The Heat Got Beat

So, Miami couldn't handle the Celtics in their first game of the season. A lot of people were probably surprised about that, but as you have seen me write before, I didn't have my heart set on this team. I think that this kind of phenomenon has happened before. I know that there are teams that have several stars. If you remember back to the Bulls in the 90s, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were all pretty heavy stars on those teams. However, there was a definite role for each of them to play. I believe that they all had talents complemented each other. I think that Lebron, Dwayne, and Chris will figure this out because they are great players with different abilities, but I think it will take time. For all three of them, they were the definite stars on their franchises last year so there will be a learning curve to learn how to use other stars as teammates. It probably will happen, and with all of the talent that they possess, they will eventually be very good or even great. But it won't be an instant takeover; I believe that they need time to bond before they will dominate.
Photo by RMTip21 on Flickr

Wade's Slip-Up

Dwayne Wade has recently taken some heat for comments he made concerning the upcoming season. He talked about how the media will blow out the losses out of proportion and give it as much attention as the World Trade Center which was obviously a much more tragic and important situation. Rather than focus on the poor word choice that many people found offensive, I want to focus on what Wade intended. If the Heat lose a few games, the media will blow the whole situation out of proportion. That is the job of the media; to make stories out of nothing that the public will buy. However, the expectations on this team are so high that they have to expect this. If they lose a few games, which they are going to do, people will wonder what is wrong with them. Personally, I do not think the superteam will necessarily be the best team in the NBA. My reasoning is that Wade, Bosh, and James have all been the go to guy for the team. That was perfectly fine when they played separately, but now they need to learn how to adapt and not always being the guy who takes the final shot or makes the important stop. I'm not sure if they know how to do the small things to make each other better. I am sure they will learn because they are intelligent athletes, but I do wonder about the beginning of the season. For all of you who think that the Heat are buying a championship, let's see where the flag hangs at the end of the year.
Photo by compujeramey on Flickr

Price Floor

You know, if all of the NBA owners got together to try to fix player salaries and determine who would play where next year, I bet that the union would be all over that case. However, when Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson want to meet to discuss plans for next year, nobody seems to have a problem with it. Maybe this is not their intent whatsoever, but they could totally play the owners by raising the price of each other. For example, say they all wanted $100,000,000. If they all agreed to remain at that price, they all would get it. Without this agreement in place, one of them could get a smaller contract and therefore eliminate the higher priced options from other teams. Again, maybe they are just meeting to talk, but it seems a bit unfair that these guys, even though they are some of the best players in the NBA, could get together and set a price floor. It may work out well for them financially, but as I learned in economics, whenever you fix the prices, you get inefficiency. In this case, this inefficiency is the added money that these guys could receive above what they are worth that could've been spent on bringing in other parts to build a championship team. Basketball is more than a one-man game.
Photo by AndyRob on Flickr