The Miami Heat will, once again, reign supreme in the basketball world this season, not just because they are the best team in the NBA, but because teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder took a step backwards, greatly hurting their chances at a title.
The Heat possess the most talent and team unity one could imagine in the current NBA. LeBron James is the best player the world has seen in the last 20 years and is coming off one of the best seasons. The man not only won the regular season MVP, the NBA Championship and the Finals MVP trophy, but he also went to London and led Team USA to a gold medal. Love him or hate him, last year, LeBron owned basketball.
His supporting cast is now even better, as the Denver Nuggets know after playing them on Saturday. Not only is Dwayne Wade still arguably one of the top five players in the NBA, but Chris Bosh showed last Saturday, that when given the chance, he can still drop 40 on guys like Kosta Koufos.
With the addition of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, the Heat now have the perfect spot-up shooters to compliment LeBron and Wade’s attacking style of play, as the Nuggets witnessed with LeBron’s dish out to a wide-open Allen for the game-winning three.
Some may argue the Lakers will be in the finals and give the Heat a run for their money, simply on the argument that they trot out four future hall-of-famers every time they take the court.
The Lakers have holes, however. Just like the Heat did their first year as a team, LA seems to be struggling to figure out how all of these excellent pieces fit together. Steve Nash has played off the ball, Kobe has been his usual no-passing self and Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol have yet to find the low-post magic that could make this team a real threat. The Lakers will also struggle with injuries; they simply are too old to avoid them.
The Thunder should have been set to meet up with the Heat once again this June, but decided to trade away James Harden. Once the two parties determined it impossible to work out an extension, the Thunder lost their perennial sixth-man-of-the-year candidate and a huge piece of their team cohesion. His replacement, Kevin Martin, has looked passive thus far in blue, the opposite of what the Thunder need from him.
As for the rest of the league, Boston should make a run but simply does not have the scoring ability to challenge the Heat. The Spurs will always be around, but cannot match up athletically with the likes of LeBron and company. The Nuggets are still on the fringe of contention and have started 0-3 with two dreadful losses against the Magic and 76ers. The Heat clearly remain the cream of the crop.
I would not expect any team, from either conference, to dethrone the Heat this year. Even if some teams may seem intriguing, they simply cannot match up in terms of talent.
