LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh Are No Boston Three Party
It didn’t take long for America to start comparing the Miami Heat to the Boston Three Party of three years ago after Miami netted LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Those comparisons need to stop immediately.
It is clear they have three great players, better individual talents that Boston did, of which two are annual MVP candidates. They are also reminiscent of Garnett-Pierce-Allen in that they are unselfish basketball players. Yet to win a championship, James and Bosh will bring the hunger the team needs.
However, one thing this team is not is the Boston Celtics of late, and they will not make a run deep into the playoffs.
One major point people love to make about the Heat’s Big Three is that they are willing passers.
That’s correct, but there is a huge difference in kicking the ball out to great shooters (ex. Damon Jones, Eddie Jones, James Posey, Mo Williams, Delonte West, Anthony Parker) and passing out to players that have career three point percentages below 33 percent. Those players would be Wade and James—who are going to have to adjust to playing off the ball with one another.
Maybe their jump shots improve, but I wouldn’t count on it happening overnight. It looked easy at the Olympics when the three point line is much shorter. I can’t wait until I see the first matchup zone the Heat see in next year’s playoffs. They won’t be able to get to the rim and only one player has true three-point range on the court.
It was easy for Ray Allen to become option No. 3 because he could shoot the lights out. Can the same be said for Dwyane Wade?
These three players are best friends, or at least that is what we as the general public is led to believe. Unfortunately, it is usually harder to play with players that you have such a strong friendship with.
How are they going to react to each other when one makes that first crucial mistake? Will they blindly follow one another? Or will one speak out and be the emotional leader of the team? Such personalities could explode given how much drama has developed this offseason, such as LeBron rejoining Twitter.
The Celtics Big Three all came in as neutral with one another and developed chemistry, with a single voice being the emotional leader of the team—Kevin Garnett.
Who is that person going to be, Wade or LeBron? Will the other buy into that single voice? Or will they try to “share” that spotlight and suffer from different leadership from night to night.
Another good example of chemistry is the Thunder. Durant is the leader of a very close squad, yet everyone knows it. He upholds his responsibility of that spot by helping coach at the summer league games and introducing the rookies to how the squad is run. Once again, there was a single voice and no confusion between chemistry and friendship.
A key point that has not been brought up is who will be the leader on the bench. For some reason, some of the general public is under the belief that Pat Riley is still coaching the Miami Heat. For those individuals, I’ll let you look up who the coach of the Heat currently is. For those that know who I’m talking about, you understand.
This isn’t a Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers, who is known for managing multiple talents and personalities. In fact, he couldn’t manage his first test in Michael Beasley. No excuses—Phil Jackson was able to reel in Ron Artest, and Doc Rivers the same with Rasheed Wallace.
For those that want to argue that Pat Riley can easily take over if need be, it’s not fun when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder as a coach. As for the players, it’s not fun when there’s a divided locker room on who should be coaching the team. Never did the Celtics give a second to question who the coach of the squad was.
Before becoming Boston Celtics, Allen and Garnett didn’t attract much attention in the media in trying to become part of a championship caliber team. They played hard for their respective ball clubs into their 30’s doing all they could to win for the team that was loyal to them. They didn’t quit on their teams when it mattered the most, in the playoffs. They didn’t try to run the front office of their teams.
When it was time to leave their teams, they said goodbye to their franchises, probably in person, but certainly without the need to call for a one hour special on ESPN. They came together as Celtics and people outside of Boston respected the fact that they had done all they could with their previous teams and cheered for them to win it all.
With all the drama and egos that resulted from this offseason, no one outside of Miami will be rooting for the Heat. That’s not a good thing when it comes to chemistry with the All-Stars and their brands off the court. If it was attention they were looking for this offseason, they were successful—but at what cost?
Most importantly, unless a major trade is made midseason (and it will be difficult with three max-contracts that are untouchable) the Miami Heat will not win the NBA Championship this season. It’s not because they don’t have talent, it’s just because they don’t have a complete team.
Just in the East, the Heat’s top competition will be the Magic, Celtics, and Bulls. Each of those teams have an All-Star point guard to go along with an inside force. If Chalmers is the starting point guard, this team will be done early in the playoffs. He can’t compete against the likes of Nelson, Rondo, and Rose.
Will Wade have to guard these elite players on the defensive end? If so, it’s either foul trouble waiting to happen or being exhausted for the offensive end. But even the top defenders will get beat at times by the ball handler, which is why they have Howard, Garnett, Perkins, and Noah protecting the rim. Right now, Chris Bosh and Joel Anthony are the enforcers for Miami—good luck with that.
Before there are any comments that the Heat will fill these positions with the free agents and be set, there is no man available that can match up with Dwight Howard one on one on the free market.
There is no one that will be able to bang with Carlos Boozer on the block. There is no one out there for the taking that can neutralize opposing big men like Kendrick Perkins does.
There is no one available that can keep Rose, Nelson, or Rondo in front of them. Chalmers and Anthony are nowhere in the same league as Rondo and Perkins were in support of the Boston Big Three.
As good of a collection of talent the Heat have, it’s not going to be enough. I’ll sum it up like this: Chalmers is the one to keep Rondo/Nelson/Rose out of the paint. When he gets beat, it is currently Chris Bosh and Joel Anthony protecting the rim in the same way that Perkins, Garnett, Howard, and Noah do for their respective teams. As much offensive firepower the team will be capable of, it’s defense that brings home the championship.
Miami won’t make it past the second round of the playoffs and next offseason will be filled with just as much drama as this one.
