Oh yeah: LAL and MIA both need to sign their stars but use their noggins and negotiate the BDP.
The Colts might not be the best example, but I'm a fan and they'll be in the playoffs for a long time, although they'll need to be lucky to win a Super Bowl. Probably a better example would be the Steelers - always strong, always competitive, never really dominant. The broader point is that I think franchises are more successful when they don't make rash decisions to try to win now. The Spurs are a good example. Or the Braves in the National League. In pretty much every professional sport there are the top tier of teams that are annually mentioned as contenders for the title. Teams can try to get lucky with a big midseason signing, or a blockbuster summer trade but it is rare for the contending teams to do this, or only for a short time (nash in phoenix, shaq in miami). It seems contradictory to me to assert that teams need to "play for a title" and "use their noggin", because I think that negotiating the salary cap successfully precludes a commitment to what I understand "playing for a title" to mean.
Shaq will hold steady next year and Wade will improve. Heat win it all next year, guaranteed, and all the Shaq nay-sayers will have to shut up for a year I would challenge that assertation. I would be terrified if I'm the Heat. If Shaq wasn't motivated this year, what's he going to be like next year? We know he'll be a year older. Let's remember what Simmons for example was saying last year: This was absolute madness. What were these teams thinking? This was Shaq! Still in his prime! A potentially ticked-off, ready-to-destroy-everybody Shaq!!!! For the first time in years, I think Shaq gets himself in ridiculous shape this summer. There's no other way. He has too much to prove, too many scores to settle. In fact, here's how the Vengeance Scale looks right now, with a "1.0" being Mike Piazza's reaction after Clemens threw the bat at him in the 2000 World Series. 8.5 -- Shaq (after finding out that the Lakers were trading him for Odom, Grant and Butler) Except it didn't work out that way. You know, I'd guess there's a 20% chance Shaq shows up at 400lbs next year.
If Shaq wasn't motivated this year, what's he going to be like next year? We know he'll be a year older. Did you even watch the man play this year? He played the entire playoffs on 10 days rest with an injury that normal players take weeks to heal.
There was never any question about Shaq's motivation.
