NBA teams
Scoop Jackson, ESPN Senior Writer 10y

Tripling the threat

NBA, Miami Heat, East East

If we are honest with ourselves -- really honest -- we know that there's something not right with the Miami Heat. Not necessarily wrong by definition, but even when it seems they are playing well -- as they have only done in stints this season -- there doesn't seem to be a belief that they are special, a dynasty, a "team on a mission" or anything that we haven't seen before.

Too many times this season -- and it was openly apparent during that one-point loss to the Indiana Pacers on March 26 -- the Heat have looked too much like one of those Cleveland Cavaliers squads LeBron James left behind when he took his talents ... you know the rest. Looking too much like "LeBron Island," on which one global icon is doing all of the work and everyone else around him is as still as water that's happy to be interrupted by sand.

Yeah, the Heat are leading the East, and, yeah, they are playing well enough to "get by" and well enough to still be the team that most of us feel will be unchallenged in the East (thanks, Pacers). But deep down -- even in Miami's own locker room -- it is known that something needs to change.

Enter Chris Bosh.

Enter a philosophy change, a shift in dynamics and hierarchy. An abandonment of a philosophical paradigm that has resulted in nothing but success. Bosh needs to be the Heat's No. 2 guy. It's that time. With the same confidence coach Erik Spoelstra showed in 2013 when he replaced Rajon Rondo in the All-Star Game starting line up with Bosh, Spoelstra needs to move forward with giving Dwyane Wade's responsibilities to Bosh. Although Bosh doesn't play at the same level as Wade, at the moment, Bosh is playing at a more consistent level.

Wade is playing, on average, about two-thirds of the Heat's games (he's missed 24 of the Heat's 75 games this season with various injuries and recently missed three games with a sore hamstring). Wade likely will only be able to play at 100 percent of his ability in a select number of games. The rest of the time, he won't be at full capacity. As a result, a true lack of consistency has established itself as the norm for the Heat. It's a trait that a championship-chasing team should never put its faith in -- even if it's already won two chips in a row.

Because of injuries this season, the Heat have had 19 different starting lineups. The two players who consistently remained in both the starting lineup and in games played overall? James and Bosh. With this seeming to be the way things will be the rest of the way for the Heat, reevaluating Bosh's role now would be "best-case scenario" for their three-peat quest.

This is not about Bosh being the second-best player on the team. He is not. Wade is still that.

This is about the intangible of consistency and about taking full advantage of someone's full capabilities instead of relying (gambling, hoping) on someone else's limitations. To me, if the Heat are really sincere about getting back to the Finals and then beating whomever the then-considered-superior team that makes it through the West is, Bosh has to be the guy they trust. They need Bosh to be what Wade has been for the Heat -- for the rest of this season and throughout the playoffs. But Bosh can't unless he is put in position.

Damn the stats. Damn the efficiency comparisons and the PER that are often applied in evaluating a player. Damn the in-place conventional basketball wisdom that teaches us the second-best player on every team should always be that team's second option. Bosh is an All-Star who would be the No. 2 on any team that didn't have a future Hall of Famer and another guy that is in the conversation as the game's G.O.A.T.

Just increase the 12 shots per game Bosh takes to 15 and reduce Wade's from 14 to 12. Give Bosh the opportunity to have more plays called for him, to run more plays through him. Increase his minutes per game from 32 to 34. Establish him in the low post early in games with a couple of touches, then let him work his way out as the game goes on. That alone could easily increase his point and rebound production from the 16 PPG, six RPG it hovers around now to possibly 18 PPG and eight RPG without a major impact to the numbers Wade gives the Heat when he does play (19 PPG, four RPG).

Those extra two points and two rebounds per game from Bosh take a lot of pressure off LeBron and a lot of the demand off Wade. It gives the Heat a true triple threat that -- again, if we are being honest with ourselves -- they've never really executed. Instead, they've gone with the one-two punch of James and Wade.

The Heat probably can't defend their championship again without having that triple threat in place this time around.

Simple role reversal is all this is -- a smart one. Continuing to ask Wade to carry the No. 2 load is hurting the back end of Wade's career more than it is helping the team in the short term.

What are the Heat willing to risk? What are the Heat willing to lose? At times, Bosh has been referred to -- even by Coach Spoelstra -- as the "most important" player on the Heat's roster. Basically, those people are saying when Bosh "plays well," they win. And to make sure Bosh gets in a rhythm to constantly play well, his role needs to be elevated. The responsibility he has needs to increase. The trust in him needs to escalate.

Build up Bosh's confidence by letting him know that, now, moving forward, from here on out, it is his time. That it is on him to be Pippen. DMC. Turtle.

It's a fight against arrogance, though, a fight against pride. A fight against going away from what got them this far and the belief that the same philosophy that has worked the past two seasons will render the same results.

The LeBron/D-Wade one-two punch has been one of the best this sport has ever seen, but it's becoming unbalanced. The separation between what LeBron is doing every game and what Dwyane is capable of doing on a regular basis is getting further apart. At some point, this needs to be publicly acknowledged and adjusted.

The Heat have the player to make that adjustment at their disposal. He's always been there. The time has come for them to finally recognize it.

^ Back to Top ^