The Heat and Tampering

[heatwillbeback]

Well I don't think you can stop players from talking to each other, but to me the issue is that Riley took an insanely high risk clearing all his capspace. If he did it knowing that they had already decided in my opinion that is the equivalent of insider trading and if ever happened should get the equivalent of the NBA death penalty.

high risk?

He gave up cook. He cut James Jones. Pretty much it

Shaq and Wade always expired in 2010. That was most of the cap room, and it was there from the beginning

Beasley did not get traded (and hasnt officially yet) until after the guys were signed, and he is traded because he doesnt fit with the big three, not that he needed to be traded to make room for the big 3

[INKtastic]

Wade came out and CLEARLY said he was gonna talk with these guys BEFORE July 1st about what they want to do...and Stern said "Let em have it". He's not gonna do anything.

No, Stern said

"There is no free agent summit," Stern explained emphatically.

"Our players talk to each other all the time. They talk to each other on Team USA. They talk to each other. I think they have a meeting every year around our draft. I've been assured at the highest level that there is no summit. But I would expect our players to talk to one another, and we don't have any problem with that. If some kind of tampering is implicated, I will have a later and different view, but we're not expecting that."

[INKtastic]

Well I don't think you can stop players from talking to each other, but to me the issue is that Riley took an insanely high risk clearing all his capspace. If he did it knowing that they had already decided in my opinion that is the equivalent of insider trading and if ever happened should get the equivalent of the NBA death penalty.

high risk?

He gave up cook. He cut James Jones. Pretty much it

Shaq and Wade always expired in 2010. That was most of the cap room, and it was there from the beginning

Beasley did not get traded (and hasnt officially yet) until after the guys were signed, and he is traded because he doesnt fit with the big three, not that he needed to be traded to make room for the big 3

The high risk is that by not fielding a competitive team, Wade would leave. If it's all prearranged not only that wade isn't leaving, but that Bosh and LeBron are coming, that risk goes away.

[TrueRain]

Wade came out and CLEARLY said he was gonna talk with these guys BEFORE July 1st about what they want to do...and Stern said "Let em have it". He's not gonna do anything.

No, Stern said

"There is no free agent summit," Stern explained emphatically.

"Our players talk to each other all the time. They talk to each other on Team USA. They talk to each other. I think they have a meeting every year around our draft. I've been assured at the highest level that there is no summit. But I would expect our players to talk to one another, and we don't have any problem with that. If some kind of tampering is implicated, I will have a later and different view, but we're not expecting that."

I love how you COMPLETELY ignore this:

But I would expect our players to talk to one another, and we don't have any problem with that.

[Flash3]

LJ, your sig is remarkably funny and at the same time sad.

You went OUT OF YOUR way most times for 7 years to defend LeBron to death, and now you're seemingly tossing him to the side as if he's Ricky Davis.

/random thought

[ikidunot]

Well If Spike Lee said it was rigged, case closed!

http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/07/10/espn-spike-lees-reaction-to-lebrons-decision/

Start at the 3:55 mark or just listen to the whole thing.

[INKtastic]

LJ, your sig is remarkably funny and at the same time sad.

You went OUT OF YOUR way most times for 7 years to defend LeBron to death, and now you're seemingly tossing him to the side as if he's Ricky Davis.

/random thought

My opinion of LeBron changed when I watched him quit in game 5

[Flash3]

LJ, your sig is remarkably funny and at the same time sad.

You went OUT OF YOUR way most times for 7 years to defend LeBron to death, and now you're seemingly tossing him to the side as if he's Ricky Davis.

/random thought

My opinion of LeBron changed when I watched him quit in game 5

1 game changed 7 years of supporting him ad nauseum?

[boogydown]

It's not good thing that the Heat have many enemies right now.

Laying low for a good 6 months probably is the best way to go.

[INKtastic]

I love how you COMPLETELY ignore this:

But I would expect our players to talk to one another, and we don't have any problem with that.

I didn't ignore that - the next sentence is the key

If some kind of tampering is implicated, I will have a later and different view, but we're not expecting that."

And the windhorst article says the tampering started in 2006, not in the free agent summit. That's when they arranged for them to all be free agents at the same time so they could all go to the then defending champion heat.

[fishfuego.]

Lebron was rumored to NY for over a year. By the media and their grand mother.
Bosh was rumored to want out of Toronto before las year's FA.
Wade clearly told Riley to get him talent before last year's FA started and Riley did nothing.

Wade,Bosh,LBJ signed the exact contract 3-4 years ago, with the idea of one day playing together .. it was not tampering as the talking between friends while still signing with their teams was just a friendly dream that players can deicide as long as there is no involvement from a team's FO.. as an individual, one can chose its destiny and preference to were his desire to play may be .. as a team, you cannot talk to that individual into joining you while employed by another team.. but the league CANNOT dictate where an individual's preference is as far as his choice of employment.. this is not China.

Put it this way, as a member of the Cavs, LBJ could have said that his dream was to play for NY and there is not a damn thing anyone can say because of a freedom of speech act. I would be a PR nightmare, but his choice never the less.

[dwade3]

[quote=

The high risk is that by not fielding a competitive team, Wade would leave. If it's all prearranged not only that wade isn't leaving, but that Bosh and LeBron are coming, that risk goes away.[/quote]

so i guess NY tanking for the last two years and clearing up cap space is also tampering, bec. they knew they were going to get LBJ? or the bulls having cap space? just bec. Pat cleaned up cap space to sign free agent in 2010 is being a GOOD GM, not tapering....i mean, we all know wade, bosh and lbj probably spoke to each other, but they are friends...u cant stop player from talking to each other...lot of other teams took risk to cleaned up cap space LBJ, bosh, amare, boozer, jj...

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

So since this happened has Stern said any thing?

This changes the entire league, he doesn't make a peep?

To me, the fact that Stern hasn't said a thing speaks to something fishy being a foot.

The last thing he said was that there wouldn't be a free agend sumit, how did that work out?

[dwade3]

Well If Spike Lee said it was rigged, case closed!

http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/07/10/espn-spike-lees-reaction-to-lebrons-decision/

Start at the 3:55 mark or just listen to the whole thing.

ya, a die heart Knicks fan saying that..lol..cmon, all the NY fans thought they were going to get lbj...they tanked for last two years to clean up cap space for lbj and in the end only got amare...

[Lakeshow2417]

well. OP did a good job putting the post together and gets an A for effort

[dwade3]

LJ, your sig is remarkably funny and at the same time sad.

You went OUT OF YOUR way most times for 7 years to defend LeBron to death, and now you're seemingly tossing him to the side as if he's Ricky Davis.

/random thought

My opinion of LeBron changed when I watched him quit in game 5

lol, u know if LBJ went back to cleveland, u would have supported him the same way u did the last 7 years..

[UGA Hayes]

^ Well it would be tampering if he in any way told NY he was coming there. Thats the point. Noone is arguing that teams can't clear for capspace. But if one got an assurance than there is an issue. I think the other thing that bothers me is that after Amare signed early, the heat were never linked to other FA even when it "sounded" like LeBron was going the another way- I always thought that was kind of weird

[TrueRain]

I love how you COMPLETELY ignore this:

But I would expect our players to talk to one another, and we don't have any problem with that.

I didn't ignore that - the next sentence is the key

If some kind of tampering is implicated, I will have a later and different view, but we're not expecting that."

And the windhorst article says the tampering started in 2006, not in the free agent summit. That's when they arranged for them to all be free agents at the same time so they could all go to the then defending champion heat.

No, the sentence prior to that is key. Because it's NOT tampering.

I mean, you can go ahead and waste your time arguing about it all you want. But nothing will come of it.

[INKtastic]

LJ, your sig is remarkably funny and at the same time sad.

You went OUT OF YOUR way most times for 7 years to defend LeBron to death, and now you're seemingly tossing him to the side as if he's Ricky Davis.

/random thought

My opinion of LeBron changed when I watched him quit in game 5

1 game changed 7 years of supporting him ad nauseum?

yes - quitting in one of the biggest games in franchise history is inexcusable. I couldn't understand what I saw until I saw how free agency went. Here's what I posted on a cavs board the day after game 5

I've watched LeBron since they started televising his high school games. During all of that time, I've either watched, listened to or been at all but about a dozen games. During all of that time, I've felt he has a chance to be the GOAT. In all of that time, he's never let me down. Sure, he's lost games and playoff series, but not once have I ever thought he wasn't doing everything he could to win championships. That is until last night.

I can live with losing a playoff game or even being upset in a playoff series as long as we are going all out to win. For the first time, I didn't see that last night. There was no fire in LeBron's eyes. The player and the team who has long prided themselves on never quitting, has quit.

And I'm shocked beyond belief. I didn't think I'd ever see LeBron quit. As a fan who has invested a lot of time and money supporting and cheering for LeBron - we even went to the away games for the NBA finals a few years ago - I feel cheated.

This team is built around LeBron and built to beat the magic and lakers. How dare LeBron quit on that before we even get there. There's less than 36 hours before game 6, somebody has to get through to him before it's too late. Dan Gilbert, Danny Ferry, Mike Brown, Shaq, somebody. If he plays game 6 the way he played game 5, I don't care if he stays or not, I don't want my season tickets anymore.

[magicfan4life05]

well. OP did a good job putting the post together and gets an A for effort

Thanks !

FWIW, no disrespect to LJ4MVP, but the threads were merged, so the title of the thread now is not what I put.