Deep Dish Conversation

Can anyone cool down the Heat?

A lot has been made of the coup known as the Miami Heat. Many of us “haters” make claims about chemistry, durability and over-hype. Objectively though, how good are the Miami Heat, really? In order to do this lets look at the top 3 teams over the last 25 years (I know how good the old Chamberlin teams were, but I’m focusing on the modern NBA teams).


Most people would agree that the 85-86 Celtics, 86-87 Lakers and 95-96 Bulls are the best teams from the last 25 years. The Celtics had Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Bill Walton, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The Lakers had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, A.C. Green, Michael Cooper and the great “Magic” Johnson. Finally, the Bulls had Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc and the sharp shooting Steve Kerr.


So, now that the Miami roster is assembled, how might they match up against the greats? The Heat have Chris Bosh, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Juwan Howard, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Big Z and Eddie House. They have what most of the great teams have had, 3 stars. They also have some decent veterans and a couple 3 point shooters. However, the Celtics and Lakers both had big men and FAR better role players. These two teams particularly had the best top-to-bottom rosters of any teams of the era. Would I put the Heat’s roster against theirs? Quite simply, NO.


The main reason everyone is so consumed with the Heat is Michael Jordan. Yes, his airness is still impacting everyone’s outlook on the game. Before Michael, no top team (and by top team I mean top ever) had ever come about without the presence of a big man. It was thought to be impossible for a team without a strong post presence, to consistently reach the promise land. Michael did it with two decent big guys in Horace Grant and Dennis Rodman. But obviously these two couldn’t hang with Chamberlin’s teams, or Abdul-Jabbar and Worthy, or Walton, McHale and Parish. Until Jordan and Scottie, no big man meant no championship.


I really look at the Jordan and Scottie teams as an exception. When you have the most driven, most skilled and hardest working player to ever play the game, that is one big exception. All of this being said, who do the Heat have? Chris Bosh? Really? Have we been mislead so much as to think that Chris Bosh is a top tier big man? Garnett in his prime, Shaq in his, Tim Duncan in his, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard right now, these are elite big men. Guess what, all of these guys except Howard have a ring(s) too. Chris Bosh couldn’t lead the Raptors to the playoffs in a very weak East.


Jeff Van Gundy is predicting, barring injuries, that the Heat will break the 72 win mark set by Jordan. He looks to Lebron’s 66 win season last year as proof as to how good the heat will be… Am I the only one who saw how good of a team Lebron had around him? Jamison, Shaq, Big Z, Mo Williams and a multitude of role players. Lebron couldn’t win in the playoffs either, but we’ll save that talk for another column. If you subtract Shaq, Jamison and Williams (with all the role players), are the Heat that much better?


Back to the big man theory though, the Lakers and Celtics have had real big man. I know the Celtics are old, but over the last few years you have seen them with Garnett, Wallace, Perkins, Big baby and now Shaq, not a bad rotation. The Laker teams have had Gasol, Shaq, Bynum, Odom and Horry. The Heat have Big Z and Chris Bosh?


The final thing worth mentioning is health. Can the Big 2 1/2 stay healthy? If one man goes down they fall out of title contention in my eyes. Lets not forget Dwayne Wade is only two seasons removed from back-to-back seasons of missing 31 games. Chris Bosh has never played a full season. In fact, he has only played more than 75 games twice in his career. Injuries will at least halt the record breaking season, if not Miami’s hope of a dynasty.


Everyone outside of South Beach is going to root for whoever the Heat match up against. We will all love to hate the Heat. However, even looking at it as objectively as a Bull’s fan can, Miami will not touch 72, sorry Van Gundy.