Silence speaks volumes about Heat

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The national chorus accompanying the Miami Heat’s championship is perfect.

Do you hear it? Have you listened the past couple of days? There it is again.

Mouths slapping shut in silence. Wonderful, descriptive, defining silence.

Erik Spoelstra talked a lot about “noise” the past two years. It was one of his go-to words. It was his understandable fallback to addressing uncomfortable questions, and much of it’s in the past tense now.

One of the fascinating parts of the Heat winning a title is how the landscape changes for them. Some of that is residual fallout of winning. Some can be of their own doing through this offseason, too.

For instance, they can let everyone laugh at some past actions at Monday’s celebration. Have LeBron take the microphone and say, “Not one, not ...” Dwyane Wade can then put his hand over LeBron’s mouth before the next number comes out. Who wouldn’t laugh?

The volume won’t get turned down on this team, but the discussion changes now. Many of the popular avenues of criticism are closed down.

Here are some of the most popular story lines the Heat won’t hear anymore:

LeBron doesn’t have a ring, isn’t clutch, can’t win the big one. This isn’t just media. Sports Illustrated asked 168 NBA players who they wanted taking the last shot. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant were top picks. James? Didn’t get a vote. But after a postseason in which he provided historical (only two other players in NBA history put up his numbers in the Boston series) and anecdotal evidence (the leg cramp three-pointer, the bank shot in Game 3, all Game 6 against Boston) this talk goes away immediately.

Erik Spoelstra can’t coach this team. Besides LeBron, no one benefits from a ring more than Spoelstra. That’s in part because coaches live in a nebulous world of strategy and percentages. Spoelstra’s ring gives him the benefit of the doubt coaches usually get. Spoelstra met calamity with a calm face the past two years and showed his worth this postseason. Take the NBA Finals. He used a small and unconventional lineup to take advantage of matchups against Oklahoma City (Kendrick Perkins vs. Shane Battier?). He also found ways to get LeBron the ball near the left block that Thunder Coach Scott Brooks never countered. Mainly, he won.

Chris Bosh is too soft. For much of these two years, Bosh’s outside shooting touch and deft skills were turned against him. He didn’t pound. He didn’t flex. He didn’t anchor the defense. Did Pau Gasol during the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship runs? But by Bosh’s absence to injury and subsequent return these playoffs, his skill to draw out the defense was underlined and the strengths of his game better understood.

Wade and LeBron can’t play together. No matter they went to the NBA Finals last year. No matter they are two unselfish players willing to bend to the good of the team. Starting with the final push against Indiana, LeBron and Wade buried this idea as much as the Pacers. Sure, part of this was Wade’s skills not matching LeBron’s game at this point. But the bigger part of all this is simply the Heat won. It works at the highest level.

They can’t round out a lineup with enough good players. So many in the media started this with the wrong premise. The Big Three didn’t take max contracts. They deferred some money to sign Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem. Both contributed at crucial times in these playoffs. Battier played a leading support role. Yes, finding the right role players is crucial to this team, but they can be found. That’s really the challenge moving ahead — finding the right role player to take the right contract.

So questions change from a less violently personal manner, but the volume won’t change. The noise will remain out there. At least, I hope so.

Isn’t the constant conversation what made the Heat who they are?

So in that spirit, here is next season’s issue: How many rings does this team need to be labeled a success?