasher/slasher/facing the basket post man. Pick and roll with Wade/Bosh and Lebron crashing baseline should be lethal, though. Or fast breaks...

[Eja117]

It just occured to me that these three guys just all got beat by the Celts easily. Bosh got Hedo and Hedo immediately had the worst year of his career and the Raps were aweful. The Heat got crushed by the old man Celts, and so did Lebron, who gave up. So you got three losers. And why were they losers? The players around them of course. So if you put these three losers together and give them ...some of the exact same guys they lost with...Big Z, Chalmers, Haslem....suddenly they are supposed to win? So when they lose I guess it'll be Big Z's fault right? Cause that's who it was last time. Hey Lebron. If you're better than Kobe or Paul Pierce you're not supposed to need a better bench than him. That's what better is. Pierce had 30 something post injury all-star/non all star teammates. Bron had younger all-star teammates. Lebron would have you believe that Pierce's bench is full of super men and his is full of scrubs. He wants you to disbelieve your own lying eyes. Nice try Team Lebron.

[CelticsWhat35]

We're all kidding ourselves if we think this team isn't going to be great.  Obviously not guaranteed a title, but they are going to be very tough to contend with.  Someone brought up a good point about LeBron leading the Cavs to 66 wins.  Granted, the team flamed out in the playoffs, but neither Wade or LeBron has ever played with someone as good as the other, and now they get Bosh as well.

They are filling out their roster with the likes of Miller, Haslem, etc, and they are going to have the MLE each year to continue to get better.

[Eja117]

I am telling you right now this team will not know what to do the moment KG slaps Bosh in the face and says "excuse me" and then Perk runs him over a minute later and says "Get out of my way"

Then Ray will shoot a contested three over the much smaller Wade and say "If you were taller or a good player you would have been able to defend that"

Then Rondo will dart through them and say "I see you haven't learned defense yet"

Then JON will dunk on Big Z and say to Lebron "I see one of us made the right decision"

Then Pierce will steal the ball from Bron and run the court and be like "It's just that you're not that good"

Then the Sports Reporters will talk about how the Heat look outclassed and tired.

Then the finger pointing will start and people will discuss if Riley should come back.

Punch this team in the mouth and everything will fall into place.


In a possible finals match up Kobe will dominate D Wade, Pau will dominate Bosh, Artest will make it his personal mission to make life miserable for the Queen.

Bynum will have a very fun series against whatever scrub they decide to blame losing on.

Then Odom will come in from the bench.

I am looking forward to this year. There's a bully in town and the men are going to teach him a lesson.

[MBunge]

Miami are the team to beat in the East.

Injuries and/or a poor bench look the only things that can hold them back.

Miami will be the team to beat, period. They will be odds-on favorites to win it all next year.

Only proving once again how foolish people can be.  Unless Wade, Bron and Bosh are going to play 44+ minutes a game next season, the Heat will not have the best record in the East.  They're also not winning a title next year unless they avoid Orlando in the East playoffs and somebody knocks off the Lakers out West.

Wade, Bron and Bosh might be the best trio in the league since the days of Bird/McHale/Parish, but the rest of their team is going to be worse than any other title hopeful in the history of the league.

Mike

I dont know how anyone can say they won't have the best record, when the CAVS HAD THE BEST record, with NOBODY on the support cast/coming off the bench.

So yes, they will have the best record, because for 30+ minutes a night they will dominate. They will get big early leads, the starters will take a break, the bench will blow them, the starters take over a finish the game.

The Cavs started Shaq, better than any center the Heat have, and Mo Williams, better than any PG the Heat have.  They also started Antawn Jamison, who averaged 20 points and 9 boards in Washington and 16 points and 8 rebounds with the Cavs.  They came off the bench with Varejao, better than any center the Heat have, Delonte West, better than Marion Chalmers, Jamario Moon and JJ Hickson.  Oh, and the Cavs were also one of the best defensive teams in the league.

Seriously, this idea that the Cavs were some sort of crappy team that LeBron elevated to greatness is nonsense.  And the idea that the Heat are just going to waltz to the best record in the league is ridiculous, given that we have no idea how good the Heat will be defensively next season AND that possibly 3 of the other top 5 teams in the league will be in the East (Celtics, Magic, Lakers, Heat, Bulls).

Mike

[RJ87]

I agree with CelticsWhat35, this is a good team on paper. They still have to play the games, but they're pretty darn good looking.

As far as reason #3 goes, have you seen our bench lately? We've got BBD and some rookies. They've got Haslem, big Z, juwan howard, joel anthony, chalmers, and if he doesn't start - Miller. So yeah, let's not compare at the moment.

[Bankshot]

11.  If they sign 2nd round virgin McGrady, they might not get out of the first round.