The Miami Heat are the defending NBA champions, but does that mean they’re the favorite to win the NBA title? Maybe not, according to Chris Bosh.
The Heat forward appeared on the “Kup & Goldie Show” on WQAM in Miami on Friday and called the Lakers the NBA’s best team “on paper.”
“The Lakers, I think, right now, I mean on paper, they probably have the best team in the West and probably the league right now,” Bosh said, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “On paper. I’m saying on paper. But it’s a lot, a lot, it’s a long season. And the best team always isn’t the one who starts out the season as the best team.
“We know we’re the champs, but we have to start off from scratch. We have a lot of chemistry building to do. And we have to come out there and we have to start over. We know favorites and all that stuff really doesn’t matter.”
Bosh pointed out that the Heat were the favorites to win the title when he and LeBron James signed in Miami before the 2010-2011 season, but that they still lost to the Mavericks. Entering a season as the favorite doesn’t guarantee a title, but Bosh recognizes how good the Lakers are after adding Dwight Howard and Steve Nash while keeping Pau Gasol.
“It’s very intriguing, especially not only with Dwight but with Steve, them signing Steve and everything, so it’ll be interesting just to see what type of offense they run, what their philosophy is going to be,” he said, per the Sentinel’s Ira Winderman. “But we have our own things we have to get better at, and we just have to concentrate on ourselves. But we will be watching them, that’s for sure.”
How will the Heat deal with the Lakers’ size advantage?
“We’re one of the most versatile teams in the NBA. So, I mean, we can play small, but as long as we win that rebounding battle, that’s all that’s important. With that said, they’re a very big team, but we’re very fast, so something’s got to give.”
I think the difference in size between the teams is what could give the Lakers an advantage head-to-head, but that doesn’t mean I’d say they’re better than the Heat. If LeBron continues to play the way he did in the playoffs last season, they should repeat. And I still maintain that the Lakers will have a tough time beating the Thunder to reach the NBA Finals.
