LeBron James as the demise of the Miami Heat is overstated
Almost three years after his departure and Miami Heat fans are still finding ways to blame LeBron James.
One look at the transcript from Chris Bosh’s appearance on the Uninterrupted podcast and you know: The signs of discontent between he and the Miami Heat’s system are there.
You can hear his lack of trust sprinkled throughout. About the importance of having your own doctors, teams having insurance, “not [being] the first athlete to do this [blood thinner] regiment” and not being sure if the team will clear him, but being confident that he “will play basketball in the NBA.”
With Dwyane Wade gone, the Miami’s basketball orbit, now, revolves around the Big Three’s former third wheel–and rightfully so. Regardless of Josh Richardson’s partially torn MCL, Hassan Whiteside’s newly minted $98 million contract or coach Erik Spoelstra preaching speeding the game up for Goran Dragic for the second offseason in a row, Bosh is still the Heat’s best player.
Such a fact was statistically evident even when Wade was in South Beach last season. Not only was Bosh the Heat’s leading scorer, his point per 36 minute average jumped from 16 to 26.2 points without Wade on the floor, with five more field goal attempts.
The 6-foot-11 power forward went from a Big Three punch line to being the man that Spoelstra turned to everywhere, except the clutch.
More Heat: On the complications of a Chris Bosh retirement
His 2016 offseason is playing out pretty similar as well. No matter how much of the story is about Bosh, people still find ways to shift the focus to the likes of Wade and LeBron James.
A subject that Ira Winderman touched on when answering a question about the Chosen One’s influence in his South Florida Sun Sentinel blog:
"“First there was the lateness of [James’] decision to return to the Cavaliers in the 2014 offseason… Then Wade quotes James as saying he couldn’t believe the Heat didn’t provide Wade with a Kobe Bryant-like career-appreciation contract.”"
Suspicions that James was in his former teammate’s ear only grew bigger when his podcast network was used to air out Heat family grievances:
"“And then Bosh elects to turn his social media over to a LeBron-led outlet, when other options were available, such as the Players’ Tribune. In each case, it is difficult not to notice the LeBron imprint.”"
It is undeniable that James–purposely or inadvertently–had a hand in making Pat Riley’s post-championship life miserable when he re-signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2014.
The avalanche of events saw Wade give up $10 million that summer then, two summers after, eventually leave to Chicago amidst stories of feeling like he was never compensated for the money that he left on the table. Contract money that was ultimately given to his buddy Bosh, at his expense.
In all actuality, the persistence of Wade and Bosh’s agent, Henry Thomas, to get the big man a max contract probably had as much to do with the franchise’s future exodus to the Bulls. And unfortunately Bosh’s health scares are to blame for the friction with him and the front office.
That is not to say that James did not add a nudge or two to both situations, but Heat fans and media need to move on from the King. Their anger should have been exorcised when his first post-Miami trip to the NBA Finals failed, however this summer’s Heat roster flux coupled with his 2015-16 ring have brought back some residual feelings.
No matter how much ill-will is still there, the only emotions that matter are those that Bosh are harboring towards management. If the team can fix what they have internally, there is no reason why they should not be competing for one of the Eastern Conference’s eight playoff spots.