Can it work?  Was Cleveland screwed over?  Is the league better or worse off?  So many questions, all the answers here.

SCOTT JACOBS

The decision came last night.

The ramifications are sure to leave soundwaves throughout the reshuffled NBA for at least the next half decade.

LeBron is gone.  From title-starved Cleveland to bandwagon hopping Miami.  From dreary and Lake Eerie to sun and fun.

Dan Gilbert is fuming.  Mickey Arison is flying.

The Tri-nasty (the three attempting to form a dynasty) has been formed.  Wade.  Bosh.  LeBron.  All on one team.  It still doesn’t seem real.  It still feels too much like a video game.

I have lived in South Florida for the better part of 20 years and grew up a huge Heat fan.  I’ve seen the heartbreak to New York.  The failed signings of Eddie Jones and Brian Grant.  The exodus of Alonzo Mourning to New Jersey and his triumphant return.  D-Wade’s rookie year.  I’ve watched the water gun party they threw for Shaq’s arrival.  And the parade D-Wade eventually brought to South Florida. I was front and center for the parade. 

I was at a charity event the November after they won their title and I interviewed Wade, Shaq, Mourning, and more.  So before anyone calls me a bandwagon fan, I state this with purpose:  I’ve been there all along.

That said, this experiment is exciting and still hard to believe.  Three stars in their prime.  Three players who were the respective faces of their respective franchises, all joining forces for less than the max so that they could win a championship.  Err… championships.  Bling, bling, the NBA’s greatest psychology experiment is coming to South Florida.

Coming to an NBA arena near you.

The development is so shocking that I still didn’t believe it till I watched LeBron’s stupid, obnoxious 1 hour special.  But I’ll give LeBron credit for this: positive or not, he created a spectacle out of his announcement, something so big that just like I said yesterday, everyone would be talking about it today.  It may have been over the top or even “narcissistic” as a certain Cavs owner (cough, cough, Gilbert) proclaimed, but it got our attention.  So yeah, it’s clear LeBron is an attention whore.  And it’s true the Heat now have a collection of egos so big they may have to expand Florida further into Georgia just to fit them.  But this will work.  As long as everyone stays healthy.

I’ve wrestled over this for weeks now, ever since Stephen A. Smith brought the possibility to light.  It can.  And it will.  As long as no one gets the injury bug.

This team will be deeper than anyone believes.  Mike Miller is already about to jump aboard, giving the team a dynamic three point shooting threat.  Mario Chalmers should be a great backup point guard.  Chalmers you may recall forever won Kansas’ hearts when he knocked down that incredible three in the national title game against Memphis.  He thrives on pressure.  He just happened to be on an undermanned team the last few years.  No longer.  This team is stacked.

The Heat becomes the Yankees all of a sudden. Hated or beloved.  No middle ground.  I’ve never rooted for a dynasty.  I don’t hop bandwagons.  I pick teams and I stick with them.  This is going to be an adjustment.  Fans hopped aboard when Shaq arrived in town, but I was torn whether sending young guns Lamar Odom, and Caron Butler was the right move.  I was that guy.  So there’s a weird feeling, rooting for a team that will bring back no more than two or three pieces from their roster of the year before.  This type of a franchise makeover doesn’t happen in sports.  Out of 15 roster spots only Wade and Chalmers will likely be back (with Earl Barron maybe in the mix).

That’s crazy.  So this isn’t the Heat that we’ve been watching the last few years.  This is the Tri-nasty.  Sizzle.  South Beach.  An offseason of success unlike anything the sport or sports for that matter, has ever seen.

Who gets the last shot?  Who cares.  Did Kobe ever complain that Derek Fisher crushed the Spurs hearts with 0.4 seconds left?  Did Tim Duncan ever shove Robert Horry into a corner for making the big shots he did?  This is ridiculous.  These guys are coming together on their own doing.  This is their choice.  Not something Pat Riley traded for.  These guys had to want this for it to happen.  They had to fully believe in this, for it to happen.  Last night it did.  And this non-sense about being on the road for a period of time and maybe struggling?  That’s bull.  This team may have two alpha males, but they also have three leaders, which means they will all keep each other in check.

Is it Wade’s team?  Yeah.  Is he willing to share?  Duh!

The legacy stuff is intriguing.  By over-bloating his already huge ego by making a national special of his decision, LeBron contradicted it by then taking less money to go win a bunch of championships.  Front-runner?  How so?  Doesn’t that make any great player who goes elsewhere to team with another good player a front runner?  I just think that’s a ridiculous statement.  You grow up as kids with the dreams of winning it all.  Most kids don’t dream of making millions of dollars when they’re 5 years old.  They dream of the last shot, the confetti falling from the sky.  This is that.  And o yeah, everyone gets to be filthy rich ’sacrificing.’

How about a new legacy?  How about taking three egos, checking them at the door, and forming a three-headed monster that will immediately put a shiver into the NBA world.  How about having the guts to try this? How about the concept of three best friends playing together?  You can look at it however you like, but when I was young and playing hoops in my backyard I always wanted to play with my friends, whether they were better than me or not.  Why?  Because it was fun.  At the end of the day is LeBron not entitled to have fun?

Is he really deserting Cleveland?  Maybe.  The city isn’t exactly a magnet for top tier free agents, and they haven’t won a title in nearly 4 decades in any of the major sports.  But that is not LeBron’s fault.  He led them on you could argue.  But he did not demand a trade, refuse to play, or retire to go smoke pot elsewhere.  He apparently set up smoke screens and set up false hope, and he allowed this hoopla to spin out of control 2 years ago when the topic first started to really come up.  But he didn’t kill anyone.  He left.  He wanted to win a championship, and simply put he just didn’t think Cleveland had the goods.  He tried to get Bosh to the Cavs, but that failed.  Ultimately LeBron decided that the level of talent needed to win a title in Cleveland was not going to arrive.  He didn’t want to be 31 and ring-less.

So, yeah, I get it Cleveland.  Your home boy left.  Because of the NBA’s weird cap rules you can’t go after anyone this offseason to fill the cap space he just vacated.  So that sucks.  And Cleveland will probably suck this year too.  Ironically they changed their gold to a more yellowish color and their jersey font will be simplified.  Just like the attention around their franchise after the dust settles.

Which opens the door for a big name in the future to come to Cleveland and be the hero.  You may laugh now, but I think a big time player will roll the dice with Gilbert sooner than later, because the chance to be beloved by a desperate city is tough to pass up.  So Cleveland fans, all hope is not lost.  You won’t win a title before the Tri-nasty, but within 5 years you will have a formidable bunch.  That’s just my hunch.

Will this be good for the league?  I mulled this one over for a while.  Yes!  An emphatic yes.  First off, the league as a whole became much more balanced this off-season.  The Bulls are better, the Knicks are a little better, obviously the Heat have dramatically improved.  The Hawks stayed intact.  The Warriors added David Lee.  The Bucks re-signed John Salmons and acquired Corey Maggette.  The NBA will be loaded next year.  The balance in each conference should be fantastic to watch.  Sounds hard to believe, but I think that the balance of power simply shifted to more parity in the league.  More teams improved, which means more teams in the top heavy sport have a shot to win, and win now.  Even Oklahoma City re-upped Kevin Durant through a tweet.

Interest in the league will be as high as it’s been in years.  The Miami Tri-nasty will bring unprecedented Yankees like hatred towards the team, which will only fuel other teams to bring their best every night.  Not just against the Heat but against everyone.  If you want to make it in the new NBA you have to truly prove yourself now.  The trifecta will attract casual fans to tune in, rivalries will still remain alive and well.  It’s a fun mix of young teams, proven teams, and titans.  As far as I’m concerned, let the games begin.

What’s unfortunate and a storyline to keep an eye on is the impending lockout looming over the league after what should be a raucously exciting regular season.  With all the hype and intrigue to come, it would be devastating for the league to have a lockout, killing all the buzz it’s created.

But that’s for next year.  For this year, the Heat is on.  It should be one hell of a race.

Graphic: Scott Jacobs

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