Honestly, I don't think it's wishful thinking or denial. I spent some time looking at the 8th, 9th and 10th season statistics of all kinds of people, including James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and a bunch of other good players. In at least half the cases, there was a really sharp decline in that period, be in injury-based or just slowing down. Based on everything I looked up, more than half of their main roster has arguably seen their best seasons. They'll still be incredibly good -- I'm just saying it's interesting that Wade, Lebron, Bosh, Miller and Haslem all have that much mileage already. Probably not a big deal THIS season, but after that, it will crop up.
Question is not WHETHER they can win a ship or not. Question mark is behind Can they win multiple ships in a short time as Lebron stated in his ESPN national TV show. I guess not really. They need at least 2 years to really dominate. without injuries of course. You did not say that but the only similar comparison I can think of is Jordan Pippen Rodman is tough Lebron Wade Bosh is soft, lol at whoever think Bosh is a beast on D The toughest guy out there is Dwayne. so I don't think they can match Jordan and Pippen*maybe him they can win 68 wins all season but playoffs is another story
Yeah. It's unfortunate. Now all we can do is hope for the injury bug (and Cleveland curse via Dan Gilbert?) to hit them.
For anyone who thinks these guys will not play well together go watch the 08 olympics again. Wade was dominating and these guys will mesh and dominate.
I don't think they can win 6, 7, 8 titles like LeBron said. I do think they can win next year and compete every year. You are overrating how long it takes players to fit in and mesh together. Great talent usually wins out. Bostons big 3 didn't need much time to adjust. Gasol didn't need much time to adjust in LA. In 2004 Sheed went to detroit in the midseason and they didn't need time to adjust. We didn't need much time to fit Drexler in here when we traded for him. Rodman fit in with Chicago easily. Etc. I don't see why these guys will need time when they have played together before. That's what training camp and a long 82 game regular season is for anyway, to mesh as a team. And Lebron and Wade aren't soft. Bosh maybe, but it's not like they are asking him to carry the team.
The truth is guys don't want them to mesh. Two big wings that can get to the lane at will (while being the focus of the defense), and shoot, and pass, and a tall athletic big that can also shoot can't mesh?
Can you give me some specific examples of good players that had a "sharp decline" in their 8th, 9th, and 10th seasons? I looked up the 3 players you mentioned (Worthy, Jordan, Bird), along with Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett and arguably some of the best basketball they had played was in their 8-10 seasons.
The amount of denial and misinformation in this thread is comical. Good luck hoping that LBJ, Wade, or Bosh will suddenly hit the wall while in their prime years. This Heat team is going to run the league for the next five years. Or ruin the league, depending on how you look at it.
Yao NEVER recruit Chuck Hayes/Bonzi Wells/SF3, what are u talking about? and I never wanted LeClown on this team, especially the way he handled the media/Cavs.
next year?..just history tells another story. Its not like your teams being mentioned above had their teams overhauled entirely. Boston had a young core, still had Rondo, Perk,Pierce and some pieces and the pieces fit, luck, LA Kobe,Fisher,triangle system players were there, and Coach, Detroit, Bulls all had their core and system together. System and coaching philosophy. Heck I don't even know what system Spoelstra or Riley will implement and that says alot. Everything feels pretty new. Where's stability? I don't know even who will coach. People forget how good Lakers, Celtics, Magic still are, not only talentwise, good organization work and stability thruout the years....We shall see Iceman. So it seems the Heat is your team huh?
Rondo and Perk were both young and not expected to do much. I believe they just added TT that year, which means they just got their defensive scheme that season. Wade is a mainstay in Miami just like Pierce was in Boston. As far as the other examples, as I previously asked, what do you think training camp and the regular season is for? If there was ever a sport where the regular season is long enough for guys to learn how to play together, then it's basketball and baseball. And no I'm a Rockets fan. Doesn't mean I can;t recognize when another team is going to be good.
good. staying positive is good. just don't see a whole lot of resemblance to the Celts. They had luck to be so successful. Each were at the stage of the career when they had to do ultimate sacrifices. Rondo and Perk were not that young anymore, they had them a couple years. Of course expectations are not the same for them but to say no expectations at all?! There is whole lot unknown on that roster. And the alarming thing is they hardly have young pieces. They rid themselves of every young piece except for Chalmers. Again, meshing is no problem. Just wing wing wing like PF is not the best combination plus scrubs and very old veterans IMO.
Ya know, you could just disagree with me. It's okay. :grin: My point is players typically have worse 10th seasons than 7th seasons. The more and more I look at this, however, I can find a good number of very solid players who were (at least almost) as good in year 10 as in year 7. I've definitely found some good examples of fall-off (e.g. um, Elgin Baylor! Chris Mullin!) Larry Legend's FG % started really dropping by his 10th year, and that's true with a lot of wings who start shooting more jumpers than driving or playing inside. But I've found just as many who were consistent into year 12 and beyond (Mitch Richmond, Gary Payton, Karla and on and on.) Maybe you're right and I just want this new Frankenstein's evil team to FAIL. Would you believe that Zadrunas Illgaspass will decrease his productivity here in year 47? :grin:
Haha, no I wasn't trying to bait you into pulling out stats so I could disagree with you, I was legitimately curious since the cursory look I took indicated that those handful of players were playing effectively through year 10 and beyond. I had a gut-level disagreement with your initial post because there is somewhat widespread acceptance that basketball players hit their prime in their mid-to-late twenties (though your point about mileage vs. age is duly noted). I just thought it strange that you would be concerned about a 25, 26, and 28-year old facing impending injury or decline. Based on age, you would think Wade is the first one who would see his physical abilities begin to deteriorate, but barring injury, there is no reason he still can't be effective into his early 30s (ala Kobe, Paul Pierce), especially if he can take on less of an offensive load with James and Bosh aboard. And I think we can both agree that Z's best days are far behind him. I think the minutes he logged in the playoffs are very indicative of his future effectiveness.
"Dumb", "stupid" Haslem decides he wants to be around his ill mother, play with his best friend Mike Miller, stay with one team his entire career (in his hometown, no less) and try to do something special with a unique group of great players instead of taking more money to play for the Mavs or Nuggets. It isn't all about the money for every player. Props to him for being different and sacrificing $$$. I wish there were more "dumb dumb dumb" players in the NBA. The ridiculous hatred by many here for the Heat is driving me to like them and pull for them to be successful.
decisionwise very honorable. no doubt. Haslem's style will no doubt help them a lot. Seems to be very grounded person.
This just isn't flippin' fair. We've spent 7 years building a competitive squad that still might not be enough to win the WC. The Heat spend 10 days and have already won the East.
this is something you can't change. Like going from fattest city in the States to having the hottest girls town.
