Miami Heat forward LeBron James is an interesting figure in sports. He often garners cursory praise—the type of commendation that skirts the line between excessive boasting of his talent and retracting from comparisons to NBA legends, most notably Michael Jordan.
Burning up
Miami Heat forward LeBron James is an interesting figure in sports. He often garners cursory praise—the type of commendation that skirts the line between excessive boasting of his talent and retracting from comparisons to NBA legends, most notably Michael Jordan. Perhaps critics don’t want to preemptively forecast a tale of success in case James’ flame peters out in the upcoming years, or in the event he pulls a Ron Artest and starts elbowing fans before changing his name to something ridiculous. But, as of now, James is playing like a bigger, stronger Jordan, and he’s got an incredible team to back him up.
James’ right-hand man is shooting guard Dwyane Wade, who was himself once a high-scoring phenom. He’s since given up the spotlight to James, who now ranks fourth in the NBA in points per game, but that is not to say that Wade is an inefficient member of the Heat. Wade’s Player Efficiency Rating is currently sitting at a very respectable 24.89—fourth in the NBA. PER’s formula, though extremely convoluted, takes into account a player’s positive production (assists, blocks and field goals) and negative stats (personal fouls, turnovers and missed shots) and produces one number that can be used to judge players against each other in a fair way. James is, you guessed it, presently in the number one spot.
Center Chris Bosh’s PER of 20.32 may be four points below Wade’s, but it’s nothing to scoff at. Bosh’s scoring prowess has diminished quite a bit since his days with the Toronto Raptors (especially during the mid-2000s) making him an object of scorn for critics and fans alike. However, Bosh has the 27th-highest PER in the NBA, which can be attributed to a career-best in field goal percentage and his recent improvement in defense and has helped him to reach numbers reminiscent of his early Raptors days. With James and Wade turning in such high numbers on the offensive end, Bosh has had plenty of time and space to become one of the best mid-range shooters in the game.
I could continue describing the importance of key Heat players like Ray Allen, Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers, but this piece would turn into a two-part series. Essentially, the Heat have incredible roster depth, almost to the point of seeming malleable—as if any fissure in their ascendancy to the NBA Finals can be filled with the overabundance of talent found in other players.
The Heat are an entity that plays and exists as a balancing act, which gives the team the ability to negate their weaknesses with strengths. It’s the reason they’ve put together the longest winning streak by an NBA team since 2008 and were the first team to clinch a playoff berth this year. Can they continue their blaze of glory through the 20 games left in the regular season with enough momentum to handle the postseason turbulence? More importantly, who’s going to stop them?
