It was supposed to be so easy. The trio would get together, play some basketball and win 60-70 games as they dominated the Eastern Conference. Everyone was so excited about what could be in store when Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwayne Wade in taking their talents to South Beach.
However, we’re 17 games into the year and the Heat are 9-8 on the season while having to deflect talk about their coach being on the hot seat and the players having a lack of respect for him. I thought the Heat would be good, but not necessarily great because of their lack of depth, but I could never have imagined a start like this. Having seen enough games now, there’s three things other than their lack of depth that really trouble me.
1) The Pecking Order
It was something that was asked in the pre-season and it’s something that still hasn’t been answered. The question is: If the Heat have one shot to win the game, who gets the ball? Wade, Bosh or LeBron? Most people will take Bosh out of the equation, so who gets it? The problem is that the pecking order has not been figured out yet.
Everyone is afraid of hurting everyone else’s feelings. LeBron and Bosh don’t want to step on Wade’s toes. Wade wants to keep LeBron and Bosh happy since they’re used to being the man. The bench players want to get the ball to the star players so that they don’t look ungrateful for playing with basketball royalty. There’s no synergy between these players and until they figure out a concrete pecking order, there won’t be any order.
2) The Coach
It’s obvious that the Big Three don’t respect Erik Spoelstra because of his lack of experience and his relative youth. Spoelstra is trying too hard to put his stamp on a team that doesn’t necessarily need or react to tough love. There’s clearly a disconnect between the players and the coach. Since there’s no way that the players are going anywhere, either Spoelstra is going to have to change his ways and quickly or he will be replaced.
3) A Lack of Toughness
Udonis Haslem is someone that won’t be recognized by fair-weather basketball fans, but he had such a valuable role on this Heat team. He was the one player that could bring size, toughness and emotion to a team full of superstars that aren’t used to doing the dirty work. Don’t ask Chris Bosh or LeBron James to play a physical style for a full game because it’s not their style. They’re used to someone else doing that for them. With a lack of toughness, opponents will be willing to test the heart of the Heat every night. There have been too many nights when the Heat didn’t have the desire to win a ball game.
We all know that things can change at the drop of a hat in professional sports. This time next month, we could be talking about the Heat because they put together a lengthy streak of wins, but with so much work to do, they can only afford right now to look at games one at a time.