The Disease of Me

"The Disease of Me leads to the Defeat of Us."

1.        CHRONIC FEELINGS OF UNDER APPRECIATION – FOCUS ON ONESELF.

2.         PARANOIA OVER BEING CHEATED OUT OF ONE’S RIGHTFUL SHARE.

3.         LEADERSHIP VACUUM RESULTING FROM FORMATION OF CLIQUES AND RIVALRIES.

4.         FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATION EVEN WHEN THE TEAM PERFORMS SUCCESSFULLY.

5.         PERSONAL EFFORT MUSTERED SOLELY TO OUTSHINE ONE’S TEAMMATE.

6.         RESENTMENT OF THE COMPETENCE OF ANOTHER – REFUSE TO ADMIT HIS CONTRIBUTION.

I wish I could take credit for saying that, but I am not the genius that is Pat Riley. In his book, The Winner Within, Pat Riley goes in depth in analyzing his years with the Lakers. He tells us how after winning the championship in 1980, the following year players started to gripe about who was getting the attention and credit for being the "reason" they were so successful. Just to keep things in perspective, Magic Johnson was still a kid and this team had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Many were giving the credit to Magic Johnson. So what does Kareem Abdul-Jabbar do? That off-season he worked out harder than ever before and reported to training camp in the best shape of his life. However, his intention was not to show up in better shape to help the team, his intention was to prove he was the best player and the main reason why they were winning. This type of attitude became an issue for the entire team and lead to them falling apart. Additionally, Magic Johnson got a 25 year, $25 million deal which didn't help much.

What really created the rift between the Lakers' players? I say the media. Outsiders who wish to do nothing but harm the core of a team. If you think for one second players are not cognizant of what is being said about them you have not been paying attention to sports for too long. Part of the reason the Bulls' dynasty was dismantled was due to Scottie Pippen griping with management over what he perceived as a slight when they signed Toni Kukoc and low-balled him on a new contract. Jerry Krause also felt Phil Jackson was getting too much credit for winning championships. According to Krause, he was responsible for assembling the team, therefore he should get the credit. Then there was the famous line from Krause: "Michael Jordan doesn't win championships. Teams win championships." Scottie dipped out of town, Phil wasn't resigned, Michael retired.

The reason I am writing this is because I just read Bill Simmons' article about the Miami Heat.ESPN-Simmons article. In the article, Simmons compares Dwyane Wade and Lebron James' relationship to that of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Michael Eisner was the CEO of Disney for a while and was responsible for the deal that brought ABC and ESPN to Disney. Simmons argues the Miami Heat will not "come together" until Dwyane Wade has a Frank Wells moment and realizes he is not the Chairman and CEO of the Miami Heat, but rather Lebron James is and Wade should settle for being second in command.

My take on the whole situation? Simmons should shut up. He's jumping to conclusions early in the season, as are the rest of the so called experts. Dwyane Wade and Lebron James are two of the greatest athletes to ever play in the NBA. Both of them are very conscious about their image and their legacies. They understand the decision they made requires them to succeed. Success means multiple championships. One or two will not suffice in the eyes of the sports world. In order to accomplish this, the duo must understand they will need to sacrifice and that on any given night one of them will be the hero, the other the sidekick. There is no need to define the roles now, and the roles can change depending on match-ups or other variables. For example, if Wade is on fire and hitting every shot he takes, I promise you Lebron James is going to keep feeding him. Wade is also aware that there will be times where Lebron wants the ball and he will barrel his way into the lane and either score or draw a foul.  One night one of them can be Superman, the other Batman. (I refuse to use the Batman and Robin analogy because Robin is definitely the side-kick to Batman, whereas in Comic book world Batman and Superman are considered equal). Superman/Batman

I do not feel for one second that these future Hall of Famers will fall into the trap the media has created for them. Feel free to argue they created the trap for themselves, but I don't see it that way. Everyone in the country is writing these "hate" filled articles about this Miami Heat team. Each time they lose someone will try to over-analyze the reason.

Recently, that reason was Chris Bosh. The national media was speculating whether or not it was time to trade Chris Bosh. Bosh was labeled "soft" and was criticized for looking "lost" during the first few games. I shared in this view, however I was not going to start talking about trading him after 8 or 9 games. Tim Legler, Charles Barkley, Jon Barry (he's my favorite one of all) have all publicly made comments about how the Miami Heat doesn't have what it takes, Lebron and Wade look awkward together, Bosh doesn't rebound, etc. I would love to know, just for the record here, how many of them won an NBA championship? Ouch. Guess they didn't have what it took. Ten games is definitely enough to gauge how good this team will be. What world do these people live in? How can you speculate so wildly? What bothers me the most is how no one calls them out on this! All of their comments are generalizations that require no real analysis.

I would like to take an example from Hollywood of how it is possible to take stars, put them all in one movie, and get the desired result. The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, starred Leonardo Dicaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon. Mark Wahlberg was a nice supporting piece who many would also consider to be a top notch actor. The movie won Best Picture and Martin Scorsese won Best Director. You're probably thinking, "Erik Spoelstra is not Martin Scorsese." You'd be right in saying that, but Pat Riley sure is. Like Riley said, "The Disease of Me will lead to the Defeat of Us." I'm sure Riles will do whatever it takes to make sure this team achieves the success it was built for, even if that means he may have to return to the bench to make it happen.

Oh, and by the way, back to the Michael Eisner reference in Simmons' column: he's also the guy who drove away Jeffery Katzenberg. Anyone know who that is? Heard of Dreamworks? Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, all got together and founded Dreamworks SKG. All the subtle Disney jokes in Shrek? That's Katzenberg giving the middle finger to Disney. Hopefully the Miami Heat will be doing the same to the critics at the end of this season.

The Disease of Me