This is where I’m at — who gives up a solid 6th man and draft capital (never mind Timelord, limited or not) for a 33-year-old defense-first guard whose shooting goes to hell in the playoffs?
It really had the same feeling as when everybody knew Anthony Davis was forcing his way to the Lakers and nobody else, but (despite him only being a year away from free agency, I believe) the Pelicans still got a pretty big bounty from the Lakers. Miami really seemed to think that this would just happen without them having to put forward their best offer, or without a real effort to bring in additional teams. For all the draw of Miami, Reilly and Heat Culture, their attempts at big game hunting have not been particularly impressive since Lebron left. Is Jimmy Butler, a borderline top 10 guy for the last 4-5 years, the best player they've acquired over the last decade?
And even Jimmy has strongly suggested that he would have stayed in Philly if they hadn't chosen Simmons instead.
Agree, considering their locale & state tax situation they have whiffed badly with Superstars. Bron "decided" to go there and Jimmy landed on their lap for JRich. They need to turn Lowry + Herro + picks into something, like Jrue or Harden, to answer what Milwaukee & Boston have done.
Well except MIA from what I am seeing (i) didn't really try to get a 3rd team involved for Herro and (ii) didn't make a close to best offer. It's like MIA felt like Dame going there was foreordained so they could get him at a huge discount. Oops!I find it hard to criticize Miami for not landing Lillard. They were not going to trade Bam, and without him the assets available simply were not sufficient to make Portland bite. There was no Jrue Holliday equivalent on Miami's roster, and Tyler Herro wasn't going to be enough for Portland. Heat's only play was to wait it out, and of course by waiting they took the risk that the Blazers would find another trade partner, and Portland had no incentive to shop the Bucks offer around the league.
Of course, dunking on Pat Riley and the Miami Heat should never be discouraged
They kind of are? The Celtics got significant draft comp for Doc when he left early to the Clippers.
It sounds like they weren't willing to add Caleb Martin or Jaime Jacquez either. They probably could have gotten it done in July with Herro, Martin, filler and their picks.
Yeah that was what I've heard. Maybe if they'd offered everything(short of Bam) it still wouldn't have been enough - Herro isn't as valuable as holiday (to anyone, not just Portland), none of their younger guys look like future stars, and their picks 5-7 years out certainly aren't as valuable as unprotected bucks picks in 2028-2030. Maybe they were hitting the phones to bring another team and assets into the deal and no one wanted to make things easier for them. That's just not how I see it, this is a massive failure by Reilly and the heat.
The Haynes article (which 100% has sourcing from Elisburg and Riley) says that the Heat believed that their offer was just as good as the offer Portland ended up accepting but that they never got the chance to negotiate.
That's one perspective. The rumored initial offer from Miami back in the summer wasn't anything close to what the Bucks offered. And why would the Blazers negotiate with Miami once Milwaukee made their move? If Miami had an equal package to put together (which is questionable as I don't think Herro is nearly as valued around the league as Holliday), nothing prevented them from offering it earlier in the process.
Hell, Herro wasn't even valued by Portland - they had enough guys who did the same thing that they didn't need or want him.
Yep, which is why Miami's whining is all the more ridiculous. The Bucks offered the better player and better picks considering Miami is a FA destination. The offers were nowhere close to equivalent.
Honestly I haven't seen too many people (outside of Miami) criticizing Portland's moves here. I think everyone knows that Holiday is more valuable than Herro, Ayton is a better piece that whatever flotsam could've been tossed in with Herro to sweeten the deal, and future Bucks picks are more valuable than future Heat picks. It's pretty unlikely those picks end up as sweet as the Nets picks because of the chance that Giannis is still around (I think if the Bucks win another title he's more likely than not to still be playing there) and playing at a high level (from ages 33-35), and even if he's not, the odds of getting multiple top 3 picks is as slim now as it was back in 2016-2018 (the Celtics really got lucky).
I particularly like the way he handled getting Jrue.
You'd think he was possessed by Sam Presti or something. Dude pulled a magic trick. a Presti-digitation.
