Bill Simmons Too?
Another case of media members discrediting the Miami Heat is that of Bill Simmons’. He’s the man behind the Book of Basketball Podcast, which is actually a really good listen. But having said that, he didn’t talk mention the Miami Heat Big 3 years once.
How do you have a podcast called “The Book of Basketball” and not even mentioning the Big 3 years? People in the media have clearly forgotten the impact that they had on the game and the world, from a basketball and social perspective.
People often harp on the beginning of the Big 3 era and I get why everyone hates the decision, how it went down, and how Miami made a scene. Now, I may be too young to talk about the Jordan Era Bulls, but In the last decade, I don’t think there has been a more scrutinize basketball team than Miami was at the time.
Think about it. How did NBA Twitter start?
It started to become what it is today because of The Decision. Twitter was fairly new at the time and that’s how people starting to get there NBA news, by going on twitter to follow writers and reporters.
The Decision blew up the Twitter world. Even ESPN came out with their own website called Heat Index to cover every move.
Every time Miami dropped a game, the National media acted like it was the end of the world. There were also times where Miami couldn’t do anything right in the media eyes.
When the Travyon Martin situation happened, it was the Miami Heat who posted a team picture of them wearing their hoodies with the hoods up. No other sports team took a stand like that at that time and to me, that is what a cultural impact truly is.
Who could forget the Harlem Shake video that was shown by media outlets everywhere? When it comes to the basketball side of things, remember when Miami Had the 27 game winning streak and every game they played felt like a playoff game?
Go look at Lebron James’ numbers during that run or when James and Dwyane Wade’s field goal percentages were both around 55-60 percent. James shot almost 60 percent from the field for the year, which is practically unheard of.
But people didn’t appreciate this team in real-time, nor do they do now. After Miami lost in the Finals to the Dallas Mavericks, they had to switch up there playing style and instead of trying to find that coveted big man, Miami went the other way, going smaller.
By signing Shane Battier, Miami had more floor spacing and could switch more defensively. Having a center like Bosh who could defend the 1-5 positions and blitz pick and rolls made the Miami Defense suffocating at times.
Isn’t that how most NBA teams desire to play today? Spacing the floor by playing small ball and having a center who can go out on to the perimeter and switch everything? Miami doesn’t get any credit for how the game is played today when they were the first real championship-winning team to take it all the way.
I am not saying that they should get total recognition because Mike D’Antoni and Don Nelson had similar coaching and thus playing styles. Obviously, Golden State carried the torch further with the volume of threes they shot, along with their penchant for switching everything defensively, but you can’t act like Miami didn’t start it this era.