The ‘Chosen One’ compares Miami Heat’s woes at the start of the Big Three era with the current struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers ……
It was not far back when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh joined hands to form a formidable trio at the South Beach, one that went on to win the NBA championship in their second year together. That merger was more about
the understanding between James, Bosh and Wade, rather than the genius of the Miami Heat front office, unlike what the Lakers management managed to do this summer.
With Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol already at Hollywood, Mitch Kupchak and company managed to draw top flight players in Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to form a team which was tipped to be the answer to Miami this season.
Things however have turned out to be the exact opposite. The Lakers have seen problems which they never saw coming. Steve Nash got injured, there was a quick fire divorce between Mike Brown and the Lakers, Pau Gasol struggled with
form, the bench got exposed, and then there were, and still are, the doubts over Mike D’Antoni’s ability to coach the Hollywood franchise.
The problem gets worse, when you consider all the limelight surrounding the franchise, something which the Heat had to experience till last season. The men from the South Beach however found reprieve pretty quickly, and LeBron
James while talking about it recently, highlighted the differences.
“It’s different in a sense,” LeBron said as reported by NBA.com. “They’re struggling not being whole, they’re not whole. Nash hasn’t played. Gasol has had tendinitis and they’ve had what, three coaches now in what, 22 games? So
they’re situation is different. Ours was coming together, the first time we’d all been together and now just throw us on the floor and try to figure it out on the fly.
“We struggled. We were 9-8 when we came in here [to Dallas] and lost that game, but the month of December, I think we ran off like 20 of 22 from December to January, and that’s what kind of propelled our season from that point.”
The Lakers have still got a long way to achieve stability. For starters, they need Steve Nash’s quick return and then a smooth transition into the team.
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