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NBA ALL-STAR ISSUE π

MEN IN BLACK III AGENTS JAMES, WADE & BOSH TAKE ON THE UNIVERSE

www.dimemag.comMAYA / #68 / MARCHMOORE 2012 TELLS US ALL HER PLUS: SECRETS THE FUTURE OF Issue #68 March 2012 www.dimemag.com

Editor & Publisher Josh Gotthelf – [email protected]

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Managing Editor Aron Phillips – [email protected]

Staff Writer Sean Sweeney – [email protected]

Art Direction Alexis Cook

Contributing Photographers Keith Allison David Alvarez Sid Ashford Chris Charles Tom Ciszek Joe Epstein Bob Frischmann Steven Gabriele Rebecca Goldschmidt Dorothy Hong Brian Jenkins Gary Land Troy Paraiso Paul Savramis Brandon Smith 62 Contributing Writers Michael Aufses Austin L. Burton Heat Julian Caldwell Alejandro Danois Andrew Greif Bryan Horowitz Jack Jensen Martin Kessler Daniel Marks Dylan Murphy Eric Newman Lucas Shapiro

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8 Photo. David Alvarez Does anyone else find it strange that the hottest months for our favorites to win the NBA championship in 2012. From there, basketball take place during the coldest months in America? All- we feature three of the NBA’s rising stars – Landry Fields, DeMar Star Weekend. Trade deadline. March Madness. For a sport played DeRozan and – as well as sit down for an extremely year-round, February and March are by far the most exciting candid interview with Spencer Haywood, one of the most underrated times for the game we love. While tertiary fans may not start basketball players of all time and a true pioneer in the game. paying attention to the NBA or NCAA until after the BCS National Championship or Super Bowl are over, us diehards are waiting, Just as the start of the season brought to Los Angeles, ready to tell them everything they missed. Lamar Odom to and to New York, by the time our next issue hits stands, the distribution of wealth may It’s astounding that the average age of this year’s All-Star Game have shifted again. So sit back and enjoy – we wouldn’t want it starters is just over 26 years old. Aside from , who any other way. ties , Karl Malone and Shaquille O’Neal for the most consecutive All-Star nods in NBA history with 14, the future is in -Aron Phillips, Managing Editor the hands of nine players all born in the ’80s. And with the game reaching fans in over 200 countries and in more than 40 languages, it’s safe to say that the revolution will be televised.

When putting together our All-Star Issue this year, we did our best to bring you the most compelling stories the game has to offer. Starting with LeBron James, , and the , we take you inside the makings of a dynasty, and BAND OF BROT HERS

62 FALLING SHORT OF AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2011 WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN FOR LEBRON JAMES, DWYANE WADE, CHRIS BOSH AND THE MIAMI HEAT. BUT IT MAY HAVE BEEN EXACTLY WHAT THE NBA’S SUPER-TEAM NEEDED TO TRULY BECOME A DYNASTY, STARTING WITH A TITLE IN 2012.

BAND OFWORDS. Austin L. Burton PHOTOS. David Alvarez OT HERS

63 First, we’ll look at the last one.

The man who, once upon a time, rep- In the traveling super-group that is the resented the NBA for an entire country Miami Heat, Bosh is the unsung yet un- as the face of the league’s only Cana- expendable bass player. The 6-11 power dian franchise. The man whose career forward stands firmly outside of the numbers mirror basketball legends, yet spotlight created by his two more famous to call forth his name in a Hall of Fame teammates, LeBron James discussion could get you laughed out of and Dwyane Wade, mak- barbershops from Oakland to Orlando. ing beautiful music that only true connois- The man who should, by all rights, be to- seurs of the form can fully appreciate. If day what David Robinson was yesterday LeBron and D-Wade are the Wesley Snipes – intelligent and iconic, as graceful on and Denzel Washington in this Mo’ Better the court as he is gracious off of it – but Blues remake, Bosh is Bill Nunn, the big still can’t catch a break with a demand- man in the background pulling everything ing and increasingly hypocritical public. together and making this collection of re- markable talent an actual band. He’s No. 1 in your program, No. 3 in the trinity. Ladies and gentlemen: Chris Bosh. Through the first third of this truncated 66-

64 game NBA season, Bosh is averaging 19.7 agers in a preseason poll to win the 2012 forwards in the East. “I don’t think I am. I points and 7.7 rebounds, connecting on 50 NBA championship. don’t appeal to the popular crowd.” percent of his field goals and 82 percent of his free throws. During a January stretch in And look at where it gets him. When asked why – and he’s been asked which Wade was in and out of the lineup that question ad nauseam by local beat with injuries, Bosh put up four games of “When you say ‘big’ to me, I think of certain writers, GQ and Dime, among others – Bosh 30-plus points and four games of double- players … (Bosh) doesn’t fit in with those repeats what seems like an answer he’s digit rebounds. He owned the fourth quar- certain players,” said future Hall of Fame rehearsed many times: I don’t know … That’s ter of a Jan. 24 win over Cleveland, scoring Shaquille O’Neal earlier this season a good question … It doesn’t really matter to 17 in the final frame and finishing with 35 in his new gig as TNT studio analyst. “Don’t me … I’m just trying to be the best I can be. points. The next night, late in the fourth get me wrong, I respect his game and he’s a quarter at Detroit, Bosh turned a two- great player, but part of the ‘’? No He already might be the best teammate. Miami deficit into a three-point lead with way. Dominant big man? No way.” When this version of the Miami Heat a pair of reverse layups and a , formed its nucleus during an unprecedent- then forced Pistons center Greg Monroe Biased? That too. O'Neal is the same one ed period of NBA free agency in 2010 – a into a critical miss that helped preserve a who, after all, called Bosh “the RuPaul of trio of proven superstars deciding to sign win for the Heat. big men” following a 2009 matchup be- with the same team when each could have tween Bosh’s Toronto Raptors and Shaq’s chosen to be “The Man” on separate teams So far, while Wade struggles to stay healthy Phoenix Suns. – Bosh took the biggest risk. He put his ath- and James still struggles to score in the letic legacy on the line by making the big- fourth quarter, Bosh is the most consis- “I’m not a popular guy, I guess,” Bosh was gest sacrifice to see if this experiment could tently productive member of a team that at quoted in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in work. Because as much as NBA fans and press time owned the second-best record early February, the day after James and media have argued over the Batman-or- (18-6) in the Eastern Conference, and was Wade were named starters for the NBA Robin status of James and Wade, Bosh has picked by 74 percent of NBA general man- All-Star Game. Bosh finished fifth among always been cast as Aqua Man. He is the

65 bronze medalist. In DimeMag.com columns ericks in six games, however, the media just say, ‘It’s LeBron’s fault.’” following the signing, I took to calling him and message board harpoons aimed at the “And Bosh,” because his name is always three big fish would have one believe the The newly-acquired villain label is espe- mentioned last. Heat were an utter failure. cially fascinating when you consider that, when he was coming out of high school LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh. Why? nine years ago, James was being called the next not only because of his D-Wade, LeBron and Bosh. Because negativity is the fuel that powers third-eye passing ability, but also because sports media in the 21st century. Because of his winning smile and childlike enthu- There’s no other way. some 90 years after the Golden Age of siasm on the court. Now in his ninth pro sports journalism, we are now drowning season, he sees exactly why his image has Whereas James endures arrows of criticism in the Mother-in-Law Age, where finding gone from the kid in the white suit on Draft for allegedly conceding that he couldn’t something to complain and nag about Night to the man in the black hat. He sees win a championship as the clear-cut No. has replaced the art of storytelling. Where that from here on out, anything less than a 1 marquee superstar, Bosh’s move to Mi- controversy lives longer than celebration. championship, anything less than historic ami meant that during his prime years, he crunch-time playoff performances, and this would never be able to disprove the more LeBron James knows this. season will mean less than the last. And damning accusation: That he was never a nobody ever accused LeBron James of not No. 1 star to begin with. The two-time NBA regular-season Most having amazing vision. Valuable Player averaged 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists last season for the “That’s the problem with our league. Heat. He was named All-NBA First Team and Sometimes people just evaluate the last All-Defensive First Team. He led the league of games, or you evaluate the last But how bad can a team in field goals made and Player Efficiency 30 seconds of games, and forget about this be whose third-best player is a top-20 tal- Rating, and finished in the top 10 in scoring, is a complete 48-minute game,” James told ent in the league? Or to put it another way: free throws and steals. He was Miami’s best assembled reporters after a Jan. 29 win over How great can they be? player throughout the playoffs, and even in Chicago in which he had 35 points and 11 the NBA Finals series after which his name rebounds – including a Play of the Year can- There was a reason why James, well-versed was tied to the word “choke” more than a didate in which he hurdled Chicago’s John since his early days as a high school bas- mixed martial artist, James still averaged 17.8 Lucas III in mid-air for an alley-oop dunk. ketball phenom in the art of media savvy, points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.6 steals. But he and Bulls superstar Der- felt confident enough to tick off predictions rick Rose each missed crucial free throws of six and seven and eight NBA champi- This season, James has been even better. down the stretch. onships for the Heat at the now-infamous He’s averaged 29.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and post-signing, preseason party at Miami’s 6.8 assists through early February, hitting a “But we understand where you guys come AmericanAirlines Arena. career-high 55 percent of his field goals and from,” James added. “We understand what 41 percent of his three-pointers. makes the headlines, and D-Rose had an And there was a reason why Year One for unbelievable game. But you guys are all the Big Three – which would have been Still not good enough to keep James off this talking about his missed free throws. You considered a resounding success for any year’s Forbes list of America’s Most Disliked also talk about my missed free throws. It’s other NBA team – has gone down in the Athletes. The King ranked sixth. the league, it’s the world we live in.” Easy-Bake version of history as a flop. Put- ting a team on the floor that was complete- “I’m an easy target; if someone wants to The Mother-In-Law narrative of 2011, of ly remade from the season before, bringing get a point across – just throw LeBron’s course, says that LeBron was a failure. together three soloists for a jam session name in there,” James said after his re- That Wade, who averaged 25.5 points, 6.4 when each has grown accustomed to being actionary tweet to Blake Griffin’s instant rebounds and 4.6 assists last season, was a a bandleader, and expecting a champion- classic dunk on Oklahoma City’s Kendrick failure. That the Miami Heat were a failure. ship right away probably was too much. Perkins (among the rest of the world’s 13 But the Heat just had so much talent and million or so reactionary tweets to the That narrative was the preface to this season. so much confidence, a championship was same dunk), drew the ire of Perkins. “You the only acceptable outcome. could be watching cartoons with your kids “It’s kind of good that that year is over,” and you don’t like it, you say, ‘Blame it on Wade said early in Miami’s abbreviated Miami still made it to the 2011 NBA Finals. LeBron.’ If you go to the grocery store and training camp. “Now we can move forward When they lost to the veteran Dallas Mav- they don’t have the milk that you like, you and focus on the team that we want to be.”

Your job? Just watch, and between searching for a reason not to like the Miami Heat, at least try to realize what you’re witnessing.

66 level better than LeBron, was somewhere snipers Mike Miller and James Jones. The Dwyane Wade wasn’t between a surprise and an impossibility. So best collection of three teammates in the even supposed to be here. if any of Miami’s Big Three had an excuse NBA still needs a team to make it happen. to temper expectations and cruise on his Perhaps because it’s been six long years resume, it would be Wade. He is the one, They need the talent, obviously, but also since he led the Heat to the franchise’s after all, who already has a ring. He’s the the defense and the clutch shooting and only NBA championship, winning Finals one who has already overachieved. the rebounding and the forced turnovers MVP as an exploding supernova. Or be- and the focused resolve when games are cause he’s been one of the league’s most But going into the 2011-12 season, Wade on the line. They need the keys to any NBA in-demand corporate pitchmen since that was front and center as the vocal leader championship that cannot be bottled: championship. But the beginning of the of the Heat. And nobody is more invested chemistry and continuity. And they need D-Wade story has been almost forgotten: in the success of this team than the player a reason to get up every morning and work Unlike James, the most hyped-up high who has seen it grow from a lottery squad toward delivering the results that will ulti- school basketball player of all time, and to a title contender, back to lottery and mately weigh heavier than the hype. unlike Bosh, the near seven-foot prep back to the top again. phenom who was good enough to go one- Your job? Just watch, and between search- and-done at , Wade started as He’s not talking (at least publicly) about ing for a reason not to like the Miami Heat, an underdog. winning six or seven titles. One more will at least try to realize what you’re witness- do for now. ing. This is Jordan and Pippen remodeled, Only three colleges recruited Wade at with a smoother Rodman on the side. This Richards High School in Oak Lawn, Ill. He is Kobe and Shaq being friendly with each sat out his freshman year at Marquette other; , Clyde Frazier and Wil- University as an academic non-qualifier. lis Reed emerging from a human growth It wasn’t until a breakout junior year that LeBron James, Dwyane chamber. Should you spend all your time he showed the makings of an NBA star, Wade and Chris Bosh need more than each nitpicking and complaining about it, you’re and even after Miami selected him No. 5 other to fulfill the promises made in the going to miss something special. in the 2003 NBA Draft – James went No. 1 to summer of 2010, which was the original Cleveland and Bosh went No. 4 to Toronto goal of buying into the all-for-one concept. “Being so close and coming up short, it kind – some doubted Wade’s ability to thrive in of sparked something in me,” Bosh told the pros as a shorter two-guard without a They need head coach . reporters after a December training camp consistent three-point stroke. They need point guards session. “We have a short window of time and Norris Cole. They need defensive shut- to play this game, so I feel like I can play Leading the Heat to a championship, and down specialist Shane Battier, big men Joel the best basketball of my life for the next holding status (in the eyes of some) as a Anthony and , and wing six, seven, eight years. And that’ll be it.”

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