Well I wanted to make my first post about the Miami Heat and it's quest for that ring, not the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, or even the 5th, just the 1st! I know this is dangerous in not waiting until it's complete but I can't resist and unlike some of the people I will be blogging about, I will eat some crow if needed. I'm getting a lot of this Heat bought themselves a championship starting to come out. First of all they haven't won yet, second of all that couldn't be farther from the truth. Last time I checked "Buying" a championship is used for sports w/out salary caps like baseball. Oh and by the way, the last time I checked that doesn't always work out as planned. So after signing the Big Three everyone said they would never win because they would not have enough around them. I find it very interesting that Pat Riley's unwillingness to pull the trigger on a trade for Carlos Boozer that included Udonis Haslem the past couple of years. Now Haslem along with Mike Miller in these last couple of games are finally healthy and contributing as the team's 4th and 5th best players. As for Boozer, yeah he is getting more money than Bosh and needs to be substituted on the defensive end whenever possible. Let's compare Kyle Korver and Mike Miller, let's not actually. Miller does a little bit of everything, and equally as much or better of the only thing that Korver does which is shoot.
Can I also remind how everyone was killing Riley and the Heat exactly 1 year ago that Riley was risking losing Wade because he was not making moves a la Mo Williams, Antwan Jamison, etc. Pat Riley did not mortgage the future for short term fixes. He did not hesitate to trade the 2nd pick in the draft from 3 years ago basically for a bag of chips, Daequan Cook who is great shooter and is now playing for the Thunder for nothing. He also let a good young player in D Wright walk, because he made it a priority to re-sign Joel Anthony, who by the way like Wade, Chalmers, Haslem, and James Jones are home grown to all those in the "Bought the championship" crowd. Okay, so Jones wasn't drafted buy the Heat but he is a 305 homegrown product and re-signed with the Heat for less money. I'd like to take this on to my next point Chris Bosh! Do you recall all the bashing Bosh and Riley were getting earlier this year????? Everyone was pointing to Amare Stoudemire, he was playing well with the Knicks at the time, cough cough- no defense. Chris was getting killed by the media, I myself felt he was not living up to his contract and playing soft and was open to him getting moved in the future. Boy was I wrong! Pat Riley had vision, patience, and sold these 3 guys along with Miller and UD on something special. He did it within the salary cap the NBA has in place to prevent what teams like the Lakers, Celtics, Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Cubs- oh yeah it hasn't worked for them, have done throughout history. By the way, years back Mark Cuban said he would outspend everyone to field the best team he possibly could. He built state of the art lockers for players, gadgets for fans, promised to pay the luxury tax to sign or trade for whoever he could. Think of all the players that have come and gone through Dallas, and all the ones he tried but was not successful in acquiring. He has tried to buy a championship, and by the way he has Dallas in position to meet Miami in the Finals once again. Pat Riley is a genius, he doesn't get credit because of the jealousy from the media and his peers. His arrogance rubs people the wrong way, oh and as I was finishing this article I now see the new excuse, the Heat is getting calls and the Bulls are not. Isn't Riley and the Heat the team Steve Javey, an NBA official, admitted to enjoy seeing suffer when losing to the Knicks in the playoffs? The excuses will keep on coming, and the hate as well. Bought the championship? If that's what you call shrewd team management and fiscal responsibility, along with one hell of a sales pitch we will happily take it in Miami.
