Since LeBron James had his television special “The Decision” and announced he was, “taking his talents to South Beach and signing with the Miami Heat,” the team has dominated the Eastern Conference. They appeared in the NBA Finals four consecutive times, converting two of those into championships.
Now, after two titles in Florida, James decided to “come home” and sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he spent the first seven years of his career.
While James has been the best player in the world for the last several years, the people he was playing with are not horrible either.
What is left of the Heat going into next season?
Roster
PG: Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Shabazz Napier
SG: Dwyane Wade, Shannon Brown, Reggie Williams
SF: Luol Deng, Danny Granger, James Ennis
PF: Josh McRoberts, Udonis Haslem, Shawne Williams
C: Chris Bosh, Chris Andersen, Justin Hamilton
President Pat Riley and the Heat were able to replace four-time MVP James with two-time All-Star Luol Deng. Some people have over-exaggerated the drop-off from James to Deng. He’s not a scrub.
Dwyane Wade is not in his prime anymore, but is also still a pretty decent player as long as he isn’t laden with too many minutes throughout the season. When he has to play too many minutes he can get worn down more than most players and become ineffective or even miss time with an injury.
Chris Bosh is also a veteran, who has hit the 30-year-old mark, but with his massive, new contract and with the absence of James, Bosh can potentially be the number one offensive option, like back in his Toronto Raptor days.
They have a decent point guard rotation. Mario Chalmers is usually solid, but had a brutal stretch in 2013-14 and got passed up by Norris Cole. The other point guard is Shabazz Napier that Miami traded up in the draft to get FOR James and are still stuck with. He is talented and could produce next season, especially if Chalmers is dealt at some point.
Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger were brought in to try and keep LeBron in South Beach, but the pull of home was too strong for James. It was certainly stronger than a meager upgrade of McRoberts and Granger.
The rest of the roster is made up of low-risk, low-paid vets and young players to fill out the roster.
Attitude
There is a feeling of defiance. A feeling of determination. There are notions to be disproved and contracts to be validated. Some players on the roster need to prove they belong in the NBA. Haslem wants to solidify his legendary status in the organization. Wade, Bosh and Chalmers need to prove it wasn’t all LeBron for those four years and that he didn’t carry them to multiple championships.
Some of these are nonsense, but they are there nonetheless. It is ridiculous, especially to the casual fan, to say that James DIDN’T carry the team on his back. There were a lot of times he did. But not as much as some people think. It’s a team game.
Some will be proven wrong. It’s just a numbers game. Some players will not stick in the best basketball league on the planet. Some will fall out of relevance and fade from the public eye.
Prognostication
With a whole slew of new players and a bunch of them older veterans, there is a difficulty in ascertaining the ceiling or floor of this team. There is the variability that comes with a greater risk of injury. You don’t know how the team will come together when there are a lot of new additions and one huge subtraction.
Looking at the Eastern Conference that has been pretty weak as of late, the only teams the Heat AREN’T better than, are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and we’ll add the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors in there. That puts them as the fifth-best team out East in the best possible scenario.
Now, if there are significant injuries to Deng, Bosh or Wade that force them to miss an extended period of time, or the team has issues getting on the same page the team could be in free-fall in the standings. If that happens, they could fall past the Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, to the ninth-best team in the East, subsequently missing the playoffs.
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