Miami Heat: The Common Enemy

[celticmaestro]

Hello all, I wrote a piece on the Heat and why I hate them. Hopefully a few of you like it.

http://wp.me/p1afQW-X

[mgent]

In hindsight, what's the best team?

LeBron/Wade/Bosh

LeBron/Griffin/Gordon

LeBron/Lopez/possibly Deron Williams

LeBron/Rose/Boozer/Noah/Deng(presumably traded)

LeBron/Amare/Chandler/Gallo/Felton

[Fafnir]

LeBron/Wade/Bosh is still the best, with perhaps the Bulls being better.

A large part of me wonders if Rose takes the huge step forward if he's playing with LeBron? I have my doubts, they'd have just as many if not more issues with diminishing returns as he did with Wade.

Better defensive role players on the Bulls roster so maybe that'd make up for it.

[celticmaestro]

LeBron/Wade/Bosh is still the best, with perhaps the Bulls being better.

A large part of me wonders if Rose takes the huge step forward if he's playing with LeBron? I have my doubts, they'd have just as many if not more issues with diminishing returns as he did with Wade.

Better defensive role players on the Bulls roster so maybe that'd make up for it.

I agree.

Although, with time that set-up in LA could have been a sweet one.

[Fafnir]

LeBron/Wade/Bosh is still the best, with perhaps the Bulls being better.

A large part of me wonders if Rose takes the huge step forward if he's playing with LeBron? I have my doubts, they'd have just as many if not more issues with diminishing returns as he did with Wade.

Better defensive role players on the Bulls roster so maybe that'd make up for it.

I agree.

Although, with time that set-up in LA could have been a sweet one.

Yeah if Griffin keeps progressing he could be just as good a running mate as Wade.

But I'll never blame a player from running as quick as he can from Donald Sterling.

[action781]

LeBron/Wade/Bosh is still the best, with perhaps the Bulls being better.

A large part of me wonders if Rose takes the huge step forward if he's playing with LeBron? I have my doubts, they'd have just as many if not more issues with diminishing returns as he did with Wade.

Better defensive role players on the Bulls roster so maybe that'd make up for it.

I agree on Rose.

I say the answer is the same as I said it was last summer: Lebron/Wade/Amare

If Amare was set on not taking enough of a paycut for that to  happen, then I'm not sure if I'd take Lebron/Wade/Bosh or the NYK team of Felton/Lebron/Gallo/Chandler/Amare with Fields on the bench.  I really do think the Heat aren't the best fits for eachother and that NYK team had a lot of players that would be good fits around Lebron.

I would have loved to see Lebron go to NYK and Wade go to Chicago last summer.  Then Bosh... well... maybe NJ and eventually team up with Deron??  I could see them complementing eachother well.  I'm kinda upset that I never got to see a Lebron vs. Wade playoff matchup.  Games in those series would go down in history like Bird vs. Magic.  Those games would be even better though since they'd be guarding eachother at the end of games. 

[thirstyboots18]

Thanks for posting the article, Maestro.  I always enjoy your writing.  As far  as the conjecture on possible player combos with LBJ...I am not convinced that the subject won't come back again in a couple years.   

Wilt Chamberlain was every bit as talented and a freak  of nature as LeBron, and had a stellar back up cast, too. It takes more than that to win multiple championships.  Time may help Miami meld into a whole "team", but it may also tear them apart.

What ever happens, it will be interesting.   

[Celtics4ever]

Best team right now is Dallas and they proved it by cutting out the HEAT's heart.   This was not that hard as LeBron plays without heart, Bosh's heart is too wimpy and that leaves only DWade.

LeBron should be in talks about best players but never talks about best teams IMHO.  He chokes and isn't a winner and disappears down the stretch and doesn't thrive under pressure.   He presently until he gets his head screwed on is going to be the weak link on any team in a crucial game.

[celticmaestro]

Thanks for posting the article, Maestro.  I always enjoy your writing. 

Thanks thirstyboots, appreciated.

[mgent]

LeBron/Wade/Bosh is still the best, with perhaps the Bulls being better.

A large part of me wonders if Rose takes the huge step forward if he's playing with LeBron? I have my doubts, they'd have just as many if not more issues with diminishing returns as he did with Wade.

Better defensive role players on the Bulls roster so maybe that'd make up for it.

I agree.

Although, with time that set-up in LA could have been a sweet one.

Yeah if Griffin keeps progressing he could be just as good a running mate as Wade.

But I'll never blame a player from running as quick as he can from Donald Sterling.

If he reaches that potential, the best perimeter player + a top 2 big would be better than the best perimeter player + a top 2 perimeter player.  Also Gordon probably has more potential than Bosh.  From a fit standpoint, Amare also makes more sense than Wade.

But from a win-now stance I think Chicago would have been as good of a choice as Miami.  Rose would give them the same other-MVP-threat, and Boozer would, like most elite PFs, be a better fit than Bosh.  They also have a much better Center, defense, and, if they signed the same vet-mins, bench.  If they had traded Deng for a solid 2 (S-Jax, J-Rich) that would have been a nasty team.

[indeedproceed]

If the Clippers weren't the Clippers, I'd pick the Clippers.

[Celtics18]

Nice article, Maestro.

The longer Lebron James goes without an NBA title, the better it is for basketball.

[mgent]

If the Clippers weren't the Clippers, I'd pick the Clippers.

Haha good point.  Still I'm not sure there was a wrong choice, it was between 4 possible MVPs and Jay-Z.

[democritic]

Until someone tells me a reliable way to stop a Lebron-Griffin pick-and-roll with Gordon spotted up in the corner or running off a screen, I've got to go with that.

[indeedproceed]

Until someone tells me a reliable way to stop a Lebron-Griffin pick-and-roll with Gordon spotted up in the corner or running off a screen, I've got to go with that.

Amare-LeBron P&R is wayyyyy more lethal. Way more. Griffin is an animal, but not on Amare's level offensively, or as a P&R player.

The benefit in Griffin-LeBron-Gordon pairing is that Griffin's ceiling is much higher than Amare's, and he's already an elite rebounder, and likely a better defender.

But until Griffin gets Amare's offensive savvy (which is really underestimated, he's way better at creating his own shot), and gets that jumper consistent for an entire season, LeBron/Amare is for my money the most dangerous P&R, aside from possibly LeBron/Dirk.