Over these two weeks, The Post will be running through 10 of the hottest issues around the NBA heading into the 2015-16 season.
When LeBron James left the sunny shores of South Beach to return to his native Northeast Ohio last summer, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat declared they wouldn’t tear down and start a rebuild, instead re-signing Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and attempting to remain competitive.
But with James gone, it seemed impossible the Heat could truly be considered a championship contender – even in the less imposing Eastern Conference – by rebuilding around Bosh and Wade, given the former was set to begin the decline phase of his career and the latter already had done so.
That was before the Heat traded for Goran Dragic and plucked Hassan Whiteside – an athletic freak who happens to be 7-feet tall – out of obscurity. Now, armed with a terrific starting five and improved depth, the Heat could be the biggest threat to James making it to a sixth straight NBA Finals.
Cleveland’s position as the favorites in the East hasn’t changed. The Cavaliers steamrolled their way through the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, even with Kevin Love mostly sidelined because of a shoulder injury and Kyrie Irving hobbling around on one leg. The Cavaliers enter this season as the overwhelming choice to represent the East in the Finals if they can stay even remotely healthy.
But that is no sure thing, given Irving’s injury history coupled with the news Friday that James will likely miss the rest of the preseason after getting an injection in his back – the latest in a series of nagging ailments over the past couple of years that have proven he is somewhat human following season after indestructible season.
If there’s an opening, the Heat could be the team perfectly positioned to blast through it. Dragic is a terrific floor general, having come into his own in his second stint in Phoenix and comfortably stepping into the void left by the departure of Steve Nash. It’s unclear if the price Riley paid for acquiring him – two future first-round picks – will come back to haunt the Heat, but there’s little doubt it makes them significantly better today.
Meanwhile, Whiteside is the NBA’s version of Ahab’s white whale in “Moby Dick”: an athletic 7-footer who can actually play and put up huge numbers last season.
After going from the Kings to the D-League to multiple overseas stints in Lebanon and China, Whiteside wound up averaging 11.8 points and 10 rebounds in 48 games while giving the Heat the kind of inside physical presence they otherwise lacked.
Those four, combined with Luol Deng, can challenge any starting five in the league – including Cleveland’s – when healthy. The Heat also have some quality depth. Heralded rookie Justise Winslow should be able to offer immediate help, at least defensively. Josh McRoberts is back after missing most of last season because of knee surgery, as is Chris Andersen. Gerald Green and Amar’e Stoudemire add some offensive firepower to the frontcourt, though both are defensive liabilities.
There are real questions about this team. Can Wade, who has missed significant chunks of each of the past four seasons, stay healthy – or at least be ready in the postseason? Can Bosh fully come back from missing the final two months of last season with blood clots in his lungs? Can Whiteside repeat his stunning performance over a full 82-game schedule – plus playoffs – while gunning for a huge payday when he hits free agency next summer? Can a team without many definite 3-point threats succeed with so much emphasis placed on spacing the floor?
The possibilities if everything comes together, though, are just as real. Miami has an elite coach in Erik Spoelstra, and the top-end talent and depth that stacks up with anyone in the East besides Cleveland. And if the Heat are in a tough game in the playoffs, there are few – if any – who have the experience and confidence in those situations Wade and Bosh accumulated with their four straight runs to the NBA Finals with James.
Cleveland enters the season as favorites, and deservedly so. But if any team has a chance to dethrone King James and the Cavaliers, it’s his old friends on the shores of Biscayne Bay, who would love nothing more than to do so.