Starting with 2006

Chapter 105 The Declining Defending Champion

Who is the best rookie in the 03 Platinum class?

This issue is extremely controversial. If you look at it ten years later, it will be LeBron James, but in the eyes of many people now, Dwyane Wade, the fifth overall pick in the 03 class , the Chicago boy who will smile and say his name letter by letter when the reporter forgets his name, I am afraid that it will be the first choice of many people.

When James and Anthony were far from touching the floor of the finals, Wade had already led the team to win the championship and won the first fmvp of his career. Dwyane Wade won the championship in his third season of his career.

This honor is what everyone yearns for. The team that originally thought James and Anthony were far better than Wade re-examined him. Pat Riley, Jordan's lifelong enemy, called the player most like Jordan. It is Jordan who is five centimeters shorter!

No one believed his words at the beginning, but Wade's performance in the finals undoubtedly slapped these people severely. He used his bloodthirsty to tell everyone what Jordan is five centimeters shorter!

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, Wade, who was the first to win the championship in 03, has completely become an out-and-out dark horse. At least in the eyes of everyone, he is no better than James, the former All-American. Worse than Anthony, if not better!

Many great stars have never been able to win a championship in their lifetime, let alone rookies like them. No one is sure that James or Anthony will definitely be able to win a championship in their careers, let alone get one that belongs to Own fmvp, this is too far away!

But at the moment in the Miami Heat arena, Dwyane was not in a good mood like a smug fmvp, he frowned and looked at the basketball in his hand.

He originally put down his rhetoric before the game and planned to lead the team to move forward in the new season and break into the finals to defend the title, but the current situation of the team is really terrible!
How bad has the Heat been since the start of the game?

Just achieving a record of 9 wins and 11 losses in the sixth place in the East made everyone a little disappointed. This should not be the record of a defending champion.

They slipped so fast, it's not normal!
But this situation is expected by some veterans. Let's take a look at the starting lineup of the Heat this season.

Dwyane Wade, 24, Shaquille O'Neal, 34, Jason Williams, 31, Alonzo Mourning, 36, Gary Payton, 38!
Except for Wade, who is still in the rookie contract, what the team can really play is these old guys with an average age of 35!
This is already an extremely aging team, which is why many people disdain Wade's words at the beginning of the season. This team has paid too much for the championship last season. Now It has inevitably gone downhill, this is the fate of many teams!

It is impossible to rely solely on a group of young people to compete for the championship. It is not enough to have passion and drive. The team must have veteran players with experience in the playoffs or even the finals, and the veteran players must not be the kind who intend to mess up. Life is good, otherwise it will have a great impact on the Heat players who are aspiring to compete for the championship.

So Pat Riley spent a lot of energy last season to get the glove Payton, white chocolate Williams, plus the team's pinnacle, Alonzo Mourning, one of the best centers in history , There are also Fat Toutuo Antoine Walker and the all-around fighter James Worthy on the bench. After a season of running-in, the Heat finally won the championship last season.

But at the beginning of this season, all the problems of the championship team came out.

The most important thing is the serious aging of Shark O'Neal. The most dominant player in the history of the basket inevitably declined when he was 34 years old. At the beginning, all the Heat management still had some hope , Although O'Neill has some injuries to his toes, as long as he recuperates, there should be no problem.

And he is very serious about taking care of his body and paying attention to his diet. This player who was originally bohemian and hated it the most finally succumbed to fate when he felt the changes in his body, but God did not let him go.

No matter how powerful a person is, they are no match for the ravages of time. This is the greatest energy in the world!
In the sighs of Pat Riley and all the Heat players, the sharp teeth of the big shark O'Neal, the sharp teeth that can tear everything apart, are slowly aging after all. After passing the peak period, he has degenerated!

Coupled with the further degradation of other old guys, the Miami Heat, who were on top of the world a few months ago, have finally reached the critical line.

Their salaries are extremely unreasonable now. Now the highest salary is O'Neal's 2000 million US dollars, the next Williams is only 800 million US dollars, and the team's total salary is 6400 million US dollars. However, the salary cap of the NBA this season It is only 5300 million US dollars, which has exceeded the salary cap by more than 1000 million, and this is because the team owner is willing to pay the luxury tax after winning the championship.

But this season has been played like this since the beginning. Wade's rookie contract, one of the most important foundations for the team to win the championship, is about to expire. Next season, Wade must be given a single-season contract of about 300 million. The total salary of the Heat must be greater!

The whole world knows their ending, even Payton and Williams, who won the first championship in their lives, are satisfied, but there is only one person who can hardly accept such an ending.

In his vision, he should lead the team to continue to win the next championship, and then strive for three consecutive championships, to look at the greatest team in his hometown, to stand in the long river of time and stop looking up, and instead It is the eyes of the greatest hero in Chicago and the greatest star in history!
He can stand on the biggest place in Chicago and tell everyone that he is the pride of everyone in Chicago, his relatives and friends, and all Chicagoans are proud of him!
So now watching the Heat fall off the cliff a little bit, he is really not reconciled. Since the beginning of the season, he has averaged 40 minutes per game, making him one of the players with the most minutes in the league, second only to Kobe!

He breaks through dunks, throws mid-range shots, and he uses all his moves to save this aging Heat team that is almost hopeless in the eyes of outsiders. He thinks he can, because he is Wade!
But when the time came to the middle of December, he was a little frustrated, as if he really couldn't do it.

Although he has done a lot, he has been trying to do things beyond his ability to change everything that is sluggish, and has been encouraging his teammates and arousing their fighting spirit, but it is really useless.

Pat Riley stood in the stands and looked at Wade with a dazed and unwilling expression. He was a little helpless at Wade who was sweating angrily.

In fact, to be honest, he has also begun to consider whether to give up this season. If O'Neal does not degenerate, then it is impossible to compete for two consecutive championships, but now it seems that it is too difficult to compete for the championship.

The fact is so cruel. It was the champion a few months ago, but it slipped to the end of the playoffs in a blink of an eye. This is the fact that no matter how high the waves are, they will eventually fall.

(End of this chapter)