Collegiate Times

The Miami Heat's Miami Heat's LeBron James takes the ball down court in the first quarter against the Boston Celtics at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/MCT)

Marcolini

The NBA is a fickle beast. From year to year, it has become consistently tougher to find sustained success.

That being said, a few teams have beaten the odds and have done so. The Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs are the three examples that initially come to mind.

One team, however, is built to win multiple championships, and more importantly, win them now.

As much as it pains many, the Miami Heat is the best team in the league. It has been over the past two seasons and it will be in this one too.

The reasons behind this thinking are simple; the Heat have the best basketball player alive in LeBron James and flanking him are two top-15 players (Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh).

Not only is the famous — or infamous, depending on where your allegiances lie — threesome an essential unit, but also its surrounding players have gotten better.  Mario Chalmers proved in the playoffs last season he is more than competent enough to be a starting point guard in the league, Mike Miller is always a threat to spread the floor and hit threes off the bench, and Shane Battier is a mismatch on the offensive end when playing power forward.

Not to mention the addition of the league’s all-time three point shooter, and future-Hall of Famer Ray Allen, and getting big men Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem back healthy for the beginning of the season. As scary as it is to say, this is the deepest Miami team the league has seen in three years, with young players like Norris Cole only to develop more.

Obviously the Heat plays its own mutant style of “small ball” — often playing three guards, James and Bosh at the same time — which can mean defensive issues. But James has finally shown not only the ability, but the will to play down low, dominating in the process. Centers have already had problems being pulled away from the basket, honoring Bosh’s midrange jump shot, and this season that will only get worse.

At the end of the day, we are looking at a player who could eventually be considered the best player ever. While it is not the case right now, if James can win a few more titles in a row while racking up triple doubles, scoring titles, MVP awards and finals MVP awards, there is a discussion. He is utterly un-guardable, taking smaller perimeter players to the post and taking forwards outside and driving by them. And even if someone is lucky enough to lock up James, will any team have the athleticism to guard him, Wade and Bosh?

With the Oklahoma City Thunder’s trading James Harden and the potentially explosive relationship out west that is Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, the Heat are by far the best choice to win the NBA title this season.

Besides, who would ever bet against the best player in the world?

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A version of this article appeared in the Nov 2 issue of the Collegiate Times.