The Untouchables

Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Would you trade that for anything?

When your team puts together the greatest off-season heist in the history of the game and puts three franchise players on the same team, it becomes a little bit hard to wait for the season to get under way. Years of speculation came together in one fateful week in July and it has left us in a spot a month and a half later where we are still anxious to see them debut. As bloggers, it is pretty safe to say we have never been here before - the dream became reality on a really large scale. We tend to always discuss the possibilities, but hardly ever do we expect the reality to eclipse the possibilities we had in the back of our minds. Three fifths of the Eastern Conference's All-Star starting lineup are going to play together and they took paycuts to add two premier role players to the mix.

Some bloggers have begun to run out of things to talk about and have started talking about what it would take to trade LeBron James. It is only hypothetical and comes out of pure boredom, but I want to make sure everybody keeps perspective. The guy is who you want to build your franchise around. There is a reason why he was able to put on a show called "The Decision" and it got better ratings than the majority of NBA telecasts last year. Everybody wanted him and we got him discounted. The guy is not going anywhere unless he is unhappy. Trading him in your mind might seem harmless and you might think the guy will never click on Ira's blog and read the comments, but you just don't know how bored he gets in the off-season. Maybe he wants to hear how people really feel about him.

That isn't even the point, really. The point is that you don't trade LeBron James and you don't even consider it because he made the toughest decision of his life to join your team and you have to treat him like family for buying into your franchise in that way. The same goes for Bosh, Miller and Wade himself. Haslem was part of that group, but he already had an incident that takes him outside of the circle of trust. He is still a cherished member of the organization, but one that is no longer viewed as untouchable.

Miller is next on the list. His performance will have to be up to par or Riley will feel no remorse in dealing an underperforming talent. Wade, Bosh and James are the guys you want to avoid moving, but their contracts all have out clauses in four years and they could always leave you at that point, so I guess it is worth thinking about it. What would it take for you to consider moving one of the big 3. Do you see any of them wanting to leave in four years? Who would you trade and why?

I would allow them to play out their deals and if they truly wanted to take their talents elsewhere hope to receive something via sign and trade --- provided that option still exists in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. The three kings arrived by choice and they have earned the right to depart by choice too. Breaking up the core would seem to be a bit too ruthless when the core was seemingly built on the idea of family and mutual respect.