Tag: Dwyane Wade (Page 20 of 31)

      D-Wade’s “free agent summit” good for the Knicks?

      May 28, 2010 /

      Marc Berman of the New York Post thinks Dwyane Wade’s upcoming meeting with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Joe Johnson is a good thing for the Knicks.

      The Knicks’ only shot at James is if he can convince Bosh — or Wade or Johnson — to come along for the ride. The Knicks are the only club that has cap room to sign two maximum contracts — with $34M in space.

      Even if James stays in Cleveland or heads to Chicago, the Knicks would take any pair — Wade and Bosh, Johnson and Bosh, even Johnson and Wade.

      I tend to agree. The only way the Knicks land two big-name free agents is if there is communication amongst the group and two players commit at the same time. The more communication, the better the chances of this happening.

      That said, the Knicks are not the only team in position to sign two big-name free agents. If they can dump Michael Beasley’s salary, the Heat will have room to sign two big names and re-sign Dwyane Wade. It wouldn’t be as easy, but if the Bulls can use Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich in a sign-and-trade for a max free agent, they could add two big names as well.

      In other words, if a treaty agreement is reached at the summit, and two or more players agree to go to a certain team, then they can probably make it happen. For example, the Bulls could sign LeBron outright and work out a sign-and-trade with Toronto for Bosh. Why would the Raptors agree to this? Well, if Bosh decides that’s who he wants to sign with, then the Raptors are in a tough spot — either work out a trade with the Bulls and get something in return, or Bosh walks (to another team) via free agency.

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      Handicapping the players in the LeBron sweepstakes

      May 27, 2010 /

      Anyone outside of his entourage who claims to know what LeBron is going to do is being disingenuous. He loves the fact that he’s the center of attention even though the playoffs are still in full swing. He often speaks of July 1 in grandiose terms and that’s because, like most superstars, he has a very high opinion of himself.

      That said, I found myself rooting for the Celtics in their series with the Cavs because as a writer, Cleveland’s early exit throws LeBron’s future to the wind. He could land any number of places.

      Though the LeBron Tracker makes me a little nauseous, I thought I’d take a stab at handicapping where King James might end up. I’ll include the six teams that ESPN deemed worthy of making the top banner and add the Mavs for good measure. For each team, I’ll outline why he’d sign and why he wouldn’t. I’ll also rank (on a scale of 1-10) how he fits from a personnel standpoint.

      In terms of fit, I look to the last few premier wings who have broken through and won at least one title as the best player on their team. I’m talking about Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Dwyane Wade and Michael Jordan. What do they have in common? Kobe, Pierce and Wade all played with top notch big men — Gasol, Garnett and Shaq, respectively — while Jordan had Scottie Pippen. In other words, they all got to play with another All-NBA (Top 15) caliber player when they won their title.

      They also enjoyed good coaching. Jordan and Kobe had Phil Jackson, Wade had Pat Riley and Doc Rivers did a great job of coaching the ’08 Celtics. They were also all surrounded by good shooters who could make teams pay for double-teaming their respective superstar.

      Without further ado, let’s take a look at the major players in line for LeBron’s services and try to handicap their chances of signing the league’s most valuable player.

      CAVS (25%)
      Why he’ll sign: Loyalty, comfort, familiarity. He’s from the area and he doesn’t want to leave town after an early postseason exit, as it would effectively destroy basketball in the city of Cleveland. Shaq will be gone and there’s an opportunity for an upgrade at head coach.
      Why he won’t sign: Too much baggage. The franchise has had seven years to build around him and they’ve made just one Finals appearance. Suspect flexibility with the roster.
      Fit: 5/10 The Cavs have a pretty good shooter at power forward (Antawn Jamison) and a good shooter at point guard (Mo Williams), but neither player is even average on defense. There are a lot of solid-to-good players on the roster, but no one approaches the Top 15 sidekick that helped the aforementioned wings win their titles. It’s tough to find that kind of player via trade, but that’s how Gasol, Garnett and Shaq came to play for the Lakers, Celtics and Heat. Cap-wise, if they re-sign LeBron, they won’t have any cap space to speak of until the summer of 2012 when Jamison’s salary is off the books.

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      Wade unsure about Chicago’s loyalty to its players

      May 27, 2010 /

      In an ESPN report that is mostly dedicated to Dwyane Wade’s declaration that he’s going to talk about his future with LeBron James and Joe Johnson — yes, Joe Johnson — Wade discusses the loyalty of the Miami Heat and how that loyalty compares favorably to the Chicago Bulls.

      “I think the biggest question that you think about has to be loyalty,” Wade told the Tribune. “I know one thing about Miami: It is a very loyal organization. I see what they do with their players when their players get done with the game of basketball . . . how loyal they are. I don’t know about the Bulls.”

      In particular, Wade questions why Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who led the Bulls to six NBA championships, are no longer with the organization.

      “I see Michael Jordan is not there, Scottie Pippen is not there . . . You know, these guys are not a part,” Wade told the Tribune. “Things like that. So that is probably one of the biggest things for me, because I am a very loyal person.”

      Original source: Chicago Tribune

      Regarding Joe Johnson, I would have expected “Chris Bosh” or “Amare Stoudemire,” not the Hawks’ wing. Johnson is 6’7″ and could play small forward if necessary, so I guess he could fit alongside Wade somewhere. It doesn’t seem ideal, however.

      To me, the bit about loyalty is the bigger news, as it seems that Wade’s #1 issue is loyalty, and the Bulls haven’t shown much to its stars over the years. We already had an inkling that Wade was going to stay put in Miami, and barring a meeting with LeBron or Chris Bosh in New York, it still seems like that’s the case.


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      The Knicks’ plan to woo LeBron

      May 25, 2010 /

      Chad Ford wrote an interesting article with a look at the Knicks’ plan for this summer. An Insider subscription is required, so I’ll refrain from excerpting, but here’s how the plan goes…

      The first angle is that LeBron (or Dwyane Wade) will get to play alongside another superstar. According to Ford’s sources, Plan A is LeBron and Chris Bosh, Plan B is Wade and Bosh and Plan C is LeBron and Wade. The Knicks see Bosh as an ideal fit along either wing player due to his ability to stretch the floor with his jumper. If they can’t get Bosh? Look for the Knicks to make a run at a certain seven-foot German who plans to opt out of his contract in Dallas.

      The next pitch is that the Knicks’ supporting cast is not as bad as it seems. Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Bill Walker and Toney Douglas can all shoot, and the Knicks think that once a couple of big names are on board, there will be a few solid vets (like Grant Hill?) who will be willing to play on the cheap in order to have a chance at a ring.

      Thirdly, the Knicks will use Mike D’Antoni, who is familiar with LeBron, Bosh and Wade from his time as Team USA assistant, as their leading pitchman. They think that once he starts diagramming plays, he’ll convince these stars that he can make best use of their respective talents.

      Lastly, the Knicks will talk about what a championship would mean to the city of New York. No one can usurp Michael Jordan in Chicago, and Miami’s fans aren’t die-hard like Knicks fans. If you win a title, you will own the world’s greatest city. That’s a pretty strong pitch.

      Needless to say, it’s going to be a pretty interesting summer. One thing that might make the dominoes fall a little faster is the fact that most of the top free agents — LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Nowitzki, Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay, etc. — are sitting at home right now watching the playoffs. They have time to consider their options, recruit each other, talk to teams through back channels and form some sort of plan for July 1. The #1 domino is LeBron, and he’s going to have plenty of time to figure out where he’s headed. Once he decides, the pieces may fall into place pretty quickly.


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      It looks like Dwyane Wade is staying put…

      April 28, 2010 /

      …assuming Pat Riley can get him some help. Here’s what he had to say after the Heat’s loss to the Celtics in Game 5, per TrueHoop…

      “I’m looking forward to a good team to build, and being with some great players next year, and to continue to beef up our roster,” Wade said.

      Notice his use of the pronoun “our.”

      And also note that at no point did Wade ever expressly state a desire to head elsewhere. But he did place the onus on Pat Riley to make things happen over the summer.

      “I’m not putting no pressure on myself. I think I put myself in a great situation three years ago to sign this deal to make sure that my team stays competitive. We’ve got some work to do, the front office has to do it, and there’s no pressure on me,” Wade said. “I’ve said where my heart is, and I think any player that’s thinking about wanting to come to Miami, they know where my heart is. You just have to see things being done and accomplished.

      “We see that, and we’ll be talking again.”

      I don’t see Wade leaving town at this point. After the Heat played pretty well over the last half of the season, he started talking about how Miami is where his heart is and that it’s the Heat’s gig to lose, and since the franchise is in a great position to add talent this offseason, he’s a good bet to stay put.

      Michael Beasley, on the other hand, appears to be on the outs. He was benched for the entire second half of Game 5, and looks to be expendable heading into the offseason. This opens up another possibility that was seemingly closed a few months ago — the signing/acquisition of Carlos Boozer, who was once considered “too similar” to Beasley.

      So if the Heat strike out on LeBron James and/or Chris Bosh, Boozer and/or Amare Stoudemire would be a good backup plan. I think either player would convince Wade to stay put.

      With $42 million in cap space, the Heat are basically a blank slate. If they were able to move Beasley and his salary ($5 million), they would almost have enough to sign three max free agents. The problem is that the top guys all seem to play power forward or shooting guard. However, the Heat could have enough to add Rudy Gay and Bosh/Stoudemire/Boozer, or even David Lee.

      If I were Pat Riley, I’d be in constant communication with Wade to see which players he’d most like to play with. By having his buy in, you would ensure that he’s happy with the players you’re bringing in. I wonder if Riley’s ego is too big for that…


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