Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

[airjoca]

It's not just America.

[BringTheHeat]

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

This. I also would like to point out that I and I'm sure many others take issue with how they screwed over a lot of teams, which is why people "outside" of Cleveland are entitled to be upset. Teams spent years making decisions on their franchises based on the idea that they would have a legitimate chance at landing one of the three of them, while they had planned out pretty much the same amount of time that they were going to team up together. The Bulls for example, shipped Kirk Hinrich out of town in order to free up the cap space to have a shot at LeBron or Wade or Bosh. Ben Gordon was let go to keep flexibility for the summer of 2010. The Knicks completely blew up a roster with the hopes of landing LeBron in 2010. A lot of teams made financial decisions when those guys signed short extensions in order to become free agents in 2010. Decisions that made their teams weaker for a chance at them and really, they never had a shot. An argument could be made that they knew that would happen and further **** on the idea of competition by weakening the landscape of the league before getting together to stomp on everyone. I just personally don't like the fact that they did it with the idea in mind that it would be easy. While it ended up being a tougher task than anybody thought, the fact that they were doing it FOR the easiest way possible just doesn't sit right.

Shouldn't have built a team around a chance to get a FA..

And besides, they chose Miami. Miami obviously had the best pitch, better than anything any other team could offer them, that's how FA works..you go to the place who puts you in your ideal situation, for financial reasons or other reasons such as winning.

They could've went to Cleveland and played, or Toronto and played, or hell even all 3 go somewhere else. So Miami simply offered something more, maybe a competent front office? Someone willing to sign help other than the big 3 and a coach who was a Pat Riley puppet>anything Cleveland, Toronto, or any other team had to offer.

[kingkilla56]

I dont like heat fans, or Miami the city, or Florida the state.

I dont really hate the Heat. I remember rooting for them against Dallas when Shaq was in town. Something about this team is just lame to me. It just seems so phoney and inorganic. But whatevs the NBA wanted this and caters to these guys at every turn. But thats not even what I dislike about them.

Its still their fans. Oh and Pat Reilly trademarking "threepeat". What an *******. I hate that guy too.

[DIESEL]

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

With respect, I think that is a bit of an over-generalization. As a Pistons fan, I never thought Detroit had a chance to sign any of those fellers, but I am still not in favor of their Captain Planet maneuver. As a whole, I'm generally not in favor of crazy star team-ups. Even when the Red Wings acquired aged and older hall of famers back in 2001 (sort of like the NHL version of the '04 Lakers) I admit winning the Cup that year felt a little bit emptier and more artificial in nature. The Cup Finals basically felt like Bates Battaglia versus Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Luc Robitaille, Brett Hull, and Dominik Hasek. In the Heat's case, at the risk of sounding repetitive, it was the best player of our era - and a top 10 guy of all-time - grouping together with two other Dream Teamers in their prime, eventually surrounded by one of the best shooters of all-time (Ray Allen), one of the best defenders (Shane Battier), and a grab bag of former volume scorers (Rashard Lewis, Mike Miller). I tend to not mind super team-up attempts if their success still seems relatively uncertain. I'm just not sure much of anyone wants the championship decided by three to four hall of famers all getting together prior to the season and opting to group together for the next half decade, guaranteeing nothing short of a runner-up finish for as long as they exist.

I was specifically referring to the fans of teams that were part of that summer's free agency frenzyl. I'm not going to speak for you but all you have to do is skim through the first few hundred pages of "The Lebron James Thread" and you'll see fans from every team that had cap space running through scenarios to try and get the best combination of players they possibly could. As far as I can tell there were not many people worrying about the integrity of the game before The Decision.

Low and behold there was a scenario that NOBODY saw coming. Within seconds the same people posting pics of LBJ in their team's colors were his biggest critics. I have no problem with these people despising the Heat but they can spare me the "buying a championship / hall of famer X would never....." schtick.

Once again I can respect your beliefs that this was some kind of blow to the spirit of competition, but I'd be willing to wager if the big 3 decided that they wanted to all play in Detroit next year that you would be in an extremely small minority of Piston fans that would have a problem with it.

[z Revis]

As a Pacers fan, I think the issue is, people need to understand or take into account fans of small market teams that have to build their teams differently. That is where a lot of hate comes from IMO. It is easier being a big market or having an owner with money where you can just nab these big names like they grow on trees. Try being a fan of a team where the owner refuses to pay the tax and where no superstars have a desire to play. There's a reason the Pacers gave Hibbert a max contract.. they had to, what are the other options? So when you're a fan of a team like that and then you see a team like Miami that just team up one summer and become a dynasty like that, it's easier to see where a lot of hate comes from.

Like I said though I respect the Heat and honestly think most people think that way too. The hate isn't nearly what it used to be. That's why the games are played. Miami as good as they are have shown vulnerabilities but have fought through it each time. Props to them.

[vtcha]

The whole concept of people hating on "bought teams" is so hypocritical. Let's not forget Miami wasn't the only one trying to sign 2 max free agents during the 2010 summer. As I recall, the Knicks, Bulls and Nets were all doing the same thing- clearing cap space. Even the Mavs tried doing the same thing in an attempt to lure D-Will & Dwight. I can guarantee you that had LeBron signed elsewhere and was successful, we'd still be having this discussion, with the exception of another team replacing the Heat. I don't think the same amount of hatred would apply if say Bosh and Amare, or Bosh and D-Will formed the trio with Wade. It's that fact the it was LeBron James, the reigning MVP at the time, that signed over.

So let's be real. The title of this thread is clearly implying "Why Does America Hate LeBron?"

[VDusen04]

Quote: Originally Posted by DIESEL

I was specifically referring to the fans of teams that were part of that summer's free agency frenzyl. I'm not going to speak for you but all you have to do is skim through the first few hundred pages of "The Lebron James Thread" and you'll see fans from every team running through scenarios to try and get the best combination of players they possibly could. Low and behold there was a scenario that NOBODY saw coming. Within seconds the same people posting pics of LBJ in their team's colors were his biggest critics. I have no problem with these people despising the Heat but they can spare me the "buying a championship / hall of famer X would never....." schtick. Once again I can respect your beliefs that this was some kind of blow to the spirit of competition, but I'd be willing to wager if the big 3 decided that they wanted to all play in Detroit next year that you would be in an extremely small minority of Piston fans that would have a problem with it.

I'd venture to say you'd be correct on that last portion. And I'd understand it, just as I understand why Miami fans are a supporters of that collection now. I cannot blame you guys one bit for being cool with this series of transactions (taking a leap of faith and assuming the guy with a Heat logo avatar and Diesel username is a Miami fan, ha).

And like I said, when the Red Wings acquired all that talent in the then salary cap-less NHL (even if they were post-prime), I was still celebrating when they won the Stanley Cup. It's just that, in comparison to their '97 and '98 runs, the '02 one did not feel quite as legitimate. All wins did not seem to be created equal.

Looking back to the summer of 2010, as you alluded, I remember feeling pretty good about wherever LeBron James decided to go. I was hoping he'd stay in Cleveland, but even if he ended up in New York or Chicago, I figured he'd sign and continue fighting the good fight, alongside perhaps a slight upgrade in teammates. I was not prepared for him to more or less start up his own super team from scratch with two fellow Dream Teamers in Miami in hopes of not only giving himself a chance to win, but nearly eliminating any chance of him ever losing. As a neutral fan, that signing took a turn I didn't see coming and it felt awful.

I don't know, it was a tough pill to swallow. It set off my overkill sensor is all.

[King_B_Mack]

Quote: Originally Posted by vtcha

The whole concept of people hating on "bought teams" is so hypocritical. Let's not forget Miami wasn't the only one trying to sign 2 max free agents during the 2010 summer. As I recall, the Knicks, Bulls and Nets were all doing the same thing- clearing cap space. Even the Mavs tried doing the same thing in an attempt to lure D-Will & Dwight. I can guarantee you that had LeBron signed elsewhere and was successful, we'd still be having this discussion, with the exception of another team replacing the Heat. So let's be real. The title of this thread is clearly implying "Why Does America Hate LeBron?"

I actually doubt that would be the case. Miami just has the perfect combination of factors for what happened. Number one, I'm fairly certain that no other team from that summer would have had a damn championship rally the way the Heat did.

Miami's bandwagon nature is significantly amplified by the fact that they're championship wasn't that old and their building was empty just the previous year and then they filled the damn thing for a big 3 signing rally.

Quote: Originally Posted by DIESEL

I was specifically referring to the fans of teams that were part of that summer's free agency frenzyl. I'm not going to speak for you but all you have to do is skim through the first few hundred pages of "The Lebron James Thread" and you'll see fans from every team that had cap space running through scenarios to try and get the best combination of players they possibly could. As far as I can tell there were not many people worrying about the integrity of the game before The Decision. Low and behold there was a scenario that NOBODY saw coming. Within seconds the same people posting pics of LBJ in their team's colors were his biggest critics. I have no problem with these people despising the Heat but they can spare me the "buying a championship / hall of famer X would never....." schtick. Once again I can respect your beliefs that this was some kind of blow to the spirit of competition, but I'd be willing to wager if the big 3 decided that they wanted to all play in Detroit next year that you would be in an extremely small minority of Piston fans that would have a problem with it.

I seem to recall quite a few people stating that if their team couldn't sign LeBron, they'd love to see him stay in Cleveland and bring that city a championship. I recall people hoping Bosh or Amar'e would go to Cleveland with him to help him. So yeah, the bitter angle doesn't quite work either. Not for every fan of those teams as you're saying here.