Star triumvirate in Miami could be triple trouble down road

LeBron James. Taking a pass from Dwyane Wade. Coming off a pick set by Chris Bosh.

Or, next time downcourt, Wade slashing through the lane. Kicking it out to James at 22 feet. Whose shot instead becomes an alley-oop that Bosh goes improbably high to catch and finish.

There's a version, too, among the dozens in which Bosh initiates the play and it's James or Wade throwing down two points on some thoroughly overmatched opponent. Essentially, if all three of the NBA's megastar, soon-to-be free agents were to sign with the Miami Heat, we could have the equivalent of gold-medal moments like that 82 times each season. And another 20-24 times in the postseason, unless this group got so good it needs only 16.

But what worked so well in Beijing might not play out as happily in Memphis, Sacramento, New Orleans or even in South Florida. What was great for the U-S-of-A for a few weeks one summer might not be good for the N-B-of-A over five, six or seven years.

The Miami Plan -- or the Miami Astound Machine, if you will -- is as dangerous as it is fascinating. And we don't just mean on the court.

With the salary-cap space that the Heat cleared in the days leading up to last week's Draft -- and with another roster tweak, such as unloading Michael Beasley and his contract, or with a wink-wink, slightly-less-than-"max" adjustment on the part of the targeted titans -- Miami would be positioned to sign not one, not two but three of the marquee names hitting the market Thursday at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

The anchor piece, of course, would be Wade, who already has what a lot of these 2010 free agents will be seeking as they shop for teams in the coming crazy days: A championship ring. Coincidence, then, that among the top-tier guys, the Heat shooting guard is the one likeliest to stay put? Hardly. Wade doesn't need a new team, a new organization, a new approach. He just needs renewed ones, on all those fronts.

That's where Miami president Pat Riley comes in, with all his glamour and intensity and pedigree and power-breakfast speaking skills. Air-dropping Riley into Akron, Ohio, to make the sales presentation to James before or after Riley's rivals from New York, New Jersey, Chicago or the L.A. Clippers make theirs seems like unleashing a pit bull in the poodle salon. None of the others has done what Riley has done or gone where he's gone, and most of that is precisely what James claims to want to do and where he wants to go.

Three of those pursuers -- the Knicks, the Nets and the Clippers -- have been the worst teams in the league for most of James' lifetime, and the Bulls haven't chased an NBA title since James was chasing puberty. Riley has a fistful of rings, including one won in 2006. He came downstairs that season to coach the Heat to a title and presumably would do the same in 2010-11 if James and then Bosh joined Wade on one star-drenched roster. (Bosh falling in line if James signs with Miami seems as likely as Wade staying put, despite the Toronto power forward's comment about being a "centerpiece" guy.)

Let's pause for a moment to appreciate the wonderfulness, or at least significance, of this. While that core couldn't necessarily be classified as the NBA's three best players uniting to kick the rest of the league's butts -- you probably would want James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard for ultimate formidability -- it would be close enough. Closer, certainly, than this league ever has seen before, with the possible exception of a few of Bill Russell's Celtics teams.

People thought the G2 conference up in Toronto was some sort of dazzling assemblage of superpower leaders? Wade, James and Bosh would be a Gee, Three! summit.

In theory, it would be can't-miss. A fantasy-leaguer's dream. A rewind of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, only what they might have been like playing alongside Karl Malone. And an incredible experiment regardless of your chosen field of study.

As a basketball experiment, it would be fascinating to see the Xs and Os brought to life by such remarkable talents. Who would initiate the action? How would their skills mesh? Where would the outside shooting come from? Then again, with double-teams demanded at three spots, simple math says there would be 2 ½ guys left mostly open much of the time.

As chemistry and psychology experiments, we could learn much about the dynamics of ego, the power of sacrifice and the ingredients needed to bind together such strong personalities. What would the pecking order be? We pretty much know who'd be No. 3, but how would Nos. 1 and 2 get divvied up? Would Wade have squatter's rights because it was his town first? If so, what's higher in the royal flow-chart than King?

As a financial experiment, we might finally get to see how the New York Yankees' methodology of team-building works in pro basketball. The NBA largely has been protected from that by its salary cap, but this would be as close as a hoops team can get to opening the wallet for the best of the best.

Even if a spend-spend-spend approach isn't quite what the Yankees do (they're more like spend-spend-spend-spend to about the 25th power), it would force Miami and the rest of the league to find out what happens when most of the remaining players are brought in on minimum contracts. Would the Gee, Three! be surrounded by marginal talent? Or would they, on their reputations and expectations of success, lure enough solid teammates who'd take serious pay cuts to nail down rings themselves?

As a cultural experiment, seeing how such a galaxy of stars would shine away from the gyms would be fascinating, too. Would they hang together? Would they share off-court opportunities? In other words, would Bosh get a puppet and would Charles Barkley be elbowed out of the T-Mobile spots?

Finally, as a political and competitive experiment ... well, here's where things get dicey. We'd start by assuming that Cleveland and Toronto, abandoned by James and Bosh respectively, would be toast. At least for a (long) while. But what about other markets and their preference for building toward a championship the old-fashioned way? Could they compete with the instant mix of superstars, money and minimal stirring?

What, too, would it say about James and Wade as competitors? Would friendship and the idea of dominating the NBA together appeal to them more than butting heads year after year to determine who's best? As great as the first Dream Team was, the NBA would have lost something if Magic Johnson and Larry Bird hadn't been rivals, if Michael Jordan hadn't locked both of them in his sights, and so on.

The Miami Plan would be swell in July. Certainly this July. I'm just not so sure about November through June.

Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA for 25 years. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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