Miami Heat: Is Mike Miller the Ringo Starr of the Heatles?

Ever since LeBron James boldly proclaimed that his Miami Heat were "The Heatles," drawing comparisons to the legendary English rock group, The Beatles, fans and media alike have been wondering, "who's the fourth Heatle?"

Given that the Beatles were a four-piece band while the Heat have only a trio of superstars, the comparison to the Liverpudlian legends seemed less than apt.

Well, for this, and a whole truckload of other reasons.

Let's not forget The Beatles are the single most revered and critically acclaimed rock band in the history of popular music.

Some would point out that The Heatles aren't the single most revered and critically acclaimed team this season, much less in history.

The Beatles sold more records and had more No. 1 hits than any of their peers, and broke all types of concert attendence records around the world during their time.

The Heatles haven't even sold out every one of their home games during this season.

But to compare any entity to The Beatles would be unfair. 

No one is egomaniacal or masochistic enough to wish that comparison on themselves...well, no one except LeBron James.

Perhaps it might be best to try to understand it from Mr. James' point-of-view.

The Beatles were led by John Lennon, perhaps the greatest singer-songwriter the music world has ever known.

LeBron James most likely thinks himself as basketball's John Lennon.

Leading The Beatles with Lennon was Paul McCartney, also in consideration as one of the greatest singer-songwriters ever, and some consider him every much as important as Lennon, if not more.

James must think Dwyane Wade fits this bill on The Heatles, though not the part where Wade's as important if not more than himself.

And then there is George Harrison, the "quiet Beatle."

James might say "quiet" describes the game of Chris Bosh to a tee—often missing in action in some of the Heat's worst losses this season. 

While James might have imagined himself, Wade and Bosh as the Heatles' counter-parts to The Beatles, there was no one on the Miami Heat team that could be considered the Ringo Starr of the group.

That is, until now.

Mike Miller, with his recent 32-point outing against the Toronto Raptors, a stunning 30.5 point improvement over his then season average of 1.5 points per game, might now be considered one of The Heatles rather than just a tag-along groupie.

Like Starr's breakthrough vocal performance on "Yellow Submarine" and then "With a Little Help from My Friends" on the seminal "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club" album, Miller has lifted his status from "just another bench warmer/drummer" to that of a "Starr."

The similarities don't just end there. 

Like how Starr didn't join the Beatles until after the band honed their skills and paid their dues playing club shows in Hamburg, Miller was missing during the Heat's rough start to the season and for most of their resurgent run of 21 wins in 22 games.

Starr was hand-picked by George Martin, The Beatles' producer, to complement Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, just like how Miller was hand-picked by Pat Riley, the Heat's Svengali, to complement James, Wade and Bosh.

And just like how Starr was sick and missed dates on The Beatles' 1964 tour, Miller was injured during the preseason and missed 29 games for The Heatles.

Perhaps James was right—the Miami Heat's "Big Three Plus Small One" could be "The Heatles". 

But sadly for them, "LeBron, Dwyane, Chris and Mike" just doesn't have the same ring as "John, Paul, George and Ringo."

And rings, in this case, are the only things that matter.

Considering the Miami Heat has three players selected, "Do the L.A. Lakers Deserve Three Players in the NBA All-Star Game?"