Lebron and wade can it work

Wait, you want to go? How 'bout you take this one, I'll take the next one. This wasn't basketball, more of an arrangement. Something didn't feel right. Wade caught a breather and LeBron immediately snapped into Cleveland mode: pounding the ball upcourt with a hop in his step, attacking the rim with impunity, reminding everyone that he's the most talented player in the league and maybe ever.

He took three shots in a row. More importantly, he looked like LeBron again. A few minutes later, LeBron took a breather and Wade took over. Same thing. Everyone cleared out, Wade went on the attack, took the next two shots and looked like Wade again. Neither guy looked comfortable until the other one was taking a break. Then again, was that really surprising? LeBron and Wade are creators in a decidedly modern way: scorers first, then passers if they can't score.

I got this. That's how players think in the post-Jordan, AAU-dominated, microwavable fame era. That's how you earn the most money, generate the most attention, land shoe commercials and end up producing one-hour shows in which you pick your next team. You can't expect two superstars in their primes to suddenly shut off the "I got this" switch.

It's not realistic. As Bill Parcells famously loved to say, you are who you are. We expected LeBron to make the sacrifices and tap into his inner Magic, but really, that's an insult to Magic, who had only one goal: make everyone else better.

It went beyond finding people on fast breaks, running the offense and yelling encouragement. He kept track of everything happening with every teammate at every point of the game. That's what true point guards do.

If LeBron was a real point guard like Magic, he would have noticed Wade floundering during that Boston game and said, "I gotta get him going, I'll get mine later. Neither Wade nor LeBron have ever been allowed to think, "I'll get mine later. They always had to be involved. They always had to attempt 20 to 27 shots per game, reach the line eight to 10 times and create 20 open shots for their teammates.

There was no other way. It might be too late for them to change. Wade is conditioned to have the ball in his hands, pick defenses apart and ride every hot streak. LeBron is conditioned to destroy guys off the dribble, take wide-open 3s and assault the rim whenever he can.

You are who you are. Only a few basketball teams figured out how to balance the agendas of two superstars; every time, it took a major concession on someone's behalf. West's Lakers never won a championship until Chamberlain tapped into his inner Russell.

Kareem's Lakers benefited from Magic deferring for the first seven years, then assuming command as a scorer when Kareem's game began to decay. You can't win an NBA title without someone eventually saying, "I got this" and everyone else agreeing, "You're right, you got this. I thought LeBron would make that sacrifice, but upon further review, Wade needs to reinvent himself as the team's defensive stopper, facilitator, emotional leader and occasional closer much like Kobe did on the Dream Team.

Because LeBron is better than him. And yeah, he struggled that game Granted, I love overthinking this stuff. That's what I do. But I attended Miami's first two games and my biggest takeaway was the team's collective joylessness.

Even during the Heat's first victory in Philly -- an infinitely easier game because the Sixers stink and their crowd was mostly catatonic -- nobody seemed happy except for James Jones, who was making open 3s like it was a pop-a-shot game. There was a distance between everyone.

I noticed it. My father noticed it. My friends on Wednesday night noticed it. The vibe was undeniably weird. I thought the Heat would be as close-knit as Oklahoma City; instead, they acted like like they had been introduced 45 minutes before the game. And LeBron and Wade weren't "Kanye West and Mike Myers raising money for Katrina" level uncomfortable, but you would have never guessed they were buddies or even acquaintances.

The easy explanation: They're adjusting to that "everyone hates us, now it's us against the world" mentality and it's going to take some time. What do we do? How do we handle this? Do we wait for Dwyane to admit it? Do we Maybe Wade can feel it. Maybe his competitive juices are kicking in. LeBron and Dwyane are too smart of basketball players to allow their team to become mediocre and not live up to the expectations that they were supposed to achieve. You could haven given any shooting specialist a couple million to shoot the lights out.

LeBron was brought on this team with one thing on the mind of Pat Riley. At 6'8" and pounds, LeBron James holds an advantage over every other point guard thanks in part to his size, much in the way Magic used his 6'9" frame to see over opposing point guards and to see the court better than any other regular 6'3" point guard could see.

James' court vision is coupled with his high basketball IQ as he can see plays before they happen. Dwyane Wade is the last person who wants to run point for this team. He has stated his displeasure in the past of playing point guard and hasn't been put into a starting lineup of playing the position since his rookie year.

He has played shooting guard predominantly since his sophomore season and has had no urge to move back into the point guard spot. James however has no problem with running the point. He did it many times in his days at Cleveland, as Mo Williams was more of a shooter before anything else, and he facilitated the offense very well nearly every possession he accepted the role as point guard.

He knew where to look for his teammates and he knew the quickest way from point A to point B. The only difference here is that players like Varejao and Williams will be replaced with Chris Bosh and Wade. The Heat have yet to run a starting lineup with LeBron James at point, but if the defensive, and sometimes offensive, struggles continue for Carlos Arroyo and Mario Chalmers, then there would be a significant chance of James possibly running the point in the near future.

With a less than stellar schedule on tap, the Heat have plenty of room to run different lineups and try out new systems that could be more effective.

You don't get to the status James and Wade are at without earning some type of accolade. A position that these two hold over nearly every other player in the league is their status amongst other players.

They have a lot more power and say than a Mario Chalmers or Joel Anthony type of player would get. Wade has plenty of power in the Heat organization and can easily dictate what he wants done with the lineups, management, or whatever else he could change for his personal preferences.

When LeBron joined this team, he immediately brought power to a team that had never been previously seen before. He was a business and he brought plenty of baggage with him as they most hyped high schooler in American history. He came into the league with fame and fortune surrounding him, he quickly established himself as one of the league's elite players, he had the city of Cleveland in the palm of his hands, and now him and Wade can basically control their team from the court.

Because they are held in the highest regards and esteem from their peers and are also the floor leaders, they have the power to control the internal issues of the Heat. If they become frustrated with the way the game is being run, there would be no jurisdiction and nothing holding them back from voicing their opinion and letting Riley know that they are unhappy with the way the season is going.

It's clear that Wade and James aren't completely frustrated with the way coach Erik Spoelstra is running the game as he would have been let go already, but it could happen in the future if the season progresses and the Heat are still recognized as a mediocre. If inconsistency still reigns, changes will be made for Wade's and James' preferences. When they call for a change that benefits them, it will be then that they might possibly begin to develop a chemistry through the game that they want to play, rather than the game Spo wants to.

It would be a stretch for Wade and James to force Spo out of Miami, but it is a possibility if the season continues to progress in the manner it is at right now. If you have watched any Miami Heat game this season, you would know one of their largest issues has been on the offensive side.

It's been strange to believe that a team with three terrific scorers has trouble scoring, but after scoring 77 against Indiana, 80 against Boston, and 93 against New Orleans it became painfully obvious that the Heat have issues on the offensive side of the ball. They have had their success in a number of games, but they can fall into ineptness on offense, even against the most inept of defensive teams.

Say for instance, their game against Philadelphia where they only 99 points and needed a big fourth quarter to pull away. The largest issue on offense has been the lack of player movement. No team wins games when one player is controlling the ball and four other players are standing around watching and the Miami Heat are no different. There have been too many times this season where the Heat have played like the Cavs of the past few years where James has the ball in his hand and the rest of the lineup stands around and waits for him to make his magic.

There should be no reason for a team that has an offense led by Wade and James for a wait and see what happens attitude.

There needs to be an aggression and physicality on offense that the elite teams in the NBA all possess. They need players moving at all times that keep defenses weary and on their toes, so that the Heat can keep opposing defenses second guessing themselves. The threat of a driving Dwyane Wade or LeBron James is one of the most intimidating plays to encounter in the league and it's why they have become so effective at it.

When the Heat run plays that consist of cutting to the basket, it either results in a nearly guaranteed two points, a foul, or a miss that still gives promise to a team that could use easy baskets. Most of the shots that the Heat take are difficult jumpers taken by players that shouldn't be taking those types of shots. If they can create designed plays where James can find Wade cutting to the basket or vice versa, then the offense would come a lot easier than before. Those are the career high in points per game that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have acheived over their illustrious tenures.

Those are numbers that many NBA players have never acheived and never will achieve because of just how truly strenuous it is to score in a league where the greatest individual and team defenses play in. Even though their games are similar, they have completely different styles of how they play it. It's what happened in the championship series he lost that completely changed him. He knew right then and there that changes in his game had to be made and he may never get the monkey off his back if he didn't reinvent himself as a more well-rounded all-around threat.

As a result, James garnered a post-game and it's paying off in dividends for the Heat. Miami's offense runs more smoothly with LeBron constantly forcing himself near the rim and his teammates, especially Wade, are feeding off the attention James is receiving when he posts-up. Dwyane, an excellent cutter, is constantly thriving off the open opportunities he's receiving courtesy of James. With James handling the ball more effectively, it's leaving Wade with less to do on the court.

That's exactly what the Heat could use at this point, considering that Dwyane will be years-old in January. Miami needs Wade to not put his body on the line as much as he did early in his career and wants him to make scoring easier, a key reason why James is playing a completely different game compared to what he did with Cleveland. With the two superstars feeding off each other, and James only growing as a player, it aids both players in their endeavors to win a title, further their legacies, and continue to create some chemistry with each other that results in easier offensive plays.

By allowing LeBron James to take full control of the team, Dwyane Wade found himself in unfamiliar territory that he hadn't seen since early in his rookie season. Wade is a second option. A full-fledged second option who moves to the beat of LeBron's drum. Not since he was a rookie and playing alongside Brian Grant, Lamar Odom and Eddie Jones has Wade played under the direction of a teammate. Not even when Shaquille O'Neal joined the team a year later did Wade back off; he's been the leader of the Heat since the postseason.

Being the intelligent basketball player he is, Wade knew that it was time for the younger, stronger and more athletic player to find his niche, rather than forcing the issue of having both players take turns. While it's led to the expected and anticipated result of LeBron flourishing, it also featured Dwyane struggling at times to find his place on the floor.

I understand that Wade was also dealing with injuries throughout the year, but he had the look of a different player.

His demeanor didn't possess the same confident swagger he boasted throughout his years when he was the obvious leader of the team. That's the effects of taking away the role of a superstar from a superstar, which is similar to how we saw Chris Bosh struggle to adjust to his new role as a third option last season.

As humble as Dwyane may appear to be, he still possesses the same superstar mentality that every other elite player has; you just don't see him strut around the court like you'd see from someone like LeBron.

A mentality like that is what has allowed Dwyane to win two championships and a Finals MVP but it could also lead into problems for Wade and his approach towards accepting his new role. Luckily for the Heat, Dwyane is willing to do whatever it takes to win, just like everyone else on this Heat team. They've all made sacrifices in order to win and Dwyane will continue adjusting to the role of a second option for the purpose of winning another title.

After all, it's no coincidence the Heat won a title when LeBron was leading the way—it's what tends to happen when you put the ball in the hands of the best player. A lot of analysts found their foot in their mouth's shortly after the conclusion of the NBA Finals when the Heat had blown out the Thunder by 15 points, courtesy of a LeBron James triple-double—because that's what players do who don't live for big moments: they record triple-doubles in championship-clinching games.

We knew that LeBron was effective in the fourth quarter—or any point in a crucial setting—but it just helped our sanity to see the idea that had wrongly existed finally eradicated. You had to feel good for the guy once he hit that crippled three-pointer in Game 4 because it was so much more than a shot, it was a tremendous release of a heavy burden that had been draped over his shoulders for the entirety of his NBA career up until that point.

But he's been doing that his whole career. For some reason, however, there became a sudden fascination with hitting game-winning shots at or near the buzzer and this worked against LeBron. It was all a fabrication created by the media-hype machine to draw in ratings and stir up some debates and controversy but it didn't make much sense in the end since they're basically lying and utilizing any stats—even creating stats—that weighed against LeBron.

In the end, we found out that LeBron is actually pretty good at living up for those top-bill moments. Whether it was scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 against New York ; going off for 40 in a pivotal Game 4 against Indiana ; the historic Game 6 in Boston; dropping 32 in Game 7 against Boston; banking in a shot in the waning moments of a hotly-contested Game 2 against Oklahoma; or hitting the big shot in Game 4, James has proved the criticisms of many moot.

There's not much to be said about Dwyane. It's well-known that he's always been the type to embrace and flourish in those situations, ever since the hellfire he rained down upon the Dallas Mavericks in to the tune of 35 points per game.

The Heat will be one of the league's most comfortable and successful teams in crucial games for years to come. It's no secret that the key to winning a championship is having an elite defense that either beats you with constant activity or strong chemistry and a great foundation to consistently rely on against any type of opponent. Just look at the NBA Finals as a prime example. The Oklahoma City Thunder were a better offensive team than the Heat, but when it came down to those moments late in the games when the defense needed to step up, it was Miami—not the Thunder—doing what it had to do to win.

They may have allowed Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to have great performances but they didn't allow multiple players to get into a rhythm and played aggressive, keeping their opponent out of the paint. You live by the jump shot and you die by the jump shot.

Wade on return: 'Never say never' Michael Kaskey-Blomain 1 min read. Panic meter: Blazers have work to do Sam Quinn 7 min read. Rookie Rankings: Mobley seizes No. Mock Draft: Duke's Banchero No.