Another great piece by Albert Nahmad. This time on the Wade possibilities: http://heathoops.com/2016/05/analyzing-the-miami-heat-approach-to-dwyane-wade/ Spoiler alert: The Kevin Durant scenario with Wade taking the minimum this year only to get a max deal next summer with only a $1M cap hold may lead to erections lasting longer than 3 hours.
I think we agree - Riley deserves credit for making it happen. I just think Wade is why it was an option to happen in the first place, if that makes sense. Wade opened the door, Riley did everything else.
I don;t know how many times I have to tell you this. YES. Harden is better than Wade now. But he has been better than him for exactly two seasons, and when it counts...we just saw a decent sample of why you want Wade instead of Harden in the postseason. I don;t know how much clearer you want me to be.
Well when you have a system that is in place to prevent tanking...then two teams obviously tank for multiple seasons...then get rewarded for it then why even have a lottery? For the record I am not a Heat fan in any way, shape or form so I don't care what pick they have. You also have to believe that the picking of the draft slots isn't fixed which I have a hard time believing.
I don't think the Lakers were tanking. I think they tried to get some of the big names and struck out. Then they just rode out the Kobe thing and will start over.
If I'm the Sixers... don't listen to what everyone is saying, take Ingram with your pick, let the Lakers take Beasley 2.0 .. I just don't buy the Ben Simmons hype.. I'm not sure if Ingram is the next Kevin Durant like some are saying, but those measurables along with his skill set can't be taught.. He's 6'9 and still 18, might grow 1 or 2 more inches.. Just take the guy and be okay with it.... The Ben Simmons highlight tape looks nice... but so does Beasley's...
Pat Riley Presser: 1) Hassan Whiteside is priority #1. 2) Wade is a lifer, it won't be a long conversation. he wants to win, and understands what has to happen to win. 3) We want Luol Deng back 4) Josh Richardson is a #2 going forward 5) Dragic has improvement to do, and we will send a coach with him back to Slovenia to coach for the national team. 6) We are investigating whether to buy into the 1st or 2nd round of the draft. 7) We are always hunting "Whales"...with one eye toward our own roster. 8) Good Three point shooting is a product of your system based on the talent you acquire...unless you just get a Kyle Korver or JR Smith. 9) Impressed with OKC, and wondered out loud how BIG that team actually is. 10) July is gonna be "Fun"...and "Hopefully, very fruitful to us."
Riley spent a lot of time pumping up Whiteside. Greasing the wheels for him to take less than a max this summer, isn't he?
He's a master at saying the right things. Whiteside reportedly reveres Riley, so for him to pump him up like that should really get Whiteside excited about his future here. He certainly doesn't have to do any imagining of what players at the center position can do under Riley. His track record there is as impressive as it gets.
Once they gave Kobe that ridiculous contract they priced themselves out of any good players. Then they tanked. I'm sure the 6ers reached out to Lebron's agent too, doesn't mean they weren't tanking. The Lakers obviously tanked this year. They had that trade where if they were out of the top 3 they lost their pick too so they needed all the lottery balls they could get. People give them a free pass because of that obnoxious Kobe farewell tour as if thats an excuse to put out a D-League caliber team.
I've always preferred well rounded players. IMO those offense only types are over-rated. You won't find me leading the fan clubs for Kobe, Iverson or Harden. I think their limited help/effort on defense hurts their teams more than people realize.
They made a real run at Melo and Aldridge. I don't think that's really tanking. It's certainly not tanking at the level of the 76ers where they were actively drafting players who wouldn't be healthy so that they would lose more. I think there's a difference in being in rebuild mode and tanking. And this is coming from someone who lives in LA and has to deal with the *****ing and moaning and ant-Heat BS from Lakers fans. I'd be the last person to defend them if I didn't feel it was warranted. That team has just been dysfunctional since Jerry Buss died. I don't think they were actively trying to lose. And they gave Kobe that deal because they kind of had to, not to sabotage the team, even though that's basically what it did.
Ethan Skonick had a decent little nugget... He says Lamarcus Aldridge really REALLY considered signing a 1 year MLE with Miami last year....
I guess I'm giving their front office credit in thinking that they tanked because anyone that was dumb enough to give that deal to Kobe and NOT be tanking is literally a moron. No one wants to play with Kobe and he was obviously hurt and washed up so giving him that deal made it impossible to get a max caliber player to come there. I mean their front office could just be THAT stupid, I guess I was giving them too much credit.
Actually you should, because Wade is/was good friends with Bosh. It is LeBron and Bosh who were never that tight. Wade recruited Bosh first and foremost, then convinced LeBron to sit down with Riley and see what this Heat organization is all about. Wade already had Bosh committed, he recruited Lebron after that and Riley closed the deal. That's how I remember things going down. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
We live in the right state for it. That piece posted earlier explains it perfectly. Heat can come in up to $3mil less per year vs. State Tax teams and with the rate of raises, in essence would match the dollar value of a max contract.
BTW, anybody find it interesting that Kyle Korver and JR Smith got mentioned by name as shooters that don't "need" the system to produce good 3 pt. shots? Did he reveal what he was thinking? Maybe he will seek a similar type shooter?
This is right. Wade and Bosh share an agent. it was "known" two days before FA started that Bosh had told friends that he was going to Miami.
I remember that too, plus you had that pic of that dinner with Wade and Bosh with an empty seat saying "...now we just need one more," obviously alluding to Lebron joining them. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
They were never great friends, though. I forget who wrote the article, but there was an excellent article written earlier this year that said while Wade and Bosh were friendly, Wade and LeBron were like brothers throughout the whole big 3 era, and that it wasn't until after LeBron left that Wade and Bosh developed a closer bond. Either way, we're getting away from my main point, which is that Riley made all of this happen in the end, and no one should doubt that he will have a shot at Durant and/or Westbrook if either of them leaves OKC. Wade obviously deserves some credit obviously for recruiting, but again, Riley made it happen.
Man, that's so awesome and frustrating at the same time. Does anyone really want to question what Riley is capable of and who we have zero chance at now?
Whiteside needs to be here and it sounds like he will be. Pay whatever it takes. He's that good and still developing, as we saw this year, having played only 140 games. Keep him in this lockerroom with this staff. Defensively he alters everything in the paint and offensively he's got fantastic touch in the post, from the FT line, and even stepping out to the midrange. So hard to find all of that in a 27 year-old...especially one with that wingspan. Backup PG is one thing I'll add to the needs/interests being discussed. What Beno Udrih did for us once he got acclimated was underrated, imo, and Richardson and TJ don't bring those things to the table. I know we have several guards who are worthy of minutes, but I'd still make it area that needs to be addressed (though I don't really like the FA options for backups). It's too valuable a position to fudge given the way our offense went through ugly droughts, and especially if Dragic misses any time. (On the subject, I'm very in favor of finding a way to swap out Dragic for Conley even with the increase in cost...Conley is just that good of a fit for us, imo.) I like how the team is built overall though. I'd be fine banking on the current group to give us enough 3pt shooting. I expect the three young dudes to improve, hopefully by big strides. I'm in favor of bringing Deng back, even at a higher cost, given the uncertainty with Bosh. Wade-Whiteside-Dragic (Bosh) plus the developing young talent is a very exciting mix. This organization won't skip a beat.
Hornacek is a very good coach. Their GM and owner trading away wverybody, Isaiah, Dragic, Morris twins, etc pretty much handicapped him. Knicks fans should be happy but they wont be
If you'd told me "Jeff Hornacek" named new coach of New York Rangers instead I woudln't bat an eye. Sounds like a hockey coach.
Really? Jeff Hornacek was a fantastic basketball player for the Jazz. You just made me feel old, lol. That's a pretty good hire IMO. I'm surprised. I thought Phil would hire Rambis.
