During the summer of 2010, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat pulled off what was probably the greatest heist in the history of NBA free agency, bringing in LeBron James and Chris Bosh while also re-signing Dwyane Wade.
Riley's maneuvering caused a cataclysmic shift that is still shaking the league to its core to this day.
The Golden State Warriors tried to one-up the Heat by signing Kevin Durant six years later, and while it that was certainly a historic move and essentially made the Warriors invincible, it just wasn't as significant as Miami landing not one, not two, but three (see what I did there?) top-tier free agents in one offseason.
Not long after the Heat made the moves, they held a pep rally in South Beach (just writing that feels corny) where Miami fans came out in droves to see their new Heatles.
Nearly 10 years later, Bosh looked back on the celebration:
“Twenty-thousand people came to a game with no ball,” said Bosh, via ESPN. “We are the only people in history to have a parade before a parade. Think about that bro.”
Bosh is referring to the fact that the Heat would proceed to win back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.
No, it wasn't the insane amount of titles that James loosely promised at the rally, but it seems safe to say that the Heatles certainly did their jobs.
Of course, it wasn't as easy as some expected, as Miami lost to the Dallas Mavericks in its first finals appearance in 2011 and had numerous difficult series en route to its consecutive championships.
The Heat's run came to an official end in 2014 when the San Antonio Spurs beat them in the finals in five games.
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