Can we officially call Kendrick Perkins’ criticism of LeBron James the early frontrunner for dumbest sports-related comment of 2012?

Every day should be Heat-Bulls.

This was supposed to be the most engaging regular season ever, the games coming at you at a furious pace, the superstars dazzling almost every night as the league tries to fit in a marathon’s worth of games into a 10K window.

You know those moments when you’d give almost any amount of money to be on an NBA basketball court just to hear what’s being said?

For a minute there, Chris Bosh had it all figured out.

Perhaps it’s because the Big 3 phenomenon is more than a year old, or perhaps because the suddenness of this NBA season has been somewhat overwhelming, there has been more of a sense of perspective displayed thus far by the Heat, its fans and even those covering the team.

So here we are again, watching the Heat struggle in close games, watching LeBron James either fail to participate in the shot-taking experience or failing to convert those late shots or enough late free throws to be considered a success in those situations.

Mike Miller’s South Florida curse has almost run its course.

Carlos Zambrano is not a typical hothead.

Maybe there is something to this “I’m a new man” thing LeBron James has been touting since before the season started.

We’ve seen this in segments. We’ve seen LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combine for spectacular plays, imposing quarters, remarkable halves.

It didn’t take long for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to develop an early theme to this season.

Think back to the Finals failures that stand out most.

Christmas was made a little brighter for more than 100 neglected and abused local youths, thanks to Chris Bosh.

Let’s take the selfish element out of this and look at Mario Cristobal’s situation objectively.

It’s a vastly condensed preseason, so judgments have to be made a lot quicker.

At some point in an NBA player’s career — at least for the self-motivated ones that have a desire to be great — a light comes on.

There seem to be dueling sentiments when it comes to LeBron James and how to treat his 2011-12 season.

OK, this is going to be really, really difficult given the mountain-moving changes that have happened in the NBA over the past 24 hours, but this is going to be a column about how the Shane Battier signing is basketball-smart, financially smarter and simply makes the Heat better.

With all the anticipation of the frenzied NBA free agency period, there are constant discussions about the Heat’s potential moves, some spoken in certainties and some completely hypothetical.