I don’t know where he’d go if not the Hawks because I haven’t heard about anyone else being interested. There were reports he might go to Boston, but Ainge says it won’t happen. I’ve heard San Antonio mentioned but I don’t see it working out.
He did make a few comments about Gilbert’s letter right after the announcement, but there’s he can say that would do him any good anyway. You know he’s not going to agree that he quit, so I guess he’s laying low.
The Heat’s roster looks pretty complete right now. Probably they need at least one more guard off the bench. Here’s what they have:
F Chris Bosh
F Da’Sean Butler (unsigned)
PG Mario Chalmers
F Udonis Haslem
F Juwan Howard (not officially signed yet)
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas
F LeBron James
G Mike Miller
C Dexter Pittman (unsigned)
F Jarvis Varnado (unsigned)
SG Dwyane Wade
Wasn’t there some talk of him joining the Mavs? They got Tyson Chandler now so Mark Cuban can add another brittle, former-All Star center to his cast.
I’m a sucker for tabloidy shit from people I care about so even if he made canned responses like the whole Tiger Woods apology, I’d be interested in what he has to say. But I want somebody like Stephen A. Smith or Tony Kornheiser to interview him and ask him all of the tough questions people have seemingly ducked. Like “Sure you didn’t quit Lebron, but why’d you wave off your coach’s order to foul at the end of game 5?” or “Are you saying Delonte fucking your mom had nothing to do with your attitude?” and “Why the fuck did you stab Cleveland in the face for an hour? Don’t you find that a shitty thing to do? How could you let your dumbass friends run your billion-dollar brand into the ground like that?”
Are those 3 unsigned no-names their draft picks? If you take them out and assume they sign Juwan Howard then they’ve still only got 8 players. I don’t know about you, but I would love to see how their bench plays once the 3 marquee guys take a rest. Counting on 3 rookies (if that’s what they are) to keep a lead against playoff teams when April rolls around isn’t going to cement any championships for the Heat. I don’t disagree that it’ll be a complete roster in terms of simply havnig warm bodies, but with these players the Big 3 would have to play 40+ mins to get a good seed in the playoffs, and then with the better defenses that they’ll see against good teams, they’ll have to play 40 more to beat the Orlandos and the Bostons
Assuming this is their roster and the appropriate people starts, this will be their bench:
F Da’Sean Butler (unsigned)
PG Mario Chalmers
F Udonis Haslem
F Juwan Howard (not officially signed yet)
C Dexter Pittman (unsigned)
F Jarvis Varnado (unsigned)
I would love to see these guys get taken out by the likes of Boston’s, Orlando’s, or the Lakers’ benches. Fastest 20 point swing EVAR!
Of course they’ll probably keep some of the starters with the bench at all times. Spoelstra would be an idiot to take his entire starting 5 out of the game at any time with this roster. I see a combination of either Lebron or Wade in the game at all times in all 82 Heat games next year.
Cuban was supposedly interested in Shaq for years, but I don’t remember much talk about that this year. I guess the ship sailed on that one.
I never got why this was a big deal aside from the fact that it’s unusual. They were down nine points and had no chance to win even if they fouled.
I admit I didn’t spend much time looking, but from what I can see this is just a rumor. It could be true, but if there’s no proof and no statements from anyone involved I can see why most of the major outlets are avoiding it: it’s not illegal, doesn’t even involve infidelity as far as I can see, and the proof appears to be lacking.
A very good question, although I don’t expect him to comment on it right now. They do need to ask him about this.
Yes. I figured Chalmers will start and not Miller. Putting it that way they may bring in some more veteran guards still. There was word they were talking to Jason Williams and some other guys who have played for the Heat in the past.
Man, Orlando is the highest salaried team in the league and that Reddick contract is costing them $38M. I like the guy but being that deep into the luxury tax seems a little nutty for a guy like him. Q, Vince and Reddick all basically play the same position, I wonder if they’ve got any plans to try and ship Vince out of town.
This obviously confirms the previous assumption that Barnes is a goner. I’m not sure what kind of contract he’ll warrant, but I wouldn’t mind adding some of his toughness and defensive ability to the Bulls roster. I haven’t watched him enough to know for sure, but he seems like he’d be a pretty decent guy to defend the big guards/small forwards in the East like LeBron, Pierce, VC, Salmons, Arenas and Gay. The one area where I’m a little concerned with the Bulls is defending those types of players. We’re good down low and Rose can handle the PGs, but without Hinrich we’ve got a hole on D there.
The Rockets pick up Brad Miller for 3-years, $15 million (the third year is partially guaranteed). This, along with the re-signing of restricted free agents Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry and the return of Yao Ming, makes the Rockets arguably the deepest team in the league. It remains to be seen if Daryl Morey can make a deal with all the assets on the team right now.
Q is actually a small foward, he would replace Barnes. Orlandos owner is 84 and worth 4.5 billion, i believe at this point a championship before he croaks means a lot more to him than his great grand kids having an extra porsche. Also the Magic might just be sending a message to other teams not to waste time on their RFAs thus saving money in the long run.
The Bulls signed Ronnie Brewer for three years and $12.5 million since they didn’t get Redick. The Heat officially signed Ilgauskas, Joel Anthony, and Pittman, and they’re expected to sign Jamaal Magloire along with Howard and Carlos Arroyo, and are talking to guards James Jones, Keyon Dooling and Chris Quinn.
Here is their roster. They do have a lot of pieces that could be used in trades. They went 42-40 last year, which might be better than they was expected of them, and adding Yao, Patrick Patterson, and Brad Miller does make them deeper. It doesn’t exactly make them the Lakers or the Magic.
Well, no single player “impresses” me, but the collection of above average players is pretty remarkable. The team is now two deep with legitimate players at every position and should be versatile enough to play an uptempo or a grind-it-out pace on both offense and defense.
Another way to break it down is that the Rockets are returning every meaningful player on a team that went 42-40 in the West despite having $36 million tied up in Yao and T-Mac, and they’re adding Yao and his backup in Miller to that mix. I think (as currently constituted) they should be a 6th-8th seed and give the favorite a long series. With a shrewd deal or two, I could see them getting home-court (EDIT: I mean a top-four seed) in the West.
[del]Who do you think they can get that would make them better than L.A.? The Lakers are getting older but they didn’t lose anybody important from a championship team.[/del] [Edit: Nevermind, clarified.] It’s pretty hard to rely on Yao’s health after all his foot injuries and I think they need more scoring. Who would you like them to go after?
I don’t care what ESPN says, Q is not a SF by any stretch. He doesn’t play like a forward and can’t guard a forward. He doesn’t rebound worth a damn and lives around the 3-point line. He’s a poor man’s Vince Carter.
Well whatever he is or isn’t doesn’t really matter, SF is what he’s been playing and what he will continue to play with the Magic. Not rebounding and shooting lots of threes means he’ll fit right in too.
I’ve heard rumors of Andre Iguodala and (less likely) Danny Granger. Given how free agency has turned out, the Knicks picks in 2011 (protected against the #1 overall pick only) and in 2012 (top 5 protected) picked up in the McGrady/Martin/Landry trade are looking pretty good.
That’s…not bad, actually. :eek: I totally forgot about Kevin Martin somehow. I guess they had to get Miller because of Yao’s spotty health. Otherwise, they have a big hole in the middle. I agree that Houston looks like it’ll be good enough again to fight for a high seed in the playoffs.
Makes me wonder which West playoffs team is going to drop out and let Houston in. Probably the Suns, unless Nash drinks from that Fountain of Youth again
I have no clue. I’m bad at looking at all these salary caps and the dozens and dozens of free agents. Ideally, to challenge the Lakers in the West, they have to either go small and fast like the Thunder, or load up with bigs like the Spurs tried to do and what Portland can do if they actually get healthy.
Yes, how soon they forget That team took your Lakers to 7 games as recently as the 2009 playoffs. This is before Kevin Martin and with an injured Yao who finally went down after the third game, with 6’6 Chuck Hayes as the backup center.
They have pretty much the same team now, with Ariza swapped for Artest, and adding Miller, Martin, a nice draft pickup or two, and hopefully Yao.
That team took your Lakers to 7 games as recently as the 2009 playoffs. This is before Kevin Martin and with an injured Yao who finally went down after the third game, with 6’6 Chuck Hayes as the backup center.