This Miami team sans injury is going to be great, all-time great. If they have less than 60 wins I'll be shocked. No they arn't guaranteed to win a title, but they are clear favorites in my book. They have the two best players in the NBA and a third who is top 15. That has never happened before.
One would need to compare actual experience in the league - not when player A joined player B. Did Drexler upset the Rockets chemistry? How did Houston do pre-Drex and post-Drex / post-Thorpe? There are 101 examples that would appear to disprove ALL your theories...besides, Miami isn't an experiment. An experiment is "NOUN: 1a. A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried." We simply have three out of the best ten players in the league joining forces with a well-rounded supporting cast in Miami - which makes them a legit contender. It should be fun. I can't wait to see how the season unfolds. And no, self-professed math-man with many degrees on his office wall who gets paid to crunch numbers, you HAVE NOT seen this before.
Good point on Drex. I think he did come in and they immediately won. And 101 examples to disprove ALL of my theories is pretty good since I think I'm up to 1.7M published theories now. That's a pretty low rate of disapproval. But I'll agree with you that we really haven't seen THIS experiement before as it is a first of its kind and will be fun to sit back and watch what direction it goes since we've not seen the like of players in their primes like this. But you'd also have to agree that we simply HAVE NOT seen seen the likes of Oden's situation in the league with a series of non-soft tissue injuries that technically should be 100% and have no future impact, yet we all are holding are breath because we haven't seen this before and don't know.
The US International teams that you pointed outwere together for a period of two months... max. Bad comparison. I fully expect this trio to win 4-5 titles if they stay together long enough. The rest of the league is screwed. I also expect LBJ to average close to a triple double (if you think about drafting KD or Cp3 over him in fantasy, you're nuts). His amazing passing skills will be even more magnified in MIA. Edit: Also, the losses you pointed out were single games. If they played a seven game series, the result would not be in question.
I think this Miami team will be unstoppable! Sorry, but 'Bron and Wade are so heads and above better then everybody else it's silly! Channing Frye told me once that playing against LeBron is like playing against a high school kid when your in 5th grade! These guys are going to just toy with other squads. Sorry, but I am one the believes an over abundance of talent can make up for a lack of chemistry! New School way of thinkin' I guess!
I'm skeptical. Bottom line is that they still have to win it on the floor and have to share one basketball. I have no doubt they will win 56+ gas, but I'm not conceeding anything until they actually win it all. There have been very talented teams that didn't win, or maybe one title. The Chamberlain Laker teams, the Dr J 76'ers... and others. Granted, they one one title each, but had the nucleus of the team for 4 or 5 years. So maybe they'll win the next 12 titles or maybe none at all.
Payton and Malone were well past their prime. LBJ/Wade/Bosh are just entering their prime. The 2000 Blazers didn't have a legit superstar. Pippen would have counted, but he was past his prime as well. There just wasn't anyone to take over the game when they started to misfire in game 7 of the WCF. The Heat have Wade OR LeBron.
Why does the OP completely ignore USA Basketball's latest gold medal consisting of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh?
Not only that but citing FIBA tournaments where there are far fewer fouls called, no defensive 3 seconds, and an absolute need for shooters to break zones it's no wonder that NBA style isolation offenses have foundered in international play; it's basketball, but it's almost an apples to oranges comparison to say, that because the US has struggled with superstar laden teams in international play this Miami team is going to struggle too. Miami is going to fucking roll through the regular season, the only team that will give them trouble is maybe Orlando or the Lakers in the playoffs.
I honestly wonder if their dominance will basically suck the life out of the other 29 teams' fanbases. I mean, if it's so blatantly obvious they'll win... why even bother?
I guess I don't see it quite that way. I predict they'll win something like 60 wins, but they aren't quite going to be "96 Bulls" good. In any case, they'll make a great villain and if nothing else people will be drawn to the spectacle of seeing the super friends up close and personal. People lie* all the time about liking parity, but the fact is juggernauts generate interest. *not really a lie, but more like a self delusion
Who would you rather have? Ray Allen, Paul Peirce, and Kevin Garnet or Wade, Bosh, James Cause Allen, Pierce, and Garnett had pretty damn good chemistry their first year together. The Celtics went from the worst team in the league to NBA Champions. And Wade, Bosh, and James are all better at their positions right now in their NBA careers.
That's probably closer to the way I really see it. I think yes, they have the talent to win a lot of games, but will they win 70-75? No chance, still too much parity in the league and the difference between KG, Pierce and Allen is still much closer to LeBron, Wade and Bosh than most people think. This isn't like the 24-hour fitness group their playing, a good Golden State team running the floor and hitting 70% on any given night could beat Miami by 20 pts. My use of the FIBA games wasn't so much using those teams as an example as a team that could be Miami as much as showing how much chemistry really comes to play. We all know the rules and the location have some value, but in reality, Sacramento or the Nets would be rolling Spain, France and Brazil by 30+ pts because they are a team filled with the elite players in basketball playing a team filled with a couple of those elite players and some guys from the 24-hour fitness. So we see in these FIBA games how much value can be place in chemisty over individual talent on the roster. So don't be surprised if Miami only has a decent 60 win season and gets wiped out in a 7-game series against a team that is used to playing good team ball in the playoffs like Orlando or Boston and Miami is knocked out before they even knew what hit them.
Here's how it will play out.... 2010-2011 Lakers 2011-2012 Heat 2012-2013 Blazers 2013-2014 Heat 2014-2015 Blazers
We can sit here and say all sorts of hypothetical situations. A strong Miami team can run Golden State out of the gym by hitting 71% of their shots and holding the Warriors to 30% on any given night as well. You keep insinuating the three of them are incapable of playing team ball and continue to not acknowledge that they won a gold medal together. What makes the three of them not capable?
That's a good point on Golden State, I should state both sides of the equation. My point was we could (and will) have many of these hypothetical situations where Miami gets run out of the gym by Golden State (or vice-versa), or Atlanta will just not let themselves lose two in a row at home when Miami happens to be that unfortunate victim. Parity works itself out and it keeps teams from winning 70+ in the modern era, so that's what I was saying there. And I don't want to say those three can't play together. My point again was that chemistry accounts for something long-term (as well as the short term I'll admit they'll get in 82 games). But I'm not insinuating that the three CAN'T play together, I'm stating that MJ and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe, for any half dozen times top 10 players have gotten on the same team in history, very few won an immediate championship. Most take up to four years, and Boston was the one crazy example I can ever remember in the history of the game of getting great all-stars on one team and having them get enough chemistry to win a ring. I'm not saying they can't, I'm just saying odds are not in their favor.
Garnett, Allen, and Pierce have been to 2 out of 3 Finals, and won one. The Lakers with Malone failed in part because Malone was injured and didn't play well/much in the Finals. Plus, Malone and Payton were fucking OLD. The Mailman was a 40 year-old!!! Wilt, Jerry , Elgin did win a title, it just happened to be the year that OLD MAN Elgin retired a few games into the season. He was 37 years old at the time. LOL at your post.
From what I've read, James seems more than happy to be the athletic version of Magic Johnson I've always thought he is with teammates like Wade and Bosh to receive the ball. The Jordan comparisons have never made sense to me with James. I can see James being a 19/9/9 player, with Wade averaging close to 30 and Bosh getting 24 a night.
