Here are a few highlights of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh playing together in the 2010 All-Star Game in Dallas this past February.
Granted, the defense isn’t very good in the All-Star Game, but the sheer amount of talent on the floor gives a few of these sequences some credence.
The Miami Herald spoke with Jeff Van Gundy, who is…um…very optimistic about the Heat’s chances this season.
“They will break the single-season win record [of 72],” Jeff Van Gundy said. “And I think they have a legit shot at the Lakers’ 33-game [winning] streak [in 1971-72], as well. And only the Lakers have even a remote shot at beating them in a playoff series. They will never lose two games in a row this year.
“They have put together a much better roster than anybody could ever have expected,” Van Gundy added. “There is now no good way to defend them. They are unguardable. They are indefensible. They are just too good and have added so much shooting and are so versatile that they will score at will.
I’m not quite that optimistic. The Heat will have a few kinks to work out, and will have a bull’s eye on their backs for the entire season. I don’t think they’ll break the Bulls’ record 72 wins, but they should definitely finish with 60-plus.
They may very well win a title next year, but I don’t think they’ll be a juggernaut until the 2011-12 season when the kinks are worked out, the newness fades and they can add one or two cheaper veteran players.
The Daily News has learned that Donnie Walsh considered resigning after Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan made the controversial move to hire Thomas, but Walsh decided to continue running the team despite his objections to Thomas having a role in the front office.
“Donnie finds this entire thing distasteful,” said one NBA source. “He’s had second thoughts about staying but he wants to finish the job.”
olan’s insistence on giving Thomas the ambiguous title of consultant angered Walsh, who for two years has been trying to hire former St. John’s All-American Chris Mullin as general manager. Dolan has refused to sign off on hiring Mullin and clearly has designs on giving that position to Thomas, who also holds the title of head coach at Florida International University in Miami.
The News reported yesterday that Dolan advised Walsh to hire Thomas as his general manager two weeks ago. When Walsh refused, Dolan decided to make Thomas a consultant, a move that was universally panned by several of Dolan’s top executives, according to sources.
Besides Walsh and Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni being against the move, Garden vice chairman Hank Ratner and Garden president Scott O’Neil voiced their displeasure but were overruled by Dolan, sources said.
As I wrote last week, Thomas’s GM talents are limited to college scouting and the draft. He performed pretty well in that area during his tenure as Knicks GM, but was a disaster in all other areas of the job. He was regularly fleeced in trades and was accused of sexually harassing a woman who worked for him.
To say that Dolan’s hiring of Thomas has been ‘universally panned’ is an understatement. Why the owner would bring Thomas back after such a terrible first stint is perplexing indeed.
Maybe the NBA will step in and save Dolan from himself. The league is looking into the details of Zeke’s deal, which may not be legal under the league’s rules, given his current job as head coach at FIU.
The NBA season will open on 10/26 with the Heat/Celtics and Rockets/Lakers on TNT. The Heat will face the Magic on 10/29, which looks like Miami’s home opener.
The Christmas Day lineup is headlined by the Heat @ Lakers and Celtics @ Magic. Also, there are matchup between the Bulls/Knicks, Thunder/Nuggets and the Blazers/Warriors to round out the day.
The entire schedule will be released on 8/10.
The Miami Herald has the details…
The Heat will open the 2010-11 season against the Boston Celtics on Oct. 26 at TD Garden, multiple league sources said Monday night.
The league will release a portion of the schedule Tuesday night during an hour-long special on NBA TV.
During the show, matchups will be announced for TNT’s opening night double-header, as well as a slate of Christmas Day games on ABC and ESPN, and games played on the Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The Heat-Celtics game opens a TNT double-header that will showcase the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the second game. ESPN was working to secure the rights to Miami’s home opener, which will be either the following night (Wednesday) or that Friday.
I like it. Send the Super Friends to one of the league’s most hostile environments to play one of the league’s best defensive teams. This game has the potential to be a defensive battle as the Heat try to work out the kinks offensively.
I’m hoping for a Lakers/Heat matchup on Christmas, though a Lakers/Celtics rematch would be entertaining as well. It would also be nice if all of the Heat’s games against the Celtics, Bulls and Magic were on national television.
Teams can only play a maximum of 34 games on national television and the Heat are fully expected to reach that number.
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