Worst Possible Outcome

As I’ve said before, in a lot ways, I’m a Philistine when it comes to sports and my insight into basketball is limited, but I figured I’d say something anyway.

Tomorrow night, the Miami Heat will play the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the grand scheme of things, this game means nothing. It's a game between a team that's a little less than .500 against a team that's a little greater than .500 in December. Ordinarily, the only people who would care are the fans of the respective teams and maybe a few NBA diehards. But we all know that's not really the case.

LeBron James will be back in Cleveland. That means this is the biggest game of the year. One fan referred to it as "Game 7 of the Finals."

Now we can argue back and forth about whether LeBron should be applauded or slammed for his decisions this summer. Many have blasted him, calling him a spoiled child or worse, while others believe he's just trying to win. I'm not educated enough to offer an informed opinion about how the man thinks or why people view him differently (Bill Reitner does a great job of that here) and really, my opinion on James is inconsequential, but just for the record: I'm not a big fan of James as a player or as a person other than to say that he's very good at what he does. He's not as good as he thinks he is, but that comes with the territory of being an athlete. I love Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwan, and Toni Kukoc, but I'm sure that they walked onto the court every game thinking they were the best basketball players to ever walk the earth. Well, except Kukoc, since he played with MJ. And to be fair to MJ and Hakeem, they were both two of the greatest to ever play the game, but I digress. LeBron's a great player. He may not be what everyone wants him to be, but he's still excellent at what he does. He also, if reports are to be believed, someone who buys what he's selling. That's never a good sign. When a salesman buys his own pitch, it's a bad sign because they can't be objective. They become too invested in a product, and they can't do their job.

Now, all that being said, if you look at where the Heat are compared to where they were supposed to be, you can't help but be shocked.

After LeBron decided to take his talents to South Beach, everyone, and I mean everyone except Bomani Jones (who is excellent and who everyone should listen to. Seriously, one of the best sports guys out there) said the Heat were supposed to be incredible. They were supposed to change how we viewed basketball, and be the most dominant team we've ever seen. They were going to shatter the Bulls record and walk to the playoffs. The only possible speed bumps were the elite teams like Orlando, Boston, and, of course, the Lakers. The combination of All-Stars like James, Wade, and Bosh would be all but unstoppable unless teams brought the best they had. They were going to be revolutionary.

Fast forward to December.

The Heat have one win over a good team. They lost to the Pacers at home. Chris Bosh has no inside presence and can't defend well. The scrubs at every other position aren't good enough to be considered role players. Wade's gotten hurt a few times. James is fighting with Coach Eric Spoelstra. This isn't how the script was supposed to go.

While everyone expected there to be some trouble early on, this wasn't supposed to happen. Now, again, we're not even in January yet, so a lot of this is premature and some of the problems should get fixed when everyone's healthy. If Wade and James can work together better, which should happen, that’ll certainly help a lot as well. But that's not going to solve the glaring weaknesses here. Good point guards, like Rondo, Rose, and Williams can exploit their defensive holes. Teams with good power forwards or centers like the Magic can score at will because Bosh is a homeless man’s version of Dirk Nowitzki. Solid teams, like the Jazz, Mavericks, and Spurs, can not only run with them, they can beat them, and they can do so without any more effort than they give against the Nuggets.

The Heat, at least right now, are mediocre.

This is the worst thing that could have happened. They certainly aren’t anywhere near as dominant as we thought they would be. They can’t really be viewed as villains any more, can they? A good villain has to be powerful so it takes a lot to overcome them. All it takes to beat the heat is Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. But they aren’t terrible either. And there’s the rub. If they were terrible, people would pay to watch the train wreck, to see Dwayne and LeBron do their circus dunks and get embarrassed. People would still be watching because of who was involved. Now? They’re lukewarm. They’re sloppy. They’re not entertaining. They can beat teams like the Wizards but not teams like the Hornets. Unless they improve by June, we’re going to see a team that makes the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference and might make it to the second round.

I don’t think this is what anybody thought they were signing up for. It’s more than possible that the Heat will lose to the Cavs tomorrow night. The problem now, though, is that it really won’t mean anything. Rooting against the Heat isn’t worth my time. I might catch glimpses of the game or see the highlights later on, but not if something more engrossing like “When Harry Met Sally” or “A Few Good Men” is on for the millionth time. For the time being, the Heat are little more than a cardboard cutout of a team I should dislike. Think about it. Do you know any obnoxious Miami fans? Every team that’s worth hating has their delusional fan bases (Yankees, Red Sox, Lakers, Celtics, Steelers, Patriots, Cowboys, USC, etc.) You’re seeing the worst case scenario. No one cares, or cares that much. It’s like watching the Late Show on CBS. It’s not good, but it’s not bad enough to make me want to turn the channel. I can ignore it. And that's what's really surprising.