LeBron James's Agent Claims There Wasn’t A “Big 3” With Miami Heat

In an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Rich Paul explained why Bosh's relegation to a role player with the Heat is why he doesn’t consider them a big three.

“I always love a big two,” Paul said. “I don’t really love a big three. People talk big three, but the big three thing has never really worked. And you’ll say, well, what happened in Miami? That wasn’t really a big three. There were three guys that went in the lottery, and they did really well individually on their teams, so they put up big numbers and had big accomplishments. But when you think about it, Bosh was the ultimate professional. He took a back seat and played a role in which, because he had such a high IQ and was such a professional as an individual, his approach to everything is what made that work.”

DUNCAN ROBINSON CALLS OUT MIAMI HEAT’S “MARKETING” STUNT

The Miami Heat’s famous "Heat Culture" motto has gained popularity in recent years.

Now, the slogan has become a topic of mockery for many NBA fans, including Heat supporters. Despite being one of the most successful organizations in the league, with three championships and seven Finals appearances, most disagreed with the team's creation of the Culture Jerseys and Culture Court, which detailed a short explanation of the values they pride themselves on. Having things such as those painted a target on the Heat, and it wasn’t a good look when it resulted in a Play-In Tournament loss and a first-round exit to the Boston Celtics in five games. 

On the Young Man and the Three podcast, Duncan Robinson explained he was also wasn’t a fan of the Heat’s idea to create tangible aspects to market the standards they try to live by. 

“Yeah, I think a lot of it stems from Coach Riley,” Robinson said. “Obviously, I love the organization and I have benefited from it a lot. We had some great runs and great times. I will say, when they started to sort of shift into like a marketing thing, I think it lost a little bit. At least for me, as somebody who, when I got there, I didn’t necessarily know about Heat Culture or hear about it in that way. And then you get in between the walls and see it manifest in the day-to-day. Then you buy into this. I’m not coming at the missteps of the organization, but when we had the Culture jerseys and were on the court, I think it ripened us for people to make fun of us.”

RAJON RONDO ISSUED ULTIMATE CHALLENGE TO LEBRON JAMES DURING 2020 NBA FINALS

Despite COVID-19 running rampant in 2020, the NBA transitioned to the unique Bubble format.

The Miami Heat won the Eastern Conference by upsetting the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks and the No. 3 seed Boston Celtics. Although their primary star was Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic was the leading scorer. Dragic and three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo got hurt in Game 1 of the Finals against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Their injuries led to Butler taking over and the birth of “Playoff-Jimmy.” In the Finals, he averaged 26.2 points, 9.8 assists, and 8.3 rebounds on 55.2 percent shooting and 30.8 percent from three-point range. 

Lakers guard Rajon Rondo explained on Dwyane Wade’s The Why podcast about challenging James to shut down Butler. This was after Butler's two signature triple-double performances of scoring at 35 points.

“We get to the Finals, and like I said, Jimmy is going crazy,” Rondo said. “We’re in the film room again, and Jimmy had a crazy triple-double, like a 40, 10, and 10. I’m like Bron, what are we doing? And the rest is history. `Bron stepped up and took the challenge. He stuck Jimmy that Game 6, they play me, everybody else is cracking, and we end up winning.”'

Bryan Townes is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at btownesjr@gmail.com or on X @bryantownesjr11. Follow our coverage on Facebook