The 2010-11 Miami Heat, with new arrivals LeBron James and Chris Bosh, were quite possibly the most hyped and anticipated team in NBA history. During a pep rally that was held shortly after James announced he was signing with them, he infamously proclaimed that they would win "not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven" championships.
It looked like the trio of James, Bosh and Dwyane Wade would be together for many years. That partnership actually lasted four years and yielded four trips to the NBA Finals and back-to-back rings. It ended when James left Miami in 2014 in a brusque manner that left a bad taste in team president Pat Riley's mouth.
Riley was honored by the Los Angeles Lakers, the team he coached to four world titles in the 1980s, on Sunday with a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena. He admitted that he thought he had put together another dynasty when he brought James and Bosh to South Florida in 2010.
“I thought in getting the big three, Dwyane, Chris Bosh, and especially LeBron, that we had finally put together what I thought could become a dynasty. It was. Four trips to the finals in a row, two world championships… it was an incredible run… I saw something that could’ve lasted eight to 10 years. But I understood, as I said in my speech, the business of the NBA is the business of the NBA. Players have to get an opportunity to go somewhere else, and he went to Cleveland and he won a title up there. I wish him nothing but the best. But I want to be selfish here and say I wish I had him for another eight or six years would’ve been great. But we’ll never know, will we?”
All things considered, those Heat teams had a nice run, and only a handful of other squads in league history have accomplished what they accomplished. But James' critics always get on him for not sticking with the same team for more than a handful of years at a time.
It looks like he did leave at the right time, at least as far as his own greatness was concerned. Wade's game was starting to decline, and Bosh would soon be forced to prematurely retire due to multiple blood clots.
James went back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he started his career with, in 2014, and he led them to their first NBA championship in 2016. He has been with the Lakers since 2018, but there is lots of speculation that this will be his last go-around with the Purple and Gold.
He will become a free agent after the end of this season, and there has been talk that he may return again to Cleveland for a third stint with the Cavs.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Pat Riley thought LeBron James-led Heat could've had 10-year window