After LeBron James decided to return home and sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, many were foreseeing a total Miami Heat collapse. After all, the team has just lost the best basket ball player on the planet and it would be hard to instantly recover from such a loss. But Heat President Pat Riley maintained his composure and instead of pushing the panic button and head for lottery, he managed to pull Wade, Bosh, and the rest of the Heat championship roster together to regroup after their leader deserted them.
Certainly, the Heat are nowhere near the kind of roster that took them to 4 consecutive NBA Finals and 2 NBA championships. As great as Wade, Bosh, and head coach Erik Spoelstra are, they simply are not the same with out King James. But never the less, Riley managed to bring in some nice pieces which however not good enough to supplement LeBron's departure but are good enough to allow the Heat to at least make it to the playoffs.
Acquiring Luol Deng was a huge step forward for the Miami Heat, even if the cost - two years at $20 million - pays much on money but not on years. And the addition of Josh McRoberts (four years, $24 million) and Danny Granger (two years, $4.2 million) has let Miami fill in that much-needed depth to fill the void left by LeBron's departure.
Put in the mix former championship pieces in Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole and Chris Andersen, and the Heat somehow managed to make something out of nothing. With Spoelstra navigating the Heat, its a safe bet that the Heat will be back in the playoff mix.
The Heat's series of moves to fill the huge hole in the wake of LeBron's decision to reunite with his home town Cleveland has certainly cost the team a lot - they are already well over the salary cap - but it could mean retaining that most important of all NBA commodities: a contender's continuity.
The Heat has won three titles since 2006 and they are too proud and too championship driven to hit the lottery or take the path of rebuilding. Bosh made this point when he was interviewed by EPSn.com's Tom Haberstroh:
I think right now we have the correct infrastructure to compete for a championship. We have to get much better at certain positions, and there's a bunch of things that have to continue to happen. But you know a team like the Spurs, they had a lot of guys that people underestimate, but as a team, they were outstanding.
With the Heat's current roster, its not certain whether they would ever smell the NBA finals again. But one thing is for sure: they have given themselves a chance to be competitive instead of raising the white flag and hope for gold in the lottery.
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