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Tag Archives: Miami Heat
20 NBA FREE AGENTS WITH NEW TEAMS FOR 2014
Player Old Team New Team
LeBron James Miami Cleveland
Chandler Parsons Houston Dallas
Luol Deng Cleveland Miami
Trevor Ariza Washington Houston
Pau Gasol LA Lakers Chicago
Paul Pierce New Jersey Washington
Josh McRoberts Charlotte Miami
Danny Granger LA Clippers Miami
Shaun Livingston New Jersey Golden State
C.J. Miles Cleveland Indiana
Spencer Hawes Cleveland LA Clippers
Channing Frye Phoenix Orlando
Steve Blake Golden State Portland
Anthony Morrow New Orleans Oklahoma City
D.J. Augustin Chicago Detroit
Jordan Farmar LA Lakers LA Clippers
Thabo Sefalosha Oklahoma City Atlanta
Jodi Meeks LA Lakers Detroit
Chris Kamen LA Lakers Portland
Isaiah Thomas Sacramento Phoenix
2014 NBA FREE AGENCY WINNERS AND LOSERS
WINNERS:
Cleveland Cavaliers – With LeBron James returning home, the Cavs are by far the biggest winners this off- season. James is the best player in the world and he fills a major void at the small forward spot that’s been vacant since well, when he left four years ago. Forget that he signed a 1 year and an option year contract. James did that so he can cash in on the next TV contract by increasing his max contract dollars. He’s not going anywhere, considering how much money he can make, a young talented roster and he and his family are back home. First year G.M. David Griffin also locked up 2-time All-Star Kyrie Irving to a 5-year max contract and thus has his Batman and Robin for years to come.
San Antonio Spurs – After Tim Duncan exercised his player option for $10.3 million to return for at least one more season with the World Champs, the Spurs then went and resigned two of their own free agents in Boris Diaw and Patty Mills to team friendly contracts thanks to Duncan taking less than market value. Plus San Antonio announced that head coach Gregg Popovich agreed to a multi-year contract extension. All four moves are big wins for the Spurs.
Los Angeles Clippers – Doc Rivers added two players that will help the team’s depth and offense and he did so without overpaying for either one. Getting Spencer Hawes, a stretch-5 for less than $6 million per season for four years and point guard Jordan Farmar to replace Darren Collison who left for the Kings at about $2 million per year are very good gets.
LOSERS:
Miami Heat – Like the Cavs did in 2010, Pat Riley and the Heat felt LeBron’s return was a slam dunk only to be rejected and left shaking their heads. Again no matter what you do, as the Cavaliers found out, there’s no replacing LeBron James. The Heat overpaid Chris Bosh to stay instead of going to Houston. They’re going to overpay an aging Dwyane Wade and two of their other free agent signees are injuries waiting to happen in Danny Granger and Luol Deng.
Los Angeles Lakers – G.M. Mitch Kupchick was shooting for LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. When LeBron went to Cleveland he was hoping to team up Carmelo with Kobe and Pau Gasol. Then Carmelo agreed to stay with the Knicks and Gasol left for the Bulls. Plus the “Lake Show” lost Jodi Meeks to OKC. This off-season has been one of the worst in Lakers history.
Houston Rockets – While they’ll still be a good team, the Rockets were trying to bolster their roster so they would become an elite team. They targeted Carmelo Anthony first and lost out. Then they set their sights on Chris Bosh and lost him too. Adding insult to injury, one of their fine young players, Chandler Parsons accepted an offer sheet from Dallas and Houston decided not to match it. So the high flying, long distance shooter is now a Mav. They replaced Parsons with Trevor Ariza which isn’t terrible and are said to be interested now in trying to land Kevin Love in a trade, but so far this off season Houston has had a problem getting the players they wanted.
THE HOMECOMING KING
He’s Coming Home! “The King” – LeBron James has decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After meeting with Heat president Pat Riley and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert within the last week, the most sought after NBA free agent this off-season chose going home over staying in South Beach.
He did so in a letter that was published on SI.com today at 12:24pm:
http://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/11/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers … via @SInow
(photo courtesy of David Richard)
Four years ago when he became a free agent, James left Cleveland and took his talents to South Beach, doing it on national TV and ripping the hearts out of Cavs fans. He also upset team owner Dan Gilbert so much that Gilbert responded with a scathing letter to Cavalier fans crushing James for how he handled the decision. So it was very clever that James decided to write a letter of his own to announce his “Decision” this time.
Fast forward four years; forgiveness, along with a younger and better roster and James and Gilbert are reunited again in Cleveland. While they may never have the same relationship they once had, both will be able to tolerate each other for the betterment of the team.
James was asked back in February 2012 if he could ever play for Gilbert again? “Dan is not the coach,” he said. “I can play for any coach.” Well the coach LeBron will be playing for is David Blatt who was hired back on June 20, 2014 by the Cavs.
James spent the first seven years of his career with the Cavs leading them to their only NBA Finals appearance in 2007 where they lost in four games to the San Antonio Spurs.
The last four years of his career were spent in Miami, as James led the Heat to four straight NBA Finals, winning back-to-back titles in 2012-2013. Miami had a chance to “Three-Peat” this year, but fell to the Spurs in five games, leading James to use the opt-out clause in his contract to become an unrestricted free agent and set the stage for this return to Cleveland.
So now LeBron James talents will once again be on display where they started, at “Home”!
A SIX PACK OF POSSIBLE REASONS WHY LEBRON HASN’T MADE AN OFFICIAL DECISION YET
As I told talk show host Ken Carmen last night on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, I can’t figure out what’s taking so long for LeBron James to make this decision. It’s a two horse race. It’s either Cleveland or Miami. What’s the holdup LeBron? You played for both teams, so you know both organizations. You’re a student of the game, so you see the two rosters and understand their cap space availability. So make up your mind already!
It’s being reported that he wanted to talk it over some more with his family. From everything I hear from my sources, they all want him to come back to Cleveland. So what is causing the holdup?
Here are a few reasons, and I know I may be reaching here, but what they heck we have time to kill, as to why maybe LeBron is still undecided, if he really is.
1. Since he’s in Vegas for his skills camp and if he doesn’t know too much about new Cavs head coach David Blatt, might LeBron want to check Blatt out in person on Friday as he coaches the Cavs summer league team in their first game against Milwaukee?
2. Maybe LeBron wants to see Cavs number #1 pick Andrew Wiggins in action going up against the player the Cavaliers passed on in Jabari Parker since the Bucks and Cavs are playing each other to see if he feels new Cavaliers G.M. David Griffin made the right pick.
3. LeBron might also want to get a look at last year’s number #1 overall pick Anthony Bennett to gauge how much he’s improved from his disastrous rookie season, to see if he thinks the kid can play in the NBA.
4. Or “King James” could be waiting on the Cavaliers to swing a deal for Kevin Love, to prove to him that this new regime could follow through on the possible plans they laid out to his agent Rich Paul when the two sides met recently.
5. Is it possible, I guess anything is at this point, that James gave Pat Riley and the Miami Heat once last chance to pull off a major move like maybe bringing Carmelo Anthony to Miami to play with LeBron and D-Wade?
6. How about this one, Nike and the Cavaliers needed more time once they found out where LeBron is going, to get all their TV ads, billboards and other advertising avenues together so they can flood the media market with their new LeBron marketing campaign? And also, maybe LeBron and his team needed more time to get their website ready for the traffic that will be coming their way for when they do make the announcement on his site?
I have no idea if any of these are indeed reasons why LeBron has yet to announce his intentions, but for some reason he hasn’t made the “Decision” public yet, so these were my best guesses. You got anything better?
FIVE PREDICTIONS ABOUT LEBRON JAMES
Everyone else is making their prediction on where “The King” is headed, so I guess it’s time for the “The Great Rodini” to make his prediction on where he thinks LeBron James will be playing basketball next season.
After talking to old and new sources, in bars, stores, at the library, via Twitter, through e-mails and of course using my crystal ball, I have come up with these five predictions about LeBron James.
1. LeBron will choose to sign with Cleveland over Miami because of:
The Cavs younger, deeper roster, led by two-time All-Star Kyrie Irving who just committed long term. Add to that #1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and LeBron’s buddy Anderson Varejao. This gives “King James” a chance to win now and in the future. The Cavaliers could also use some of that young talent in a trade to lure another All-Star like Kevin Love to C’Town. Plus G.M. David Griffin has salary cap and roster flexibility to go along with multiple first round draft picks to use in deals to improve the roster. Also, while they’re not the best of friends any more, LeBron knows that owner Dan Gilbert will pay money into the luxury tax if necessary to help the team win.
2. LeBron will announce this “Decision” via social media on his website at LeBronJames.com and on Twitter @KingJames.
“The Decision” TV show was a disaster and LeBron knows that and learned from that. As I’ve been saying for months now, he will use new media to announce this “Decision” and in turn, drive traffic to his website and add more followers to his Twitter account.
3. LeBron’s website headline – “Coming Home – Unfinished Business”.
The headline says it all. He returns home to Akron/Cleveland and fulfills his original promise of bringing a championship to the Cavaliers.
4. LeBron will switch from his old #23 he wore with the Cavs to his new number #32.
He’s returning to C’Town, but since a lot of people burned his old number #23 jersey, why not start fresh with a number he wore in high school his freshman year at St. Vincent St. Mary’s high school and at the McDonalds All American Game at The Q. Plus it forces those who did keep their #23 jersey’s to go out and buy the new #32 LeBron jersey. Just a smart business move.
5. LeBron will convince Ray Allen to come play for the Cavs.
The one area the Cavaliers still need to improve in is their outside shooting and why not bring in the greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history with him to Cleveland since Allen is a free agent.
There you have it, not one, not two, not three, not four, but five predictions about what’s next for LeBron James.
Welcome Home LeBron!
PS – On the slight chance “The Great Rodini” might be a little off and “The Godfather” of the NBA Pat Riley convinces James to stay in South Beach, expect it to be for just one or two years and then we’ll go through this all over again!
WHO’S ROSTER WOULD BE BETTER, THE CAVS OR THE HEAT?
LET’S PUT LEBRON JAMES ON BOTH TEAMS AND THEN COMPARE THE CURRENT ROSTERS. WHO GIVES THE KING A BETTER CHANCE FOR MORE RINGS NEXT YEAR AND BEYOND?
Cavaliers Heat
Kyrie Irving –6’3–193-22 (20.8p-6.1a-3.6r) PG Mario Chalmers –6’2–190-28 (9.8p-4.9a-2.9R)
Andrew Wiggins –6’8-200-19 (17.1p-1.5a-5.9r) SG Dwyane Wade –6’4–220–32 (19p-4.7a-4.5r)
LeBron James –6’8-250-29 (27.1p-6.9r-6.4a) SF LeBron James -6’8-250-29 (27.1p-6.9r-6.4a)
Tristan Thompson -6’9-238-23 (11.7p-9.2r-1a) PF Josh McRoberts – 6’10-240-27 (8.5p-4.8r-4.3a)
Anderson Varejao – 6’11-267-31 (8.4p-9.7r-2.2a) C Chris Bosh – 6’11-235-30 (16.2p-6.6r-1.1a)
Cavs Bench – Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett, Tyler Zeller, Brendan Haywood, Sergey Karasev, Matthew Dellavedova, Jarrett Jack, Joe Harris and Carrick Felix.
Heat Bench – Norris Cole, Shabazz Napier, Greg Oden, Udonis Haslem, Ray Allen, Chris Anderson, Michael Beasley, Danny Granger and James Jones.
HAS PAT RILEY DONE ENOUGH TO THE HEAT ROSTER TO IMPRESS LEBRON?
Time is winding down for LeBron James to decide on whether to stay in Miami or sign with Cleveland or someone else in free agency. Here are the moves that Heat president Pat Riley has made so far to bolster his roster and try to impress LeBron, as well as Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, in hopes of keeping Miami’s “Big 3” together for a few more years. Is this enough? Will there be other additions? The clock is ticking on Riley to do more, and on LeBron to make yet another decision.
In the NBA Draft the Heat traded for the point guard who led U-Conn to the National Championship, Shabazz Napier. Supposedly, Napier was LeBron James favorite player in the draft. Is he good enough to surplant Mario Chalmers or Norris Cole as the starting point guard for Miami? Or is that still a few years away for Napier?
Shabazz Napier- PG-6’1-180-22–U-Conn stats (18p-6r-5a) (40% – 3FG)
In NBA Free Agency so far, Riley has received verbal commitments from free agents Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger after losing out on the likes of Kyle Lowery and Marcin Gortat while getting non-committals from Pau Gasol or Luol Deng. Here’s a look at what McRoberts and Granger did this past season in the NBA. How much of an upgrade are they over who the Heat had on the bench or in the starting lineup last year?
Josh McRoberts- PF-6’10-240-27 –Hornets (8.5p–4.8r-4.3a) (36%-3FG)
Danny Granger- SF-6’9-228-31–Pacers/Clippers (8.2p-3.2r-1apg) (34%-3FG)
The first day players can officially sign their contracts is Thursday, July 10, 2014. Dan Gilbert and the Cavs, along with Pat Riley and the Heat, are hoping to know before Thursday what decision LeBron has made so it leaves time for either team to go after other free agents if LeBron tells them no.