Official Miami Heat 2014 Offseason Thread 3.0 (Rumors/News)

[mopper8]

Why Ariza? Dont we have like 5 wing players already?

Ariza makes sense in a lot of ways.

1 - our biggest problem in the later rounds of the playoffs was perimeter D, and he upgrades that
2 - he can slide into Battier's role skillset wise -- great corner 3 shooter, heady defender -- but is more athletic
3 - he's the right age and has won a title before (playing well in the playoff run at that) so you're not worried about how he'll perform in those situations

Ariza doesn't make sense in a lot of ways

1 - he doesn't really improve our guard play
2 - he's not as strong as Battier, so you might be concerned about having him guard 4s
3 - there has to be some worry that he was a contract year performer who could come back down to earth
4 - he doesn't fix our rebounding problems

Now, Miami knows a lot more about Wade's and Oden's knees than we do, and we don't know how high they are on Napier. So they might not be as concerned with (1) & (2) as we are. After all, if they like Napier a lot and think Wade's knees will be better next season (no Ossatron this season), maybe (1) isn't as big a concern. And if Oden is starting again (like he was before he injured his back) with Bird backing him up, there's a lot less need for Ariza to guard 4s (taking care of concern 2). And if we are playing bigger with Oden/Bird next season, (4) might be a non-issue

That's a whole lot of "ifs" my friend.

LOL, I agree, which is why Ariza was never super high on my list of targets

It's really 3 "ifs" -- Napier, Wade's knees, Oden's knees. IF Miami feels good about those 3 things, then chasing Ariza & Deng makes a lot of sense to me. Otherwise, not really.

[brent_strong]

Gotcha. I trust Ethan 100X more than Broussard. The one thing that does worry me is that apparently Broussard's "sources" are LeBron's people. Why would LeBron's people tell Broussard to report that all 3 aren't on the same page? Ethan also refuted that they are doing this to dismiss collusion accusations because it's not collusion what they are doing.

Would be very easy to spin a typical non-commital dialog like this into speculation that they aren't on the same page.

Broussard: Is Lebron willing to take less money to get a free agent?
Agent: We're seeking the max.
Broussard: Are Wade and Bosh going to take discounts?
Agent: We don't know the status of their contract talks.

That would account for two of the biggest rumors we've seen lately. That Lebron wants the max (of course you're going to ask for the max, doesn't mean negotiations won't happen), and that there is disconnect among the Big 3.

Basically, I can't imagine any scenario where Lebron's agent or people would speak about the status of Bosh or Wade's contracts. One big reason would be avoiding collusion questions, but also it's just typical PR speak. Never say anything about anyone or anything.

[DefenseWins]

Lebatard soon


Seems like a quiet day besides Riley going to LA

[DeeDub]

Ariza makes sense in a lot of ways.

1 - our biggest problem in the later rounds of the playoffs was perimeter D, and he upgrades that
2 - he can slide into Battier's role skillset wise -- great corner 3 shooter, heady defender -- but is more athletic
3 - he's the right age and has won a title before (playing well in the playoff run at that) so you're not worried about how he'll perform in those situations

Ariza doesn't make sense in a lot of ways

1 - he doesn't really improve our guard play
2 - he's not as strong as Battier, so you might be concerned about having him guard 4s
3 - there has to be some worry that he was a contract year performer who could come back down to earth
4 - he doesn't fix our rebounding problems

Now, Miami knows a lot more about Wade's and Oden's knees than we do, and we don't know how high they are on Napier. So they might not be as concerned with (1) & (2) as we are. After all, if they like Napier a lot and think Wade's knees will be better next season (no Ossatron this season), maybe (1) isn't as big a concern. And if Oden is starting again (like he was before he injured his back) with Bird backing him up, there's a lot less need for Ariza to guard 4s (taking care of concern 2). And if we are playing bigger with Oden/Bird next season, (4) might be a non-issue

That's a whole lot of "ifs" my friend.

LOL, I agree, which is why Ariza was never super high on my list of targets

It's really 3 "ifs" -- Napier, Wade's knees, Oden's knees. IF Miami feels good about those 3 things, then chasing Ariza & Deng makes a lot of sense to me. Otherwise, not really.

Ariza doesn't excite me much, mainly because I don't trust that his 3 pt shooting last year is real and likely to be sustained. He's a solid defender, but it's a little funny to see some talk about him as some huge upgrade over Wade's perimeter defense when their defensive metrics are virtually identical (which despite popular opinion around here is pretty good).

IMO, Hawes is probably the most interesting of the remaining "possibilities".

[dancing2thabeet]

Ariza makes sense in a lot of ways.

1 - our biggest problem in the later rounds of the playoffs was perimeter D, and he upgrades that
2 - he can slide into Battier's role skillset wise -- great corner 3 shooter, heady defender -- but is more athletic
3 - he's the right age and has won a title before (playing well in the playoff run at that) so you're not worried about how he'll perform in those situations

Ariza doesn't make sense in a lot of ways

1 - he doesn't really improve our guard play
2 - he's not as strong as Battier, so you might be concerned about having him guard 4s
3 - there has to be some worry that he was a contract year performer who could come back down to earth
4 - he doesn't fix our rebounding problems

Now, Miami knows a lot more about Wade's and Oden's knees than we do, and we don't know how high they are on Napier. So they might not be as concerned with (1) & (2) as we are. After all, if they like Napier a lot and think Wade's knees will be better next season (no Ossatron this season), maybe (1) isn't as big a concern. And if Oden is starting again (like he was before he injured his back) with Bird backing him up, there's a lot less need for Ariza to guard 4s (taking care of concern 2). And if we are playing bigger with Oden/Bird next season, (4) might be a non-issue

That's a whole lot of "ifs" my friend.

LOL, I agree, which is why Ariza was never super high on my list of targets

It's really 3 "ifs" -- Napier, Wade's knees, Oden's knees. IF Miami feels good about those 3 things, then chasing Ariza & Deng makes a lot of sense to me. Otherwise, not really.

Yeah, but Wade's and Oden's knees are pretty big ifs. And I don't see Ariza being a full time 4 like Battier was, at least not without gassing him out sometime around playoffs.

Here's another if: IF Wade and Oden are at least 80% healthy going into next season and Napier and Ennis turn out to be what I think they will, then we don't really need anybody new. Again, if, if, if...

[DefenseWins]

Ariza wants 8mil+, ethan saying we don't have that much

So much for that 12mil cap space thing

[HOPPZ]

Looks like Boozer is getting amnestied. Being that we are under the cap, could we make a bid?

[NBAfan3024]

Wouldn't you wait on Pau first?

[PaulieWal]

Ariza wants 8mil+, ethan saying we don't have that much

So much for that 12mil cap space thing

If we don't have even 8 mil in cap space we are definitely going the MLE and BLE route and I am not sure if that's going to add a "quality" piece. Maybe Gasol if he really wants to take a pay-cut and come here but even he's apparently prioritizing OKC.

[DefenseWins]

Looks like Boozer is getting amnestied. Being that we are under the cap, could we make a bid?

We are not operating as a team that has cap space


Ethan said we would have to give up the bird rights of the big 3 or something like that to be under cap


NOW.. if Boozer specifically says he wants to play for Miami only then we can get him because no one would touch him. That's the only way I believe

[mg]

Looks like Boozer is getting amnestied. Being that we are under the cap, could we make a bid?

No. The cap holds for the big 3 count as salary against the cap unless Riley renounces them which won't happen.

[DefenseWins]

Ariza wants 8mil+, ethan saying we don't have that much

So much for that 12mil cap space thing

If we don't have even 8 mil in cap space we are definitely going the MLE and BLE route and I am not sure if that's going to add a "quality" piece. Maybe Gasol if he really wants to take a pay-cut and come here but even he's apparently prioritizing OKC.

OKC is offering the MLE too. If we offer the MLE I mean it just means Gasol gotta pic between our big 3 and Durant/Westbrook


Also Bulls could be in play if they don't land Melo since they about to amnesty Boozer

[PaulieWal]

Looks like Boozer is getting amnestied. Being that we are under the cap, could we make a bid?

We are not operating as a team that has cap space

Yeah, which also makes me think that Riley is going to get verbal commitment from a player first and offer them whatever and then re-sign the Big 3 to contracts which would accommodate the player.

[DeeDub]

Looks like Boozer is getting amnestied. Being that we are under the cap, could we make a bid?

We are not operating as a team that has cap space


Ethan said we would have to give up the bird rights of the big 3 or something like that to be under cap


NOW.. if Boozer specifically says he wants to play for Miami only then we can get him because no one would touch him. That's the only way I believe

Since is seems pretty certain that Wade will be taking less money for less than 5 years and we will not need to exceed the cap to do it, I'm not sure there is any benefit to keeping his Bird rights. And I think we can reclaim his Bird rights if he is re-signed after being renounced.

[aboogie]

I wouldent mind josh mc Roberts for the right price


Sent from my iPhone

[DefenseWins]

Lol I love Lebatard

[BlueHeat]

General comment: Can we stick to posting about near-fact rather than pure speculation?
I feel like this entire thread consists of a bunch of dudes guessing at what's really happening behind the scenes, which does no one any good.

Anyway, I would love Carter, I would love Marion, I would love Ariza, and I would love Hawes. From the majority of sources I've been seeing, looks like Vince wants back with the Mavs. No real word on anyone else.

[dancing2thabeet]

We can't deal in facts because there are none, lol

Edit: Actually, we can talk about Pat flying to LA.

[DefenseWins]

We can't deal in facts because there are none, lol

Edit: Actually, we can talk about Pat flying to LA.

And Lebron was reported to still be on a trip for the weekend, but he is coming back to Miami for the weekend. He has cut his fishing trip short

[Picklewagon]

Lol I love Lebatard

Yep. He's only stating what's common sense too.