Free Agency/Off Season Thread

[bksballer89]

Barring an unexpected change of heart by the league, Christmas in Miami will feature LeBron James’ much-anticipated return to Miami, in an opposing uniform.

Though the NBA’s schedule will not be finalized and released until mid-August, an unofficial internal schedule of select games has Cleveland playing the Heat in Miami on Christmas on ABC, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The game likely would be played at either 2:30 or 5 p.m. that day, depending on what other game is selected for ABC that day.

ABC wants Heat-Cavaliers that day and the NBA is sensitive to ABC's wishes. James returned to the Cavaliers this offseason after spending four seasons with the Heat.

Read more here: 6 p.m.: LeBron's looming return to Miami; 20 notes, quotes, thoughts from Tuesday Fins practice; Two new UM commitments | Sports Buzz

 

[Andresrenee]

Cant believe the Mavs got Aminu for the vet minimum on a two year contract. Seems like someone we could have offered and used. Must have someone else in mind as our depth not as great as the Dallas Mavericks who have done a very nice job this offseason. Maybe we are waiting on Oden and Beasley....

 

[Heatles84]

I hope the Heat beat Lebron and the Cavs' ass on Christmas. Fuck those guys.

 

[Triplexxx23]

I hope the Heat beat Lebron and the Cavs' ass on Christmas. Fuck those guys.

Definitely be a nice Christmas present.

 

[Paolo305613]

Should Miami Heat fans be focused on long-range possibility of Kevin Durant? - Sun Sentinel

 

[avalon2423]

I know LBj is a freak of nature and rarely gets hurt, but is that a thing that can continue over an entire career? or he is bound to eventually get an injury that makes him miss most the season?

 

[Heatles84]

I know LBj is a freak of nature and rarely gets hurt, but is that a thing that can continue over an entire career? or he is bound to eventually get an injury that makes him miss most the season?

The minutes will add up at some point.

 

[avalon2423]

Im not hoping for any injury, but it sure would be nice to see those minutes add up this season.

 

[Heatles84]

Figured you guys would like this attempt by the Dan LeBatard show to get a full page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Shares all of our thoughts.

 

[avalon2423]

seriously, wtf is Riley thinking by not resigning Beasley?

On a seperate note. what grade would you give Riley for this offseason? Including LBj leaving and such.

 

[Paolo305613]

Pat Riley: Heat still considering Michael Beasley, Greg Oden, Ray Allen | Heat Zone

There are quality FA still out there but if we can bring these 3 guys back we will be better for it.

 

[Paolo305613]

what grade would you give Riley for this offseason? Including LBj leaving and such.

He gets an A. He did what was best for the organization. No one guy is bigger than the team - no bigger than the game - if you think that, Riley doesnt want you.

Not buying into the crap some are saying that things with Queen James didnt work out because Mr.Arison did not want to pay the extra out of pocket money - I am sure both Riles and Mickey werent up to bowing down to Queen James demands if he wasnt willing to make the necessary sacrifices this offseason to help our team.

 

[bksballer89]

seriously, wtf is Riley thinking by not resigning Beasley?

On a seperate note. what grade would you give Riley for this offseason? Including LBj leaving and such.

A-

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

seriously, wtf is Riley thinking by not resigning Beasley?

He had a workout with the Lakers recently.

 

[bksballer89]

A few minutes ago, Pat Riley spoke to seven reporters, including myself, in his first public comments since LeBron James left for Cleveland.

Here's most of everything he had to say:

### On LeBron’s departure: "Like Micky [Arison] said, both of us were shocked, but you recover. I don’t want to go back in history, but after 45 years, I think I’ve been around at least 15 transcendent players that have walked out the door – either left the team, retired, got traded, went somewhere else and you move on. We were shocked, but we recovered. People in this country have the right to do what they want to do. He wanted to go home. In our statements, we respected that. It was a tough blow."

### DId Riley feel like he was misled? "No. I don't think I was encouraged either. That's this business. They were free agents."

He said he reached out to LeBron through texts and emails throughout the free agent process but didn't get a response, though he obviously did get the meeting in Las Vegas two days before LeBron announced he was leaving for Cleveland. "I sent him a lot of emails and texts. I was communicating a lot with him. No response."



Read more here: Riley opens up: Said he is shocked over LeBron leaving, said it has fired him up, much more; 15 Dolphins notes | Sports Buzz

 

[bksballer89]

### On his late-June press conference encouraging players not to run out the door, he said he wasn't thinking at the time that LeBron would leave. "I wasn’t thinking that at all. My message that day was born out of just getting beat by a great team by 70 points in five games. We got our ass handed to us. You know how I react when things don’t go well. I get upset. We all get upset. That’s how I was after the particular loss. It wasn’t about making a direct comment to any one player because everyone on our team was a free agent or ready to become a free agent except Norris Cole. My message was we are going to come stronger than ever."

### Riley declined to say if he knew – when he met with LeBron in Las Vegas - that LeBron had met with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert four days earlier.

"There wasn’t anything in that meeting that told me that wasn’t going to happen [that LeBron was going to leave]. I’ve moved on quickly from that. We are going to build another championship team and that’s it. This business, as we find it, is tough. Sometimes you have those tough calls and sometimes things happen to you that you don’t like but you’ve got to move on."

### Riley said he went into free agency "with the thought he was coming back. I was selling that to players.”

He told LeBron before free agency he would tell players that. “He never said to me, No don’t do that. I went in with that premise and found out on the 10th [that wasn’t going to happen]. We were both very shocked when he did not come back. I was thinking all along he would come back.”

### Is he hurt by LeBron leaving? "I don’t get hurt. Very rarely do I get hurt. My wife will hurt me. My daughter might hurt me. You have an instinct about certain things. As soon as something happens, I had to react and we did. The hurt didn’t last very long."

### Can Riley see himself going through this in 2016 when the Heat has ample camp space?

"Yes, I can. It has fired me up. I don’t like to get beat at anything. I want this team to be as competitive as it has ever been. The team might not be as formidable from the social media standpoint as the team we had the last four years but a solid team that will be a great team to cover.

That process didn’t take anything out of me other than this one notion: Every [so often], you have a chance to build a generational team. You’re not going to win 10-12 years in a row. That chain has been broken prematurely. We are going to try to make it another generational team. That’s what my objective is."

### "There is no doubt we lost a great player" but he still expects to compete for a championship. "We’re not going to go in with this roster thinking there’s anything less than that. That’s how I am as a man."

### On Wade: "We are going to see where we are with him. With what he’s doing this summer and what he’s doing with his body and what he’s going to be doing with his conditioning, there is a possibility dwyane can return to what he was before he ceded a good part of his game to LeBron. And the same thing with Chris. A strong personality and strong player dictates a certain style of play that takes away from other great players. Dwyane and Chris sacrificed a lot. I think you will see both players probably have the best years they’ve had over the past four years."

### If LeBron had stayed, “we were always looking at 2016 as a possibility to be a player" in free agency, which the team will be now. "All of our players were aware of that. We always wanted a window in 2016.”

### Riley called Carmelo Anthony's agent after LeBron left but "that dance card had been punched. We were a little bit late to that party. I made a call but we were late in on that one." Anthony didn't resign with the Knicks until a couple days later.

### On giving Bosh a five-year, $118 million maximum contract: “Everything was off the table as soon as LeBron left. Whatever plans you may have had at that time, how you were going to negotiate with certain players was off the table. If something generated itself in two or three hours, you had to respond to that. He’s the most versatile big man in the NBA. That’s what the market was for him, and Micky stepped up to the plate, and we have a key, key component to this team. I’ll be damned if I was going to let him walk out the door and he didn’t want to either."

### On what he still needs to address: "The one area we want to shore up is another perimeter player who can swing between 2 and 3, maybe 2, 3, 4. We’re not in a rush now. Another wing man and also another big. We’ll be scanning the market."


Read more here: Riley opens up: Said he is shocked over LeBron leaving, said it has fired him up, much more; 15 Dolphins notes | Sports Buzz

 

[bksballer89]

I didn't post the entire thing but I posted most of it.

 

[bksballer89]

Except for LeBron, "all the guys wanted in here. Nobody tried to back out of this thing and tried to move somewhere else. For five or six hours, it was doing business as usual [when LeBron] left."

### Riley said "right now, we have not made any decisions" on Greg Oden. "He’s still on our board. We are going to give Greg some thought.”

### What about Michael Beasley? "Still a consideration. We talked to his people the other day."

Read more here: Riley opens up: Said he is shocked over LeBron leaving, said it has fired him up, much more; 15 Dolphins notes | Sports Buzz

 

[Flauge]

seriously, wtf is Riley thinking by not resigning Beasley?

On a seperate note. what grade would you give Riley for this offseason? Including LBj leaving and such.

I give him an A. I don't hold LeBron leaving against Riley. He offered him the max, traded for the PG LeBron wanted, even sign McRoberts. Those moves combined with going to 4 straight finals and and winning 2 (back to back)... if that is not enough to convince a player to stay with an organization, I am not sure what can realistically be done to keep that player.

He got the next best SF available in free agency that he could have gotten (Melo wasn't an option). He got Bosh to resign. The Heat won 54 games last year. Call it a bold prediction. We will beat that mark this year.

 

[Paolo305613]

Should Pat Riley have moved on beyond LeBron James rehash? - Sun Sentinel