Do the Heat suck?

Are the Miami Heat even good?

Coming into the 2010–2011 season for the National Basketball Association, the most hyped team was not one of the two teams that had reached the NBA Finals the year before.

Nope, not the two most complete teams in the entire league.

Not the two time defending champion, who had been there the past three years. Not the team that has been to two of the last three and won it all three years ago.

The two teams I am talking about are obviously the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

They are by far the best in the league, yet they were overshadowed in the offseason by one team that had been blown up and rebuilt within a few weeks.

That team would be the Miami Heat. At one point in the offseason, the Heat only had two players on their roster, Point Guard Mario Chalmers and Forward Michael Beasley. And even Beasley was soon shipped out of town.

So with technically one player left on the roster (Beasley was going to be shipped out regardless of who the Heat signed), Pat Riley and the Miami Heat re-signed Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. That was already the beginning of a team that was believed that could compete for a title.

Then there was the decision.

The most ridiculous one hour special where former Cleveland Cavalier Small Forward LeBron James announced on national television he was going to “take my talents to South Beach.” He proved that he is one of the most egotistical athletes ever.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t that he did it for the Boys and Girls Club (what a joke of an excuse); the main problem with the situation was the fact that James did not let the Cavs know ahead of time. They had to find out with the rest of the world. His “hometown team” and employer for the past seven years, weren’t given the courtesy of a simple heads up and thanks for the opportunity.

I digress.

With three superstars, this team was hyped up to such proportions, that former NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy said that the Heat could beat the 72–10 record of the 1995–1996 Chicago Bulls (though it has been thought to be a jab at the Heat for forcing his brother Stan to resign as head coach back in 2007).

So far this season, the Miami Heat are 9–8 and third in the Southeast division and fifth in the Eastern conference. Looks like expectations were a little high.

Despite having obvious reason to believe they aren’t that good, to this day it is breaking news on ESPN that the Heat have lost another game. Like its some big surprise.

Unbelievable.

So what is wrong with the Heat?

Could it be the trio of James, Wade and Bosh killed the team’s chances?

Yes I said it. Did the new big three of the NBA in fact kill the Heat’s chances of being good for at least the next near future? Also, has their enormous egos prevented them from playing up to their own abilities?

Yes they have three of the best players in the NBA (or so be thought about Bosh), but their salaries are so exuberant that they were only able to sign one other player that could be in the rotation among the Celtics and Lakers. That player would be Mike Miller.

And the interesting thing about Miller, where is he going to play when he comes back from an injury? He is a SF or Shooting Guard. Those are the positions James and Wade play. So where does Miller exactly fit in? Maybe that signing wasn’t exactly thought out very well.

So after the acquisitions of James, Miller and Bosh and the re–signing of Wade, what else did the Heat do? They signed a bunch of nobody’s, has–been’s and never–were’s.

The lack of a point guard and a C that is big and willing to do the “dirty work” for Bosh has crushed the Heat.

They have experimented with LeBron playing the PG or Point Forward; roles like Scottie Pippen or even the Magic Johnson, a big tall player who feed the ball to teammates and could score on his own. He has frowned upon the idea, and his play has shown it.

The Heat recently signed Eric Dampier after weeks of speculation that he was going join, but he has injury concerns and now has a guaranteed contract. Will he be good enough that their only lacking piece would be a point guard?

The best case scenario for the Heat is for LeBron to embrace the Point, Wade at SG, Miller at SF, Bosh at PF and Dampier healthy at the C.

It might not what be what they have planned, but until they can get better bench players a new PG and C, this is their best chance to win. Sure Miller starting would take away from bench scoring, but who else is going to start at PG or SF?

Carlos Arroyo or James Jones? That has obviously proved to be the losing combination.

Some people have started to blame the head coach (most prominently the ego named LeBron), Erik Spoelstra. This is a hilarious insight. Sure he is young, and might not be able to handle the egos.

But who is going to save the day? Pat Riley? Maybe he even believes the Heat are too far past gone. And if they were to fail, who is his scapegoat?

It appears for now that the Heat might just be stuck. They don’t have the assets to acquire another all-star, and there are no viable free agents out there that could truly upgrade their roster.

But this much is for sure, it appears that we got too far ahead of ourselves, well at least ESPN did.

Just look on their bottom line when the Heat lose, again.