Miami Heat Dealing With NBA’s Double Standards


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5 Examples Of The Miami Heat Versus The League’s Double Standard

Miami Heat
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

As free agency rolls on, you’ll begin to noticed stories about Dwight Howard wanting the Houston Rockets to add a third star to the bunch or how the Dallas Mavericks cleared enough money to fight for a few big name free agents.

The same thing the Miami Heat did to sign LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

But for as much criticism as Miami received, it’s pretty funny to see pundits defend and applaud players as they try to team up and dictate the game.

And there’s not an ounce of backlash, because people tend to think that dream teams all started with James.

It’s like they pretend that they never heard of Charles Barkley forcing his way to Houston so that he could play with Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Scottie Pippen.

It’s like they pretend that they never saw the embarrassing soap opera that was the Los Angeles Lakers after Karl Malone and Gary Payton arrived there.

I don't want to hear that it was okay because they were older and chasing a chip. That's no excuse. Free agency gives you the right to choose, and Bosh, James and Wade chose to win championships. So did the main cog in the Boston Celtics.

Although revisionist history will not tell you this, every story in 2007 did.

Kevin Garnett flat out refused a trade to Boston until they pulled off a draft-day deal to bring in Ray Allen. In all honesty, Garnett’s consent built Beantown’s Big 3. Then when KG’s coach left, he waived his no-trade clause to get he and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn.

That’s two trades that Garnett wouldn’t have approved unless he was going to a place where he would get help. Just like James did in free agency.

The only difference is James ended up with a world full of Heat haters while the Brooklyn Nets gained championship expectations.

For more examples of the league’s double standards, click next to see the best five slides.

Please feel free to comment using the section below, or reach out to us using the hash tag #RML, for Rant My Life.

Richard Nurse is a Miami Heat columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr.

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Doc's Exit To L.A.

Doc Rivers
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Besides Bill Simmons, there aren’t many people admonishing Doc Rivers’ decision to skip out on the last three years of his contract to pursue another championship.

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New Kidd On The Block

Jason Kidd
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Will Jason Kidd’s coaching ability be questioned like Miami coach Erik Spoelstra’s was whenever his loaded team struggled to live up to their superhuman expectations?

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CP3’s Big Three

Chris Paul
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Paul did everything from toast to a future Big 3 of he, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire to inquire about teaming with Dwight Howard.

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The Dwight-Capades

Dwight Howard
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

People have been critical of Dwight Howard for everything except his desire for the Houston Rockets to bring another max player into the mix.

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The Original

Kevin Garnett
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Garnett has been called the ultimate team player but six years ago, but he only agreed to wear a Celtics’ green after he watched Boston acquire Ray Allen.

Six years later, he once again showed his picking power by waving his no-trade clause so he could continue his weird obsession of only playing with Paul Pierce, or for Doc Rivers.



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