Barack Obama gives his take on the Miami Heat
The Miami Heat (8-7) lost their third-straight game to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday 24 November. Because so many pundits and fans didn't expect the Heat, who signed LeBron James and
Chris Bosh to a team that already included Dwyane Wade over the summer, to lose three straight games at any point this season, their recent struggles have been well-documented.
In a recent interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, U.S. President Barack Obama was asked for his take on the Heat and he said people should be patient. "It
takes some time for the team to come together. There's no 'I' in team."
So far this season, it appears that chemistry and familiarity are the keys to team success. Most of the top teams in the league – Boston Celtics (11-4), Los Angeles Lakers (13-2) and the
San Antonio Spurs (13-1) – feature groups of players who have been together for numerous seasons. The Heat, on the other hand, are clearly still getting used to each other.
And the President agrees. "No matter how good a player is, no matter how good a group of players are, if they haven't played together before they are not going to be as good as a team
that has played together a long time."
This isn’t the first time that Obama, a basketball enthusiast and a decent player in his own right, has gotten involved with the game. Since he has become President, he has filled out
his own March Madness bracket every year in front of the cameras, he hosted a number of NBA stars including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade in a pickup game at Fort McNair this past August, and he even did a little play-by-play for a Duke-Georgetown
game back in January.
In March, before James decided to join the Heat, Obama, a native Chicagoan, even managed to plug his hometown Bulls in an interview on TNT.
"You know, like I said, I don't want to meddle," Obama said at the time. "I will say this: [Derrick] Rose, Joakim Noah it's a pretty good core. You know, you could see LeBron fitting in
pretty well there."
Tags: