James Jones Declines Player Option

[Heat_team02]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/29/2 ... lines.html

BY DAVID J. NEAL
dneal@MiamiHerald.com

Forward James Jones has informed the Miami Heat he won’t be exercising the player option in his contract and will become a free agent, according to an NBA source.

Jones, who was waived days before free agency opened last year, then re-signed 21 days later, would’ve earned $1.4 million this year had he exercised his option.

[eaglebball]

Interesting - makes me wonder what was going on behind the scenes during the Finals when Jones was adamant that he was ready to go yet sat on the pine the entire time.

Ultimately I don't think it's THAT big of a loss if he goes away. He's a great 3pt shooter (and a So. Fla. native), but he's extremely one-dimensional. I'd rather replace him with a guy like Battier who shoots well AND plays defense, etc.

[Akshan]

He probably gonna come back for the vet min no way do I see James Jones leaving Miami had he not got injured he would have had a impact against the Mavericks

[LikeABosh]

I kind of wanted to keep him, but like eagleball said, he's too one dimensional.

[WD]

I kind of wanted to keep him, but like eagleball said, he's too one dimensional.

on THIS team

[LikeABosh]

I kind of wanted to keep him, but like eagleball said, he's too one dimensional.

on THIS team

Yeah, good point. Spo just tells him to wait in the corner and wait for an open look. But he is a defensive liability no matter what team he's on.

[SweetTouch]

Riley has known about this, he's trying to help the heat

[RJM]

*sigh* I understand his frustration. Miami's offense really limits players. Look at how Beasley's played in Minny since the trade.

[WD]

just really bored with this organization right now. Adding players here and there is just like adding a coat of paint to a house. Our "infrastructure" is weak.

I've heard everything that Pat has to say, can't/won't get excited anymore, waiting to see what actually happens - but can't blame JJ - why take less money to not even play.

[DWadeno3]

*sigh* I understand his frustration. Miami's offense really limits players. Look at how Beasley's played in Minny since the trade.

He's just been producing better because of increased opportunities.

[Chosen01]

Still,Beasley was treated like a 4th option here when he should have been the 2nd,Spoelstra makes talented players look like role players,I'm not even talking about JJ(obviously) just in general.

[heat4life]

Ok, so now we blame the team for benching him, calling Riley out etc... how we panic on these boards..

To me, it is a good business move. He can make the minimum here or somewhere else regardless, so why not try to see if someone out there is willing to offer more coin? There is a market for shooters in this league and James Jones knows that. He can probably get $2 mil easily in a 2 or 3 year deal. Why stay in a $1.4 mil contract and not look what is out there...

Let's call back the panic patrol...

[Cloud765]

I predict this to be a direct response to the possibility of a 33% reduction in salary. James Jones may be willing to take a paycut, but not play for charity. If your asking him to take a paycut of a paycut, thats just silly.

I'm further inclined to believe this is CBA related due to the fact that he's the treasurer for the Player's Union. He knows his coin.

[BBallFreak]

just really bored with this organization right now. Adding players here and there is just like adding a coat of paint to a house. Our "infrastructure" is weak.

I've heard everything that Pat has to say, can't/won't get excited anymore, waiting to see what actually happens - but can't blame JJ - why take less money to not even play.

Are you out your damn mind? The infrastructure is Riley, Wade, James, and Bosh, and it took us to within two games of a championship! Seriously that's what you call weak?!?!?!

[CablexDeadpool]

Ok, so now we blame the team for benching him, calling Riley out etc... how we panic on these boards..

To me, it is a good business move. He can make the minimum here or somewhere else regardless, so why not try to see if someone out there is willing to offer more coin? There is a market for shooters in this league and James Jones knows that. He can probably get $2 mil easily in a 2 or 3 year deal. Why stay in a $1.4 mil contract and not look what is out there...

Let's call back the panic patrol...

It's not panicking it's just not drinking the kool aid

it doesn't matter who miami adds or who they take away until there's an offensive system in place that doesn't limit us as a team, it really does not matter.

Cause we can get another shooter, another center, another small forward, another point guard and it will probably be the same offense as last year.

That's WD's point.

I rather hear something about well we gonna try to establish an offense or we gonna do this on offense next year, then hear about who they gonna sign or who leaves. Get rid of the deadweight we have and move on.

That to me is more important.

[CablexDeadpool]

just really bored with this organization right now. Adding players here and there is just like adding a coat of paint to a house. Our "infrastructure" is weak.

I've heard everything that Pat has to say, can't/won't get excited anymore, waiting to see what actually happens - but can't blame JJ - why take less money to not even play.

Are you out your damn mind? The infrastructure is Riley, Wade, James, and Bosh, and it took us to within two games of a championship! Seriously that's what you call weak?!?!?!

And it doesn't matter if you don't win. All those meltdowns they had, you could tell Miami Heat was pretty weak, that's why no team was really scared of us.

Miami Heat was basically Achilles, the most bad ass team in the NBA til the last 5 mins of the 4th quarter and their Achilles heel was that offensive system. All you had to do is hang on and if Wade and Lebron isn't going out their minds making 30 ft jumpers, the opposing team has a chance.

It's significantly weak and it's pretty damn embarrassing giving up major leads to teams that would be inferior to you if you could just score a basket.

[BBallFreak]

Riley's already talked about the offense. What would you prefer him to do; give you a signed copy of the new playbook?

We were two damn games away from the championship for Christ's sake! That doesn't call for panic or giving up. It calls for more of a focus on offense, without a doubt, but not this ridiculous emo slit your wrists crap...

[CablexDeadpool]

Riley's already talked about the offense. What would you prefer him to do; give you a signed copy of the new playbook?

We were two damn games away from the championship for Christ's sake! That doesn't call for panic or giving up. It calls for more of a focus on offense, without a doubt, but not this ridiculous emo slit your wrists crap...

Nobody is giving up or panicking, we demanding our team to play up to their talent level and their skill level and our coach to be a coach and our president/gm to be a gm and our players to got damn play like they know wtf they doing.

Cause we thought that regular season crap was behind them but in the end it came back out. They had reverted back to the norm. Everything reverts back to the norm and that's how they normally played in the regular season, that's how Spo normally coached in the regular season and that's how Miami normally melts down in the regular season.

It is weak and there's a weakness in that team.

And I don't want Pat to address the offense, I want Spo to address the offense unless Pat is going back on that bench, he shouldn't be trying to sell to us there's a new offense.

[BBallFreak]

Their's a weakness in the team. I'm not saying otherwise. But the emo crap doesn't need to be in every thread. This is about a player opting out not our offensive system, or lack thereof. And I still maintain that the core of this team - Riley, Wade, James, Bosh - are not weak. That's the infrastructure. We're talking tweaks, not major overhaul. Perspective, please...

[DefenseWins]

People are acting like the offense was great. Stars making big time shots covered up the offense. When they didn't, we'd embarrassingly lose 15-20 point leads and this was out throughout the year. It came at the worst time, in the Finals. The last time the Heat did that PRIOR to that, was the 5 game losing streak. LBJ closing out like no tomorrow (until he was gassed) also covered up huge flaws. I mean we all saw it during the season, they were losing close games... and it never stopped. Game 3 I guess was an exception, and what's funny about that Bosh play was that was not called, it just unraveled. LeBron said he saw he was open and said it was his sweet spot, and Chandler is their defense anchor and he was on LBJ, who left Dirk on an island.

Does anyone remember when Heat blew, what, a 30 point lead to the Jazz? Where Spo got out-coached by Jerry Sloan (genius). At the end they were going for a lob, and Jerry Sloan called time out to tell his team it was going to be a lob. Spo still runs the play lol, and it never happened. Oh man I laughed for a week about that. I don't care if the team was gelling at the time, you don't allow that to happen.

I also don't know if it's the players not listening to Spo. Wade and LBJ tend to just throw up shots, and Wade shot 29% from 3 point land (D.Rose like, 12/41) and we all see the lazy 3's Wade puts up. LBJ then all of a sudden couldn't hit 3's. And this is the result.

I'm a bit sad about JJ. He didn't get an opportunity and he's being used totally wrong. I always wanted him to turn into a James Posey like player. I think he has the will to play defense, and he was the best 3 point shooter on the team but didn't get a shot in the Finals, which is ridiculous. After JJ's Game 1 of Boston, he said how he wanted more. I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves for a team that actually plays him consistently. But having your best players and shooters in the corner doing nothing, has to freakin' end. The same goes with Wade and LBJ. Teams WANT them to be there....