D Wade and Heat both off to a solid start

[Texas Western]

Nice to see the Heat and D Wade off to a good start. Hopefully they will keep the momentum. What is good for D Wade is good for Marquette. 

[Eldon]

Bosh has been a beast!! Maybe three is a crowd.  Or maybe Spo just didn't know how to best delegate minutes among the big three.

[brandx]

Bosh has been a beast!! Maybe three is a crowd.  Or maybe Spo just didn't know how to best delegate minutes among the big three.

In case you missed the news, they were to 4 consecutive finals not knowing how to delegate minutes.

[MU82]

Bosh has been a beast!! Maybe three is a crowd.  Or maybe Spo just didn't know how to best delegate minutes among the big three.

Yeah, what a dimwit Spo is.

I mean, he actually let LeBron be the dominant player -- and he paid for his mistake by only going to 4 straight Finals and only winning 2 titles.

And BTW ... I thought rumors of Wade's death had been greatly exaggerated. Aside from the Finals, he actually had a very nice season last year. He sat out a lot of meaningless regular-season games, which hopefully has preserved his body for another couple of years.

[willie warrior]

Yeah, what a dimwit Spo is.

I mean, he actually let LeBron be the dominant player -- and he paid for his mistake by only going to 4 straight Finals and only winning 2 titles.

And BTW ... I thought rumors of Wade's death had been greatly exaggerated. Aside from the Finals, he actually had a very nice season last year. He sat out a lot of meaningless regular-season games, which hopefully has preserved his body for another couple of years.

Hey MU82, I mostly agree here. LeBron has been dominant, but he is really the Commisioner of the League. Whatever he says, goes. Wade deferred to LeBron, but he still has mileage left. Not the Wade of 2006, but still damn good. Prefer to see the Heat like this--playing with a chip. Spoelstra (and Riley) can now actually coach, rather than letting LeBron run the team.

[pbiflyer]

Bosh has been a beast!! Maybe three is a crowd.  Or maybe Spo just didn't know how to best delegate minutes among the big three.

Bosh has consistently done whatever was asked of him at Miami.
Now, he is asked to be the focal point and just like before, he is doing what is needed.

[wadesworld]

Hey MU82, I mostly agree here. LeBron has been dominant, but he is really the Commisioner of the League. Whatever he says, goes. Wade deferred to LeBron, but he still has mileage left. Not the Wade of 2006, but still damn good. Prefer to see the Heat like this--playing with a chip. Spoelstra (and Riley) can now actually coach, rather than letting LeBron run the team.

I actually agree with willie.

[GGGG]

Hey MU82, I mostly agree here. LeBron has been dominant, but he is really the Commisioner of the League. Whatever he says, goes. Wade deferred to LeBron, but he still has mileage left. Not the Wade of 2006, but still damn good. Prefer to see the Heat like this--playing with a chip. Spoelstra (and Riley) can now actually coach, rather than letting LeBron run the team.

This is fine, but it will ultimately not meet the same level of success.

[Silkk the Shaka]

I actually agree with willie.

I know! such a strange feeling.

[Silkk the Shaka]

This is fine, but it will ultimately not meet the same level of success.

And I'm fine with that. Unless Wade gets his knees back from prior to ~2011, he's never going to carry a team to a championship again. But he's still good enough, along with Bosh and some of the other pieces they picked up, to get them to a respectable playoff seed. Cleveland was an absolute embarrassment after LeBron left. Three #1 overall picks in 4 years. The Heat will not be anything close to that. And if they could somehow get a better playoff seed than the Cavs and/or beat them in the playoffs this year that's a massive victory in itself in my mind. Neither team is as good as the Bulls or several teams in the West anyway right now.

[g0lden3agle]

It's going to be interesting to see if the Heat try to keep Wade in the 50-60 regular season game range again, and what that does to their seeding.  Seems like the give/take in Wade's regular season will be regular season record vs. potential to win multiple rounds in the playoffs.

[wadesworld]

And I'm fine with that. Unless Wade gets his knees back from prior to ~2011, he's never going to carry a team to a championship again. But he's still good enough, along with Bosh and some of the other pieces they picked up, to get them to a respectable playoff seed. Cleveland was an absolute embarrassment after LeBron left. Three #1 overall picks in 4 years. The Heat will not be anything close to that. And if they could somehow get a better playoff seed than the Cavs and/or beat them in the playoffs this year that's a massive victory in itself in my mind. Neither team is as good as the Bulls or several teams in the West anyway right now.

Except the Cavs just went to Chicago and won...

[Silkk the Shaka]

Except the Cavs just went to Chicago and won...

...without Jimmy for the whole game and Rose in the 2nd half

[GGGG]

By the end of the year, the Cavs will be better than the Bulls.  Think Miami in year one of the Big Three down there.  The Bulls might have the higher seed, but the Cavs will win the series.

The history of the NBA has a number of instances where super-stars leave teams, put in a nice solid performance that draws the praise of critics, but ultimately falls short. 

[wadesworld]

...without Jimmy for the whole game and Rose in the 2nd half

Considering Rose's injury history I'm thinking it might be in the Bulls' best interest to be prepared to play without him on the court.  In fact, the Bulls were losing the game through the point where Rose got hurt and then came back to nearly win the game.

[wadesworld]

By the end of the year, the Cavs will be better than the Bulls.  Think Miami in year one of the Big Three down there.  The Bulls might have the higher seed, but the Cavs will win the series.

The history of the NBA has a number of instances where super-stars leave teams, put in a nice solid performance that draws the praise of critics, but ultimately falls short. 

What might suck for those 2 teams is that they could end up with the 2 best records in the Eastern Conference and have to play in the Conference Semifinals, since the division winners each get the 1-3 seed.  Pretty lame.

[copious1218]

What might suck for those 2 teams is that they could end up with the 2 best records in the Eastern Conference and have to play in the Conference Semifinals, since the division winners each get the 1-3 seed.  Pretty lame.

Except that's not true.  The NBA changed the format a few years ago so that the division winner could not drop below #4.  So the top four teams in each conference are the division winners + the best non-division winner.  And they are seeded 1-4 based upon record. 

[willie warrior]

This is fine, but it will ultimately not meet the same level of success.

Well, that is pretty easy to predict, since they had 4 straight trips to the finals, and the best basketball player on the planet has left the Heat, and Wade is aging. But let's see how much success LeBum brings to his redux with the Cavs, and him running that team. And he is running that team, the way that hypocrite owner caved in to bringing him back, and giving him whatever his heart desired.

[wadesworld]

Well, that is pretty easy to predict, since they had 4 straight trips to the finals, and the best basketball player on the planet has left the Heat, and Wade is aging. But let's see how much success LeBum brings to his redux with the Cavs, and him running that team. And he is running that team, the way that hypocrite owner caved in to bringing him back, and giving him whatever his heart desired.

+1.  It's a match made in Heaven.  Dan Gilbert and LeBrick both want all the eyes on themselves.  Can you imagine any other person in the world who would go back and work under someone who wrote a public letter, and left it up on his company's website for your four years away, the way Dan Gilbert did about LeBich and all of a sudden they mend their relationship?  Simply because they have an opportunity to put more eyes on them.  The media coverage for their first loss of the year was nauseating.

[GGGG]

I don't think Lebron is lacking for publicity no matter where he plays. 

[MU82]

I think it is cool that LeBron went back to Cleveland.

As Sultan said, whether he stayed in Miami or went to NY, Chicago, LA or even Utah, he was still going to be LeBron. He had his choice of anywhere and he chose Cleveland. It's really an amazing story.

I'm not getting how LeBron "runs the league," either. He's not the highest-paid player, he isn't handed titles on a silver platter, they didn't rewrite the rule book for him, etc.

He is merely the most popular and best all-around player.

Did Magic "run the league"?

[wadesworld]

I think it is cool that LeBron went back to Cleveland.

As Sultan said, whether he stayed in Miami or went to NY, Chicago, LA or even Utah, he was still going to be LeBron. He had his choice of anywhere and he chose Cleveland. It's really an amazing story.

I'm not getting how LeBron "runs the league," either. He's not the highest-paid player, he isn't handed titles on a silver platter, they didn't rewrite the rule book for him, etc.

He is merely the most popular and best all-around player.

Did Magic "run the league"?

An amazing story? That's laughable. What would've been an amazing story was if he had never left. Instead he knew he couldn't carry a team like Wade did so he had to have the help of 2 other top 10 players in the NBA to help him get his first (and second) NBA title. Now it just so happens that Cleveland gets 3 number 1 picks in 4 years (no coincidence) and all of a sudden another top 10 player is unhappy and looking for a new home, so LeBrick can go "home" and have the help of 2 other top 15 NBA players. There's nothing "amazing" about the story.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I really don't understand Lebron hate. As talented as he is, he is fairly mild mannered, stays out of trouble, and is a productive member of society. Oh, and he's the greatest since Jordan to play the game of basketball. Unless you are jealous, not much to hate

[Galway Eagle]

I really don't understand Lebron hate. As talented as he is, he is fairly mild mannered, stays out of trouble, and is a productive member of society. Oh, and he's the greatest since Jordan to play the game of basketball. Unless you are jealous, not much to hate

A bit whiny for my tastes. Cocky wearing the no23 and having his decision commercials Needed to team up with at least one other hall of famer and another star to win championships and hey he's doing it again. Plus personally I don't root for players that didn't play in college.  I'm not the biggest Lebron hater out their but certainly can think of enough reasons to dislike him.

[forgetful]

By the end of the year, the Cavs will be better than the Bulls.  Think Miami in year one of the Big Three down there.  The Bulls might have the higher seed, but the Cavs will win the series.

The history of the NBA has a number of instances where super-stars leave teams, put in a nice solid performance that draws the praise of critics, but ultimately falls short. 

It'll be interesting to see if that is true.  I personally don't think it will be the case.  The problem is that Lebron can only play well if he dominates the ball.  That will detract from Irving's skill set and may not utilize Kevin Love to his best potential.