Sure, the Miami Heat have the chance to be the best team in basketball this season. But winning upwards of 70 games? That's getting carried away a bit, isn't it?
Former NBA head coach and ABC Sports' Jeff Van Gundy doesn't think so. Recently, Van Gundy stated he thought the superteam that is now the Miami Heat will challenge the Chicago Bulls' record of 72 regular-season wins in the 1995-96 season.
"They will break the single-season win record," Van Gundy said. "And I think they have a legit shot at the Lakers' 33-game [winning] streak [in 1971-72], as well. And only the Lakers have even a remote shot at beating them in a playoff series. They will never lose two games in a row this year."
It didn't end there, though. Van Gundy also went on to say that this upcoming season might as well be a formality when he added, "The other 29 teams better hope the lockout gets moved up a year."
Whoa.
There's no question the Heat are going to be among the NBA's elite this year. Even if the Heat decide to go with a starting five that includes former Miami Vice stars Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas in addition to LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, they'd probably still be a playoff team.
But to say that there's only one team in the NBA that has "even a remote shot at beating them in a playoff series" and that they won't lose consecutive games all years, isn't that a bit much?
The Chicago Bulls team whose wins record Van Gundy thinks Miami will shatter was a team that had the best player ever in Michael Jordan and was in the midst of a dynasty. Meanwhile, the Heat have a roster that will have an entirely new rotation this season.
Steve Kerr, who's now an NBA analyst and was a player on that Bulls squad, thinks it's possible that the Heat could break his team's record, but cautions it won't be easy.
"There are too many variables, too many meaningless games, too many bad shooting nights, too much playoff preparation," Kerr said.
Kerr, who's been there before, makes some good points. First of all, the NBA is full of meaningless games. The NBA season now plays out like many NBA games. Many teams don't really turn it on until they hit the stretch run, a lot like how on many nights you won't see a team's best basketball until late in the game.
With that in mind, it's tough to think that a team with as much talent and potential as the Heat won't get bored. They might give some games away while looking ahead. They're going to want to be healthy come playoff time, so it doesn't make sense for them to keep their foot firmly pressed on the accelerator all season long. Just look at the Celtics team that made a championship run this past season. Granted, there's an age descrepancy between the two, but good teams realize that you need to be at your best in June even if it means taking some of the meaning out of games in January.
Not only that, there are still plenty of good teams to challenge the Heat night in and night out. They're going to have a target on their backs all year long and teams like the Celtics, Lakers and Magic are going to want to make statements when they play the Heat. Every night, the Heat will get their opponents' best games. It's the type of hype that usually surrounds a team coming off of a title run, but the Heat will have it even before the ball is tipped on opening night.
Good teams learn how to deal with that. Practically no one was better at dealing with that than the Bulls of the 90's. The Heat have a chance to get there, just don't expect it to happen right away. There's a reason dynasties don't show up over night.
