The Miami Heat are certainly a different team without LeBron James, who opted to sign with his home town team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in free agency. The Heat though still have two of the original "Big 3" in Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, who are expected to lead the team in the Eastern Conference. The East was suddenly crowded with a resurging Chicago Bulls and young teams like the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards on the rise. Both Wade and Bosh know that things will be different with the absence of James in the team and are already preparing for a much bigger role, according the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson.
Jackson wrote, "For Dwyane Wade, there will be a slimmer star, one entrusted with more ball-handling responsibilities and a greater offensive load. For Chris Bosh, there will be more offensive assertiveness after spending weeks in the shadows of the Pacific Ocean polishing the low-post skills he displayed in Toronto but weren't consistently needed here."
Bosh in particular, knows that he has to take over the scoring responsbilities, especially with the fact that he has scored a brand new five-year, $118 million contract. He is already working in his low post game with respected trainer Ed Downs and former Arizona and ex-NBA guard Miles Simon this summer, hoping to become that 20/10 guy back in his days with the Toronto Raptors but with more defensive skills and shooting range per allucanheat.
"He seems very focused. He has really expanded his game with the threes [the past two years] and he will be around the basket more this season. This summer, he has worked a lot on back-to-the-basket moves and a lot on footwork. You will see his game evolve. You will see him command double teams. He will come to camp in really good shape," Simon was quoted in an interview.
On the other hand, Christian Post said that Wade is expected to share co-captain duties with Udonis Haslem, who would also be the emotional leader in the team's locker room. The team is reportedly confident that they can mantain the same competetive edge that they have had done after dominating the East for the past four seasons.
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