And so the LeBron James Saga comes to an end. His decision, for those of you who are still unaware, is the Miami Heat. With the additions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh, the Miami Heat have assembled what could quite possibly be the Greatest Big Three ever. This, of course, renders the Miami Heat with only four players committed to their roster: LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Marion Chalmers (Michael Beasley will be traded to Toronto in a sign-and-trade for Bosh). Miami is left to sign eight players, with an estimate of 16M (according to NBA.com) should all three All-Stars be signed to near-max/max contracts. This may also force Pat Riley back into coaching, seeing as Coach Spoelstra seems to have been given too much food on his plate (although he will probably retained as an Assistant Head Coach). All this tells me that LeBron, Dwayne, and Chris have finally figured out that they won't beat Kobe, Gasol, and the rest of the Lakers by being greedy. Instead, they got desperate in bringing down the latest version of the Laker Dynasty, and joined forces in Miami.
Every fairweathered fan in the NBA has instantly proclaimed the Miami Heat as the NBA Champions of 2010-2011... Hold on a second. Anyone doing that would be getting way ahead of themselves. The Lakers are the two-time defending champion and still have their core of Kobe, Gasol, and Odom(in their primes might I add) with Phil Jackson as their Head Coach. They are going to bring back Derek Fisher, and are retooling their bench as we speak. Why is it that everyone is so ready to scratch them off as the team to beat in 2010-2011?
With a number of Western All-Stars headed to the Eastern Conference, it just makes the road the Lakers have to take to reach the NBA Finals easier. Losing Boozer and Stoudemire effectively stymies the Jazz and the Suns respectively. Elite teams such as Denver, San Antonio, and Dallas have initially made no changes to their core... and where exactly did ...
