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Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

03:12 PM - June 4, 2014 by RaychelSnr

Americans seem to tire quickly of the status quo and there are few things we love more than seeing the guy at the top get torn down. Oh, and we also love sports.

Combine these three aspects and you have a recipe for a surplus of disdain for the two-time defending NBA champions, the Miami Heat.

I was only a kid when Michael Jordan and Co. went on their incredible runs during the 1990's -- but I don't recall the resounding hate for the Bulls like we're seeing with the Heat. At the time it seemed as if America loved to see the dynasty thrive and the greatest of all time continuously claim his crown.

Sound Off: Why does America dislike the Miami Heat?

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Member Comments

# 101 King_B_Mack @ 06/07/14 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquaman


	I didn't have a problem with Lebron James wanting out of Cleveland, The Cavaliers attempt to build around Lebron was pathetic, and even Kyrie Irving for that matter(depending on who they draft this year) was pathetic... I recall Ira Newbile,Daniel Gibson,Larry Hughes and a 36 year old Shaq logging key minutes for Cleveland against the Spurs in "07" We could all see that the situation was frustrating Lebron in Cleveland.. How he handled it tho was also pathetic....Storming off in 2007 after the Game 4 loss, taking the Cavs jersey off was a slap in the face to the fans and a terrible attitude considering it was his first time to the big dance against a great team in San Antonio led by Timmy Duncan and Ginobili in there primes of there careers and an a rising superstar in Tony Parker!, all great players still to this day!. People say but "Michael didn't team up with Hakeem, or Magic, or Bird, Ewing, Barkley...No...Michael had Scotty Pippen, Dennis Rodman, George Gervin,Ron Harper,Toni Kukoc and others", so he didn't need to look elsewhere to be on contending teams, But Michael didn't have a TV show dedicated to "His Return" to basketball after his baseball stint, he never said were going to win "4,5,6,7" championships together!, he doesn't have a tattoo pro-claiming to be the "chosen one" on his back, He stood too and overcame the many challenges thrown against him (The Bad Boys of Detroit, Larry Bird & the Celtics, Lakers and Magic Johnson, Malone and Stockton's Jazz) and he rose up through the pain or circumstances. People fell in love with Michael Jordan because he was a great player and greater personality and even when Jordan sunk that buzzer beater that beats you(Craig Ehlo/Byron Russel?) or makes amazing plays to the hoop that defy gravity and made us so angry that you want to throw you remote though your television set or roundhouse kick a giant hole into your wall because your team almost beat Michael Jordan's Bulls and lost it at the last second...His message was simple, "I will not give up, I will beat you in anyway possible and if I can't...I will get better until I can and I will be back"...even tho at the time some people hated the Chicago Bulls...They still loved Michael Jordan. The Superstar teaming of Lebron,Wade and Bosh while later adding Mike Miller,Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis etc will always be a controversial moment and as a long-time fan of the NBA it's a very hard pill to swallow when I see the Miami Heat racking up titles, and debate whether Lebron James is in the same company as the great ones. Lebron James gives us nothing other than some swagger and stats ,He didn't have patience, He didn't wan't too suffer the excruciating period of building a team around him, facing the challenges of up and coming squads and learn to over-come them, defeat them, Be better than them, and ultimately earn their respect!...Lebron looked for a quick fix express freeway to catch up on those multiple championship rings owned by the great ones!. In a hypothetical scenario what would the NBA landscape look like now if "The Chosen One" Lebron James chose with Cleveland?...Of course we will never know as the butterfly effect it had on the NBA is impossible to un-do, But would we still be hell bent on tearing down Lebron's right to the throne of being the greatest of all time?...maybe not?...maybe bringing just one championship to the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise would have done more for Lebrons legacy than the 3 or 4 he might end up with in Miami?

You sure about that?

# 102 23 @ 06/07/14 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_B_Mack


	You sure about that?

# 103 DIESEL @ 06/07/14 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_B_Mack


	Obviously like everything else, not every single fan of those teams felt that way, but there was a significant number of people that voiced that if they're team didn't sign LeBron they hoped he stayed in Cleveland to live up to his promise. There were even a select few who said the whole time that they wanted to see him stay in Cleveland. Not every fan rolled with the line of thinking that you're trying to dump on entire fan bases of those teams.

You are pretty much confirming what I said here. I never lumped any team's entire fan base into this but I will stand by what I said.

During the recruitment of Lebron James in the summer of 2010 the ***majority*** of Bulls, Knicks, and Nets fans:

a. Hoped their team could convince Lebron to leave Cleveland by offering him the opportunity to play with a better supporting cast

or

b. Figured he would stay in Cleveland and be able to lure a decent 2nd option

When Lebron chose:

c. Go to a team nobody even considered and play with better players than anyone else could possibly offer......

many fans from the 3 teams I mentioned earlier, instantly found a laundry list of reasons to despise the player they were salivating over just days before. I have no problem with people feeling this way, but it's disingenuous to pretend they wouldn't have welcomed Lebron and his friends to their team if given the opportunity.

# 104 cam21224 @ 06/07/14 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ojandpizza


	I don't necessarily have a problem with them "joining forces" either. Boston had a big 3, LA had a big 3, San Antonio had a big 3, and now pretty much any team that makes the playoffs (especially the West) have 3 All-Star caliber guys.. They needed all 3 to currently compete and as we've saw over the years it has been far from a cake walk for them, even with all 3. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree, initially I was pissed but as time went on it just became oh well, who cares type of situation. I just felt all the other teams in the hunt for them never had a fair chance, and it was different seeing players working behind the scene to come together rather than the front office doing such. I also wasn't a fan of LeBron antics in Cleveland either, but I've grown to see he's just a guy who enjoys having fun with his teammates.

Most of the people who strongly hate them either fall into two categories, fans of teams spurned by them or hypocrites, because if they joined together on their favorite team, they wouldn't give two ****s how it was done.

Do I enjoy seeing the Heat lose yes, do I hate them no. It's more so the issues I have with the blatant bandwagon fans on my time line. You know the diehard one who was just cheering for the Celtics for years eliminating the same guy's he's riding now, and rooting on to destroy former Celtic players, like really.

Before the Heat, it was the Celtics and in a few years it'll be a new group of bandwagons for whichever team is the most popular (it) team at the time. Even the ones for the team I root for were driving me crazy, like **** u wasn't with us when Smush was shooting in the gym.

# 105 ProfessaPackMan @ 06/07/14 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIESEL


	You are pretty much confirming what I said here. I never lumped any team's entire fan base into this but I will stand by what I said. During the recruitment of Lebron James in the summer of 2010 the *majority* of Bulls, Knicks, and Nets fans: a. Hoped their team could convince Lebron to leave Cleveland by offering him the opportunity to play with a better supporting cast or b. Figured he would stay in Cleveland and be able to lure a decent 2nd option When Lebron chose: c. Go to a team nobody even considered and play with better players than anyone else could possibly offer...... many fans from the 3 teams I mentioned earlier, instantly found a laundry list of reasons to despise the player they were salivating over just days before. I have no problem with people feeling this way, but it's disingenuous to pretend they wouldn't have welcomed Lebron and his friends to their team if given the opportunity.

Speaking for Nets fans here(because there were only like 3 of us here during that time)I can tell you right now that Option A is simply not true because we all knew at the time that he wasn't coming to New Jersey mainly because...it was still New Jersey.

Sure he was "tight" with Jay-Z at the time because nobody including Nets fans ever thought that it was strong enough to convince him to join the Nets. Hell, we all seen what that highly glorified "cap space" got us that Summer.

Would I loved to have him come here? Of course, what team wouldn't? I don't blame any team for trying to clear out space to make a run at him, even though he, Bosh and Wade had pretty much known where they were going to go before that summer anyway.

So yeah, the things you mentioned may have been true for Bulls and Knicks Fans, but as far as Nets fans go, that's not true or accurate at all.

# 106 Matty Aqua @ 06/07/14 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_B_Mack


	You sure about that?

No im not 100% sure, but you get the point i was trying too make

# 107 cam21224 @ 06/07/14 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThreeKing


	I really wish people would stop bringing up the Celtics of '08. KG and Ray were trades, plus those guys were clearly on the 'back 9' of their careers. LeBron and Bosh were right in the beginning of their prime and they were free agents. Not a legit comparison.

If directed at me, I never said that as its noted in my post.

If not sorry for the confusion.

# 108 ojandpizza @ 06/07/14 02:28 PM

KG and Ray were trades because they wanted out. So technically while it was different it was the same in principal.

As far as playoff officiating goes, we can have the argument over and over again a thousand times. You seem to be one of the only ones here who believe they have been getting superior calls night in and night out, so I'll just say we disagree.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 109 King_B_Mack @ 06/07/14 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ojandpizza


	KG and Ray were trades because they wanted out. So technically while it was different it was the same in principal. As far as playoff officiating goes, we can have the argument over and over again a thousand times. You seem to be one of the only ones here who believe they have been getting superior calls night in and night out, so I'll just say we disagree. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KG didn't "want out." They had to convince that dude to leave that mess in Minnesota. I don't even know if Ray "wanted out" of Seattle at the time. I don't recall hearing that at the time, but it was a long time ago.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 110 ex carrabba fan @ 06/07/14 04:47 PM

Neither KG nor Ray Allen asked for a trade. Ray Allen actually just signed an extension before getting traded.

Overall, I don't hold anything against the Heat for the way they all came together. It wasn't James' fault that the Cavs' organization was incompetent in getting him even decent help. 7 years. 7 years and you couldn't do better than that ****? I don't blame James for leaving to a better situation and it's not like the Heat have had really that deep of teams outside of the Big 3. Bosh and Wade themselves... great players still, just not what we all built them up to be when they first came together.

To defend the Cavs to an extent, It's not James' fault his team wasn't blessed with a game-changing trade or All-Star draft prospect. Most title teams have been fortunate enough to have things fall into place. The Cavs never did, a lot had to do with their incompetence but they really didn't get any luck at all.

As far as the other teams like New York, Chicago etc. all trying to shuffle their rosters to sign Wade/LeBron/Bosh/Amare.. well tough. Nobody asked them to do any of that. They took a risk, a measured risk. In sports you have to do that sometimes.

# 111 ojandpizza @ 06/07/14 07:16 PM

That's my bad on that then. I thought they both wanted out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 112 vtcha @ 06/07/14 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan


	To defend the Cavs to an extent, It's not James' fault his team wasn't blessed with a game-changing trade or All-Star draft prospect. Most title teams have been fortunate enough to have things fall into place. The Cavs never did, a lot had to do with their incompetence but they really didn't get any luck at all.

Adding to this, the Cavs over-achieved too early, mainly because of LeBron- not his fault. They only had 1 lottery pick throughout the 7 years, which turned out to be a bust (#10 pick in 2004 - Luke Jackson). Had the Cavs sucked for a few more years they could have went through the OKC route and built the franchise from the ground up. On a side note, I'm looking through OKC's draft history and wow, didn't realize they drafted Eric Bledsoe.

# 113 The 24th Letter @ 06/07/14 10:08 PM

KG said all the right things publicly, and gave us some heartfelt interviews and all, but he wanted our of Minny....it's evident by the attitude he's shown toward them since he left...

# 114 BringTheHeat @ 06/07/14 10:32 PM

Also, are we faulting guys for wanting a better situation? Bosh didn't necessarily want out, and If Cleveland was competent LeBron wouldn't have either. The owners and GM were thriving off LeBron being so good but not willing to spend the money to get him real help. Miami again, simply offered more, why waste your career in a city where you're clearly not going to win or get help, when you get offered an opportunity like Pat and Micky Arison gave?

On the fans: teams that are successful are going to have bandwagon fans. Simple. Get over it. It's been happening since sports began.

On "taking the easy way out": As a competitor, and as an NBA player of their caliber, your main goal is to win. To get the rings and accolades so that you're cemented in history and remembered forever. Any athlete in any sport trains for their sport, why? To gain an advantage over the competition, it's not the easy way out, it's the smart way as a competitor.

Let's be real here:

Miami was 47-35 in 2010. Wade, Chalmers, QRich, JO'Neal, and Beasley were their starting 5. Cleveland was 61-21. LeBron, Anthony Parker, JJ Hickson, Mo Williams, and Shaq(for a good majority) were their starting 5. Toronto was 40-42. Bosh, Bargs, Derozan, Hedo, Calderon/Jack were their starting 5.

None of those teams are championship teams. Why would you not make the route easy on yourself, the concept of increasing your advantage applies to everything in life, not sure why these guys get so much criticism for coming together. It's not even like they didn't try with their team. Wade won a ring because Miami got Shaq out of his LA situation and they built around him with solid role players. Bosh isn't a championship type player you build around. LeBron is, Cleveland just didn't do it.

# 115 King_B_Mack @ 06/07/14 11:29 PM

The Cavs really catch too much flak for "not doing anything to put talent around LeBron."

I'll say, they probably should have taken Al Jefferson with that 10th pick in the draft the year after LeBron, especially after the way Boozer screwed them over, but for the most part who were they taking in the drafts after LeBron? Picks that were already traded in prior years, picks at the back of the first round, drafts that really weren't deep with talent in those years of LeBron in Cleveland, coupled with the fact that he wouldn't confirm whether or not he was staying or even leaning towards staying with the team all but completely eliminated quality free agents from signing there. There's already not a whole lot of reasons to willingly go play for the Clevleand Cavaliers, when the best player in the world is likely not a possibility to still be there after you sign on long term, that's a bit of deterrent. Like Elton Brand getting Baron Davis to sign in LA and then bolting on him to Philadelphia.

Also, back to other topic of Diesel painting fans with the same broad brush, the majority of Bulls fans flipped off the LeBron to Chicago train when Dwyane Wade made his fake *** unannounced visit to the United Center on the first day of free agency and his even faker second trip. There were only a select few that wanted to continue pursuing LeBron and wanted to instead focus on bringing Wade home which is why up until he stated acting like a dick Chicago was the only place booing the living hell out of Dwyane in the whole thing.

# 116 King_B_Mack @ 06/07/14 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BringTheHeat


	Also, are we faulting guys for wanting a better situation? Bosh didn't necessarily want out, and If Cleveland was competent LeBron wouldn't have either. The owners and GM were thriving off LeBron being so good but not willing to spend the money to get him real help. Miami again, simply offered more, why waste your career in a city where you're clearly not going to win or get help, when you get offered an opportunity like Pat and Micky Arison gave? On the fans: teams that are successful are going to have bandwagon fans. Simple. Get over it. It's been happening since sports began. On "taking the easy way out": As a competitor, and as an NBA player of their caliber, your main goal is to win. To get the rings and accolades so that you're cemented in history and remembered forever. Any athlete in any sport trains for their sport, why? To gain an advantage over the competition, it's not the easy way out, it's the smart way as a competitor. Let's be real here: Miami was 47-35 in 2010. Wade, Chalmers, QRich, JO'Neal, and Beasley were their starting 5. Cleveland was 61-21. LeBron, Anthony Parker, JJ Hickson, Mo Williams, and Shaq(for a good majority) were their starting 5. Toronto was 40-42. Bosh, Bargs, Derozan, Hedo, Calderon/Jack were their starting 5. None of those teams are championship teams. Why would you not make the route easy on yourself, the concept of increasing your advantage applies to everything in life, not sure why these guys get so much criticism for coming together. It's not even like they didn't try with their team. Wade won a ring because Miami got Shaq out of his LA situation and they built around him with solid role players. Bosh isn't a championship type player you build around. LeBron is, Cleveland just didn't do it.

Not willing to spend the money? Dude they were over the salary cap while LeBron was there.

# 117 BringTheHeat @ 06/07/14 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_B_Mack


	Not willing to spend the money? Dude they were over the salary cap while LeBron was there.

Alright, see "incompetent front office"

# 118 Cavsfan4life @ 06/08/14 12:05 AM

Dan Gilbert pretty much opened his check book to build a team around LBJ. It was tough to build through the draft with one lottery pick, but they did the best they could, but why are guys going to sign long term when LBJ wouldn't commit. Both Artest and Ariza decided not to come because LBJ didnt commit. Wouldnt consider them all stars, but if we couldnt get those type of players, how would all stars come? Ferry turned "water into wine" with some of the moves he made, but as mentioned could never get a #2, even though Mo was solid. There were rumors on sign and trade deals for Bosh, as long as both signed off, but we now know what was planned all along.

# 119 BringTheHeat @ 06/08/14 01:09 AM

I just don't get the hate for them teaming up. People were on him for not recruiting people to come to Cleveland, but when he does join a loaded team people get mad. I believe people were on Rose about that too a few years back, as well as Dirk.

# 120 ex carrabba fan @ 06/08/14 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtcha


	Adding to this, the Cavs over-achieved too early, mainly because of LeBron- not his fault. They only had 1 lottery pick throughout the 7 years, which turned out to be a bust (#10 pick in 2004 - Luke Jackson). Had the Cavs sucked for a few more years they could have went through the OKC route and built the franchise from the ground up. On a side note, I'm looking through OKC's draft history and wow, didn't realize they drafted Eric Bledsoe.

Absolutely correct. LeBron's sheer talent actually stunted their growth. Instead of racking up a few more lottery picks they found themselves in the playoffs purely because LeBron was already an All-Star and top player from day 1.

I have no idea as to who was truly available, but all I can do is judge the talent that Gilbert and company put around LeBron. It wasn't pretty, and that's putting it nicely. Trading for a washed up Jamison, a washed up Shaq. Those were pretty much the best moves they could come up with...

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