The Heat will be a disaster if LeBron leaves

[Marchesk]

I'm sure Heat fans feel confident that The Godfather will make moves to keep the team relevant, even if Lebron leaves.

Relevant meaning what? They're a four seed in the East? They lose in the second round? That beats sucking, I guess, except you're stuck being mediocre the next several seasons.

[Roundball_Rock]

This would be an interesting scenario. Would the Heat perform as well as the Bulls did when MJ left? That may put "2/5" in some perspective...

The Heat could be 4th in the East without LeBron--but they could just as easily be 7th (CHI, CLE, IND, TOR, BKN, ATL). They clearly would be a cut below the top 3 teams and would not be a contender to win the conference like those three.

[r15mohd]

if Lebron leaves, the Heat are left with cap space to make good moves...Parsons, Lowry, Drummond, etc are all viable pick ups available for the Heat to make moves on.

Lebron is an instant title chance, but I'm sure if someone like Lowry and Parsons are picked up in place of Lebron alongside restructures of Bosh and Wade, a really good team can be made of the Heat for a few years to come.

faith in Riley...since he's been here, we've been pretty good, no?

[guy]

This would be an interesting scenario. Would the Heat perform as well as the Bulls did when MJ left? That may put "2/5" in some perspective...

The Heat could be 4th in the East without LeBron--but they could just as easily be 7th (CHI, CLE, IND, TOR, BKN, ATL). They clearly would be a cut below the top 3 teams and would not be a contender to win the conference like those three.

You're going to put things in perspective? If the Heat are a cut below the top 3 teams, which I would expect as well, its going to be because Wade is so far from removed from his prime and Bosh is arguably past his best days as well. If those guys were in their prime like the core of the 94 Bulls were or at least at their 2011-2013 level, they'd easily be a contender to come out of the East. Of course, you would probably ignore that though.

[JellyBean]

At least we will get a chance to see who are the real Heat fans.

[rezznor]

This. The Heat are a great organization with arguably the GOAT GM. They won a title before LeBron arrived and Riley will ensure they remain contenders if he leaves.

[Nash]

can't wait to see where Lebron takes my fanboy talents this time. It's been real Miami, but I'm opting out as well.

[FLDFSU]

The Heat are the most stacked team of all time. If James leaves we will only win the next two rings instead of the next three.