The Education of the Miami Heat fan

So many in the media have begun to spin out of control over the chemistry issues with the new "Heatians" that have arrived in Williams, Posey, and Walker. Aside from the fact that we added two more "W's" to the roster, this shouldn't even be questioned as a positive.

We will detail, with statistical analysis, why this transaction will work for this team in a coming blog. So keep your eyes peeled. But what we do need to address here is the notion of basketball and what a Heat fan should take note of.

Know first and foremost, your team just got better. A 'helluva' lot better. The talent pool, regardless of all the emotional attachment to EJ and all the promise of a talent like Woods or even Butler, has gotten much thicker. Like cement-poured-in-water thick.

Let's take a very simplistic look at that notion. A team's goal is to win. Win as often as it can. To do that, you need players that can play better - and more consistently - than the other team. In other words, you got to have talent. More talent = more chances of winning. Good teams win games. Great teams win championships.

Now, the Heat have great talent. Sure, asterisk it with *on paper. And yes, we have seen great teams assembled not win it all. But more likely than not, you will see a great team on paper win it all than a not-so-great team on paper even come close.

Which brings us to the big 'chemistry' question. Is there such a thing as "bad chemistry"? Indeed there is - and you may have seen it with last year's Timberwolves or even the Chris Webber/Allen Iverson Sixers. But if there is such a thing as bad chemistry, then it is necessary to also honor a thing known as good chemistry.

But all of this is not the point. Chemistry, is just a general term for reflecting how a team plays together. And we honestly don't know quite yet how this team will play together - so be wary of anyone who claims to know how this team will perform. Especially in a sport like basketball where the very nature of "team" is most immediately illustrated as 5 guys decide to play against 5 other guys with only 1 basketball. In fact, it seems like the sport is designed for psychological disfunction.

As a Heat fan, you must realize that all things won't begin to click right away. This isn't football, South Florida. It isn't day after day of practice for one game. It isn't a season dictated by a measely 16 game schedule. No, this is about 82 games. And how a team grows over those 82 games. There is plenty of time to learn - and also plenty of time to learn about this team.

So read and enjoy all the media sensationalism about how the Heat may have ruined their chances and have somehow opened up Pandora's jar full of things like "bad chemistry" and "egotism" and "the '03-'04 Lakers". And remember the one simple principle we pointed out here today - greater talent means a greater chance at winning. The Heat, under the guidance of Pat Riley, have been able to achieve just that.

Now, let's leave it up to the players to decide.