Elton Brand opts out!

[BlaZeN27]

People who say we don't have enough are wrong.



Elton Brand
Cuttino Mobley

For

Shawn Marion
Udonis Haslem
Daquan Cook



They do that in a heartbeat, IMO. The question is, would WE do it?

[GameTime_3]

Could Riley trade Beasley? After the press conference and media hype, does Riley have the balls to trade him and show his face to the fans and media? I honestly cant see him trading Beasley.

[HeatSince88]

Brands not coming here, stop with the dreams. LA would be ridiculously crazy to let him go.

If you're the notoriously cheap Clippers, you don't at least think about taking 19-year-old Michael Beasley (making $5 mill/yr) a;most 30-year-old Brand (making $17 mill/year)?

In fact, it seems like the one substantial rumor on draft day was that LA was moving up to #4 so they could trade that and Brand for Beasley and Marion. But then Minny took our guy (Mayo) at #3. I know not to always believe rumors, but there's reason to believe they're interested in a swap.

We'll see. Let's hope Riles doesn't lose his mind an do something crazy. I just got used to the idea of a future with Beasley, and I'm liking it.

[Flash3]

Could Riley trade Beasley? After the press conference and media hype, does Riley have the balls to trade him and show his face to the fans and media? I honestly cant see him trading Beasley.

Yes, we're talking about Riley, not John Paxson here......

[perz260]

I dont think riles would do that trade, and mess up the long term flexibility of the team. ESPN just reported that Brand wants a 5 year extension at max dollars; which means that if we do the trade u are proposing in 2 years when wade's contract is up u have a 32/33 year old brand slightly over the hill and making max money and a 29/30 year old maggette and wade leaving a pretty decrepit team (us) with no youth to follow lebron or team up with bosh. Excellent Future

[BlaZeN27]

Wade wouldn't leave with that team around him.

[Lane1974]

It's believed that the Miami Heat will make another hard pitch to land Brand via trade. The contract Brand is vacating was originally signed with Miami when the 29-year-old power forward was a restricted free agent in the summer of 2003, with the Clippers matching that six-year, $82 million deal.

Falk said a visit to Boston for Game 2 of the NBA Finals influenced Brand's decision to opt out.

"He watched what happened when a few stars get together and agree to have a communal effort," Falk said. "He said 'That's what I'd like to accomplish in my career.'

come on Patrick James Riley, you magnificent bastard, you have one more big surprise move left in ya, I know it

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3468389

[HeatSince88]

I dont think riles would do that trade, and mess up the long term flexibility of the team. ESPN just reported that Brand wants a 5 year extension at max dollars; which means that if we do the trade u are proposing in 2 years when wade's contract is up u have a 32/33 year old brand slightly over the hill and making max money and a 29/30 year old maggette and wade leaving a pretty decrepit team (us) with no youth to follow lebron or team up with bosh. Excellent Future

When Wade can opt out in 2010, Wade will be 28, Brand will be 31 and Maggette will be 30. Not much age difference really.

Boston, which just won the title and is a favorite to win it again next year, has a Big 3 of ages 30, 30, 32. By your calculations, they should not have put that team together this year, as they are too old to do anything. KG should've looked at it and said "Where's the youth? No thanks. I'll stay in Minny where we have more young guys". And they are older now than our Big 3 would be in 2010.

Not to mention, Miami's Big 3 would be coming off back-to-back seasons of competing for (or even winning) titles, further discouraging Wade to leave for the awful Nets or Knicks or whatever. Hmmm, contending with Brand/Maggette or rebuilding with Danilo Galinari and Nate Robinson? Tough one.

Finally, Riley will set things up so that when Brand and Maggette reach the point of decline (5 years), their deals will expire with most everyone else's and leave Wade with $30 mill to $50 mill plus in cap room that offseason (2013) to get great young talents for one more run at titles.

[GameTime_3]

I used to want him and now i am happy to say" Let him go". Brand wants max money,Which kills our 2010 plan,Something i feel he is not worth. Second thing to consider is that we would have to give up assets, Such as Marion, who i think later could hold more value in trade,.Marion and Haslem are the only way we could getting rid of one of the contracts we dont want(Blout or Banks). Say No to Brand and say hello to "Kwame Brown" This is sure to piss people off lol

[HeatSince88]

"He watched what happened when a few stars get together and agree to have a communal effort," Falk said. "He said 'That's what I'd like to accomplish in my career.'

Holy crap, doesn't that mean he basically told his agent "Get me to Miami"? I mean, that doesn't sound like Philly or the Clippers to me.

And if Falk did indeed advise Brand to opt out NOW instead of waiting until next year when we have space, doesn't that mean Falk is pretty confident he can get Brand to the place where "a few stars get together" as Brand is requesting? Again, meaning Miami?

This is getting interesting-er and interesting-er.

[HeatSince88]

GameTime, will you be the first guy in Miami with a Kwame Brown jersey?

[Lane1974]

I used to want him and now i am happy to say" Let him go". Brand wants max money,Which kills our 2010 plan,Something i feel he is not worth. Second thing to consider is that we would have to give up assets, Such as Marion, who i think later could hold more value in trade,.Marion and Haslem are the only way we could getting rid of one of the contracts we dont want(Blout or Banks). Say No to Brand and say hello to "Kwame Brown" This is sure to piss people off lol

Brand would REPLACE the post 2010 plan
2 years of hopefullness > wishful thinking then

maybe the trade can happen without Marion -- Beasley might be an attractive enough piece plus salary cap filler (Blount/Banks/Cook or Wright perhaps?)

PG: Duhon/Chalmers
SG: Wade
SF: Marion
PF: Haslem
C: Brand

[GameTime_3]

GameTime, will you be the first guy in Miami with a Kwame Brown jersey?

Yeah, Got my silkscreen ready. Id rather have a Chris Quinn Jersey

[perz260]

Wade wouldn't leave with that team around him.

I dont think a brand, wade, maggette trio is championship caliber IMO. There is no shooting, the best defensive player is brand and he is also the oldest player, and i don't see maggette's and wade game coexisting that well. If wade has the chance to team up with a younger partner like lebron or bosh in 2010 at a max deal or stay with that clipper twosome(assuming beasley is not part of the organization) then he bolts IMO

[dflash3]

I used to want him and now i am happy to say" Let him go". Brand wants max money,Which kills our 2010 plan,Something i feel he is not worth. Second thing to consider is that we would have to give up assets, Such as Marion, who i think later could hold more value in trade,.Marion and Haslem are the only way we could getting rid of one of the contracts we dont want(Blout or Banks). Say No to Brand and say hello to "Kwame Brown" This is sure to piss people off lol

Brand would REPLACE the post 2010 plan
2 years of hopefullness > wishful thinking then

maybe the trade can happen without Marion -- Beasley might be an attractive enough piece plus salary cap filler (Blount/Banks/Cook or Wright perhaps?)

PG: Duhon/Chalmers
SG: Wade
SF: Marion
PF: Haslem
C: Brand

Call me conservative but I'd much rather give up Marion then Beasley for Brand. By trading for Brand the Heat would be giving up on the 2010 free agency, but Beasley could serve as insurance with his potential and youth.

[MartyConlonJr]

Yeah, I doubt there's a chance that Riley turns down the immediate contention possible for a shot a 2010 in the right trade.

You have to take into mind that it's not Brand or Lebron when tossing up between a possible trade or waiting, it's much more than that.

It is Brand + 2008 MLE + 2009 MLE + 2010 MLE + 2008 LLE + 2010 LLE + Wright + Marion

For
Beasley + (a shot at) Lebron

Plus, as we found out last season, 1 year is a LONG time. It maybe 20% of Wades career. do we want to waste that long. I mean if we have to, we have to, but if we have an opportunity now that is appealing enough, we can't hang our hopes on the same pipe dream 10 or so teams will be.

[BlaZeN27]

Another interesting note...


Why would Brand opt out this year to re-sign with the Clipper when he could have waited a year and got a lot more money with a max deal (10% more of the cap).

[perz260]

brand wants a 5 year max deal, he is going to be 30 during the season. He is not worth that contract IMO, especially if we are giving up Beasley to get him. We already saw what mortgaging the future can do to our team; we went from champions to utter garbage in less than 22 months. And to top it off brand is not the player Shaq was his first 2 years here (he is also not the defensive presence that Garnett is so the Boston comparison doesn't ring true). Why are some posters here ready to give up on Beasley, watch what the rookie does this year ( he might turn into the 20-10 presence we need); I am all for getting brand if we keep the wade/beasley core. We need to add to that core not destroy it.

[HeatSince88]

Wade wouldn't leave with that team around him.

I dont think a brand, wade, maggette trio is championship caliber IMO. There is no shooting,

Actually Maggette's a 38% 3PT shooter. Brand is a PF, obviously he isn't supposed to be a shooter, but is still one of the best midrange shooters in the game. So what your'e actually saying is "Wade's not a good enough of shooter for us to win a championship" which contradicts our 2006 championship. A comparison of potential lineups ...

Miami
PG - MLE or Haslem Trade PG ........ 40% 3PT
SG - D Wade ................................ 28% 3PT
SF - C Maggette ........................... 38% 3PT
PF - E Brand ................................ 0% 3PT this year (but good midrange shooter)
C - Haslem Trade or MLE .............. power player

Boston
PG - R Rondo .............................. 26% 3PT
SG - R Allen ................................ 39% 3PT
SF - P Pierce .............................. 39% 3PT
PF - K Garnett ............................ 0% 3PT this year (but good midrange shooter)
C - Kendrcik Perkins .................... power player

All we need is two guys off the bench who can shoot well (like Posey, House) and we're no worse than the Celts shooting-wise. Banks can hit 3s at a high clip, some believe Cook can, someone like a James Jones or Jarvis Hayes would come cheap, or even Posey.

Point is, our deep shooting wouldn't be much different than Boston's if we put the right pieces in the right places, which is the easiest part really.

the best defensive player is brand and he is also the oldest player,

Brand is 29. KG is 32.

Was Bostons' best defensive player too old to win a title?

and i don't see maggette's and wade game coexisting that well.

Well it does actually. Sorry to break it to you. They're both FT machines, and Maggette has become a good spot-up shooter over the years. Riley tried to get Maggette to pair with Wade a couple times in the past.

If wade has the chance to team up with a younger partner like lebron or bosh in 2010 at a max deal or stay with that clipper twosome then he bolts IMO

Where is that? To the Knicks? Where there's two Euro projects and a rotting corpse like Quentin Richardson on the roster at that point, and that's it? LOL. That would literally have to be the roster for them to have $38 million in cap room for both Wade AND Lebron. Wade's not leaving his 50-win-plus annual contender for that garbage. And Lebron's not leaving his hometown team for that crap either. Chnaces are, the Knicks will have room for just one of them, and nowhere near the squad Wade will be surrounded with here.

Look, it's obvious you don't like it because you prefer young players rather than proven guys. Why not just say "I'd prefer to hold onto Beasley because he's younger and that's what I like?" You don't have to call everyone too old to win a title when they're youmger than Boston by years, or say they can't shoot when they shoot very well for thier positions, or say Wade and Lebron will leave together and sign with some team with no one on the roster (rather than competing for titles with Brand/Maggette in Miami and making more money on bigger annual raises and zero state income tax).

It's OK to just say "I'd rather keep Beasley" - believe me, it's perfectly understandable.

[HeatSince88]

Why are some posters here ready to give up on Beasley, watch what the rookie does this year

Who's giving up on Beasley?

brand wants a 5 year max deal, he is going to be 30 during the season. He is not worth that contract IMO

I am all for getting brand if we keep the wade/beasley core.

Which is it? Brand too old and expensive and overrated? Or are you "all for gettting him"?

What you're basically saying is let's keep Beasley at all costs. That's a great point and much better taken than the endless Brand-dissing. I'd lean towards holding onto Beasley too, FWIW.