Miami Heat Fish Market: Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James Title Devaluation

Everyone has been to the fish market and experienced that acrid fishy smell that disperses throughout its entire space.  It’s probably where the cliché, “smells fishy” comes from.  Used to describe a situation usually too good to be true because of the suspected devious manipulation that helped mitigate the end result, “smells fishy” can also be applied to the new Miami Heat.  It is the single biggest reason that any new Miami Heat title(s) will not be worth their weight in gold.

Is it possible to put a value on an individual NBA title?  Can any given title be worth more than another?  If the value of an NBA championship is measured by how it is appreciated by its team and its fans, and also by the fans of other teams from around the league, then it can.  There are examples that would support this idea.  Both Jordan’s and Kobe’s titles were highly embraced in their respective cities (Chicago and L.A.), but only Jordan’s championships had that significant national embrace.  Therefore Jordan’s titles have a much higher appreciation value than Kobe’s.  Taking this argument a little further, by bringing a title to Cleveland, a Lebron James’ title would have been appreciated on the same scale as Jordan’s.  This is because (like Jordan and unlike Kobe) Lebron was a national hero.  By infamously leaving Cleveland, Lebron has lost that national following, and as a result any titles he wins in Miami will not be appreciated as highly.

In retrospect, the championship won by Boston’s big 3 (Garnett, Allen, and Pierce) does not carry the same weight of appreciation as any of Larry Bird’s championships.  Why?   Bird’s team was not only built around smart player acquisitions (like Riley’s Heat and Ainge’s Celtics), but also through years of building team chemistry (not the same as Riley and Ainge).

To solidify this argument, you have only to look at Dwayne Wade and his 2006 underdog Miami Heat.  If you recall, Wade prevented his team from going down 3 games to 1 against the Dallas Mavericks by singlehandedly putting the Heat on his back.  He practically willed that championship for the Miami Heat, whose aging stars including Shaq, Mourning, and Payton were struggling to find their legs.  Compare this to any titles Miami is expected to win because of their overwhelming big three talents (still in their prime).  When it is all said and done, Wade will have a higher sense of self fulfillment and achievement from his first championship. Therefore, he would hold his first title closer to his heart (higher appreciation value) than any title his new formation is expected to produce.

Arguments in defense of the Miami Heat include Boston’s big three, but Garnet, Pierce, and Allen were not in their primes when that team was assembled.  Some point to the past at the Celtic’s Bird, McHale, Parish; the Bull’s Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman; the Lakers' Kareem, Worthy, and Magic.  Some even look at the present Lakers.   But these teams matured like a fine wine before they began winning titles.  Their success can be attributed to talent, team chemistry, and perseverance.

While Riley did a good job creating cap space in Miami, he had some major advantages over every other team in the NBA.  What was Riley’s trump card?

First of all, it is apparent that Wade, Bosh, and James had collusion on their minds for many months.  The argument in the new big three’s defense is that they were free agents and they were entitled.  Their critics however, say that the NBA is not a pickup street basketball scene where you pick your own teams and gang up on the rest.  The NBA (like any business) has a management structure in place for a reason, and players should not be allowed to form their own teams.

Secondly, Wade, Bosh, and James would not have signed with any of 25 teams, because market location and brand building was key to them.  Thus, the short listed cities included only NY, LA, Chicago, and Miami which put the other 25 GM’s at an impossible disadvantage.  Out of the big three, only Wade resided on one of the short listed teams.  So Riley had an advantage even here because of his strong connection to Wade.  Therefore, the pieces could only fall into one GM’s lap, and that happened to be Riley’s.  The Miami Heat had monopoly power over every other team in the league.

Miami has a new fish market in South Beach where you can buy some fresh fish from the sea.  If you like, this market also carries rotten fish from Cleveland (King Fish) and Toronto (Rupaul Fish).  So rotten in fact, that any new title(s) won by the Miami Heat will not be worth their weight in gold, because something “smells fishy” about the sum of its parts.