Tag: Summer of 2010 (Page 33 of 63)

      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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      What is really going on with Chris Bosh?

      June 30, 2010 /

      He’s been saying all along that he doesn’t want to be a sidekick and thinks that a team should build around him. Yet there’s this feeling around the league that he’s going to go wherever LeBron goes. Some execs have even said that he’s attaching himself to LeBron, instead of LeBron attaching himself to Bosh. I’m sorry, but that’s not being ‘the man.’

      He recently told ESPN that winning is the most important thing:

      “My only priority,” Bosh said, “is winning.”

      If that’s the case, why is there this sense that Bosh will only sign a six-year deal (meaning that he’s going to force a sign-and-trade with the Raptors and his new team)? If he’s going to mess around with a sign-and-trade, his new team is going to have to give up something, and there’s no way around it — it’s going to hurt the team. Whether the Knicks trade David Lee, the Nets trade Derrick Favors, the Bulls trade Luol Deng or the Heat trade Michael Beasley, along with a draft pick or two, his new team will be a little worse off than it would have been if he had signed with the team outright.

      In other words, if he forces a sign-and-trade, then winning is most definitely not his “only priority.” One of his priorities might be winning, but the top priority would be the extra cash and the extra year that only the Raptors can offer.

      In fact, ‘winning’ and being ‘the man’ don’t fit together in this situation. How is a team that is built around Bosh better than a team (with Bosh) that is built around a better player, like LeBron? Wouldn’t a combination of LeBron/Wade/Bosh in Miami have a better shot to win more titles than a Knicks team built around Bosh?

      Chris Bosh (or the Chris Bosh Situation) is really starting to confuse me. I’m glad free agency is only a few hours away.


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      Report: Chris Bosh traded to Miami

      June 30, 2010 /

      Miami Herald sports columnist Dan LeBartard is reporting that Bosh-to-Miami is pretty much a done deal.

      I hear bosh-miami is done ..bosh-wade shared agent avoids tampering…its why beasley, chalmers, anthony still here…raptors get them

      This is unconfirmed and can’t become ‘official’ until midnight. He mentions Bosh’s agent, Henry Thomas. Thomas is also Wade’s agent, so it’s possible that this deal was worked out through him. But the Heat had to be involved at some point to know which players to hold on to.

      If the report is true, it lends credence to the rumor that LeBron, Bosh and Wade are going to hook up in Miami. At the very least, Wade and Bosh would form a nice duo in South Florida.

      It’s funny, when I suggested a Beasley-for-Bosh trade late last year, Raptor fans thought I was nuts. Now what do they think?

      Of course, LeBatard could have the story wrong. Rumors are flying fast and furious right now.


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      ‘World Wide Wes’ won’t be at LeBron’s meetings

      June 30, 2010 /

      There has been a lot of talk about William ‘World Wide Wes’ Wesley lately, especially his assertion that LeBron and Chris Bosh are headed to the Bulls, but it appears that he will not be attending tomorrow’s free agency meetings that LeBron is holding in Ohio.

      But Maverick Carter, James’s longtime business manager, said Tuesday that Wesley would not play a role in James’s deliberations and would not be present as various teams visit his client in Ohio.

      “All the Wes rumors are untrue and he will not be at the meetings,” Carter said. “Wes has nothing to do with where he goes.”

      James, Carter and James’s agent, Leon Rose, are scheduled to be at the meetings, which are expected to begin shortly after the free-agency period officially starts at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. James is expected to meet with the Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and the Nets and Knicks.

      Maybe there is some dissension within LeBron’s camp.

      If anything, this would indicate that the LeBron-to-Chicago rumors were probably overblown, and the other teams on LeBron’s list all still have a puncher’s chance of signing him. In fact, a source close to LeBron told the Plain Dealer that the Cavs still have the edge.

      But if that’s the case, why doesn’t LeBron come out and say he wants to stay in Cleveland like Dwyane Wade did with the Heat? Is it because the Cavs have no salary cap flexibility and can’t quickly reshape the roster?

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      LeBron, Wade, Bosh could ‘split the money up’

      June 30, 2010 /

      According to Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have gone so far as to discuss the ‘financial machinations’ of the three playing together in South Florida.

      The Sun Sentinel has learned that the three star free agents have gone as far as to acknowledge that it might not be possible for the Heat to clear the needed space to start each of the three at the $16.6 million maximum salary that they would be eligible for in the first year of new contracts.

      According to the source, the three have agreed to consider to “split the money up,” if need be.

      I’m no salary cap expert (though I play one on TV), but looking at the Heat’s salary cap situation — I usually use ShamSports, but the site is down at the moment — reveals that the Heat have three (maybe four, if we include Joel Anthony) players under contract for a total of $6.869 million. The Heat recently waived James Jones, which will cost them $1.9 million this season. With an estimated salary cap of $56.1 million, that leaves $47.331 million to spend on LeBron/Wade/Bosh, or $15.8 million per player. Though that number is actually a little less due to the minimum salary cap holds for the remaining roster spots.

      Regardless, if these three let $0.8 million per season (or a bit more) get in the way of a dynasty, they should have their heads examined.

      Of course, Wade’s agent, Henry Thomas, denies that the meeting took place in Miami, because his client was not in Miami this weekend.

      “Dwyane was not in Miami this weekend,” Thomas said. “That is untrue.”

      “I said when it first broke about that, that the guys would undoubtedly talk with each other, which they have. That’s not a surprise to anyone,” Thomas said. “But this meeting this weekend in Miami just did not take place. Dwyane was not in Miami this weekend.”

      Chances are that Thomas is telling half-truths to protect his clients. (He also represents Chris Bosh.) It’s possible that the meeting took place on a non-weekend day or in some other South Florida locale that isn’t technically the city of Miami. These are the kinds of games that agents play.

      But back to the Heat, who could give Michael Beasley away to create more cap space. His stock seems to be at an all time low, which is puzzling because he hasn’t had a bad career so far (14-6, 46% shooting) and seems to have cleaned up his act off the court. If they are able to move him, they could start LeBron, Wade and Bosh at the max. The Heat should hold onto Beasley if they can, and see if he thrives in a scoring role off the bench.


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