NBA benefits with villainous Heat, victorious Mavericks

"The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture."

-- Alfred Hitchcock

Good ol' Al. He really nailed the Miami Heat with that one.

What a blockbuster they were this season.

The NBA's most reviled team was all suspense and drama. Their stories might not have been pure Hitchcock of fugitives on the run alongside icy blondes, but they did produce enough twists and thrills to warrant marquee status from the beginning.

And that was good for the NBA. In most ways, great.

You can count me among those who offered one or 10 fist pumps when the final seconds ticked away in Miami on Sunday evening and Dallas sent LeBron James back to a life he thinks is far better than the rest of us enjoy.

James was correct on one point. I woke up the next day and had the same problems. I also owned the same number of NBA championship rings as him.

But there was so much contempt shown toward his contrived and pompous spectacle of a televised decision to bolt Cleveland, most didn't realize at the time how much it could help a league facing its own labor troubles. We know now.

Professional sports are looking straight into a more perfect storm than anything George Clooney ever met. The NFL has been in lockout mode since March 12. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement expires June 30 and that of Major League Baseball in mid-December.

Any minute now, you figure ESPN will announce deals with leagues of underwater rugby and unicycle hockey to ensure its programming needs are met the next 12 months.

In the immediacy of basketball, however, the Heat should be applauded for raising the game's popularity by the simple reason of so many hating them.

Think about it. There have been NBA villains. Kobe Bryant had a good run. Dennis Rodman. The Pistons. But never has a team (and, really, a player such as James) been so easy to root against in one given season. It's the best marketing strategy millions upon millions of dollars could buy.

That sort of disdain does things like raise interest and fill arenas in struggling markets and improve TV ratings. The latter set records for the Heat-Mavericks series, because nothing improves a league's bottom line better than a player or team you wish bad things upon.

Believe it. In the world of pro sports, there is much value in hate.

It's not to say that how Miami built its team -- laughing in the face of the league's salary cap rules by convincing stars such as James and Chris Bosh to accept less and join Dwyane Wade in pursuit of a title -- will benefit the NBA three or five to 10 years from now.

The Knicks want Chris Paul and the Lakers are reportedly eyeing Dwight Howard. Each star becomes a free agent next summer. But would such franchises signing them and placing each alongside other leading players further cripple teams struggling to survive?

It's a main point sure to be negotiated some way in a new collective bargaining agreement. Owners want lower salaries and fewer guaranteed years on a contract. They want more of what the NFL has in terms of balance and parity, more teams with a legitimate chance at winning it all. They want less of what happened with how Miami constructed its roster.

But when you look back on the 2011 season, it's a good thing the Heat managed to overcome a 10-8 start. It's a good thing they won 15 of 16 games in December. It's a good thing they ran through Philadelphia and Boston and Chicago in the Eastern Conference playoffs. It's a good thing they finally lived up to all the hype that defined their coming-out party.

It's a great thing that they advanced to the NBA Finals in the first year of the Big Three experiment and even better that they still have all seven of those predicted titles to win.

Another lockout is looming in pro sports. That's a bad thing. This particular one could ultimately last longer than that of the NFL.

The NBA should remember then, as June 30 approaches and those on each side of the bargaining table tighten their ties and stiffen their resolve, how it reached this point. It would be terrible to waste this level of popularity.

Hating a team that lost in the Finals never felt so good.

Hand it to the Miami Heat. Nobody has played the villain's role better.

Al Hitchcock would have been a huge fan.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.