LeBron’s superteam history
In 2010 LeBron James teamed up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh forming a superteam in Miami. During LeBron’s time playing in South Beach, he and Wade formed an awkward duo who mostly took turns running the offense.
Chris Bosh went from a dominating post player to an outside shooter to draw the opposing team’s big away from the rim, which opened up the middle of the floor for LeBron and Dwyane to maneuver.
However, as Bosh adapted his game and took the majority of his shots from distance, he rarely made 3-pointers. Only .024 percent of his shots came from beyond the arc in 2010 and .067 in 2011. Instead, Bosh took the majority of his shots from 16 feet to the 3-point line, the worst shot in the game.
Miami didn’t run great offense sets. Instead, they scored at a high rate based on the brilliance of two all-time great players; LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
One area that often gets forgotten is that the Heat had one of the best defenses in the league, capable of switching multiple times per play and smothering opposing teams pick and roll actions.
The reason the Miami Heat were able to win multiple championships was because of the way they dominated teams on the less glamorous side of the ball.
In 2014 LeBron James left Miami after winning two championships and went back to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers.
Immediately upon LBJ’s arrival, the Cavaliers snagged Kevin Love to team up with LeBron and Kyrie Irving, creating another superteam. This dynamic threesome was built in a very similar way to the Miami Heat.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving took turns running the offense, and Kevin Love played the role Chris Bosh started down south by spreading the floor.
The Cavaliers offense was better than the Heat’s, because Kevin Love, unlike Chris Bosh, shied away from inefficient long two’s and instead hoisted up over five 3-pointers every year he suited up next to LeBron James.
Cleveland’s defense was another story, though. The Cavaliers featured three sub-par defenders (Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, and Kevin Love) in their main rotation throughout LeBron’s second stint in Ohio. In the end, the Cavaliers were never able to emulate the pressure defense that LeBron James and company perfected in Miami, and they only won one championship.
This new rendition of the Lakers, containing LeBron James and Anthony Davis, has been labeled as one of the great modern duos in the NBA. However, that’s a false label, the Purple and Gold will form into LeBron’s third and final superteam, capable of scoring at will in a similar fashion to LeBron’s Cavs and locking in on defense like LBJ’s Heat squads .