Why LeBron Chose Miami
Have you ever been to Miami? It’s beautiful. Florida is the vacation head of America, and Miami is the city Americans hit to find release. Besides being sunny year round – we barely have a winter and you can tan on the beach in December – South Beach is the melting pot of the world. People worldwide come to Miami because it is brimming with life – and no state income tax.
But let’s focus on basketball for a minute. My favorite writer Bill Simmons feels LeBron would have chosen Chicago had winning been his primary concern. He is wrong. Miami is a first class franchise in a couple ways Chicago is not.
To begin –
Ownership
Micky Arison is the owner of Carnival Cruise Lines. He knows how to give people a first class experience, and this experience translates to his basketball team. When he wanted a winner to lead his fledgling franchise to greatness, Micky went out and got the best –
Pat Riley
Pat Riley is certainly one of the top 3 coaches in basketball, along with Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. Riley is fully capable of managing superstar egos – having led Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade to the Heat’s first championship. Whether Riley coaches the team or not – and I wouldn’t bet against it – he will be there to help LeBron, Bosh, and Wade form a cohesive team. But from their history, the Magnificent Three may not need any help. They led Team USA back to Olympic Gold – where it was Wade, not Kobe, that took over down the stretch – and supposedly found great camaraderie. If there were ego involved, the King would never have come to Miami. Speaking of the King…
LeBron James
Bill Simmons once wrote that LeBron James could be defined by one word – Amaze. That is his truest desire, the reason he tomahawks such spectacular dunks and showers the crowd with baby powder before every battle. I think Simmons is mostly right – which is why LeBron is about to be half of the nastiest alley-oop duo is history with DWade – but also think he’s partly wrong. LeBron wants to win. Winning every title he possibly can is also amazing, which is why LeBron is coming to Miami. Only in Miami could LeBron play with Wade – the heir apparent to Michael Jordan – and Chris Bosh, a power forward as dominating any big man in the 2010 NBA save Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. Is LeBron about to play the Pippen to Wade’s Jordan? Does LeBron lack the desire to dominate, like Dr. J? Maybe. Or maybe, LeBron wants to win so badly, that he will put his ego aside to form the greatest basketball team ever. With LeBron, Wade, and Bosh, we have a chance to see the most athletic, superhero-esque team in history, and that’s before the supporting roles are cast. Kobe never won without either Shaq and Horry and Fisher, or Fisher and Odom and Gasol. Jordan never won without Pippen and Rodman or Horace Grant. In fact, most basketball teams have to put at least 5 players on the floor at a time. I’m just happy I get to see three of the greatest on one team – YOUR, MIAMI HEEEEAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks LeBron. (and Wade and Bosh). (and Riley). I live in Miami and watched the Heat since I was five, so I am thoroughly enjoying the Free Agency Market, also known as, everyone good goes to Miami.
But, you ask, i sn’t it unfair that Miami gets the Magnificent Three, while Cleveland is left with the Browns and Drew Carey?
No. It isn’t. While Cleveland might be starved for titles right now, let’s look at another previously famished town, and their resident sports scribe. Boston was once an epic loser, with a cursed baseball team, a joke of an NFL franchise, and the sorely-diminished, once-proud Celtics. Now look at them.
In a ten year span, the Red Sox won 2 titles, the Patriots 3, and the Celtics 1. I bet that felt like going to the Playboy Mansion after a 30-year prison sentence. In fact, I know it did, because I read Boston Sports Guy Bill Simmons’ columns, and he practically splooged on the page after every title.
So cheer up Cleveland. The sun will come out tomorrow, the Browns will get better with Mike Holmgren and Joe Haden and Colt McCoy, and one day soon you too may find yourselves with a bounty of sports championships earned from the bleachers.
And if not? You can always move to Miami.
Byaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!