Where do we go from here?

[bksballer89]

It would really look bad on Lebron legacy if he leaves a team that all they did was make NBA finals and win some since he signed. It would basically seems like the only way Lebron would stay on a franchise for more than the length of contract is if they win every single year which just isn't possible

 

[Malibu]

LeBron isnt going anywhere.

 

[Steelboy84]

Love your avatar...total class act...you love cheering for alleged rapists....

Better than cheering for drug addicts and drunk drivers.

 

[Retroram52]

I agree with both bksballer and Malibu. I see Riley making some changes to strengthen the bench and fill in the roster spots for the obvious retirees. Having players who have experience in the play-offs and the Finals is a rare commodity and he has quite a few who have that experience. I think he keeps Oden and I see Battier, Allen, and possobly Wade, because his body is giving way, to be retired or considering it.

You guys aren't that bad and not too far away from returning. No need to hang your heads. Things hurt badly right now but there are a lot of positives you'll see in a week or two. It was fun chatting with all of you and keep the faith and I'll be around. O.K. I am taking my crystal ball and leaving now.

 

[Malibu]

Better than cheering for drug addicts and drunk drivers.

Are you talking about LeBron's mom again?

 

[Flauge]

I don't see Wade retiring... Youre talking about walking away from 40 million.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Wade isn't retiring anytime soon. He has way too many reasons($$$) not to. I am talking about 10's of millions of reasons.

 

[bksballer89]

We just need to get younger. I think that is one of the reasons our defense dropped off is because a lot of old players were in the rotation

 

[Sportsguy9695]

resiging LeBron should be a no brainer

 

[hockey878]

We just need to get younger. I think that is one of the reasons our defense dropped off is because a lot of old players were in the rotation

Need "3 and D" type players. Get a few wings with some athleticism/shooting. Shaun Livingston could also be a nice pick up for this team because of the defensive flexibility he would offer. Although I doubt he is in the "take a discount" portion of his career. that boy needs to make money!

 

[hockey878]

I think Trevor Ariza would be an ideal fit for this team.

 

[bksballer89]

More than likely bird, lewis, oden, Beasley, Chalmers, ray, and battier are all gone so even if the big 3 comes back the roster will look very different.

 

[hockey878]

Here is my opinion and somewhat "fantasy" roster (its realistic and within, just not going to happen).

Its easy to look at the big 3 and say they will all opt in. 40 mil over 2 years for each of them. But the truth of Bosh and Wade is they can get more buy opting out and signing for 4 more years. If wade plays 2 more years his next deal will be a vet minimum. no matter what he does I doubt he will make more than 50mil in the rest of his career. So he might as well make a commitment to staying here and spread that money out over 4 years evenly, rather than 2 high price years and then dropping to 3 mil a year. So in my mind it makes more sense for him to sign for some thing like a front loaded 4 years 50mil. Still expensive, but cheaper.

Bosh should sign for something similar. LeBron.... well he CAN make 20. he is worth 20. But I think as a sign of solidarity he needs to do the same. Its not fair as the leader to ask wade and bosh to re-up and then allow himself room to bolt after one more year. I think LeBron should sign for a 4 year 75 million dollar deal. Certainly a discount. For the record im sure each of these deals would have a player option for the 5th year.


So that gives a resigned core at this point in my imagination of
LeBron- 16 mil
Wade- 14 mil front loaded deal (14, 13, 12, 11)
Bosh- 11 mil back loaded deal (11, 12, 13, 14)
UD- 4.6 mil (it'd be cool if he opted out and took less but thats asking a lot)
Bird- 1.4 mil worth it for the price
Cole- 2 mil... need big progression from him since he'll be starting
Hamilton- .8mil

Note: Wade and Bosh are STILL overpaid. But you can't ask them to add more years for much less than 50 million.

This puts the heat payroll at 50mil give or take a few grand with 7 guys on the roster.

I'd like to see Miami take a run at Trevor Ariza. The guy is 28. Has big game experience. A great shooter, great defender, decent rebounder. He would allow LeBron breaks defensively and would add a ton of versatility on the defensive end. He'd be a perfect fit. He might be a little bit pricey, so he'd have to take a small discount to come play in Miami. He'd be a huge

4 years 34 million (7 mil 8 mil 9 mil 10 mil). Takes this year's payroll to 57 million. We have 6.2 million left of space to use and at least 4 roster spots to fill.

The next guy I'd like to see us go afte is patrick patterson. He is a better rebounder than people think (5 rebs in 23 minutes) and his numbers last year were MUCH better when he wasn't playing for the trainwreck that is the kings and the guy is a natural 3pt shooter. His quickness can be an asset in our type of D, adding him and Ariza would revitalize this team with some athleticism and energy and legitimately allow Wade to play more like 26-28 mins a night. Again, this will be hard to pull off. He probably wants more than we can afford. But I'd shoot for something like 4 years 20 million (3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 6.5) I'd go as high as 22 mil.

So thats 9 roster spots at 60.5 million and this is what we got:

PG-Cole
SG-Wade
SF-James/Ariza
PF-Bosh/Patterson
C- Haslem/Bird/Hamilton

Much more athletic, better rebounders Ariza>Battier/Jones, Patterson>Lewis and better shooting at this point in their careers. This team has extreme versatility as you can play bosh and Patterson together and really space the floor with a "small" ball lineup of Wade/Cole, James, Ariza, Patterson and Bosh. Even that lineup is WAY bigger than the heat's traditional small ball as patterson replaces battier or jones. You can literally switch every pick and roll with this lineup, even more so if wade is in it instead of cole.

Now lets talk about the draft here quick. I love Cleanthony Early for this team, but I just don't know that he fills a role. I think the heat have to look at a guy like Jordan Clarkson or Shabazz Napier and hope they can fill the norris cole as a rookie role. Lets just pretend its napier (many mocks have us taking him anyway) another guy with championship mettle.

With the depth in this draft I also think it would be worth it for the heat to trade their late 2nd and some money to buy an early 2nd round pick and look at someone like Markel Brown or Nick Johnson as a developmental type of player. That is less than 500K i think.

Last year the 25th pick made just under a million. So we have:

PG-Cole, Shabazz Napier
SG-Wade, Markel Brown
SF-James, Ariza
PF-Bosh, Patterson
C-Haslem, Bird, Hamilton

So that is 11 guys at 62 million. Probably resign James Jones for the vet minimum, and it may be a stretch, but I'd like to see Ray back for 1 more year. Im not sure what the vet min is for those guys, but it doesn't matter because you can sign as many as you want to vet mins no matter your cap situation.

PG- Cole, Shabazz Napier
SG- Wade, Allen, Jones, Markel Brown
SF- James, Ariza,
PF- Bosh, Patterson
C- Haslem, Bird, Hamilton

13 guys. 65 million or so. Sign up a few bench warmers (maybe oden stays for another year of rehab) and we're good.

This team is now full of athletes instead of old guys. We still have great (better I think) three point shooting, and we will get more defensively from Patterson and Ariza than we could have gotten from Battier/Lewis/Jones (guys that filled those minutes this past year).

Ariza gives the opportunity to rest LeBron and Wade a bit more 36 mins a game for LBJ 28 for wade shoud be the target. This roster gives the heat Maximum versatility, quickness, length.

A second wing defender with size and athleticism like ariza can make a huge difference against teams that move the ball (like.... the spurs?). He can provide far more than battier has the past two years.

Ok. well thats my thoughts. I know it won't happen. But this is what I'd do!

 

[hockey878]

Sorry for the book.

 

[avalon2423]

Im just going to assume LBJ resigns with Miami. I truthfully dont see how or why he would leave. 4 years and 4 finals appearances with 2 championships? You dont leave that and not expect to get even more bashed by the media then you already are.

But in order for them to continue to compete and get to the Finals, Wade and Bosh need to take significant less $$. Wade needs to be moved to the bench and be the first guy off. He can be our Ginobli. Chalmers needs to go. I hiope he has played his last game here. I really hope Miami keeps Beasley, just really need to work on his defense, but he is young and he can put the ball in the hoop. We need that. Id like to keep Oden another year. He really needed to see more minutes this series, especially when Bosh, Bird and UD were getting murdered in the paint. Oden can be a cheap guy.

PG has to be our top priority tho, Patty Mills is a FA, maybe make a run at him. We can offer him a starting spot. We need a true center. I am so done with the Bosh experiment at center. He just is too damn soft and all he does is jack up 3s. So let him play the 4 and do that.

 

[bksballer89]

Btw hockey it is almost a lock that miami will bring over james ennis from Europe as we drafting last yr in the 2nd round. He is an athletic sg/sf. From what I read he had an mvp caliber season in Australia national basketball league and will headline our summer league team

 

[hockey878]

Btw hockey it is almost a lock that miami will bring over james ennis from Europe as we drafting last yr in the 2nd round. He is an athletic sg/sf. From what I read he had an mvp caliber season in Australia national basketball league and will headline our summer league team

ahhhhhhh i forgot about him. good point!

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Got our ass kicked by a better team so what do we do now?

IMO just a brief summary of what I think needs to happen.

1) RE-SIGN LEBRON

2) If Bosh/Wade come back they must take a pay cut. They do not deserve to be paid as much as Lebron

3) Improve the bench big time

4) Draft a PG and get younger/more athletic in the offseason

Spoken like a real fan...nothing else you can say really.

Agree with 1 & 2....will add this...D Wade is finished as an elite player. He tried his best to be ready for this playoff run and he just doesn't have it anymore...no shame in that...it happens to the best of them.

The OFC is kind of based off the Drive and Kick ball movement and right now thy only have one drive and kick guy (LBJ) If they keep Wade (at a lower price)...I think they need a legit 5, and move Bosh to his more natural position at the 4...too old imo now, but Pau Gasol would've been a good fit (brother Marc would be even better).

I wouldn't blame LBJ for leaving (basically b/c it's his option) but going to NY, or CHI, etc. and winning a title will give his career a "gun for hire" type legacy...Does he want that, does he care? IDK.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Miami should be targeting guys like Kyle Lowry, Jamal Crawford, Greg Monroe(offer him a contract Detroit won't match), & Marcin Gortat. Then add a few cheap pieces to add around that core. That would be a far more deadly team long term than it would be by keeping the big 3 & adding parts or pairing Lebron with Melo.

 

[Flauge]

The problem is Bosh and Wade can come back and get their money. They have player options. So Miami is literally boned if they decide to come back and not take a pay cut. They both do this, Lebron may opt out because.. they do need help.

Battier gone frees up money. Same with Birdman. Chalmers made 4 million this year.. he is gone likely. I would like to see Haslem and Ray retire. We could have some money here for another quality piece ..maybe 2. People will come to Miami for less money to play with LeBron and a chance at titles. We only have a few guys under contract right now.. the big 3, cole, and haslem I believe.

I hope Wade and Bosh take the pay cut.. but look at this from Wade's point of view. He will never make 20 million again in his career. He is due 40 million over the next two years. Would you take half? Be honest with yourself here. You have 3 titles, a scoring title.. 9 or 10 all-stars games, and all star game MVP, a finals MVP. 3 rings and 20 million more... or 20 million less and a CHANCE at more rings. Plus, if Lebron stays, we may still get more rings even with Wade making 20 million a year.. we did go to the finals, it's not like we got offed in round 1. basically, I don't think Wade opts out. It also has me fearing it could cause LeBron to leave.