The Dumbest Reasons to Hate on LeBron James and the Miami Heat

Image via Complex Original

Basketball purists and old heads say their biggest beef with the Heat is the way they were formed. They say that Michael and Magic and Barkley never would have orchestrated a super team, or that squads like OKC and the Spurs have done it the right way. The way that Miami did it was cheap and cheated the league and its fans. 

So the Heat built their team through a secret pact that brought together three of the biggest superstars in the league. Sorry, this is a fucking problem? In today's NBA, getting the chance to play alongside other great players isn't guaranteed, particularly given the ineptitude of some talent evaluators *cough* Danny Ferry *cough*. Ask Allen Iverson what life was like in Philadelphia, T-Mac in Orlando, Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, and countless others—it wasn't fun.

The old heads who gave LeBron a hard time when he went to the Heat? Michael Jordan won six rings—three with Scottie Pippen and a Hall of Fame paint player in Dennis Rodman and three with Pippen and a criminally underrated paint player in Horace Grant. Magic Johnson didn't have to collude with other superstars because he landed on a team that already had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and would later draft James Worthy. Charles Barkley tried to form his own Big Three with Drexler and Olajuwon, he just waited until he was an old-ass man to do it. LeBron and Chris Bosh were never given the pieces they needed by the teams that drafted them, so they took matters into their own hands. Tell us that if you were in your mid 20s and had a chance to play with two of your boys, who were also great players, and have a solid shot at hogging rings, all while living in South Beach, you wouldn't take it? #thoughtso

After his Finals win, LeBron was asked what part of the negative attention he's received over the past two years hurt him the most. His reply: "That I was selfish." Due to the lingering fallout from "The Decision," James has been put in the impossible position of being called selfish for being unselfish. He left his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to go to Miami and play alongside a ring-carrying rival in D-Wade. It takes a lot for anybody to make that type of move and sacrifice the touches and acclaim that come with being the megastar of your city. He did it in his prime, and when not many thought it was even possible all for one reason, so that he could win.

'Bron has shown countless times that he does not have to take that last clutch shot. Of course this is offered as evidence that he isn't clutch and shrinks in big moments. The difference between James passing up big shots late in big games, and Michael Jordan passing up big shots in big games? MJ had John Paxson and Steve Kerr to hit jumpers for him.

It's almost unfathomable to believe that a guy who is widely considered the best basketball player on Earth and is supposed to be a narcissistic douche, gladly puts winning and his team above himself. During his time in Cleveland and Miami, James has been a consummate superstar. He's had no public tiffs with coaches or other players, and always has been a vocal leader on and off the court. His teammates love him, and that's more than you can say about an MJ or a Kobe. Speaking of, can you imagine LeBron getting arrested for killing kittens and telling the police that he should pay them off because "That's what D-Wade does"? #thinkonthatamoment

When you're on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 16, a lot is going to be expected of you by the time you hit 27. LeBron was a phenom with immense talent and what you hear a lot from haters and fans alike is that after nine seasons in the league he should be playing at a higher level. What those people seem to pleasantly disregard is that LeBron has without a doubt gotten significantly better in almost every aspect of the game.

He's now a consistent All-Defensive first team defender. When he first got to the league, 'Bron was lackadaisical and unfocused on that end of the floor. He's also improved his jump shot a ton over the last few seasons. He's no Ray Allen, but he has a much more consistent shooting touch than where he was before and he shoots it with a lot more confidence in big situations.

As far as his post game, this past season he showed flashes of a much-improved back-to-the-basket stroke to pair with his good passing. We admit that he should be farther along at this point of his career at his size, but it's unfair to say he hasn't improved in that aspect at all. We've also all seen that he has put on a fair amount of muscle over the years which has helped him finish with contact a lot more and really impose his will when attacking the rim.

If he's going to continue dominating he will undoubtedly need to continue working on his outside shot and post game, but we wouldn't put it past him to do just that as his freakish athleticism fades.

Every analyst out there that has questioned the depth and true degree of a "team" Miami has past the Big Three. The other starters for most of the season were Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem, and Shane Battier.

Chalmers is a young point guard with a shooter's touch and he's slowly improving as a playmaker—during Game 4 of the Finals he dropped 25 on the Thunder. Haslem is a cagey veteran big man with career averages of 9 PPG and 8 RBG. He can also step out for a 15-footer and play hard-nosed defense when you need it from him. Battier is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and he can knock down the three ball with pretty good consistency which was shown in the first three games of the Finals when he went 11 for 15 from downtown. 

Other players of note: Joel Anthony, a power forward/center who's a solid defender. Mike Miller, a streaky long-range shooter who came up big when he dropped 23 in the deciding Game 5 of the Finals. Norris Cole, a rookie point guard that has a fearless attitude and will take it to the hole or go for a big steal when he sees an opening. James Jones, a veteran guard who shot 42.9% from behind the arch this year.

Miami assembled a team of role players that they thought would pair up well with the Big Three: shooters and defenders. Almost all of the role players mentioned have come up big in the playoffs for the Heat at some point and undoubtedly helped them win their title this year. Are they the best role players in the league? No. Are they definitively serviceable? Yes. When you take into account that Miami lacks a true center, Bosh was hurt during a big stretch in the playoffs, and a lot of teams ran zones to try to slow down LeBron and Wade from driving, their play fueled a lot of the success Miami had.

Despite being a three time MVP and unquestioned superstar of the league, what most consider to be his achilles heal is his "clutchness." We all know what happened last year in the Finals. He disappeared when his team needed him the most, and they lost because of it. Yes, he's not Kobe, he's not MJ, he's not Reggie Miller, he's not any of those guys. To say he's not clutch at all though is to ignore the body of work he's put up over his career.

Even before he went on an all-time great run this Playoffs, James put in work when it counted: the Orlando game winner in 2009 and the time he single-handedly beat Detroit in '07. But lets not forget about the game winner against the Wizards in '06, or when he finished the Celtics last year, then proceeded to finish the Bulls, or even when he dropped 45 on the Celtics in a Game 7 loss with no help. Starting to get the picture? He's had more clutch moments than not. We can't take last year's Finals and his last Cleveland run as the complete sample size regardless of how monumentally "unclutch" they were. If this year was any indication we can look forward to seeing more of those classic moments down the line.

He's earned the title of "Bosh Spice" and calls himself the Coolest Dude Alive, but is Chris Bosh worthy of being called one third of Miami's Big Three? One of the biggest shots taken at Miami is that they really don't have a Big Three, but instead a Big Two and a Half.

Before Miami, Bosh was dropping 24 PPG and 11 RPG for Toronto compared to the  18 PPG and 7.9 RPG he averaged this past season.  When he came to Miami he knew he'd have to take a back seat, but in the playoffs he's definitively performed when he's been needed. In the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals he averaged 23 and 8, and in last year's Finals loss put up a solid 18 and 7. When he got injured this year it threw the team completely off against Indiana, where they came close to falling to a lesser team. Bosh then came back from injury and in Game 7 of this year's Eastern Conference Finals put up 19 points and 8 rebounds against Boston. His push helped give them their second shot at a ring in two years.

There's no doubt in our minds that he would be averaging 20 and 10 on the majority of teams in the league. Instead however, he played it cool as Miami's third best player and was an essential part of their 2012 title win.

Plenty of haters love to play the "They're so fucking cocky!" card. We all know the pep rally and infamous "not 5, not 6, not 7..." LeBron quote, but if we were to take a closer look at 'Bron and the boys, it changes the conversation.

Looking at LeBron's entire career along with the rest of the Heat, how do they rank compared to some of basketball's greats? Are they cockier than MJ? Nope. Cockier than Kobe? Nope. Cockier than even the Celtics Big 3? Nope. (Remember when Paul Pierce proclaimed himself the best player on Earth?) If we're talking all-time, these guys aren't even cracking the top ten of the cocky athlete pantheon, so can you really say they're all that full of themselves? If anything, how cocky can LeBron, Wade, or Bosh really be to sacrifice their game and come to a team where they get less touches? We'd be hard pressed to believe some of those other NBA greats would make that sacrifice in order to have a better chance at winning at the peak of their powers. If that's not unselfishness and putting winning above all, we don't know what is.

If you caught our piece on how ESPN lost its way, you know just how powerful Skip Bayless and his words can be. And if there was a face to the LeBron hater nation, it'd be Skip's, snickering with glee at any of LBJ's downfalls. There's no doubt that Skip's constant reinforcement of his negative opinion of LeBron and overtly harsh criticism of his game and career has had an effect on people. He's on TV every day, which gives him some sort of credibility, and because his delivery is so radical, plenty of people who become fans of Skip learn to dislike James. 

Really though, we don't just blame Skip in this regard. It became kind of the cool thing to hate LeBron and root against the Heat. People who didn't really follow his complete career or the landscape of the NBA hopped on the hate bandwagon early and often. Skip, along with many others who may have been fans of other teams or just disliked how LeBron handled things created the LeBron villian. 'Bron even tried to embrace this image last season, but it didn't fit his true persona and might have been part of why he was unsuccessful in the Finals. What we say is, if you're going to hate a public figure or pro sports team, have your reasons. Don't hate a team just to hate a team. Don't hate a man because you need a villain. If a guy like Skip Bayless, who is widely known for spewing off ratings-inspired generalities as opposed to real sports analysis (word to Mark Cuban), is why you don't like LeBron, that's a problem.