| 01 December 2010
Maybe Dan Gilbert wasn’t so crazy after all.You know what I’m talking about, right? Remember the “letter” that Gilbert (the Cleveland Cavaliers owner), wrote to his season-ticket holders and fans last summer after LeBron James skipped town? Remember the promise he made, that his Cavs would win a championship before the “SELF-TITLED KING WINS ONE!” Remember how we all laughed at Gilbert’s audacity (not to mention his liberal use of the CAPS button)? Remember how we were equal parts impressed by his loyalty, while at the same time terrified by his rage? Remember all that?
Well here we are a full six months later, but a mere 30 hours from LeBron James’ return to Cleveland, and Gilbert is looking like the smartest guy in the room. Sure his Cavaliers aren’t all that close to a title, but they are playing hard, scrapping their way to respectability and staying afloat around the .500 mark. Meanwhile, James’ new team is just a few games better in the standings, but scrapping by their own right, seemingly ready to implode at any point.
So with these two teams getting ready to take the court Thursday night, how did we get here? More importantly, where are we going, not just with this NBA season, but with three of its best players bickering in Miami?
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Going back to last summer, anyone who has read this site knows how I felt about “The Decision.”. It was a callous display of egotism and arrogance, and was nothing but embarrassing for everyone involved. Of course at the same time, if James’ sole purpose in choosing to play for the Miami Heat on July 8 was to do whatever it took to win as many championships as possible, than in a weird way, his decision was commendable too.
And for the record, I was wrong. Because win- and win big- is exactly what I expected the Heat to do.
Miami was entering this season with two of the elite three talents in the league, and three of the top 15. They’d be surrounded by selfless role players, all of whom were put in place to compliment the “Big Three’s,” skill-sets perfectly (rebounding, 3-point shooting). And with Wade and James playing together, well, forget about it. Last year James won 61 games in Cleveland, and Wade won close to 50, with a bunch of stiffs and rigor mortis filled corpses surrounding him in Miami. With the two playing together, James and Wade would play the best perimeter defense anybody had ever seen, control the boards on sheer athleticism, and be impossible to defend off the dribble or in the open court. Add in Chris Bosh, some role players, a little salt and pepper, and with everybody sacrificing stats for wins, they’d be impossible to stop, right?
I guess not. Because for a team that was supposed to be tighter than a bunch of Boy Scouts on a summer getaway, the Heat have instead turned into the Kardashian family, with finger-pointing and bickering at every turn.
Following this team, doesn’t it seem like there’s a new problem every week? First LeBron complained about coach Erik Spoelstra playing him too much (In James’ defense, the quote was taken a bit out of context. But still, you just don’t say that). Then Bosh came out and said that there was a divide between he and the “Big Two.” Next was the infamous LeBron-Spoelstra “bump,” last weekend. And it all culminated on Monday, with “unnamed sources," around the team leaking that the players were unhappy with the way they were being coached. Interesting that the “sources,” only complained about Spoelstra’s treatment of LeBron, but truthfully that’s not really what’s important. Because I’ve got to ask, are we even watching a basketball team right now, or a day-time soap opera?
Either way, the hostilities are carrying over to the court, where all these guys look like a handful of spoiled stepchildren forced to share a room when their parents re-marry. Watching the Heat play reminds me of an All-Star game, only without all stars. Chris Bosh catches the ball on the block, takes two jab steps and throws up a contested jumper. James Jones and Eddie House stand in the corner until their number is called. Nobody hustles or hits the floor for loose balls. And when James and Wade are on the court together, it’s a disaster, with one driving recklessly at the basket, and the other standing at the top of the key, watching and waiting until the next possession when it’s their turn. There’s no chemistry, no camaraderie, no nothing. This isn’t a professional basketball team, as much as a bunch of highly paid pickup players. Which is surprising, because for a group of players who were openly willing to sacrifice in the off-season, nobody seems happy to do exactly that, now that the games are underway.
Really, though it all comes back to James. Say what you want about LeBron, but in his Cleveland days, he always seemed to enjoy himself playing basketball. You remember those chalk throws, goofy rituals and elaborate high-fives with Mo Williams and Boobie Gibson, right? I don’t think I imagined them, but at this point I really don’t know.
To me, that’s the one thing I’m surprised I haven’t heard more people talk about. Don’t blame Erik Spoelstra for Miami’s problems. Forget about the lack of size down low, or injuries to Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller. The reason the Heat are so bad right now is because the LeBron James they have, isn’t the one they signed up for. Right now, LeBron isn’t the six-time All-Star and two-time MVP that played in Cleveland these last seven years. Physically yes, but emotionally, not even close.
I’ve seen James play in person three times, twice with the Cavs and once earlier this season, and the difference between the way those two teams carried themselves was striking.
When I saw James with Cleveland, the one thing that stood out to me was that LeBron was just as much an entertainer as he was a basketball player. In pregame warm-ups, LeBron constantly vacillated between serious and loose, fun and focused. One minute he’d be taking a half-court shot underhanded, the next, practicing corner jumpers with a hand in his face. Even though LeBron James was put on this Earth to play basketball, watching him in Cleveland, I never felt like he viewed the sport as a “job.” His teammates fed off that attitude by playing loose and piling up wins.
(And I know this is the point where you’d say, “But Aaron, those Cleveland Cavaliers teams never won when it counted, so who cares if they had fun?” It’s a good point, but here’s my counter: At least they won games in the regular season, which is something the Heat aren’t doing right now. And if the goal is to win the title, is this Miami team any closer to a championship than Cleveland was in 2009 or 2010? I say not.)
And that’s what struck me when I watched the Heat warm-up in New Jersey earlier this season: Just how serious everyone was. This wasn’t a loose group of guys that could clown in the pregame and flip a switch when the game started. Truthfully they looked more like the Marines in a layup line. No fun. No joking. Not even a smile. All 12 guys seemed tight, like one of those World Cup soccer teams that knows if they lose their lives might be on the line. I won’t say the Heat were quite at that level, but they did carry themselves with the same level of discomfort.
Even as the game wore on, and got out of reach, it never seemed like anyone was totally comfortable with one another. In particular, I paid close attention to Wade and James on the bench in the midst of the blowout, and couldn’t help but notice that they seemed to be trying a little too hard to be buddy/buddy. Almost when a girl laughs at all your bad jokes on a first date to try and lighten the mood, there seemed to be something a little contrived about it. Maybe that’s changed in the month since, but I doubt it.
On the court with James it’s no different. Yes, LeBron’s numbers are down, but again, that was to be expected. We all knew that’s what he signed up for in Miami. The problem is again, he just doesn’t look like the same player out there. He doesn’t play with as much confidence. He doesn’t play with as much authority. I firmly believe that he is one of the most supremely gifted basketball players to walk the Earth, but over the course of this season LeBron James has gone from “The guy” to just “another guy.” And at times he's become an ancillary player with this Heat team.
Think about that for a second: LeBron James, one of the strongest, most coordinated, most incredibly skilled athletes to ever play this game, has at times become a role player on a team that’s barely .500. That’s unbelievable, but really, that’s where we stand with LeBron. Remember, this is someone we used to call, “The King.” When’s the last time you heard that nickname thrown around?
In the end I’m hearing a lot of reasons why the Heat are struggling, but it all comes back to James (for all the reasons mentioned above), and to a smaller degree Wade. We came into this season knowing James was the most skilled player in the NBA, but I’m not sure that Wade has totally bought in. He still seems to have that “Look at me, I can still dominate, don’t forget, this is my team,” attitude, when what he really needs is to play off the ball, pick his spots, and ultimately let LeBron be LeBron. It’s funny, because it seems like by sheer force of their personalities, it’s James that has taken a backseat to Wade, when in reality it needs things to be the other way around.
Either way, as we brace for LeBron’s return to Cleveland, his new team is majorly flawed, and there are no easy answers. It isn’t a simple change of coaches, because really, what coach could do anything more with this team than Spoelstra is doing right now? It isn’t a change of personnel, because who on this roster has any value outside of the “Big Three,” (Who wants Mario Chalmers? How about Jamaal Magloire? Anyone??)
If this team is going to win it’s going to have to come because of the pieces in place, and it starts with James. He’s got to be the assertive, dominating, leader that he was, the guy that won two MVP’s the last two years. What he can't be is some fill-in the blank, afraid to step on anyone’s toes role player. LeBron James came to Miami to play with better players and get closer to a title. Well it’s time that he man’s up and starts doing something about it. Not by blaming the coach. Not by complaining about playing time. But by becoming the assertive superstar that we’ve seen in the past. The excuses are over for LeBron, it’s officially put up or shut up time.
And until then, well, Miami isn’t a title contender, at least not any more than a handful of other middling teams, including the one they’re playing Thursday night. As crazy as it sounds, with LeBron James returning to Cleveland, his new team in no better shape than the one he left behind. Who would’ve ever thunk it?
Well actually, now that I think about it, I guess Dan Gilbert did.
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