LeBron Shouldn't Be Ashamed to Admit the Big-Three Miami Heat Was a Super Team

Did you hear LeBron James claim he has never played for a superteam? But he has. We were all there. We were all witnesses.

For his comments, LeBron has rightfully caught some side-eye, as well as a hearty chuckle from Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who joked at the Warriors championship parade that not only has LeBron been on many superteams throughout his career, but also he was pretty much the one who invented the idea of stars teaming up to dominate the league.

The sudden urge by LeBron to play down the greatness and superstardom of his past teammates raises a big question for Heat fans: What exactly is there to be ashamed of? Why wouldn't LeBron James take being credited as the man who forced the NBA to change its strategy as a compliment?

The rest of the NBA has decided that what LeBron and Miami put together between 2011 and 2014 was a failsafe blueprint for success. Isn't that a good thing? Suddenly, everything everyone hated about those captivating Heat teams is en vogue.

Are you an NBA franchise that wants to win a championship? Well, go get as many good basketball players as possible, and your odds of success will rise. Genius! Thanks, Miami Heat!

Yet somehow LeBron is now bothered by his Heat and Cavs squads being considered "superteams." He should embrace the label.

Why would LeBron seem so put off by admitting that teaming up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade constituted the creation of a superteam? If it's because he thinks it will diminish his past victories, he's mistaken.

The Heat played by the same rules as the rest of the teams in the NBA when Pat Riley put together the Big Three, and LeBron was lucky to be a part of it. Adding guys like Ray Allen, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem, and Mike Miller to a trio of All-Stars changed the course of not only LeBron's career but also the history of the NBA.

There will never be another team like those Heat Big Three teams. Not in the same environment. Not with the same star power. There will be multiple ESPN 30 for 30 shows about them some day. In hindsight, the whole crazy experience was a godsend for the NBA. Without LeBron and the Big Three, the NBA was doomed for more boring San Antonio Spurs titles. The Heat gave everyone someone to hate, look up to, and chase. LeBron should be proud that he helped hack the system and turn the NBA into what is is today: a league dominated by the power of players, not the owners.

LeBron should be proud he was the main cog in those Heat superteams. In the end, his four years with Miami will go down as the best stretch of basketball from arguably the greatest athlete of all time. Having the luxury of great teammates around him doesn't diminish or change that fact.