Cleveland Paper: "A Season of Contrasts: Free Agent Treatment of James, Wade"
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MIAMI -- Imagine for a moment that there was an alternate universe, where almost everything that was up was down in the Cavaliers' expensive and multifaceted plan to re-sign LeBron James.
Say, for example, that last summer instead of trading for Shaquille O'Neal and signing three free agents to bolster the team's depth that they did nearly nothing. Even with James wanting improvements to the team more than ever.
Envision that, in defending this maneuver, they pointed the finger at James, saying the team cannot plan for the future until he gives it an answer on the contract extension offer he declined.
What if, citing a hit to his core business from the recession, owner Dan Gilbert said that now was the time to be fiscally responsible...
This is a really long article from a Cleveland paper that is spot on and should make any Heat fan want to barf.
I've said it for a long time and I'll keep saying it even though Pat Riley is untouchable on this board; we as an organization have made mistakes, Pat Riley has done the wrong thing, and Mickey Arison pulled the ultimate cheap owner on us. I don't care if the Cleveland paper may be biased, it's so true it should make you absolutely sick. I've called it many times. We have no one to blame but the front office on this one. They took a gamble that the young guys on the team would improve enough that it'd make up for a crap roster around Wade, but it hasn't happened. If anyone but Pat Riley pulled this we'd be calling for him to be fired. In my view, it's unacceptable how far we fell off the map just for a chance to land a major FA this coming offseason, which is becoming less and less likely to happen as time goes on. We do this with Wade on roster while Cleveland has kept themselves ultra-competitive around LeBron and are championship contenders every year it seems.
People are pointing the finger at the wrong person. Look at the guys with real power.
Re: Cleveland Paper: "A Season of Contrasts: Free Agent Treatment of James, Wade"
First off, this is from a Cleveland perspective.
Second, the second half of the article is more pro-Heat then the first half.
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There is a method to this tactic. By refusing to add to future payrolls by trading expiring contracts, the Heat will have a massive amount of cap space this summer. If the Knicks were in the same position, they could realistically dream of getting Chris Bosh and James to come to New York. The Knicks would have significant space, but not nearly as much as the Heat.
In a desirable city with a favorable state income tax structure, Riley is figuring Miami can be a destination for free agents. The idea is they have Wade already and, by biting the bullet now, they save and offer the chance for Bosh, Amare Stoudemire or even James himself to head for the wonderful sights in South Beach.
With five championship rings, including one he won with Wade, Riley has the cache to attempt something like this. Ferry and Cavs coach Mike Brown, who both have championship rings but not Riley's rep, can't run the same risk in a cold-weather town without a history of championships.
But then all of Riley's plan is one massive gamble. The Knicks will beckon to Wade if they lose out on James. Plus Wade's hometown team, the Chicago Bulls, will also have salary cap space to sign him and pair him with young star and fellow Chicago native Derrick Rose for the hometown mother lode.
Which strategy will work? The Cavs' big-spending, keep the big man happy as possible attitude? Or the Heat's planned, responsible and leveraged approach? Most of the time in the NBA, the home team keeps the stars in free agency, the rules favor it, so they both could win.
But if one or both lose, there is sure going to be a lot of explaining to do.
And we didn't "fall off the map to sign a big free agent." We won a championship, and the team got fat and happy after that, and we had to rebuild. This is the rebuilding process, it takes years. By not signing role players, we are actually speeding up the rebuilding process by cleaning the slate and starting over. Look at the Bulls for example, after Jordan left they started rebuilding, and they have been doing that ever since, and if they didn't get lucky and win the lottery last season then they would still be in terrible shape, because they have worked hard to become a mediocre team. You can't become a great team if you are mediocre because you won't get high draft picks, and won't have cap space for big free agents.
It goes without saying, but Pat Riley knows more about building a team then anyone on this forum, that's why we don't question him, if we knew more then him, one of us would have his job.
Re: Cleveland Paper: "A Season of Contrasts: Free Agent Treatment of James, Wade"
I disagree with almost everything in this article.
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The Cavs are, to use Gilbert's phrase, going "all in" as they attempt to win a championship this season and convince James to stay. They spent money on free agents, made a trade for a $20 million-a-year player, are active in trade talks and have added to their support staff to help convince James his best option is to stay home.
This is because the Cavs were on the brink of a championship last year. The Heat had a 15 win season 2 years ago and had just gotten a career season out of Wade on their way to a 28 game improvement. They had a young group of promising players in Cook, Chalmers, Beasley, and the longshot of Wright who was not even factored into this young core. You can't make the argument that the Cavs are approaching the James FA with one mindset (help right now) and the Heat are approaching the Wade FA with the opposite (help later) without taking the situations of their respective teams into context.
With the above in place, this quote here:
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Last summer, armed with more than $25 million in expiring contracts -- not including Wade -- plus money to sign players, Heat President Pat Riley stared Wade down and told him to make the first move. There was a contract extension on the table and Riley wanted Wade to sign it before he did anything to his roster.
becomes utterly pointless. Name a single free agent last summer who you would have confidence in signing to a long term contract, especially when given the menu of choices in 2010. I don't even think Lamar Odom was the answer, but this team did try to go after him for the right price. That was the responsible thing to do, instead of giving him some ridiculous long term deal when he is clearly a 3rd best player on a championship team. Moreover, people love to talk of this extension issue as some sort of negotiation game between Wade and Riley. I promise you that the minute Wade signed his first extension with the Heat a few years back, both he and Riley knew that he would not even THINK about signing an extension last summer. Are you kidding me? A 3 year extension when he can sign a much more lucrative 6 year extension the year after? Newspapers like to write stories as if there was ever an option of this happening, but there wasn't. No way in hell do Lebron, Wade, or any other mega free agent ever, EVER sign that 3 year shortened extension. It doesn't matter if we get Lebron, Bosh, Amare, and Michael Jordan on this team last summer, that extension would not have been signed by Wade. Which is exactly why you see a quote like this:
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Riley didn't budge and Wade didn't sign, which led Wade to later say: "I always have the best interest of the basketball team every time I take the court. But in this stage, where you're talking about contracts and free agency, you have to think about yourself and what's best."
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But Riley has refused to seriously consider trading Jermaine O'Neal, who has an expiring contract worth $22 million that would serve as a massive trade chip for a blockbuster move.
I think is bogus as well. Riley will trade JO in a heartbeat if the right deal comes along. You can't just say "blockbuster move" as if you can pull one out of thin air. That is just newspaper speculation.
And finally, the reason why Riley has faith in this plan is because Wade has to give up around 30 million dollars to outright sign with another team. There is no precedent I can think of in this salary cap generation of a player of Wade's status giving up that amount of money. You also have to think of the teams that he can sign with along with the mindset of a player like Wade. It's very easy for fans like me and you to play lineup games and go "oh Harris/Wade/Lopez or Rose/Wade what a sick core!!". People like Wade dont think like that. They may acknowledge that playing with this or that player would be fun, but deep down they believe they can carry any team to a title. You can't take our way of looking at basketball rosters and act as if they are going to think like that. This is why stars don't sign for cheap to play with other stars or on stacked teams unless they are on the wrong side of 30. There is no enticing reason for Wade to sign with a Chicago, New Jersey, New York and give up all that money. Riley is still holding all the cards here.
Re: Cleveland Paper: "A Season of Contrasts: Free Agent Treatment of James, Wade"
The difference between Cleveland and Miami is that Riley pulled a championship out of his *** less than 5 years ago. Cleveland has no championship. I think Wade has more trust in Riley than Lebron has in the Cleveland organization and that is why the Cavs really feel pressure to act now. We can afford it.
Plus, god forbid, Wade leaves, we will have so much cap space we can build a very good team. I'd hate to see Wade leave because he is what brought me to the Heat but it is true that the Heat has existed before Wade and will after Wade.
I still don't get this whole Wade to Bulls thing. Wade and Rose playing alongside does not make any sense for me. Don't they both need the ball in their hand to be effective? Plus aren't they both slashers? Without a legit low post scoring, I don't see why Wade would want to go there. I swear, it is only because it is Chicago that people say nonsensical stuff. If Rose was in memphis or oklahoma and they had the same cap space, nobody would be talking about Rose and Wade IMO.
Lebron is such a joke. He saw how much everyone loved Dwight and Nate's routine in the dunk contest and had to horn in on it and announce 364 days early how he would participate and get the spotlight on him. Then he wips it all up in a frenzy and backs out like a chump. I've been getting tired of LeBron's junk for a while now. This is just another reason to see this guy as a chump. Great ballplayer, insane talent, total chick.
Lebron is such a joke. He saw how much everyone loved Dwight and Nate's routine in the dunk contest and had to horn in on it and announce 364 days early how he would participate and get the spotlight on him. Then he wips it all up in a frenzy and backs out like a chump. I've been getting tired of LeBron's junk for a while now. This is just another reason to see this guy as a chump. Great ballplayer, insane talent, total chick.
Re: Cleveland Paper: "A Season of Contrasts: Free Agent Treatment of James, Wade"
Dee-zy is on the mark here. When the Heat won the chip 3 years ago Riley knew what is ahead. Granted there are things that Riley did that could be improved but overall this is what happens when a team mortgage their future in order to win now.
In my opinion Cleveland's best chance to win a championship was last year and they should've gotten Shaq at the trade deadline instead of the end of the season. They are again in good position to compete this year but if it doesn't end up happening then they should really regret about not doing anything last year.
No matter what happens this is the last year that the Heat will be mediocre. They will either be very good or very bad next year depending on what happens with Wade and the FAs.
Cleveland Paper: "A Season of Contrasts: Free Agent Treatment of James, Wade"
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