There was a time when Michael Jackson had to leave the Jackson 5 and go solo. Outkast broke up, Nysnc separated, Jay-Z and Dame Dash split, even the Beatles broke up.
If you name your favorite sitcom over the last 30 years the most likely scenario for its ending was because people outgrew each other and there wasn’t enough money to spread around.
That’s exactly what has to happen in Miami to keep LeBron James happy and winning. Miami had a great run atop the Eastern Conference, becoming only the third franchise to make it to four straight NBA Finals, winning back-to-back titles and recording the second longest winning streak in league history.
In 2013, the Heat became the first team to win the title despite being last in the league in rebounding. Yet even with Pat Riley’s public address it’s impossible to whole-heartedly believe that adding minimum pieces to the quote unquote Big Three is enough to win any more championships. You’re only as strong as your weakest link, which in this case is an undersized shooting guard, losing all athletic ability, who can’t shoot, has fallen off as an elite defender and whose durability has only worsened over the course of his 11 seasons.
Dwyane Wade has no value on the market because he has played awful on top of Father Time and intensifying gravity every time he tries to make a lay-up. Wade has never played in a full 82-game season and missed double-digit games during the lockout season.
After shooting 7-21 in the last two games of this year’s season, we can see Wade’s heart of a champion by working on his game with Kevin Hart. James wants a max contract, Chris Bosh should not and does not want to be snubbed, but the Heat need better guard play and a big body in the interior. In order to win championships sacrifices must be made.
Did James leave Cleveland to play with another washed-up superstar—a la Shaquille O’Neal in 2010—when Riley put these three players together he said his vision was of Wade being Michael Jordan, James being Magic Johnson and Bosh being Kevin Garnett.
Four years later, we’ve seen James be a better version of himself, Wade be a shell of himself and Bosh be misused. There have been reports that Bosh and Wade are unsure of James’ plan. Some rumors have surfaced about both willing to take a lot less money to keep James.
But the overwhelming effect of the 4-1 shellacking at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, gave Miami this past June is that something major has to be done or the Heatles tour will be coming to an abrupt end.
The South Beach-based, Pat Riley-produced soap opera the NBA world has watched unfold over the past four years has been a good one, but no new awards come from shows in syndication.
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