Vince Carter would have been SO much better and more productive a signing than both Jones and Lewis. He would have been our new Ray Allen, the one from a couple years ago.
I see what Nabo is saying. If you lose Lebron and replace the team with everyone on the Spurs, it's a net gain. As close as the Spurs got to winning it last year, and blowing out Miami this year, they've been the best team the past two years. No Lebron or Durant. Lebron is a one man wrecking crew but he can be beat. He willed the Cavaliers to a Finals almost by himself before. A balanced team is more important than one superstar. Of course, the best case scenario would be keeping Lebron and then adding another scorer of that caliber.
http://www.nba.com/games/20140712/HOUMIA/gameinfo.html Watch the move by Ennis around the 30 second mark on the recap video and I dare you not to be excited about this kid. Napier was much better as well with 4-5 shooting and 5 assists.
He costs twice as much as all of those guys. Not worth it. He also couldnt sniff Ray Allens jock from last year.
Holy ****, Ennis is a FORCE! And Napier finding his stroke early would help this team tremendously, and be a bonus.
Oh, please Ray Allen was so diminished last season, it wasn't fun to watch. Carter shot 40% from the 3; I'd rather have foregone Lewis and Jones both and played with 14 and Carter in as the first off the bench.
Best part about Ennis is that unlike some guys who put up nice stats, he plays within the offense. You never see him trying to take on the defense on his own or forcing shots.
So the anticipated roster is looking like: Chalmers Coles Napier Wade Deng Granger Ennis Bosh Haslem McRoberts Birdman Oden Hamilton Does that sound right?
@AlbertRandom1 19m I refuse to make wild guesses. Let’s put this way: w/ present roster + Deng at $10M, Heat would have ~$20M + $2.7M Room MLE for Wade, Haslem
You're right, he looks very natural out there, in a flow. even passes to him like the BTB from SB, he took it in both hands and put it right up without any thought process. He reminds of of Joe Pepitone, the best-fielding 1B of all time. No thought, no effort—just a good play, consistently.
Yep, and it's been like that every game. I cant predict what he will be in the NBA against good competition but it's very very encouraging that he already seems to understand team basketball.
Dunno. I'm confused about our current cap situation. Going to have to make it a point to understand better. Also not sure if that tweet Nabo posted meant we had 20m aside from Wade and Haslem or 20 mil to fit them under.
Riley's first mistake this offseason was misreading James. With all the conversation you have to assume they had, he failed to bring out from LeBron or get it through his own skull how damaged their relationship was; how much amnestying Mike Miller had upset LeBron (TOLD YOU); how much LeBron resented Dwyane sitting during the season while essentially healthy; how unhappy LeBron was with carrying the team vs. the inconsistent contributions of his teammates (Chalmers, Wade, Haslem, even Bosh) all the while making the same more or less as two of them; how colossal a dick Rich Paul was and how strong his agenda to get LeBron back to Cleveland. At the same time, Riley overestimated his friendship/relationship/closeness with the man himself, on a personal level; he overestimated his own power, his own control of the situation. Riley FAILED, and there's no sugar-coating it. Riley's second failure was, with plenty of money at hand, failing to sell true Center and natural fit (Spaniard) Pau Gasol to come play for us, and then watching him sign with ****ing Chicago for $10M/2yrs. In fact, WE STILL HAVE THAT MONEY ON HAND, EVEN NOW. He failed to comprehend the positive manner in which Gasol's scoring and 10RPG would have impacted Bosh, and the cascading effect that one move could have had on this season. No? Just add Gasol's 580 REBs alone to last season and you come up with: another trophy. I don't know if it's Spo's thing or his own miscalculation, but the man who has had so many great Centers throughout the decades has all but eschewed every opportunity to make a significant investment in a healthy, productive 5 since Shaq. And, okay, so maybe Gasol wasn't coming no matter what; hard to believe, but let's go with that. Not even pursuing another big? Unforgivable. Riley's third mistake this offseason is about to be re-signing Mario Chalmers. I hope not, but apparently Spo loves a guy who makes as many mistakes and fails as much as Chalmers, yet won't let Michael Beasley onto the court. And we'll see if he plays Ennis at all except in extreme crunchtimes this season. With everything that has happened, with all that money that dropped in his lap to ostensibly improve the team in a real way at its two weakest spots, this team will apparently go into this season unimproved at Center, and unimproved at PG (for the present, unless Napier shocks everyone right out of the gate) He added Deng's 5.7 RPG to the huge issue this team had with REBs, and that's it, as far as addressing the team's most glaring weaknesses.
Confuses me since before Section said we would have 20 mil to split between Stephenson/Deng if desired. I doubt he was leaving Wade out.
@AlbertRandom1 12m For all those asking, keep in mind that Bledsoe/Monroe are RFAs. Heat need not only to make compelling offer, prior teams need not to match.
Now that we have Deng secured I don't see why we shouldn't make an offer. Unless we want to seriously court Stephenson there aren't many game changers out there.
@AlbertRandom1 6m Obligations of integrity. RT @wcgoldberg @jordub How does anything apply to McRoberts or Granger since they have not officially signed?
My gut feeling is that if Riley wouldn't give Gasol $10MPY, he won't give Lance The Headcase anywhere near what he wants.
So, we can sign Boozer, Okafor after exceeding cap. Maybe the plan at PG is to jettison Cole and his $2M and sign Jameer Nelson to the minimum along with Chalmers/Napier?
I would love to add a Stephenson or Bledsoe. My understanding is that Stephenson has a 5/44 offer from Indiana so maybe we could get him with a deal similar to what Deng got? (if we have the space, I have no idea). Bledsoe might be out of our range unless we go over cap. (again, I'm guessing). Assuming Riley isn't pulling a rabbit out of his hat, I'm guessing the most likely add would be an Omeka Okafor for the vet min or depending on what they do at PG with Chalmers and Coles, a Jameer Nelson or Jerryd Bayless.
Riley is done. They will not sign Bledsoe or Stephenson or Monroe or anything like that. They are working on resignings. They are basically done.
Chalmers is fine, his size is good for at point, now that Lebron isn't yelling at him he may improve to be a better player than he was before.
