Floridian rapper and rosé aficionado Rick Ross wants everyone to know that he’s a true Miami Heat fan and not one of those dirty fair-weather Heat fans who bolted town the minute LeBron James packed his bags for Cleveland.
So, in an interview with Hot 97 in Miami, Ross put a hefty amount of money on the line in order to show how loyal and bullish he is on Heat basketball this season. Ross stated that he’s willing to be 100 grand that the Heat will finish with a better record than LeBron’s Cavs.
“We most definitely finishing better than the Cavaliers. I’ll put 100 grand on that,” Ross said.
Ross wasn’t done. He then went on to, somewhat saltily, argue that the Heat are actually better without the best basketball player on the planet in Miami, thank you very much.
“I feel like we’ll be more balanced this year,” James said. “You know [James] is most definitely one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest…but he brings a lot of baggage, too.”
Right now, Ross’ bet doesn’t seem like a bad wager on his part. The Heat sit at 5-2 while the Cavs are off to a slow 3-3 start. However, it should be noted that the Cavs are essentially figuring out their chemistry on the fly while the Heat have the edge in scheme continuity under Eric Spoelstra, which can be seen in Miami’s fourth best offensive efficiency in the league right now.
Cleveland, to be fair, is ranked eighth. The real difference is on the defensive end where Miami may be ranked 17th in defensive efficiency but Cleveland is ranked 29th, just one spot above the last place Lakers. That will take a while to fix as defensive communication takes time and coordination, both of which the Cavs haven’t had since they assembled their new-look roster over the summer.
Ross may be exhibiting some blatant homerism but it wouldn’t be outlandish if he’s right by the end of the year either.
