What would a 2013/14 Big Three Look Like?

Pat Riley and the Miami Heat scored big when they brought the Big Three together in Miami. Three trips to the NBA Finals and two titles later, the deal has worked out pretty good. Let’s imagine that free agency period never happened. How would you fit together three All-Star players and what tools would you put around them? Al Dannity is on the case.

Constructing a mega team now isn’t as easy as it was for Pat Riley. The new CBA is designed to prevent another Heat so there are a few things to bear in mind. You’re going to be weak somewhere. That weakness can’t be allowed to kill you. Having Jimmy Butler is really helpful.

So yes, before going anywhere else, the most ideal fit for such a monstrosity would be Chicago. Literally every asset outside of Butler must be stripped. Butler is not close to one of our Big Three but he offers a level of production at a price no other player can match. Even if Derrick Rose was healthy, I’m shipping him. For this unit to work one of the Big Three has to be slightly lower priced than the rest and there’s no way D-Rose is that man. Rajon Rondo on the other hand fits in nicely. He’s clearly expensive but he’s the ultimate facilitator. There are better point guards in the NBA but we’re looking for one who fits the price and will take a little more than the Pat Riley pay cut. Jrue Holliday narrowly missed out on this spot. He has a lot of upside with his contract but he’s not at Rondo level.

Who’s next? LeBron. Seriously, any Big Three that doesn’t feature the best player in the world today is a non-starter. LeBron is also the ideal match with Rondo in terms of shot creation and can play PF as well as he does SF so that leaves Butler safe. Do D-Wade or Chris Bosh make the cut? Nope. I love Bosh but he’s not the Big Three material he was when he hit free agency. Wade is a massive injury liability. While still a premier SG, I can’t trust him to fill that role. The extra man has to be in the front court.

So Dwight right? Nope. There’s really only one reason, I can’t see any reality where Howard lets his salary get squeezed. We either need another big who can take control inside at both ends or one who is shooter from all over. The urge to take Kevin Durant is strong but a true big is more useful in this line-up. That means, bizarrely, we’re deciding between Greg Monroe and Roy Hibbert. For me the call comes down to who will do more with the weapons around him. That gives Monroe a slight edge. This also means we’re in a world where Greg Monroe, who hasn’t played a single playoff game in his career nor made it to an All-Star game, is now Big Three material. Dion Waiters rounds out the side because the SG has to be cheap and decent. Waiters fits both criteria.

Finally we look at the bench. Birdman is cheap so he’s in. Ray Allen is probably still affordable so despite his years he makes the cut too. Pablo Prigioni is also remarkably cheap and again makes the cut on a one year deal. The lack of bigs on the bench isn’t comforting, to put it mildly, so it’s fortunate that Andrei Kirilenko seems happy to take a massive pay cut. That gets us to 9. After that it doesn’t matter if they’re Robert Sacre, if they’re that cheap they’re in.

Let us know what you think of the roster. Who would you change and am I crazy?