The End of the NBA….Does it need to die….???

lets not get ahead of ourselves. Heat still have to go out and prove it and kobe isnt getting any younger. It might appear like that is the inevitable finals matchup, but there is still a long ways to go before then. Besides, when i was a laker fan in the 90’s, it never bugged me that the bulls won all those titles. I enjoyed watching my team and other teams push them and try and take them down.

bynum isnt worth that much

Have a glass of ice water and calm down, the Heat are only as good as the lakers unless someone fantastic and unexpected will take near the minimum, as well as Chalmers being as good as Rondo and Pittman is as good as Perkins. They are thin, and only if the get Mike Miller and others will they be able to round out a championship roster.

totally agree with llperez. the same reason a lot of people don’t like the lakers is the same reason people aren’t going to like the heat. they have a target on their backs every time they step out on the court. if anything this acquisition of the heat getting the big 3 will force nba teams to get better instead of settling for mediocrity thus the nba will be more enjoyable to watch

I live in Toronto, and Chris Bosh did not kill our economy. Everything still seems to be in tip top shape. Our basketball team may suck, but we are quite used to it, and it gives us a chance to rebuild and maybe even have a chance to pick a player who can be better than Chris Bosh, who was maybe the best player to ever play for us (T-Mac was never T-Mac with us, though Vince Carter was bloody fantastic), but in the spectrum of the best in the league, not exactly a superstar (I agree on Bill Simmons on that frontier). But, who knows, I could see Harrison Barnes or Mike Gilchrist, maybe Andre Drummond being better players down the line. They more than likely would give us a good 7 years (yes, it will keep happening unless we make income tax exceptions for basketball players, or the CBA changes radically, it which case we may have them for fewer than 7 years). But, depend on Chris Bosh our economy does not, and we will survive. Cleveland is a different story, and LeBron is a much different player, but, I think it makes things rather interesting. I think it will become the “Unholy Triumvirate” to most and a team everyone loves to hate and just as many love to watch. Their will be an equal amount of people crowning them and an equal amount predicting failure. The sports leagues always hope for parity, but this gives a new outlook and a different take on everything being equal. Equal Love/Equal Hate. Yin or Yang. I just think it will be fun to observe and I think the NBA will be just fine in terms of competition and keeping the fans watching. I know I will be.

Whats wrong with a superstar giving up MONEY to win CHAMPIONSHIPS… He WANTS to win championships and to WIN one you need a STACKED team (2-3 superstars)… In the last 10 years the only teams to win (Boston, LA, MIA, Spurs) where STACKED teams… The Heat may not even win a championship, they still NEED role players to win the big one…

Is there this kind of nonsense that gets spewed in Spain and England when Chelsea/ManU or Real Madrid/Barcelona dominate their leagues because they can buy all the best players. The argument certainly gets shouted down by ESPN when anyone mentions that the Yankees and Red Sox ruin MLB. This is what happens in sports. Good players go from bad teams to good ones for a lot of money. It is unfortunate for Toronto, but they can rebuild and be better for it. Cleveland is all but screwed, though crazier things have happened. Detroit has three titles in the past 25 years and that city has been dying too. Utah is a rock of stability and being competitive in Salt Lake City, so is San Antonio. Oklahoma City and Portland appear poised to be relevant for the next decade. Orlando isn’t exactly a big market, but they are acting like one. The NBA does a pretty good job of allowing well run small market a chance to compete. It isn’t a completely fair playing field, but nothing is.

I bet not even the Scarecrow could’ve come up with a trade getting all those guys together..And still have the chance to add Shaq or Brad & Mike Miller

@ilperez: it would have been easier not to mind the Bulls because at least the first time around they acquired their talent through the draft, not some free agency monstrosity.

Honestly, I’ll be watching the players from the last couple of years drafts with more interest than the established stars, because unless another Big 3 assembles, the Heat will have a whitewash in the playoffs assuming they can fill out their roster with people with arms and legs. The young guys will be hungry after these 5 year contracts expire and the Heat 3 is broken up, so maybe by then the playoffs will have some intrigue and drama. I’d almost rather sacrifice the next 5 years than another Big 3 arise and start to form a pattern where this becomes the norm. What I like about the NBA is that on any given day, most teams have a shot if they play their best because the talent is too badly dispersed. I can’t see any but 4 teams beating the new Heat. Those being the Celtics on a good day, the Lakers (see: Kobe Bryant), the Magic if Howard gets an offensive game and in a few years the Thunder.

Lebron, Wade, and Bosh are NOT the “Holy Triumvirate”

They are more like the girls from Charmed.

i just read the part about will the rest of the league bow down to the 3 and all i could think was KOBE. i cant go against that guy at any point in time. plus they have to get through dwight, who should be practcing his post moves a 100 times harder now.

Bosh killed Toronto’s economy are you joking, thats one of the biggest cities in the world.
Since when it Toronto an NBA town its all about Hockey and he’s not Gretzky.
Its still better than the Lakes winning another ring.

I like this happening. I think people are overreacting. This will force teams to work harder to built teams and not try to depend on one player. There has been tons of semi all star talented groups that never went anywhere. At one point Arenas, Butler, and Jamison was a hot trio and they all put pretty good numbers but they kept losing to Cavs and injuries and finally was broken up. Lakers talent wise have more than the Heat’s big 3. They have Bynum, Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Odom. This guys are all all star talents. Kobe is a super star and Gasol is really close to that. All Miami has not is Wade and Lebron as super stars and bosh a star. Odom and Bynum could easily outplay Bosh if they were in similiar situation to what he was in Toronto. Artest is big enough to give Lebron fits. Phil Jackson will go down firing for his last time around.
Lakers will 3 peat but after that is anyone’s guess. There is a lot of young talent pairing up. Despite what you think about one player if you have two players that can put up the same numbers as that one and you are deeper you can beat Miami. They will have some scrub on that team who will give them barely anything.

It’s far from a sure bet that they will be in the finals. There big three have to play major min and Wade and bron will be checking there man and helping out the pg and center and bosh on somenights on defense against the celtics lakers hawks bulls magic. Toranto will recover and the cabs will recover. More talent comes in every year and the lockout will have zero to do with this signing. The lockout is about players taking less money and the owners getting a bigger slice of the money pie.NO ONE PLAYER. Will ever be bigger then the game

Don’t overreact. I’m sure this group will probably breeze through the season, but I’m not convinced that they are automatically going to win it all. Personally Wade and Bosh seem too much like divas. Bosh has openly refused to play center. To me anyone that loves basketball doesn’t care as long as they win and are on the court. Just like Shaq says, dude is like RuPaul running out there. As for James, I wonder if his ego is going to get the best of him. Wade is the go to player on this team and the guy that should have the ball in his hand at the end of games, but I see Lebron undermining that at times. My biggest gripe with Wade is that the way he plays is likely going to lead to more injuries. I don’t care who the Heat get to help them out if they lose Wade they can’t win it all. Sure this team has 3 all stars, but it only has 4 players. You need 5 to start and 12 for a team.

As for the cast I don’t see Shaq going back. He dissed Bosh as I already mentioned, Pat Riley and it seemed like him and Wade didn’t seem too friendly after the breakup. Even though I think these guys are going to want to win, Riley is going to be very careful about who he puts around these guys. Guys with big egos could easily make this thing fall apart. Guys like Iverson, Shaq and even Tmac are useful veterans, but could cause chemistry problems and it’s not a guarantee that Shaq signs for the minimum. There are also teams that still have money, so don’t be surprised if Miami doesn’t have a lot to pick from when the dust settles. A team like Orlando, Boston and the Lakers are going to crush you if you have weak big men.

best thing that happened 2 the league! just when tv views were down the nba was blessed by wade, bosh, n the king. secondly the draft is different than it was back then. the draft now rewards the bad teams. he would have never gotten a pippen thru the draft ala the bulls n jordan.

Where is he? Man, super disappointed his prophecy of Chicago didn’t come true. By the way, it is lockout not lockup. Yes, their will likely be one, but how long will it last? If it took a year away from the current NBA, man would we fans be missing out with everything that has happened.

If they get Mike Miller they don’t need Tmac to many perimeter players, they need a pure passing PG and some big men.

Chillax… The NBA doesn’t start and end with LeBron James…

Yeah you would have gotten a pippen through the draft. Pippen wasn’t always that title winning player especially when hw first came into the NBA

mikeyvthedon

If the Raps get 7 years of Corey Joseph, DeMar Derozan, Perry Jones, Andrea Bargnani, and Andre Drummond they could win an NBA Championship.Especially if Amir Johnson Ed Davis and Sonny Weems are on the bench. Starts with gettiong rid of Turkoglu and Calderon and tanking the season which I doubt Toronto will do.

Toronto will probally have a 7th to 13th lottery selection this year.With a 25th to 30th selection from the heat.

You guys like Jan Vesely?