With Lebron James gone, the Miami Heat are no longer ESPN’s overwhelmingly favorite team. Now Bristol will root for and over-saturate us with the Cleveland Cavaliers. So that means all those front-runner d-bag frat boy idiots who rooted for the Heat (but don’t actually like sports to begin with) will have to find a new team.
That’s their problem, and a topic we’ll ignore here.
No, this is about what the Miami Heat will be with life after Lebron. Their real fans, who actually like the basketball team, will be intrigued to see how this season plays out.
As the season is about to commence, ESPN had their lead team of commentators, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, on conference call to preview the upcoming season with the media. They were asked to assess the management of the Brooklyn Nets and their prospects going forward.
VAN GUNDY: “It’s hard to recover from losing a talent like James. But Miami has shown, with Micky Arison and Pat Riley, that they have found ways to always acquire a star. And in this case they kept stars and everybody is talking about Wade’s diminishing skills.
And I don’t see a diminishing in skills. I think diminishing area is in health. So it’s critical that he remain healthy for them to have a shot. I think Bosh is an excellent player. I think they’re going to win between 45 and 50 games. I think they’ve got a great shot to have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.”
Mark, from a coaching perspective what do you think about the idea of running an offense primarily through Chris Bosh?
JACKSON: “That’s a great question. And Chris Bosh is a proven guy. When you look at his success in Toronto when he was the primary focus on the offensive end, his ability to post the basketball, isolating that post area, getting to the free throw line, he’s now added the ability to step out and shoot the three-pointer. He’s a guy that certainly can carry that team at times.”
So the Miami Heat will likely take a step back, but they’ll still be pretty good.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2