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.
ESPN has the details. It’s an AP report, so I don’t want to quote any text here. Suffice it to say, at a charity event, LeBron went out of his way to thank Cleveland after drawing criticism for taking out a full page ad to thank his hometown of Akron.
Um, ok.
Per Marc Berman:
Knicks are about to announce Isiah Thomas will be named a part-time consultant to club but keeps his job at FIU. Weird.
This isn’t all that surprising after the Knicks enlisted Thomas in a last-ditch pitch to LeBron a few weeks ago. I don’t know why you would trot out (arguably, thanks to Kevin McHale) the worst GM of the aughts to try to convince one of the league’s best players that your team is headed in the right direction. If anything, wouldn’t you want to convince him that he has nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the franchise?
For all of his faults, Thomas did draft pretty well while GM of the Knicks.
Here’s a look:
2004: Trevor Ariza (#43 overall)
2005: Channing Frye (#8), David Lee (#30)
2006: Renaldo Balkman (#20), Mardy Collins (#29)
2007: Wilson Chandler (#23)
That’s not a bad run considering he only had one pick in the #8. It’s not easy to find rotation players in the late first round (or second round) and he was 3-for-5 in that area, picking an All-Star (Lee) and two starter-quality swingmen (Ariza and Chandler).
I could see a team putting him in charge of scouting or the draft, but I’d keep him out of all trade discussions.
As for the fact that he’s going to keep his coaching job at FIU — WTF? Coaching a Division I basketball team is a full time job, and he’s going to be working part time for the Knicks?
Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution has some insight…
I’ve been told that Atlanta wouldn’t budge on giving Shaq a starting nod over Al, who is after all still only 24-years old and an All-Star. Shaq believes he will get the starting nod over Jermaine O’Neal in Boston as Kendrick Perkins rehabs from his knee injury.
Atlanta also wasn’t willing to pay Shaq more than the minimum and that was a sticking point for him. He didn’t want to sign for the minimum when the Hawks had their bi-annual and mid-level exceptions available because of the perception that would create–as in the Hawks could have paid him more but didn’t. That’s not the case with Boston, which had neither of those exceptions and so could only give him the minimum.
The big guy still has his pride.
The Hawks were right not to give Shaq the starting nod over Al Horford, who is an up-and-coming All-Star-caliber big man.
But in the end, he probably made the right decision. The Celtics are obviously closer to a title than the Hawks are, and they were willing to pay him as much as they could, which perception-wise looks better than Atlanta giving him the minimum when they still have a couple of exceptions remaining.
Some are criticizing Shaq for not retiring, but the guy can still play a little. His PER last season was 17.92, which confirms that he’s a shadow of his former self (24.00+ from 2002-06), but that still puts him amongst the Top 15 centers on a per-minute basis.
Also, I think a move to Boston gives him a chance at a relevant end to his career. We’re more likely to see a Boston/Miami matchup in the Eastern Conference Finals than we are an Atlanta/Miami matchup, which should give Shaq the opportunity to help decide who represents the conference in the Finals.
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