Official Miami Heat 2016 Offseason Thread : Free Agency/Trades (part VI) - Get in the Room

[dancing2thabeet]

When's PG13 a FA? Next offseason or the one after that?

[DayofMourning]

No thanks. Can't stand that over-celebrating pos.

Somebody is going to pay him 15 million plus a year.

That's fine. As long as it ain't us. That guy hates the Heat anyway. Doubt he would come here.

I'm only half-joking on this one sadly.

[RJM]

I got bored and wrote a piece on Dwight Howard.

https://rjmarc.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/the-kevin-dwight-show/

Imagine for a moment that it is July 2016. Free agency is rapidly whirring into motion and the Miami HEAT, led by Pat Riley, are getting ready to make an enormous splash once again. We’ve talked about the possibilities of Miami’s two biggest targets, Kevin Durant and Hassan Whiteside, and scenarios that involve them wearing HEAT colors next season. However, if there is one thing this franchise’s loyal fan base must understand, it is to expect the unexpected. Isn’t that what free agency is all about?

Something to dwell on. Riley might have something up his sleeve this summer.

Hint: It has to do with Dwight, KD, and a whole lot of speculation, pipe-dreaming, and sacrifice.

[DayofMourning]

I got bored and wrote a piece on Dwight Howard.

https://rjmarc.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/the-kevin-dwight-show/

Imagine for a moment that it is July 2016. Free agency is rapidly whirring into motion and the Miami HEAT, led by Pat Riley, are getting ready to make an enormous splash once again. We’ve talked about the possibilities of Miami’s two biggest targets, Kevin Durant and Hassan Whiteside, and scenarios that involve them wearing HEAT colors next season. However, if there is one thing this franchise’s loyal fan base must understand, it is to expect the unexpected. Isn’t that what free agency is all about?

Something to dwell on. Riley might have something up his sleeve this summer.

Great work RJM! That's a really good read so far. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[3ballbomber]

So here's my "Super Friends" scenario in Miami. I don't think it will happen because it is pretty outlandish, but I don't completely rule it out. First, Stephen A was right in 2010 so I give some credibility to his sources about this kind of stuff. Second, LeBron spoke about it and how he'd take less money to make it happen if he had to. Third, the recent stories about the LeBron-Wade and LeBron-Carmelo friendships paint a picture of true, close friendship and we've heard very much the same stuff about the LeBron-Paul friendship. Fourth, these guys and their wives vacation together every year. Fifth, if it is going to happen I think it has to be in Miami or LA and because Wade has been with the Heat his whole career (and the other guys have all moved), if these guys want to do it they may favor Miami so Wade can finish his career here. Sixth, if they are ever going to do it the time is in the next 2 years -- after that they may no longer be a championship-caliber team and the whole concept falls flat if they simply aren't very good.

So is there a way it could happen? I think there is.

Paul will be entering the last year of his deal witht he Clips and they don't seem primed to compete for a title out west. If he wants to leave and makes clear before the trade deadline that he wants to be in Miami and if not traded to Miami the Clips will get nothing for him, I think he could probably force a trade here with Dragic as the major piece. In reality, that wouldn't be a bad consolation for the Clips as it would fill the PG position with a good player who would likely fit their style pretty well. Paul is making $22.9M next year and Dragic $15.9M, so we may need a filler to make the salaries match sufficiently. McBob at $5.8M next year would be perfect, but that might be too much for the Clips to swallow. If so, $5-6M may well be where TyJo ends up (I believe we can actually go over the cap to re-sign him), so TyJo might work as a filler, if necessary.

Bosh's $23.7M may be eligible to come off the books in February as part of a "forced retirement." I don't know for sure if this can be done, but if that is where it is heading I see no reason why the Heat couldn't trade him to the Knicks for Carmelo ($24.6M) and agree to pick up the tab on the remaining $75M or so that Bosh will be due if the forced retirement happens (presumably shortly thereafter). The Knicks are getting essentially nothing but cap relief for Carmelo, but they may well be enough. He's due close to $55M over the subsequent two years of his contract and, because of his no-trade clause, he can ensure that the Knicks will have to pay every penny of it unless they trade him where he wants to go, which in this scenario is Miami. I suspect the Knicks very well might go for that.

So that's how the Heat get Paul and Carmelo. Can they do that while keeping Wade and Whiteside? It appears so. With an estimated $42M available under the cap this offseason before resigning TyJo, they can give Whiteside his $21M and could give Wade about $21M too. Deng and JJohnson would presumably have to go, unless Wade and Whitey are willing to give something up to keep one (or both). The rest of the roster would be filled out with minimums and exceptions.

LeBron, meanwhile, does another 2 yr deal with Cleveland with the opt out after next season. If LeBron wins a title this year, he will have brought them a title as he "promised" and stayed for a chance to repeat. If he loses this year, he gives it a 3rd year and if he wins a title next year also fulfills his "promise." If he doesn't win after 3 years, he can leave saying he gave it 3 years and did his best, but it just didn't happen and he's not forever beholden to the Cavs or Dan Gilbert. By the 2017 offseason, the cap is expected to go up to around $111M (I think), so if Wade and Paul were to re-up at their 2016-17 salaries there'd still be about $20M for LeBron even if the Heat was still saddled with McBob's contract. If they can get rid of it, they could have around $26M for LeBron. Or Wade and Paul could opt out and they could redistribute their salaries along with LeBron. Carmelo will be vastly overpaid by then and making much more than the others, but I don't think there'd be anything to prevent him from informally sharing, i.e., after he gets paid by the Heat, with his buddies if that was what the Super Friends were to agree on.

This scenario would give the Heat a great starting 5 of Paul, Wade, LeBron, Carmelo and Whiteside, each at pretty much their natural position (at least in today's NBA with so many stretch-4s and so little post play at the 4). They would also keep two young, defensive oriented wings in Winslow and Richardson.

Again, it probably won't happen, but I think it could and it would be pretty damn interesting if it did.

This new generation of thinking that we need to form super teams to compete is soft as f*ck.

Nobody is saying it needs to be done to compete. Of course, it does make it easier to compete. You do pretty much need two superstars and at least one premium sub-superstar.

Nor is it any kind of new generation thing. The Lakers traded for Wilt Chamberlain to add to Elgin Baylor and Jerry West to try to beat Boston. Then Magic Johnson made it known that we wouldn't have come out of Michigan State and entered the draft that year if the Lakers hadn't won the coin toss for the first pick. Charles Barkley forced his way out of Philly to get onto a stacked Suns team so he could have a legit shot at winning a title. Then Barkley tried to set up a Big 3 in Houston with Hakeem and Drexler. Then tried it with Hakeem and Pippen after Drexler. Riley tried to build one here in 1996 with Zo, Hardaway and Juwan Howard. That didn't work, so he then tried to add Jamal Mashburn to Zo and Tim. When that didn't work, he swapped Mashburn for Eddie Jones. That didn't work, so when he "lucked" into Wade he traded for Shaq and tried to surround them with other multi-All-Stars like Payton and Antoine Walker. Won a title with it. Several years later he pulled it off with Wade, LeBron and Bosh. Etc. I don't think Magic, Barkley and Riley were "soft as fu*k." I think they wanted to win.

this debate is so 2010

[Flash4thewin]

I got bored and wrote a piece on Dwight Howard.

https://rjmarc.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/the-kevin-dwight-show/

Imagine for a moment that it is July 2016. Free agency is rapidly whirring into motion and the Miami HEAT, led by Pat Riley, are getting ready to make an enormous splash once again. We’ve talked about the possibilities of Miami’s two biggest targets, Kevin Durant and Hassan Whiteside, and scenarios that involve them wearing HEAT colors next season. However, if there is one thing this franchise’s loyal fan base must understand, it is to expect the unexpected. Isn’t that what free agency is all about?

Something to dwell on. Riley might have something up his sleeve this summer.

Hint: It has to do with Dwight, KD, and a whole lot of speculation, pipe-dreaming, and sacrifice.

Interesting but no way Durant leaves his team for an older Wade and Dragic. Its a better sale than McRoberts and Granger but still not good. The other thing is how to resign Deng?

[KingDavid]

When's PG13 a FA? Next offseason or the one after that?

Doesnt matter. After his mishap with that toosties stripper, he will never, ever play for the heat, lols.

[gom]

When's PG13 a FA? Next offseason or the one after that?

Doesnt matter. After his mishap with that toosties stripper, he will never, ever play for the heat, lols.

Not cool. He and Ms. Rajic are raising their daughter together. He actually has roots here now.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaZroyWQ2Jw[/youtube]

My guess is that Tootsie's is seen as an incentive in free agency. Scarlett's, thus, is worth a million off of Whiteside's deal. Right?

[Cmon_Son-_-]

We need an enforcer. Haslem's never going to part of the rotation anymore. We need someone to fill that role somewhat. Possible Enforcers that are unrestricted free agents I see are Zaza Pachulia, Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Nene.

[Bishop45]

We need an enforcer. Haslem's never going to part of the rotation anymore. We need someone to fill that role somewhat. Possible Enforcers that are unrestricted free agents I see are Zaza Pachulia, Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Nene.

Da' "Birdman, Birdman!!" still has a few plucks of feathers on his wings? 38 ain't so old!

[Cmon_Son-_-]

We need an enforcer. Haslem's never going to part of the rotation anymore. We need someone to fill that role somewhat. Possible Enforcers that are unrestricted free agents I see are Zaza Pachulia, Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Nene.

Da' "Birdman, Birdman!!" still has a few plucks of feathers on his wings? 38 ain't so old!

Birdman would've been huge this playoffs.

[Chalm Down]

I want someone like Dragic or Bosh to be our enforcer, that would be amusing

[HIF]

When's PG13 a FA? Next offseason or the one after that?

Doesnt matter. After his mishap with that toosties stripper, he will never, ever play for the heat, lols.

Not cool. He and Ms. Rajic are raising their daughter together. He actually has roots here now.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaZroyWQ2Jw[/youtube]

My guess is that Tootsie's is seen as an incentive in free agency. Scarlett's, thus, is worth a million off of Whiteside's deal. Right?

I thought you were talking about Goran (the PG with no D).

[Myam333]

I want someone like Dragic or Bosh to be our enforcer, that would be amusing

Before even looking at your avatar, that's the gif that played in my head when I read your post.

[3ballbomber]

We need an enforcer. Haslem's never going to part of the rotation anymore. We need someone to fill that role somewhat. Possible Enforcers that are unrestricted free agents I see are Zaza Pachulia, Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Nene.

Nene off the bench would be very handy.

[HIF]

We need an enforcer. Haslem's never going to part of the rotation anymore. We need someone to fill that role somewhat. Possible Enforcers that are unrestricted free agents I see are Zaza Pachulia, Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Nene.

Nene off the bench would be very handy.

I think NéNé is less alive than UD.

[dancing2thabeet]

We need an enforcer. Haslem's never going to part of the rotation anymore. We need someone to fill that role somewhat. Possible Enforcers that are unrestricted free agents I see are Zaza Pachulia, Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Nene.

Da' "Birdman, Birdman!!" still has a few plucks of feathers on his wings? 38 ain't so old!

Birdman would've been huge this playoffs.

We probably beat Raps with Birdman down low.

[heat4life]

So how are we paying all these players while keeping Hassan, Wade and possibly Deng as well?

[KingDavid]

When's PG13 a FA? Next offseason or the one after that?

Doesnt matter. After his mishap with that toosties stripper, he will never, ever play for the heat, lols.

Not cool. He and Ms. Rajic are raising their daughter together. He actually has roots here now.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaZroyWQ2Jw[/youtube]

My guess is that Tootsie's is seen as an incentive in free agency. Scarlett's, thus, is worth a million off of Whiteside's deal. Right?

Oh c'mon gom. You know my jokes are in poor taste. Like this one; If by roots you mean, ball & chain, then yes. He's "rooted" down here...right at the wallet.

But seriously, I'm glad he stepped up to be a responsible father. I can't imagine the level of guilt Paul George experiences day to day. Oh well, he has her whole life to make amends.

[DayofMourning]

So how are we paying all these players while keeping Hassan, Wade and possibly Deng as well?

So true. Managing the money you have is the most difficult part to building a contender. You can't pay everyone top dollar and expect to compete for championships. Right now we look to field the same core team as last year. Should we max them all out just to treadmill?