THE SPORTS DOCTOR- Ego trio: What's wrong with LeBron's big move

Who is Chris Bosh? Who is Erik Spoelstra?
Flickr/Keith Allison

There's really nothing to write about LeBron James that hasn't already been written since he showed so little dignity in the way he announced his move to Miami– and even less good sense. James has every right to go where he wants, but the manner in which he made this move saturates him with a stink of vanity and callousness that will not soon dissipate. 

Speaking of hubris, if you caught James' celebratory entrance into Miami Friday, July 9, you undoubtedly saw Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh by his side– or rather lifted into the air by a forklift amid plumes of smoke. It was easily as disgusting and self-indulgent a spectacle as the sport has ever witnessed, but what turned it into an outright joke was D-Wade's words during the question and answer period.

"This is surpassing a dream come true," Wade said. "You always want to put yourself in the best position possible. To have an opportunity to team up with arguably the best trio to ever play the game of basketball is amazing."  

One more time for the cheap seats in the back.

"To have an opportunity to team up with arguably the best trio to ever play the game of basketball...?"

Arguably? Wade got that part right at least. (I reckon he didn't realize that teaming up with a trio usually adds up to four people, not three. And do I really need to mention Kareem, Magic, and James Worthy?) 

Okay, Dwyane Wade, I'll ask the question no one in the audience dared ask: Just who the heck do you think ya'll are? 

Frankly, James and Wade don't seem to be thinking at all; they're just letting their mouths flap and flap with nary a pause and without giving anything they say a first or second thought. (Okay, maybe one pause for some Vitamin Water product placement. And as far as I can tell, Chris Bosh doesn't really speak: he just stands around looking like Snoop's doppelganger). 

What, besides a total lack of brain function, could explain the duo's disrespectful conduct toward Heat coach Erik Spoelstra– with the ink on LeBron's contract not even dry? 

When they weren't stroking their own egos, James and Wade were kissing the bum of Pat Riley, Miami Heat president, six-time NBA championship coach (once as an assistant), and three-time NBA coach of the year. Riley was in the stands during the James/Wade/themselves lovefest on July 9, perched on a stool and handling his microphone as if he were Diddy trying to impress the ladies. 

LeBron practically begged him to leave the front office and get back down to the bench– this after he credited everyone but coach Spoelstra as a reason for his move to Miami. 

Actually, Spoelstra's name was mentioned even fewer times than Chris Bosh's. (Incredible, isn't it? I didn't think anyone's name was mentioned fewer times than Chris Bosh's.) Why bother mentioning it at all? Spoelstra is in the third and final year of his coaching contract with the Heat, so at best he's something the ego-twins have to tolerate until next spring, and at worst he's a pest they will alternately undermine and ignore until they get their way: Pat Riley back on the bench. 

Considering that James, Wade, (and Bosh– don't forget about him) are "arguably the best trio ever to play the game of basketball," it would seem that any coach, even Pat Riley, would be just so much dead weight to be jettisoned at the first opportunity. 

LeBron and D-Wade seem pretty confident they know how to win not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven championships: supposedly the magic formula includes "taking care of business," "Hollywood," "sacrifice (of money and points)," Derek Fisher, $300+ million, "a feeling," Kanye West, and the numbers one and six. 

All that plus LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, of course.

Durn– and Chris Bosh– I keep forgetting about that guy.

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Juanita Giles lives in Keysville where she makes videos and updates her http://thesportsdr.com/">Sports Doctor site.

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