The 2010-2014 era was the most successful for the Miami Heat franchise. Led by the formidable Big 3 consisting of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, the Heat won two championships in four years. While the idea of having three star players on the roster was exciting, Pat Riley said that they were difficult to manage at first.
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The Godfather recently made an appearance on Udonis Haslem’s The OGs podcast where he was asked about the Big 3. Riley was the team president in 2010 and acquired James and Bosh to form the Big 3. So, the onus of ensuring they work together fell on him as well.
He said that Bosh was a great player and that without him the four-year dream run wouldn’t have been possible. He said, “So when you put a guy in that kind of category and then he comes to Miami with LeBron and Dwyane and he was the guy. The three of them really had some issues. They had to deal with those issues.”
Riley took matters into his own hands after their first season together. Since they were all great players on their own, they were struggling with keeping their egos aside. So, Riley decided to establish a hierarchy within the team and made everyone aware of their role in the organization.
He said, “There has to be some, as I said, voluntary cooperation on your part that you’re all gonna accept the role. So, it was Bron, it was Dwyane, it was Chris. So, that’s basically how the hierarchy of greatness was and the players accepted that.”
This hierarchy was showcased in the field goal attempt disparity for the Big 3 in their second season together (2011-12). James attempted nearly 19 FGs a game, Wade sat at 17.1, and Bosh shot an average of 14.2 times per game. They saw immediate results from the new setup as the Heat won a title in 2012.
Dwyane Wade spoke on the importance of Chris Bosh
The Heat’s Big 3 is forever etched into the history books of basketball as one of the most legendary trios ever. However, when it comes to who gets praised the most for the dominant four-year run, Bosh’s name is not only mentioned last, but he also generally gets the least amount of credit.
This is only the case between fans and outsiders as DWade knows that none of it would have been possible without Bosh and the sacrifices he made for the team. During an appearance on The OGs podcast, he said, “We had already knew the other player, if it was three, who we would like to play with. His name was Christopher Bosh.”
DWade said that they ended up having a “secret meeting” at a “secret location” to discuss the possibility of all three coming together. And the rest is history.
