Time for Miami Heat fans to move on from LeBron James

The Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2015-2016 NBA Championship on Sunday night, beating the Golden State Warriors. Now it’s time for Miami to move past LeBron James.

Congratulations to LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers for their victory last night to clinch the first championship in the city of Cleveland in ages. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit against one of the best teams in our era is an impressive feat.

The Cavs roared through the Eastern Conference and had little trouble getting to the Finals, going 12-2 in the 14 Eastern Conference games they played this post-season.

While the Cavs won the championship and the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead, nothing should be taken away from the season the Warriors had. They broke the single season wins mark, with 73 victories.

The Warriors made the regular season fun again. They knocked down threes, defended and treated each regular season game like it counted as a playoff game. Nothing should be taken away from the unanimous MVP season Stephen Curry posted, in which he broke the single-season three-point shots made record.

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Every season one NBA team out of thirty wins an NBA Championship, but not every season do we see a 73-win season. The Warriors are etched in record books forever.

The Warriors and Cavs provided us with an entertaining 7-game series, one which it looked like both teams had equal rights to claim that championship. Unfortunately, only one team could win, and that was the Cavs.

Good for Cleveland.

What does this mean for Miami Heat fans?

Well, it is about time that the fanbase as a whole collectively lets go of the anger and resentment towards LeBron James. He gave Miami probably the four best seasons of his career and delivered two rings. James helped mold out a future fanbase for this franchise that likely would not have been there if it had not been for that great four-year run.

James put on a show in the Finals that was amazing to watch, that’s of course if you were not hate watching him the entire time. James is one of the all-time greats, if not the best player to ever play the game (I think he’s the best of all time).

As for a James return to Miami, it is something that I have been on record saying would not make sense for the Miami Heat. For as good as LeBron is at this game of basketball, father time still sits undefeated and James is on the wrong side of 30-years old now with a lot of mileage on his legs.

Also, now that James has won his championship, Pat Riley should end his arms race to try to catch LeBron. It’s not going to happen. James is set for the next several years in Cleveland with a running mate that has the ability to dominate games in Kyrie Irving. Maybe the team can get Kevin Love going or trade him for more assets to surround James with.

The time has come for a Miami Heat rebuild, something I already suggested after the Heat were knocked out of the playoffs by the Toronto Raptors. The Heat needs to build a sustainable winner, not a team that can contend for one season before falling apart with injuries, ala the 2006 team.

No more quick fixes, with a lot more emphasis on younger players and the NBA draft is the best way for Miami to proceed in the wake of James winning a championship and showing the Heat that the Cavs are going to own the Eastern Conference for the foreseeable future.

After his championship win yesterday, LeBron James proved he still owns the present. It’s time for the Miami Heat to start looking towards the future.

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