The Aftermath: Lebron Joins D-Wade and Bosh in Miami

Now that the dust has settled from the "Free Agency Bomb" Lebron James set off when he decided not to re-sign with Cleveland and "take his talents to South Beach" to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form the new "Big Three", let's take a look at how I think each free agent on my top 5 list will fare this upcoming NBA season. Let's start with...

1. Dirk Nowitzki - As predicted, he re-signs with Dallas, who in all reality was the only team interested in the Big German. Dirk will continue to put up solid numbers and will keep his team competitive well into the playoffs. Given how the Mavericks have fared in the playoffs in the last four years, he will always have to carry the burden of being labeled a "big stage choker" until he can once again lead "his" team into the finals (they don't necessarily have to win it). They re-signed center Brendan Haywood and acquired Tyson Chandler via trade which should make their frontcourt quite formidable (but nothing close to special) as they try to uproot the Los Angeles Lakers from their Western Conference throne. The real key to the Mavs success is whether Jason Kidd can still play at an elite level and raise the game of Caron Butler who needs to pick up the scoring slack left vacant by Josh Howard.

Prediction: The Mavs will have another solid season with a possible return to the Western Conference finals were they will meet their demise at the hands of the defending champs.

2. Amar'e Stoudemire - It was a sure bet that he would leave the Suns while joining the Knicks was a good calculated guess on my end since NY was the only team, with D'Antoni's offensive system, best suited for Amar'e's game which is all offense, all the time. How will his reconstructed knees and surgically repaired eye hold up during the 5 years of his contract with the Knicks only time will tell. With the addition of Raymond Felton to the line-up, who's no Steve Nash, the Knicks should at least be more entertaining to watch than last year's squad. Will they be competitive in the re-vamped East...well at least they'll be entertaining to watch.

Prediction: The Knicks will miss the playoffs by the slimmest of margins and will probably be one of the top 3 scoring teams in the league and probably the worst defensively. Losing the Lebron sweepstakes really hurt them and is still one top free agent away from being a contender. Will Knicks management be patient enough to wait for the right piece to come along or will they prematurely pull the trigger on a bad acquisition due to pressure from the fading Knicks' fanbase?

3, 4 & 5 - Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade & Lebron James - Chris was a shoe-in to join D-Wade, who also made it clear he was staying, with the Heat. The biggest surprise came when LBJ announced on national television that he was going to leave Cleveland and join the Miami Heat to form what can be labeled as a "Super Team". I was almost sure he would either re-sign with Cleveland, who owned the best record in the NBA last season, or sign with Chicago with their young line-up of stars (along with the addition of former running mate Carlos Boozer) ready to make the primetime with James as their centerpiece. Instead James opted to go to a team that gave him the best opportunity to win a championship.

The Heat arguably have 3 of the top 7 players in the league and will make a strong case to be favored to "win it all" this upcoming NBA season. The eminent signing of sharpshooter Mike Miller further strengthen's this arguement. But signing such big names has left the team with little money to fill significant holes in their roster. Sure, they may have the most talented starting line-up with Mario Chalmers (PG), Wade (SG), Lebron (SF) Bosh (PF) and Haslem (a very undersized C) but what about their bench? Jermaine O'Neal has left to join the other old men in Boston for one final championship run and Derek Fisher who would have been a nice veteran pick up at PG decided to stay with the Lakers. We'll just have to wait and see what Pat Riley has up his sleeve in the coming weeks.

Prediction: Just like the Lebron "Decision", the success of the Heat in the 2010/11 season is hard to predict. It will all fall on how well the pieces (once they have them) fit together to form a "team". But if I had to make a prediction (and I will) the Miami Heat, solely riding on the talents of its Big Three, will jump out and secure the best record in the league 25 games into the season. They'll hit a few bumps and show some signs of weakness before the All-Star break but will regain their stride after a shocking 3 or 4 game losing streak. But the long season will start to wear on the Heat's superstars and teams are adjusting to the Heat's lack of offensive flexibility given that LBJ and D-Wade share similar offensive styles which demand too much of the ball in either of their hands thus limiting the effectiveness of Bosh, exposing the fact that Chris was only an effective scorer when he's the focal point of the team's offense. Defenses play more zone and will dare the Heat to shoot from the outside which will put too much pressure on Miller to perform. At the end of the regular season, the Heat will still have the best record in the league but will have some lingering doubts about their overall effectiveness as a team heading into the playoffs. This will be put to the test against a strong Chicago squad which will push them to the limit before advancing in 7 seven games to the Eastern Conference semifinals. There, the veteran savvy and balanced attack of the Boston Celtics will prove to be a far greater challenge than expected and super teammates (Wade and James) will take turns inefficiently scoring thus isolating the rest of their teammates causing a team meltdown which ends their playoff run.

Of course all of this is speculation and just for the mere fun of trying to predict the fortunes of each of these players and their teams. I do this simply as a fan who is passionate about the sport of basketball. So let's all pull up a seat and enjoy watching all the thrills and drama unfold in this upcoming NBA season...it looks like it'll be a wild one for sure!