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According to this ESPN article, the Miami Heat are Chris Kaman's preferred option, if it were his option to change teams.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page ... nicks-more

Since Kaman has not been waived by the deadline at which players can sign for other teams and be eligible for the playoffs, and he is currently under contract with the New Orleans Hornets, he can't dictate who he plays for and must fulfil his contract by playing out the rest of the season with New Orleans. It will however be Kaman's decision as to where he plays in just a few month's time once the free-agency period commences.

In the upcoming free-agency period , Kaman should threaten to walk and join Miami for the Mini Mid-level exception. He wouldn't be getting paid what he could be, but New Orleans will have to think about getting whatever they can for him once they know he is going to walk. This is typically done via a sign-and-trade scenario.

My suggestion? Miami offers Mike Miller at $5.8M pa, plus both a 1st round pick and 2nd round pick, plus $3M cash to New Orleans for a re-signed Chris Kaman at $7.25M pa (125% of $5.8M is $7.25M).

Kaman comes to Miami and gets paid what he deserves. New Orleans get a mid-tier player for mid-tier (mid-level) type money, and essentially for free (Kaman's going to leave anyway), they get $3M in cash and 2 future draft picks.

This is essentially how Miami got Bosh and Lebron in sign and trade deals. Miami gave up 1st round picks, but Toronto and Cleveland knew their star players were bound to leave and sign as free-agents anyway, so figured they might as well get picks out of it as opposed to receiving absolutely nothing in return.

Kaman's agent makes sure the media knows that he's going to Miami regardless and blows the whole situation up so Stern's hand appears forced and a trade with Miami appears reasonable and "in the spirit of the game" (ie anti-Chris Paul trade).

Miami doesn't care for the loss of draft picks, nor Mike Miller, much less cash (Arison is loaded). Miami's 1st and 2nd round picks probably won't get any playing time anyway. They can do without Mike Miller. Notwithstanding the fact that Dwyane Wade and Lebron James already play the vast majority of minutes at the 2 and 3 positions. James Jones and more importantly, the recent acquisition of Shane Battier make Mike MIller largely redundant. His contract though is the highest of those outside the big 3. Miami could have amnestied Mike Miller. It chose not to. Why? Because I'm confident that the Miami Heat see Miller's "salary" as an asset. Something they will inevitably look to package draft picks with and use as a means of trading for another key player. What is the position they are most lacking in? The center position. Who is a legitimate center who will become a free-agent this offseason? Chris Kaman. Who wants to play for the Miami Heat more than any other team? Chris Kaman.

Get it done. Thoughts?

Get rid of Harris, keep Miller and sign Kaman. And hopefully, if they do win it all this season. Juwan should retire to open up room.

They wouldn't want Miller, the 3M Miami's sending their way doesn't make up for the 2 years, 12.M left on Miller's deal. And Kaman would probably still be underpaid at 7.25. For comparison, Haywood will 8.3 next season, and Kaman is probably worth at least as much as Haywood, no?

Fact is, Cole and Pittman would in theory be Miami's best trade assets, but the problem is neither really has played enough minutes at a high enough level to be worth anything on the trade market, and their total salary is nil, so its not like you can get anything back for them. Miami's threat to sign Lebron/Bosh outright was credible because they could get the full max that way, and their return package was palatable because it didn't hamstring either franchise with a contract it didn't want.

The Hornets would basically have to pay $9 mil for a guy they don't in order to get a couple low draft picks (who they'd also have to pay) and maybe Dexter Pittman. Not happening

I wouldn't bet against it. He's a legit 7'0. Very skilled offensively and a good rebounder. if he wants to come to Miami, we should definitely go after him. Miller will get his ring at the end of the season( ) so he really wouldn't have anything against the Heat organization. Juwan would be gone too so we can add one more person. Who knows?

We just saw the Lakers essentially using a very late 1st round draft pick to a) dump the terrible contracts of Luke Walton and Jason Kapono who have absolutely no game whatsoever and b) acquire a young and talent starting point guard.

This suggests to me that Miami dumping the salary of a player like Mike Miller who is actually a decent player for a talented yet old starting center (who is going to leave his team in free-agency anyway) is actually not that implausible.

The Hornets may not have to keep Miller if they can flip him in a separate deal with another team who is wanting a shooter. Think Minnesota who is desperate for a shooter and seems to love white guys for Darko who's salary matches and is soon to expire and no longer gets playing time due to Pekovic and Tolliver. Think Chicago who are desperate (see Rip Hamilton signing) for something that might put them over the edge and could dangle Korver's soon to be expiring for someone who is as a good a shooter, but can do other things also.

Cole has some trade value. Pittman not so much. Either way as you said, they don't earn enough to package them alone. Pittman could be packaged with Miller to enable Kaman to resign for more. I think the way around Kaman being slightly underpaid even at $7.25M pa is that you sign him to a long deal. A 5 year deal with maximum increases could pay him around $45M. It's unlikely that he would be worth anymore than an average of $9M over those 5 years. In his last year (or two) he would be getting significantly overpaid.

I agree that it's tricky. We've seen teams do deals for 1st round picks who expire in the year after the current season. We haven't really seen these deals for contracts that expire in 2+ years time. Having said that Miller can be somewhat productive as compared to the likes of Walton and Kapono etc.

I still think that this is what they are hoping to do, and who better to orchestrate it than Pat Riley I say.

There is no feasible scenario where Miami can land Kaman unless he's willing to play for the taxpayers Mid-Level (which he's not).

BFRESH44 wrote:There is no feasible scenario where Miami can land Kaman unless he's willing to play for the taxpayers Mid-Level (which he's not).

No feasible scenario? You do know we can offload Miller plus someone else right?

That are actually a few articles, incuding one written today that suggest a sign-and-trade, whilst difficult (due to luxury tax issues), is still plausible.

What about:

New Orleans trade: Chris Kaman in sign-and-trade (going to leave anyway)
New Orleans receive: $7.25M trade exception, 2nd round pick (Miami), 2nd round pick (Minnesota top 50 protected and will therefore not eventuate)

Miami trade: Mike Miller ($5.8M), 1st round pick, 2nd round pick, $3M cash
Miami receive: Chris Kaman ($7.25M) via sign-and-trade

Minnesota trade: 2nd round pick (Minnesota top 50 protected and will therefore not eventuate)
Minnesota receive: Mike Miller ($5.8M), 1st round pick (Miami), $3M Cash (Miami)

New Orleans gets a $7.25M trade exception for free (Kaman is leaving anyway) which is worth a lot. They can use this to pick up a salary from a team over the luxury tax and be rewarded massively by doing so. Teams over the cap will give out lots of cash and picks to save millions. The 2nd round pick from Minnesota is protected and they will likely never get this, but they will get Miami's 2nd round pick.

Miami gets Chris Kaman. Enough said.

Minnesota gets the shooter they desperately need and in the meantime picks up a 1st round pick and $3M cash whilst giving up nothing. They have to pay someone anyway. There are minimum team salaries and player salary cap holds etc. They give up nothing to acqure a shooter, a 1st round draft pick and $3M cash for nothing.

It's not a "typical" trade scenario, but one that benefits all teams given their circumstances.

RhapidKid wrote:

BFRESH44 wrote:There is no feasible scenario where Miami can land Kaman unless he's willing to play for the taxpayers Mid-Level (which he's not).

No feasible scenario? You do know we can offload Miller plus someone else right?

And then the Heat land the center of there dreams.

Jan_Sobieski wrote:

RhapidKid wrote:

BFRESH44 wrote:There is no feasible scenario where Miami can land Kaman unless he's willing to play for the taxpayers Mid-Level (which he's not).

No feasible scenario? You do know we can offload Miller plus someone else right?

And then the Heat land the center of there dreams.

I know kaman is a good player and all, but all I need from him is to fight for those scrappy defensive/offensive rebounds from Gibson/Noah. If he can do that? HASA LA VISTA BABAAYYY!

Kaman is cool but he doesn't seem to have interest in Miami and hes not scrappy enough

iboxlefty wrote:Kaman is cool but he doesn't seem to have interest in Miami and hes not scrappy enough

You sir.......ARE WRONG!

Kaman is cool but he doesn't seem to have interest in Miami and hes not scrappy enough

RhapidKid wrote:

iboxlefty wrote:Kaman is cool but he doesn't seem to have interest in Miami and hes not scrappy enough

You sir.......ARE WRONG!

I can't tell, last I heard he preferred Boston. Also said he wanted somewhere he would get a lot of touches. He probably feels sharing the ball with Bosh, wade and lebron is tooo much


I also saw Noah man handle him last time they played the Bulls

the wiretap says he preferred playing more than playing for a contender

2. Kaman has apparently concluded that no contender he could join would give him the shots and minutes he'll get in New Orleans for the rest of the season, which is something he has to factor in with free agency looming in July.

I haven't ready any where that he's interested in Miami. This is what I found from the article posted. I admitted I skimmed, but I mean, if someone has a statement or a site that says Kaman is interested in the Heat, and not vice versa, I'd like to see it.

Also he wouldn't getting the same mins he would be because this team has to play Joel

I'm willing to give up either JJ (WE DON'T FRIGGIN PLAY HIM, but I hate when giving away a Miami born player), Miller (injury prone, has yet to convince us he should stay on this roster. Yeah he got hot like twice since he's been here, but doesn't shoot as much as he should. We're better off getting a player like Novak, who is actually JJ, but we, again, do not play him). Pittman, Harris (I think his contract is just for the season), and possibly Cole if we can't get another PG or something. Cole's contract is 4 years I believe.

and I know MIckey is loaded, but he has lost 1 billion dollars in assets or something hasn't he? Then the cruise incident didn't help. He maybe loaded, but he's also lost a CRAPLOAD of money. If he was loaded (which is he.. but probably doesn't want to spend too much in the luxury tax), we wouldn't be looking at money so much and offering vet mins and whatnot.

Center of their dreams? Honestly, a Varejao, Noah type player would be golden for this team. Someone who is athletic, fast, scrappy. It's the scrappy ones who always win on the offensive boards. Varejao other than rebounding isn't that good but hey if we can get someone cheap like that, I don't mind.

Miller, JJ, Pittman, 1st round pick (or 2nd), some cash can work I believe.

And I actually say Kaman body up Noah and Kaman would win the body battle. But not necessarily the boards. Their last meeting however, Noah got 5 more boards (16-11). Scrappy always wins 8(

I'm not going through this crap again. He's a good center and he'll get good center money. Not entertaining this pipe dream whatsoever.

Diggity Dave wrote:I'm not going through this crap again. He's a good center and he'll get good center money. Not entertaining this pipe dream whatsoever.

Kamans offense will be an improvement for miami but i can not see him being able to blitz the pick and roll like joel or bosh. Which mean more open jumpers. The heat do not need more offense they need a player like Joakim Noah.

Btw, I have heard Kaman being interested in Boston. Boston WILL have cap space and I think Kaman could go there. He will get the playing time. This is Boston's last era of their Big 4 together (or big 3 if Rondo stays... depends).

DefenseWins wrote:the wiretap says he preferred playing more than playing for a contender

2. Kaman has apparently concluded that no contender he could join would give him the shots and minutes he'll get in New Orleans for the rest of the season, which is something he has to factor in with free agency looming in July.

(

He doesn't prefer playing time to playing for a contender per say. He only does for the remainder of this season because he knows he's not getting bought out this season, so he'd rather play as many minutes as he can going into free-agency so that he gives himself the best possible chance to sign with a good team/good money in free-agency.

And the quote from the ESPN article which is also on hoopshype is "Word is that Kaman, for what it's worth, had Miami at the top of his list of potential destinations if the Hornets had relented as so many teams do when they vow not to buyouts to antsy veterans".

I agree that Boston has the best chance of signing him outright as a free-agent. If he goes somewhere in a sign-and-trade, it's likely he goes to Miami. The question is can Pat Riley convince the Hornets that them making out with a $7.25M trade exception and a 2nd round pick is better for them than Kaman simply walking. Mark Cuban is probably the best example of this when he realised Tyson Chandler was leaving and proceeded to trade him to the Knicks and used the trade exception the Mavericks received in the deal to acquire Lamar Odom.

I suppose, we will all have to just wait and see. It should be a very interesting free-agency period.

I got my hopes way up for Dalembert although soon after Free Agency began realized it wasn't going to happen.

Now I've gotten excited about the prospects of Kaman OR Ray Allen.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6W56HwPOQg[/youtube]

Yeah I just posted that. ^

Must. lower. expectations.