LeBron James and the Miami Heat Would Benefit from a Lockout-Shortened Season

Well then, the chances of a chopped-down NBA regular season are officially staring us in the face. Unless the next two weeks (give or take) produce some miraculous feat of reconciliation from both sides of this labor dispute, an 82-game schedule will be impossible.

Most teams will take that as grim news, but for a variety of reasons, the Miami Heat are an oddity in this respect. They could very well benefit more than anyone from a truncated season.

First off, some general points...

As far as duration of play, many among the competition will lose the benefit of a an adjustment period that a longer season would afford them. The Knicks come to mind, as one would think they'd like more court time to distance themselves from the underachieving bunch they were last year.

To this Heat team, however, the regular season is a mere formality; they're looking ahead to the playoffs regardless of how long or short the lead-up. When Game 1 of Round 1 tips off, they'll still be the monster we all know and lo-...ha- ...whatever.

In fact, anytime you can reduce the number of 42-minute games the Three Amigos are forced to play (i.e. far more than normal), that alone could pay off in the postseason.

In terms of the competition, those teams looking to shore up their rosters via free agency will not find life easy once negotiations open up. With a shrunken schedule, a signing frenzy will probably ensue, leaving teams with no time to explore the market, many ultimately with no real upgrades.

Also worth noting: the longer the lockout, the greater the number of free agents likely to go abroad to play. So when the league opens up shop again, suddenly the talent pool from which Miami's rivals are choosing is a little thinner. What if Nêné goes overseas instead of say, the Celtics?

A team that's already contending (which the Heat are) is more or less immune to stagnation-via-inaction; they're the ones everybody else is looking to beat by making moves.

Seeing that their current roster is championship-caliber as-is, the Heat have an edge on many other franchises in that they'll barely feel the disruption of this year's free agent crop, while some of their would-be budding rivals will be no closer to challenging them for it.

Now then, onto the more unique implications of being this particular team, playing a lockout-shortened season.

For every second the NBA is in-season, the Heat must go into "media onslaught" mode. News outlets nationwide—if not worldwide—will whip out their dirty magnifying glasses, and every word out of players, coaches, mothers and cousins will be deconstructed into another indicting blurb against them.

Meanwhile, the Internet—which is to say that portion of it not engaged in the act of journalism—will be ablaze with anti-Heat trolling, ham-handed "ringless" jokes, and wishful rumors of trades and staff dismissals.

You're free to deny it all you want, but all that scrutiny and bad blood does wear on them. How do you think LBJ ever became bitter enough to basically tell working-class America to go be intimate with itself?

It follows that a mere decrease in camera time should do wonders for the team's focus by the time the real season starts (reminder: none of the playoffs would be lost.) All that mental energy can finally be directed to the task they've so remissly underestimated thus far (i.e. sealing the deal).

Now, the Heat players have said they're working out among themselves as if the season is on the way as scheduled. While this is easy to say, if it's actually true, that would give them an edge over others who have been treating the lockout like an extended offseason.

Another wise way to make the most of this soon-to-be increased free time would be for the Heat players to bone up on the intangibles they lacked at key times last season, such as mental fortitude, and a healthy respect for their own beatability. *

Nobody needs more alone time than Miami's tormented super-manchild. Now granted, he hasn't exactly been in a bunker this offseason, but at least he doesn't have the postgames and pesky journalists to deal with on a daily basis.

It means more time to do some of that emotional homework he's been skipping all these years. If LeBron was serious when he said, "That week was the worst I've ever had," then he should be at least smart enough to do a little more introspection.

We all know that he, like the rest of "his" team, has been stewing all summer over the Mavericks having the audacity to go against the master plan. The question is whether he's stewing as in I'll show them...I'm gonna come back better than ever, and with a new attitude?

I must break here, to point out that this is exactly what a certain somebody would notoriously do whenever he suffered a setback and/or his critics got too loud for his liking...

Unfortunately in LeBron's case, it's equally possible he's just getting more bitter at having been denied what he feels should have come to him by now. 

So the question becomes how far LeBron has come from the guy blaming God almighty for losing him the title?

Contrary to most of his other critics, I think LeBron does have some grasp on reality, however tenuous. As such, it's a good bet he's finally seeking some real advice, and trying to grow as a player as well as a person. More time off before the season starts equals more net progress.

Worst case scenario, he's a lost cause and all this time is going to waste... A shorter season still means less media face time, which means fewer opportunities for him to continue making an ass of himself.

It's win-win.

* Chief Wiggum from "The Simpsons" once used this term. It's a perfectly cromulent word.