The year was supposed to be miserable, a throwaway season trapped between expiring contracts and an instant rebuild; a year in which the Heat's main goal was to grow a couple of second-year players and just plain survive it all with Dwyane Wade still speaking to the front office.
But a funny thing happened: the Heat, gelled at the right time, leapt from 9th to 5th place in a month, made the playoffs, and, despite a hefty dose of personal turmoil, are enjoying each other. And perhaps most importantly, Wade wasn't asked to do so much heavy lifting that he's all broken down.
In fact, he's fresh and happy.
"I [didn't] have to score 40 points a night or prove that I can lead the league in scoring to win ballgames," he told Ira Winderman. "When it's time for me to have big nights scoring, I've done it. And when it's time for me not to have big nights scoring, I've done it. I enjoy it that way so much more...
"One thing that's been very consistent, is the brotherhood in the locker room. It never went south."
Second-year coach Erik Spoelstra deserves a good bit of credit for this. Heat fans are used to making the playoffs -- 7 of the last 10 years, after all, have seen the postseason -- but even plain survival is harder to do than you'd think with a revolving door at point, expiring contracts on a supporting cast of has-beens and wanna-bes, a big man coming off big injury, and the temptation to lay it all on the shoulders of MV3.
In fact, of the other NBA teams also treading water and clearing cap space, only one other (Chicago) made the playoffs; none of them, including the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Timberwolves, and Wizards, finished above .500.
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Add the pressure of keeping Wade happy while still finding his footing in just his second year at the helm, and that explains why almost no one thought Spoelstra and the Heat were capable of anything like an 18-4 run to cap the season.
But here they are, with 47 games in the win column, and a good chance at seeing the second round. The season wasn't perfect, nor were all Spoelstra's decisions -- but he got them there, that bunch of Tito Jacksons, and he did it without exhausting his superstar.
The team will look almost entirely different in just a few months, and it should -- but the the baby-faced man in charge should be considered less of a liability. And won't that be a nice change?
