10 Bold Statements for the 2010-11 NBA Season – Part Two

For Part One of Jon’s NBA Preview, click here.

#4.  Mr. Jordan has the right to hate…but he’s wrong.

I’m sure by now, you are well-educated on “The Decision.” You probably have your own opinion regarding how you feel about it.

From my point of view, nearly everyone falls into one of five categories:

1. You hate LeBron. Forever. (Mostly Cleveland fans).
2. You love LeBron. Forever. (LeBron James).
3. You understand why he left, and can’t argue with him joining forces with one of his best friends, but you disagree with HOW he left. (Myself).
4. You understand why he left, and can’t argue with him joining forces with one of his best friends, and that’s all that matters. (Growing, but still in the minority).
5. You understand why he left, but even if he wins 10 rings, he won’t be as good as Jordan (Michael Jordan and his followers…which number in the millions at this point.)

I’m sure you heard what Michael Jordan said a few weeks ago. He, like Barkley, Webber, and all the stars of yester-year, believes that his era was much greater than the current one. He made some typically Jordan-like comments about how he would score 100 points in today’s league, and how he would have never EVER joined forces with Magic or Bird.

Of course, all the minions loved this nugget of confidence from their favorite “Air Jordan,” and it prompted several players and fans to back him up.

DO NOT be swayed by the charisma of everyone’s favorite basketball player of all time. The truth is, he’s just blatantly wrong.

Without even going into the “era vs. era” debate (which I delved into at great lengths here), let’s just analyze the following comment.

“I never would have joined forces with Magic or Larry.”

First of all, this implies that Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were LeBron’s two biggest rivals. This is nowhere near accurate. Chris Bosh has played on teams so legendarily bad, we don’t even need to discuss him. But to say that Wade was one of LeBron’s biggest rivals is just not true. Have LeBron and Wade had some memorable REGULAR SEASONS battles? Sure. Have they gone back and forth down the stretch of some exciting games? Of course. But was LeBron ever worried about Wade’s Heat? Hardly.

Now it is true that Wade has something that LeBron WANTS, but it’s not like Wade took it from LeBron. He had the luxury of playing with Shaq before the Cavs were ever good. Wade got a cheap ring in a terrible year, and LeBron has been chasing one ever since.

However, this does not mean that they were, at any point in their careers, bitter rivals/enemies.

Now if LeBron had said, “Man, I can’t beat Kobe” and joined the Lakers…we would have something to talk about. Or if he had done the same thing with the Celtics, same story.

But the mere fact that LeBron and Dwyane Wade happen to be two of the three best guards in the league does not mean that they are rivals, or that they WERE rivals at any point.

Secondly, this implies that Jordan had the opportunity to leave, but he chose to “keep on fighting” for that ring. We forget that Jordan was locked into an eight-year, $25 million contract that he signed in 1988. In fact, he nearly split up the team because of the deal. He tirelessly complained about his terrible contract when nobody-rookies started making more than him. You don’t think he would have bounced at the FIRST CHANCE if he thought he could have gotten more money? Please.

But most importantly, Michael would like us to think that he did everything by himself. So often, we forget that he ALREADY had the second-best guard in the entire NBA on his team, Scottie Pippen.

How good was Scottie? Well, the year Jordan left to go play baseball, Pippen led the Bulls to 55 wins…two less wins than they had in the previous year with Jordan. He led his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks…a feat that no one else has ever done until LeBron the last two years.

Of course, Jordan gets all of the glory, but just remember that he never won a single playoff series without Scottie, and he never won a single ring without Phil Jackson.

Is he still the greatest player of all time? Probably. Was he way more fortunate and a much bigger jerk than we all realize? Definitely.

Either way, if you take Scottie Pippen off the Bulls, and Jordan STILL doesn’t have a ring in 1996, do you really think that he would have “stuck it out” with the Bulls after their efforts of getting him help (Toni Kukoc and John Paxson) failed?

It’s easy to say that LeBron is a sellout for wanting to play with good players. It’s easy to say that Jordan didn’t do the same thing. But don’t for one second think that Jordan did it BY HIMSELF. He didn’t.

#3.  At some point this year, people will realize this, and the hate on LeBron will dwindle.

I strongly believe this for two reasons.

First, America as a whole, is very forgiving. At the end of the day, the only thing LeBron did was show his true colors. Did he prove himself to be a hypocrite? Yes. Did he cheat on his wife, sexually assault someone at a club, or use steroids? Not that we know of. Eventually, America (besides Cleveland of course) will realize that what he did was incredibly egotistical and short-sighted, but they can’t really vilify him for it.

Why not? Because of reason number two. In April, we will look at the standings and see that Miami is 74-3 and the Cavs are something like 3-74. We will realize, “Hey, his second best player was either Mo Williams or Anderson Varejao…why did we call him a loser for losing out to the Big Three?”
Seriously, when it comes right down to it, would ANYONE in America have acted differently from LeBron?

You are a 25-year-old still-in-his-prime athlete that could play on a terrible team in the Rust Belt, or with his two best friends in Miami. Come on America…let’s get off our high-horse.

#2.  Despite all of this, Chris Bosh will destroy the Heat.

Don’t laugh. Let me explain myself.

Everyone has been talking about whether or not LeBron and Dwyane Wade can co-exist and how it will possibly destroy their chemistry down the stretch in games. My opinion on that? It’s all garbage.

Again, at one point this summer, I tried to talk myself into the whole, “What if NY got Carmelo? Isn’t a combo of Melo, Amare, and Gallinari better than LeBron, Wade, and Bosh?” Then I came to my senses and realized I was just a hater. I WANTED another big three to be better than Miami’s. But when I looked at it objectively, I realized that the Heat were going to be awesome.

The LeBron vs. Wade “chemistry issues” have been overblown as well. If you saw them play together on Team USA, you saw that they only cared about winning. Together, they are both jovial enough to get along. I also think that each of them has had enough individual success at this point that they are both willing to give up their own accomplishments in order to win.

However, Chris Bosh is like the middle child. The oldest (Wade) and youngest (LeBron) kids always get attention. The oldest has a ring. The youngest is the most talented. They have both been in the spotlight for years. But Chris Bosh has been out in the cold up there in Toronto. He wants his fair share.
Has anyone else been surprised at how vocal he has been in interviews this summer? My particular favorite is when Wade and LeBron have been asked seven or eight consecutive questions, and he interrupts everything because “Hey, it’s a big three, not a big two!”

Does anyone else besides me get the feeling that a scenario similar to this played out sometime this summer:

• Dwyane Wade: “Hey, we could play together.”
• LeBron James: “Yeah man, we could. But would just you and me be enough?”
• Wade: “Oh yeah man. We both got to the playoffs by ourselves. The two of us would be unstoppable!”
• LeBron: “I dunno…the Celtics have three. The Lakers have three. I think we need a third.”
• Wade: “Well, who else?”
• LeBron: “Hold on…let me pull up the UPCOMING FREE AGENTS list.”
• Wade: “Oh look! That guy from Toronto that followed us around in China is on the list!”
• LeBron: “Oh yeah! The Avatar-dude! Let’s give him a call!”

Needless to say, I agree with Shaq. It’s a big two. However, Mr. Bosh is determined to get us to see that it truly is a Big Three. Don’t be surprised, when at some point this year, the Heat have the ball with the chance to win, and Bosh forces a shot with 8 seconds left on the clock instead of giving the ball to one of the Big Two.

You know what? He might make it. And you will hear LeBron and Wade talk about how it really is a Big Three. And Mr. Bosh will talk about how he’s just as much of a part of the whole thing. And it will lead SportsCenter.

And no one will be fooled.

Believe me, if anyone will cause the Heat to falter this year, it will be the man that has two playoff appearances in his career, not one of the guys who is already a playoff legend.

#1.  The Boston Celtics will once again be the NBA Champions

The Heat will win 68 games and the #1 seed. They will trounce somebody early on, and breeze through the Hawks in round 2. Unfortunately, this is where Chris Bosh will truly kill them because he will have to guard somebody on the Celtics, and again, it’s pick your poison.

KG, Jermaine O’Neal, Shaq, Kendrick Perkins, and Big Baby will all hammer LeBron and Wade everytime they touch it. Rondo will steal the show, and the ball from Miami’s PG every single time down the floor. In a surprisingly easy series, the Celtics handle the Heat in 5 or 6.

Meanwhile, the Lakers will mail in this season like the Celtics did last year. They will fight through some tough youngsters and barely beat the Jazz in a tough 7-game series.

Everyone’s darling, the Oklahoma City Thunder push them hard in the Western Finals, and eventually lose in 6 on the road in LA.
This brings us to Boston-LA, round 3.

Unfortunately, Kobe is just a little too old, Lamar is just a little too tired from this summer, and Pau is just too little too late.

Shaq retakes his lead over Kobe, and Rajon Rondo is voted NBA Finals MVP proving once and for all that size DOES matter, and point guards are key.

The NBA. I love this game. And these players.

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