psman2 wrote:jbk1234 wrote:psman2 wrote:
That half step they took with the Rozier trade is looking even worse than us "Rozier Haters" even predicted. I think the Heat drunk their own kool-aid a little too much and thought they could bootstrap it just way too long. It was rumored that the Heat had offers in on Irving before Dallas got him, if they had came out of top in that deal then that would have drastically changed their outlook. Waiting for the just right and cheap enough deals is a leading factor here.
This argument drives me kind of nuts. Pat Riley isn't a Jedi. He can't force a trade partner to accept a worse offer. He and Bam take up the lion's share of the cap. They traded a first to acquire Jimmy. They traded a first to acquire Lowry (at Jimmy's urging). Then they had to trade a first to replace Lowry with someone who could still play, and Rozier actually played relatively well before the neck injury.
There's no doubt in my mind that they paid that premium precisely because Jimmy has a limited window and they didn't want to waste a postseason run. Is it Riley’s fault Jimmy got injured and didn't even play?
So no cap space to offer, limited draft capital, neither Bam nor Jimmy are being included, but Riley is at fault for getting outbid? It's not like he failed to tamper with the hopes of driving the asking price down. You could make the argument that Jrue is on the Celtics right now precisely because Riley tried too hard with Dame.
Yes those where half measures, and bad ones that was evident even at the time that they were made. And each bad trade had a compounding effect. Hate it all you want but it is the truth. This is not some revisionist history, even a lot of us Realgm Jedi's called out the Lowry and Rozier deals as very shortsighted and bad. Like I alluded to they should have either gone strong after a guy the could afford that had a chance of real impact and if that wasn't available save their assets until a guy like that springs loose. So yes I do blame Riley for not being able to beat the Dallas offer for Irving. Or swing a cheap trade for KP even. Maybe if they saved assets they could have landed a Siakam or OG, or Bridges. Making bad trades and then getting to blame those bad trades on why you can make some good ones will get no sympathy from me.
When you call something a half measure, you're assuming either there's either a full measure opportunity waiting out there, or the alternative of nothing would've been better. When they traded for Lowry, Dragic was washed and Butler was 31 or 32. Jimmy didn't say wait, be patient, and maybe a better opportunity will present itself. He said go get Lowry. We need a PG.
You mentioned Kyrie, but at the time of that trade, the Nets thought they'd be able to talk Durant into staying. It wasn't just picks, but win-now or at least compete-now players they got back from Dallas. The Heat did put in a call, but who on the Heat's roster was viewed similarly to DFS and would've been made available? Windhorst reported, at the ttime, that the Nets might have taken a completely different package for Kyrie if they knew Durant was a lost cause.
They tried to upgrade to Dame and Jrue, but they simply didn't have the assets to get it done (and with Jrue they were going to have dramatically beat the next best offer because Portland was furious with them).
So the season starts, Butler is 34 and missing games. Lowry is unplayable. There's no big names on market. Do they go into the playoffs like that? What do people think the narrative would've been if the Heat missed the play-in, or if they sneaked in and lost in the first round without a starting caliber PG?
I just think there's a lot of make believe in terms of what Riley could've done differently. The guy is the biggest whale hunter in the NBA. There's a big difference between doing nothing, and not being able to get anything done.
