Tag: Dwyane Wade (Page 16 of 31)

      Dwyane Wade takes second meeting with Bulls

      July 2, 2010 /

      Ira Winderman reports the following on his Twitter feed…

      Potentially staggering news, Dwyane Wade is poised to meet again tonight with the Bulls, likely in the presence of his agent.

      For a time, it seemed like Wade was one of the few top free agents that would stay put. Now it looks like he may bolt to Chicago after indicating all summer that he planned to stay in Miami.

      This is a strange turn of events, and Pat Riley has to be feeling the heat. (No pun intended.) Not only is he potentially going to lose his star player, but Wade’s free agency courtship is undercutting the Heat’s ability to sell the idea of playing with Wade in South Florida.

      And didn’t he just badmouth the Bulls franchise a few days ago?

      Update: Chad Ford has a source that says that Wade is leaning towards signing with the Bulls.

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      Could the Heat sign LeBron, Wade and Bosh and use their mid-level exception?

      July 1, 2010 /

      The short answer is ‘no.’

      As I’ve been perusing the internet today, I see a lot of misinformed fans with the impression that the Heat (or any other team with room for a max player) can add a Mid-Level Exception (MLE) player once the cap space is used up. Ray Allen and Raymond Felton are common names that come up in such a conversation.

      But per the NBA Salary Cap FAQ, a team that is under the cap (like the Heat) and is hoping to use up all its cap space signing 2-3 big-name free agents does not have the ability to use their mid-level exception once the cap space is used up.

      For example, assume the cap is $49.5 million, and a team has $43 million committed to salaries. They also have a Mid-Level exception for $5 million and a Traded Player exception for $5.5 million. Even though their salaries put them $6.5 million under the cap, their exceptions are added to their salaries, putting them at $53.5 million, or $4 million over the cap. So they actually have no cap room to sign free agents, and instead must use their exceptions.

      Teams have the option of renouncing their exceptions in order to claim the cap room. So in the example above, if the team renounced their Traded Player and Mid-Level exceptions, then the $10.5 million is taken off their team salary, which then totals $43 million, leaving them with $6.5 million of cap room which can then be used to sign free agent(s).

      In the Heat’s case, the salary cap is $56.1 million and with the minimum salary cap holds required to fill out the roster, they have about $44 million to divvy up between Wade, LeBron and Bosh. ($14.7 million each.) But they only have that much cap space because they renounced (or will renounce) their Traded Player and Mid-Level exceptions. However, they could sign the three superstars at those salary levels and then sign a MLE player next summer if they choose to do so. In fact, the MLE can be divvied up amongst a number of players, which is probably how the Heat would handle the flood of veterans that would want to join the Heat in search of a ring.

      The same rule applies if a team has enough space for one max free agent. Take the Clippers, who can afford one max contract. The Clips have that much space because they have renounced (or will renounce) their MLE. If they were to use up their cap space to sign Paul Pierce, the MLE would not be available to them until next summer (assuming they are still over the cap).


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      How good would a LeBron/Wade/Bosh combo be?

      July 1, 2010 /

      ESPN’s John Hollinger used his Player Efficiency Rating to estimate the number of games this group would win if surrounded by 10 minimum salary veterans.

      Using my preseason prediction model, I plugged in a team with those three players and used fairly conservative estimates for what they might produce in the coming season — a Player Efficiency Rating of 29 for James, 26 for Wade and 23 for Bosh. I gave James 3,100 minutes, Wade 2,850 and Bosh 2,600.

      For every other minute played by Team Trinity, I inserted my replacement-level figure of a 10 PER — this is what I input when a team has an empty rotation spot or has it filled by a player projected to produce less than 10. I never go any lower than this and have never felt a need to, as virtually anyone who produces at a lesser rate (once we include defensive value) is quickly replaced.

      OK, that’s my methodology; now for the result. This team, believe it or not, projected to win 61 games.

      And that assumes all replacement level players. The roster could improve at midseason when a vet is bought out or waived, and next summer when the team would have the various exceptions available to add higher-priced talent.

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      Nine sure-to-be wrong NBA free agency predictions

      June 30, 2010 /

      Here’s where I stop ruminating about rumors and pose a few predictions about what will happen in the NBA over the next couple of weeks. Let’s start with a near-sure thing and work our way around the league.

      1. Dwyane Wade will re-sign with the Heat.
      He has said all along that Miami is where he wants to be, and even if he strikes out on getting LeBron and/or Chris Bosh to join him, he won’t have a tough time recruiting a couple of other high-priced free agents to join him. Whether it’s Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson or Rudy Gay, someone will want to play in sunny South Florida with a Top 5 player who has already proven he can take over an NBA Finals.

      2. Chris Bosh will also sign with Miami.
      I thought the Bulls might have inside track on Bosh, but if we’re to believe Dan LeBatard, a deal is already in place that would bring Bosh to Miami. Even if LeBron doesn’t join them, Bosh and Wade will make an excellent one-two punch.

      3. LeBron and Carlos Boozer will sign with Chicago.
      It’s the reunion that no one was expecting. I have no earthly idea what LeBron is going to do, but he says that winning is the most important thing, so if that’s true, he’ll either sign with the Bulls or join Wade and Bosh in Miami. With his ego, I think he’d rather play in Chicago in the shadow of Michael Jordan’s legacy than join ‘Wade’s team’ in South Florida. But who really knows? (Remember, I said these were sure-to-be-wrong predictions.) As for Boozer, if the Bulls strike out on Bosh, he’s the next-best fit at the four. The Bulls could take advantage of his strengths (low-post scoring, rebounding) while Joakim Noah could hide his weaknesses (post defense).

      4. Joe Johnson will sign with the Clippers.
      Think about it Knick fans — would you want to play under the NY microscope after the city missed out on the big-name free agents? Expectations are so high in the Big Apple and Johnson is a quiet guy that has proven in Atlanta that he doesn’t deal well with critical fans. He’s reportedly close with Clipper GM Neil Olshey and would be a nice fit there since he can play small forward alongside Eric Gordon on the wing.

      5. Stoudemire will land in the Big Apple.
      I almost wrote “land in New Jersey” but I didn’t want to send any Knick fans off the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge. If predictions #1-#4 come to fruition, the Knicks won’t be a very attractive place to play, but Stoudemire thrived under Mike D’Antoni in Phoenix and the Knicks will be sure to throw gobs of money to save face after pretty much striking out on the other top free agents. D’Antoni can run Stoudemire at the five and…

      6. The Knicks will re-sign David Lee…
      …to play the four. They’ll be defensively challenged, but that’s life. Then…

      7. The Knicks will trade Eddy Curry for Gilbert Arenas…
      …which will make them even more defensively challenged, but again, that’s life. At least the Knicks will be fun to watch.

      8. The Grizzlies will match a max offer for Rudy Gay.
      The Nets (and maybe the T-Wolves) will make a strong run at Rudy Gay, but the Grizzlies’ owner Michael Heisley has said all along that he’ll match any offer Gay gets in free agency.

      9. Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce re-sign with the Mavs and C’s, respectively.
      These guys aren’t going anywhere.


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