When LeBron James and the Miami Heat begin their quest to bring a third consecutive NBA title to South Beach, the journey will start at a beach of a different kind; the Heat has plans to kick off its training camp at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas.
The Heat will use the resort for its practices from Oct. 1 through Oct. 4 as a way to change things up and possibly have a little less media coverage distracting the club, according to NESN.
The team will look to use the trip as a bonding experience and to develop chemistry between its players, the type of chemistry that has netted the team two titles in as many years.
After clinching the second seed and first place in the Southeast division in the shortened 2011-12 NBA season with a 46-20 record, and rolling over the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 4-1 NBA Finals victory, Miami was able to replicate that success in last year's campaign by going 66-16 and clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference before defeating the San Antonio Spurs in six games for another title.
Miami is looking to become the first team to "three-peat" since the Los Angeles Lakers did it back in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons. Having won it all the past two seasons, Miami will have a target on its back as an Eastern Conference that has improved all around them will try to take down the kings of the court. However, Miami has retained most of its championship team so dethroning the Heat could prove difficult.
James took home his fourth Most Valuable Player award in five seasons last year and will look to help lead the team to the promised land one more time in 2013-14 while simultaneously trying to avoid talking about the impending possibility that he could choose to opt for free agency and find another home in the summer of 2014, with a possible return to his former Cleveland Cavaliers a possibility for the Akron, Ohio native.
James, who recently married his high school sweetheart Savannah Brinson, made waves earlier this month when he spoke with uncertainty about 2014.
"I would love to spend the rest of my career in Miami with this great team and great organization as we continue to compete for championships," James told ESPN last month. "That's ideal. But we don't know what may happen from now to the end of the season. That's the nature of the business. It's the nature of not knowing what tomorrow brings."
Still, James insists he's not going to talk about those possibilities during the season as he tries to help lead the Heat to another title. Last season, LeBron was dominant again, averaging 26.8 points per game, eight rebounds per game and 7.3 assists per game while netting 2,036 points along with 610 rebounds and 551 assists through 76 games.
While the future is anything but certain for James, it is a definite that he and the Heat will kick off their journey to a third-straight title in the Bahamas in October, and that the team will raise last year's championship banner to the rafters when the season tips off Oct. 29 against the Chicago Bulls.
Whether or not the Heat take home another title this year, and perhaps more importantly, whether or not James is there on Opening Night in 2014 to see the banner go up if they do win it all again, remains to be seen.
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