All LeBron had to do was stay loyal to Miami and they could have gotten Gasol/Ariza.

[russwest0]

Gasol and Ariza both had plenty of interest in coming to Miami but once they received no guarantee from Riley that LeBron was coming back, they moved on.

All LeBron had to do in this situation was be loyal to a team that he just went to 4 straight Finals with and he would have been much better off. Instead he saw the chance to play with an even more stacked team... with younger legs... fresher talent... all while bringing more attention to himself.... so he bailed.

Maybe he was worried that he couldn't carry Miami now, even with Gasol and Ariza... Damn.

[BasedTom]

Could have been a very good team depending on whether or not Lebron would have tried turning Pau into a spot up shooter

[GimmeThat]

and all any franchise would ever have to figure out

is how to sign any FA while saying

"you know what, f&ck Lebron"

[PJR]

Bran and his cronies grew tired of playing under a structured organization like the Heat. He wanted more power, as well as cashing in on the feel good narrative.

[bluechox2]

lebron isnt too bright

he doesnt have another alpha

[JT123]

As far as I know the Heat never even reached out to Ariza. Stop telling lies Simon, it's childish.

[HurricaneKid]

Ariza is getting a multi year 8M+ deal. Miami didn't have enough money to match Pau's deal with Chi much less sign Ariza on top of that.

Might as well say they should have signed Durant too.

[JebronLames]

Couldn't stay in Miami with Wade there. He doesn't compliment lebron and sucks in the playoffs.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Ariza is getting a multi year 8M+ deal. Miami didn't have enough money to match Pau's deal with Chi much less sign Ariza on top of that.

Gasol said he wanted to play with LeBron first. He was scared off by the amount of time Bran was taking to make his decision if I remember correctly.

[GrapeApe]

Couldn't stay in Miami with Wade there. He doesn't compliment lebron and sucks in the playoffs.

Wrong on both accounts. Lebron and Wade had developed great chemistry together, especially with Wade's elite cutting ability and off the ball play. There's a reason Lebron and Wade were historically efficient together. After 2011 when they basically took turns, they began to compliment each other extremely well. I think has LeBron stayed they would have had a dynamic season.

In trerms of the playoffs, in the 16 playoff series the Heat played when Lebron was in Miami, Wade had 5 sub-par performances. In '11 against the Bulls, the first 3 rounds in '13 due to injury, and in last years finals. In 11 of the 15 series' he was either good or great. His overall playoff numbers over the last 4 years were 21/5/5/2/1 on 47%. Pretty damn good second option numbers. His only truly disappointing performance was in the '14 finals. No excuse for that, he just flat out played horribly.