The Heat Is On

Well the NBA has a new team to beat, or do they? On Wednesday afternoon Dwayne Wade announced that he will be staying in South Beach and be joined by Chris Bosh. This gives the Miami Heat quite the star combo, but it is enough to be the best in the NBA?

Let’s examine the top teams and see how the Heat stack up…

LA Lakers – Still have all the pieces that won them the championship last year. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are a better SG and SF combo. Heat won’t be able to match up against Odom and Bynum.

Boston Celtics – The old guard still has some left in the tank as we saw this spring. Although another year older doesn’t do anything for the Big 3 (and Ray Allen probably won’t be back), but Rajon Rondo has developed into an all-star and could easily put the team on his back.

Cleveland Cavaliers – IF LeBron James re-signs with the Cavs, they will no doubt win 50 games and be a threat in the East. IF LeBron James re-signs with the Cavs and can bring one other decent player along with him for the ride, they can make any game or playoff series close.

New York Knicks – They are terrible unless LeBron signs here. With the signing of Amar’e Stoudamire and an offensive minded coach, could this be enough to persuade King James to play in the mecca of basketball? Knicks fans hope so. If they manage to sign James, it won’t matter who plays the point – Chris Duhon, Sergio Rodriguez or Andy Rautins, they will be a fun team to watch and the combo of Amar’e and LeBron is at least on par if not better than Wade and Bosh. What hurts the Knicks most in this scenario is losing David Lee.

Orlando Magic – The Heat still don’t have anyone to defend Dwight Howard. In every game versus the Raptors, Howard was dominant because Toronto didn’t have a centre. Welcome to our world Heat fans. The Magic need a piece or two to contend – Hedo Turkoglu ironically, but they will be tough to beat.

Oklahoma City Thunder – The young guns out West. With Kevin Durant leading the charge and a bunch of scorers, some defensive help and the best general manager in the league, the Thunder have quickly become an elite team. They will not surprise anyone when they make the playoffs this coming season and win a couple of series.

Denver Nuggets – The Nuggets probably had the best chance of anyone to beat the Lakers in the playoffs last season until they lost their coach George Karl and then lost their way. They return the same core of players including Carmelo Anthony, who is LeBron James West.

Sacremento Kings – No joke! The Kings are going to be a team on the rise this year. With Tyreke Evans and rookie Demarcus Cousins to compliment Carl Landry, Omar Cassipi and Jason Thompson (not to mention other big men Sam Dalembert and Sean May). The West just increased to 55 wins needed to make the playoffs.

So, how do the Heat measure up to the other talent in the league? No doubt they are good, but are they championship good? Looking at their roster and the teams listed above there is a good chance they don’t make the Eastern Finals, let alone win a ring.