LeBron James: 10 Ways His First Miami Heat Season Could Get Even Worse
LeBron James is in one hell of a mess in Miami now that his team is 9-8 heading into their matchup against the Washington Wizards.
Miami has now lost four of their last five games after falling against the Dallas Mavericks on the road. There's plenty of blame to spread around from the players to the coaching staff.
Erik Spoelstra is now the man on the hot seat. But he shouldn't be the only person held accountable for the team's struggles.
The Big Three need to look in the mirror and find some fault in their own poor play.
Can it get any worse? Oh, yes it can. Let me count the ways.
10. Wade Keeps Slumping
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He's the only one of the super trio to have a championship ring.
But he is having arguably the worst season of his professional career.
The 28-year-old guard is averaging only 21.3 ppg, down from 26.6 and 30.3 the last two seasons. His shooting percentage as also dropped to 44.1 percent from 47.6 and 49.6 the last two years.
Wade had a terrible game against the Indiana Pacers, when he shot 1-for-13 from the field for only three points.
Obviously, Wade is the guy with the most championship experience and the leader of this team as the most recognized face of the franchise—not LeBron James.
He needs to step up his game.
However, the off-the-court distraction of his much-publicized custody battle for his children could be affecting his game.
Or, could it actually be the presence of LeBron's similar slashing and drive-hard-to-the-basket style that's hurting Wade's numbers.
If Wade's play gets worse, there's no way the Heat can ever recover.
9. Another Key Player Injury
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We're only in November and the team has already been ravaged by injuries to key players.
The fact is, outside of the Big Three—the team is full of scrubs.
There were key role players in Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem.
But Miller went down before the season even started, and Haslem could be out for the year.
An injury to Wade, 'Bron or Bosh, and you can cross this team out of making the playoffs.
That's not as unlikely as it sounds. With Wade's hard drives and loves-to-crash mentality, he could get hurt.
He's the same guy that missed the preseason with a hamstring injury. So far, he was suffered a sprained left wrist, a bruised thigh and a strained hamstring.
And as of his most recent game against Dallas, he now has a jammed thumb.
More injuries will definitely hurt their season.
8. More Locker Room Dissention
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We've already got talk of LeBron hating on his head coach Erik Spoelstra and giving him a bump for all the world to see.
Whether or not it was accidental or intentional, there's clearly problems with the team.
Now sources are saying that players are unhappy with Spoelstra. Problems between coaches and players is never a good thing.
Issues like that become a distraction and consequently affects team performance.
If there's more dissension, there's going to be more problems.
7. More Soft Play from Chris Bosh
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We've been talking about Wade and LeBron.
But we have forgotten about the other guy in the trio.
Mr. Bosh over here hasn't exactly made an impression with his strong inside play. Instead, he's been scrutinized for being soft.
Bosh's numbers have been respectable so far this season. However, that's not being questioned.
What's being brought up here is his complacency inside and tendency to shy away from contact.
When you're playing in the Eastern Conference with plenty of big men such as Garnett, O'Neal, Howard and Stoudemire—you need to learn to bang.
That's what the Heat need from him, which he isn't giving them.
If he can't step it up, he may just as well go back to Canada.
6. Lose to the Cavaliers
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Dan Gilbert will throw a party all around the city if the Cavaliers defeat the Miami Heat on Thursday, Dec. 2.
Mark it on your calendar. It's a must-see event.
Maybe Dan Gilbert levied a curse on LeBron and the Heat when his former star player defected and took his talents to South Beach.
But the hate will keep on coming if the Heat fall to the Cavs.
5. LeBron James Tantrum
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Don't you smell a tantrum coming?
Leaders don't cry and whine like spoiled children.
They also don't air out their hate mail on Twitter trying to regain sympathy from a world of sports fans who have grown tired of his antics.
Sorry to break it to you, LeBron. No one is going to feel sorry for you because you put yourself in this situation.
4. Miami Fans Start Burning LeBron Jerseys
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Cleveland did it, and Miami may be on their way to turning against the King.
If the Heat don't get things fixed quickly.
LeBron, who is already ranked as one of the most hated athletes around, would also lose his supporters in Miami.
Where's he going to play? Kobe once said he would play in Pluto.
There's an idea.
OK, all kidding aside, let's be realistic. How about this little tidbit—Allen Iverson probably needs a running mate in Greece or wherever he's playing nowadays.
3. Los Angeles Lakers Blowout on Christmas Day
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This would be the day that could determine the course of their season.
If they get demolished by the defending champions in front of a national audience, there will be no mercy shown by everyone.
In less than four weeks, we could find out if this Big Three squad could make history or be history.
Come Christmas Day, if the team doesn't turn things around, changes will be in store. It's coming.
2. Riley Acknowledges Failed Experiment
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Head coaching legend Pat Riley, now a front office executive, had extremely high expectations for this basketball team.
After all, three superstars were coming together under the leadership of a young and talented head coach.
But things aren't that simple. There's plenty of chemistry issues that are seemingly not working.
The biggest blow to this squad could come directly from Riley. If and when he does acknowledge that it was a failed experiment gone wrong.
1. Maybe We're Just Making Excuses
10 of 10The team gets called out by the greats.
Oh wait, didn't they already do that?
Heading into the season, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan went on the record to say they never would have done it this way.
They were too competitive to join up with other top talents to try and make winning easier. Hmm, they were probably on to something.
Jordan is probably right. This story is overrated.
LeBron is good, but we're giving him too much credit. We're just making excuses.
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