Today, like most days, I woke up to a barrage of text messages. Don't take that as me unabashedly telling you about how popular I am. Take it for what it is, an indication that I go to sleep when everyone else is waking up. I'm smack dab in the middle of my first REM cycle when my first wave of text messages (normally the ones asking about lunch) hit.
The messages today led me directly into a conversation that we all love to hate: sports, or more specifically, the viability of the current Miami Heat lineup, and the moves that the Orlando Magic made in the past few days.
Sports fans will say what they will about the Heat--and haven't stopped doing so since the first day LeBron put on his floaties and jumped out of the sinking ship that was (and is) the Cleveland franchise, and paddled his happy way into the warm waters of South Beach--but the Heat are proving to NBA fans and ESPN Sports Analysts alike that three superstars can play together and win games. I, personally, am still holding onto the belief that having three players of that caliber on one team will be detrimental to their overall chances at success. Regular season games are won by thirty point scores, but playoff basketball requires the complete team, it requires a solid bench--something the Heat are distinctly lacking.
The biggest problem for the Heat lies in the expectations. James, Bosh and Wade all expect a Championship, the Organization expects a Championship, and the fans not only expect one, they need one, if only to justify the soaring prices of regular season tickets in Miami. The investment (and therefore strain) that Miami, emotional and financial, has placed in (and on) these three players is extraordinary, and the requirements the players are demanding of themselves more so--if they don't turn out a Championship this season, or at the latest, next, we might see trade rumors and a talks springing up like the Huns in Mulan.
And honestly? We should. LeBron needs to be the star of the show for the chemistry of any team he's on to be right. The same could be said for Dwayne Wade, who is, in my opinion, the most underrated of the NBA superstars. The reality very well may be that the newish "Big Three" might be a little too big.
The biggest sports buzz of the week though, for any of us who still call Orlando home, lies in the Orlando Magic's series of rapid fire deals. There was some excitement, and a lot of general puzzlement, about the Vince Carter trade (you know, the one that got rid of Courtney Lee) in the first place. Now we've dished Carter to get Hedo Turkoglu (a name that only a Magic fan could pronounce with any accuracy) and Jason Richardson (a 20 points a game player.) We also traded away Gortat to Pheonix, effectively swapping three fifths of our team for thee fifths of the Suns' teams in what NBA analyst of yore call "ye ole Swaparoo."
On top of the "you take mine, I'll take yours" trade that Magic President Otis Smith worked out with the Suns, he also sent Rashad Lewis (my favorite overly-capable, under-performing professional player) for Gilbert Arenas, the troubled all-star from the more troubled Washington Wizards franchise.
I've been a huge proponent of the "We (the Magic) need a 30-point a game scorer" argument. Then, Smith, in his wisdom, waved his magic wand and made it so. Arenas alone gives the Magic a very solid chance at a legitimate playoff run, taking nothing away from the near Championship of 2009 where for a reason unknown to me, good old Skip-to-my-Lou was taken out for a fresh from injury Jameer Nelson. Picking up half of the Suns' roster and dealing the "Glass Ankle" known as Vince Carter can only be considered a bonus, even if we did lose Gortat, another famously underrated player, in the deal.
Of course, I would rather have a superstar who hadn't brought a gun into a locker room, or faked an injury to get a fellow teammate game time (although that one doesn't sound too bad.)
It's alright, it's just the Magic keeping in line with the new Orlando (and Cincinnati, if the Bengals have a say) tradition of hiring people with checkered pasts (a la George O'Leary) and minor criminal infractions.
I mean, it was just a gun. In a locker room. Well, so long as he scores thirty points a game, I'm alright with it. After all is said and done, I won't be in the locker room anytime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment