Official Off-Season Trade/Rumor Thread

[DefenseWins]

I'd be happy to start the new season with a depth chart like this :

C - Chris Bosh, Greg Oden, Chris Andersen
F - Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier, Rashard Lewis
F - LeBron James, James Ennis, James Jones
G - Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Mike Miller
G - Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Myck Kabongo

And how do we get rid of Joel, who is on this roster?

Thought Pat would trade him away on draft night, didn't happen. :|

[Heat_Fan_87]

I'd be happy to start the new season with a depth chart like this :

C - Chris Bosh, Greg Oden, Chris Andersen
F - Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier, Rashard Lewis
F - LeBron James, James Ennis, James Jones
G - Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Mike Miller
G - Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Myck Kabongo

And how do we get rid of Joel, who is on this roster?

Thought Pat would trade him away on draft night, didn't happen. :|

Yea, I don't see us getting rid of Joel.

I think we will have 2 sport to fill, could be 1 if we keep varnado.

[weouthere]

Dalembert has to get in shape

[BoshtimusPrime]

Seems like every off-season people think Dalembert is coming here. It's not happening.

I'd be thrilled to have Oden too but other teams will offer him more money. If he were to come here and resemble his former self, it wouldn't be fair for the rest of the league.

[Ratchet_Rio]

People really wanna roll with Bosh at the 5 again huh

[Noodle Arm]

You guys....it has begun. Make sure your skin is thick, because this upcoming season is going to be ROUGH when it comes to the media. ESPN decided to put this **** up....

[DefenseWins]

I swear it's only ESPN making up this garbage about LeBron returning to Cleveland. They should be charged with crimes for making up stories just for ratings and traffic on their site.

[LEIF]

IRWT

[John Thomas]

just enjoy the moment this up coming season guys and don't think about the future
one game at a time

[Duane]

I don't expect us to run with 3 points next year because we still create mismatches with no points on the floor. With Rio, he's a better shooter than facilitator, so he can help us space the floor. Unless we get a point guard that can shoot or has the mechanics to become a good shooter, then I don't think they have a chance to make the team. It's pretty much a prerequisite that u need to be a good shooter to make the roster.

[Altered_Beast]

i really like the kobongo pickup. guy was a projected lottery pick last year and was doing pretty good to start the season off this year before the ncaa suspended him.

in 2010 we were frothing for PG's. now its possible to have 3 decent ones. the summer of 14 is gonna be tense. chalmers will be a free agent and if we do resign the big 3, the pg position will not be a priority to fill out the rest of the roster again. cole will be the only guy still under contract given that the big 3 opt out so having kabongo on a rookie contract would be a good safety net (assuming chalmers finally leaves us)

i hope we go san antonio route and actually develop these guys. we tried with pittman (and he sucked) but at least we are trying now with varnado and kabongo hopefully

[orangeparka]

Heard a lot about Kabongo, then he just disappeared. Hopefully he shows something in SL and we keep him on our 15th slot or whatever.

[KDBG]

Jazz fan here. Although I'm a Jazz fan first, I'm an NBA fan second. I LOVE the Kabongo summer league invite for you guys. I was very high on him. I was disappointed with his inconsistent college career, but he could be a great value pickup for you guys.

He's an outstanding leader. At the very least, this guy will be someone who adds a positive influence in the locker room. He's also got some unteachable physical tools. He's long, and taller than I thought (almost 6'3 in shoes). He's very quick, and a flashy ball handler. He really needs to work on his shooting, but that's one of the things that's very fixable in this league. His release is slow, but his form looks fine. He just needs a little tweaking. If he can even become a 10/4/7 type of player, that would be a steal for you guys.

If you guys sign Oden and get him healthy, and slowly groom Kabongo behind Chalmers, you may get two very solid players at key positions. They probably won't be stars, but they'll be fantastic compliments to the big 3 for a cheap price. That could "potentially" be a f***** good starting lineup one day.

[shanedude]

^We hope they pan out too.

[BIRDMAN BIRDMAN]

Kabongo, Ennis, and that other guy that we picked up. I hope at least one pans out. Imagine if all actually impress in SL?

But we'll prob forget all of 'em pretty soon though since all of 'em will bust out, but im hoping that's not the case. Not getting my hopes up but if we can get a gem from 'em, that would obviously be a nice bonus for us.

[homecourtloss]

Heard a lot about Kabongo, then he just disappeared. Hopefully he shows something in SL and we keep him on our 15th slot or whatever.

Leaving has great court vision and creativity. His weakness is that he cannot shoot which would, of course, be a problem on this team, but that's the immediate issue which wouldn't be a concern as he would ride the pine until he gets better.

[RexBoyWonder]

I dont see us taking on a PG that can't shoot like Kabongo. He'll never see the court next to LBJ and Wade and we have very limited roster spots openings.

If we had more open spots it would have been smart to send him to our D-league team, give him time to devolpe a shot and maybe bring him back in a year or 2. but he has to be on the roster for us to able to do that, and we can't keep him on the roster right now.

Besides, our biggest and maybe only real need right now is size. not PG play.

If we can get rid of Joel's/Jones's contracts - We should probablly do it. get another young guy to take their spot.

[daniel3]

We have a glutton of shooters and only two guys that can execute the game at our desired pace. Norris Cole showed that he could step into that role to an extent, but if Kabongo can improve on that, then why obsess about his shooting?

Also shot coaching is about the only thing our staff seems competent at teaching guys, so I'll take a guy with a shaky shot, but is strong at everything else.

[Duane]

We have a glutton of shooters and only two guys that can execute the game at our desired pace. Norris Cole showed that he could step into that role to an extent, but if Kabongo can improve on that, then why obsess about his shooting?

Also shot coaching is about the only thing our staff seems competent at teaching guys, so I'll take a guy with a shaky shot, but is strong at everything else.

We get away with lack of size because we spread the floor with shooters. Our PGs are responsible for spacing the floor more than making plays, because we already have Wade and Bron handling the ball the majority of the time. They are both better playmakers than any PG we are likely to sign in the next 20 years, and Chalmers and Cole are good enough in support. Both have better perimeter and FT shots than Kabongo.

I think it's worth considering that some of these guys are brought in just to play defense in practice and maybe be worth an overseas stash. I think Kabongo is one of those guys, because he'll never handle the ball enough to showcase his talents, and he's just gonna wreck the spacing. We'll see though.

Any word on Justin Hamilton's condition? Last I checked, he had a hamstring issue that was projected to keep him out of SL.

[GreenHat]

You're talking in circles here. You were the one who brought "What if you have to rebuild?" not me.

You're point about players taking longer to develop actually points to drafting players earlier not later. If we need a rotation guy in the future it would be better if he is a third year guy and not a rookie.

Again go back to the original post you quoted:

We are way past the luxury tax line, there is no flexibility with a pick or not.

I was speaking from a win-now position. As long as we are in that mode we are going to be way past the luxury tax without any cap flexibility and one late draft pick wouldn't change that. We will be way over the cap even while the big 3 opt out with the cap holds for Lebron/Wade/Bosh unless we renounce their rights. If you see that happening then we have much bigger problems.

I think you are understanding in circles just for the sake of arguing. Really? A late first round pick in a weak draft (2012)?

You have yet to name a player that is was worth paying luxury tax money with a guaranteed contract and/or risk our cap flexibility in 2014 IF any one, two or all three of the big three bolt.

Here is a list of the players drafted from #27 (Heat slot) and on in 2012 NBA Draft:

Arnett Moultrie
Perry Jones III
Marquis Teague
Festus Ezeli
Jeffery Taylor
Tomáš Satoranský
Bernard James
Jae Crowder
Draymond Green
Orlando Johnson
Quincy Acy
Quincy Miller
Khris Middleton
Will Barton
Tyshawn Taylor
Doron Lamb
Mike Scott
Kim English
Justin Hamilton
Darius Miller
Kevin Murphy
Kostas Papanikolaou
Kyle O'Quinn
İzzet Türkyılmaz
Kris Joseph
Ognjen Kuzmić
Furkan Aldemir
Tornike Shengelia
Darius Johnson-Odom
Tomislav Zubčić
İlkan Karaman
Robbie Hummel
Marcus Denmon
Robert Sacre

Do you see the name of player that would've have played this season? A player that would've played this upcoming season?

If you are going to have any of those players ride the bench a la Varnado, why do it on a guaranteed contract, eliminate roster flexibility, pay a higher tax bill and complicate your cap flexibility in 2014? Don't you think that future first round pick from Philly - or two high 2nd rounder as it looks like now - are more valuable as assets when evaluating the whole situation we are in now and in 2014?

Again you are creating strawmen everywhere.

Once again I bring up the original quote that you quoted:

We are way past the luxury tax line, there is no flexibility with a pick or not.

Having that pick would do nothing to damage that flexibility, unless you consider the ability to sign Juwan Howard flexibility. And yes there are guys there I'd rather have than Juwan Howard.

But that's irrelevant. I wasn't arguing for or against the trade at this time or in the future (in which case I'm sure by 2014 some of those guys pan out)

What I was saying was having a first round pick does not kill any kind of flexibility. The salary on a late first round pick is 1 million dollars. What do you think the cap hold on a minimum salary is? Not to mention the contract is only guaranteed for two years. If you don't like the guy you can let him go for free in time for your ridiculous hypothetical of needing cap flexibility in 2014.

Of course those team options are almost always picked up because its a bargain contract of 3 mil/2yrs at that point.

Just think of the contract like Norris Cole's contract. How much flexibility would we gain if we never had that pick? Nothing.

We are so far over the cap that a 2mil/2year contract has no bearing on our flexibility. We have none. By 2014 that contract is a player option which we could decline if needed. A late first round pick from last year would have no effect on our flexibility.