RT @IraHeatBeat: Stood and chatted today with Bosh/Wade agent, didn't get sense of impending apocalypse.
Contradicting the ESPN crew.
Contradicting the ESPN crew.
Miami Heat: Pat Riley's Grease Fire
- Thread starter CaptainLaddie
- Start date
Nerlens Noel would be pretty useful on a team with Lebron, Love and Irving. Anthony Bennett, not so much.
Well played.BigSoxFan said:
I love that James' agent likes what the Cavs have done with the place... You mean take top draft picks and lose regular season games?
RT @WojYahooNBA: Cavaliers want to unload Jarrett Jack's $6M annual deal to clear space, without touching Anderson Varejao -- a LeBron James favorite.
RT @WojYahooNBA: Around Bosh/Wade, there's uneasiness about James' intent; uncertainty. No one's sure -- yet. Heat aren't done, but empire's teetering.
Wow. Once again James is going about this wrong. Either he teases the entire city of Cleveland or he absolutely screws over Wade.
RT @WojYahooNBA: Chris Bosh still hasn't taken step of talking directly with Rockets, sources tell Yahoo Sports. If he does, things could change fast here.
Sam Amick @sam_amick 1m
LeBron James & agent, Rich Paul, planning on meeting w/ Heat president Pat Riley early this week, USAT has learned - http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/heat/2014/07/06/lebron-james-agent-meet-with-pat-riley-this-week/12278619/ …
Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA 49s
Once Pat Riley has chance to lay out his progress in free agency to James soon, there could be better clarity on James' next step.
What progress?
Once Pat Riley has chance to lay out his progress in free agency to James soon, there could be better clarity on James' next step.
What progress?
Haha. I'm fine with it, of course, but am surprised to see Lebron go about the process like this again.BigSoxFan said:
knucklecup said:
He doesn't owe anything to Cleveland or to Wade. There is no 'right' way to do this in many people's eyes, I love that he just goes wherever the fuck he wants and doesn't care what the inevitable haters think. He's the one who has to play wherever he decides, not the babbling masses.
Stephen A: Chris Bosh is holding this up. If he decides he wants to go to Houston, it frees Miami up to offer Carmelo Anthony more money. (also says Lakers are major players for Lakers but has to pass up $35 million.) It's not a long shot if Bosh leaves that Carmelo would be enticed to go there. Nobody knows what LeBron wants to do. He says LeBron might wait much longer to decide maybe a week or 2 weeks.
FWIW, I just called the Cavaliers season ticket line for shits and giggles. They have people there in the office taking calls for season ticket plans. At 11:30 on a Sunday night......
Being disloyal, and going behind the back of Wade and Bosh.E5 Yaz said:
If he ends up resigning in Miami, teasing the city of Cleveland seems cruel.
It makes me wonder if the human element got the best of Miami in the Finals. Got by in early rounds because they're better than Indiana, Brooklyn, and Charlotte by a wide margin... But weren't going to get by San Antonio with anything but max effort and being on the same page.
That Melo report that came out during the Finals was bizarre too.
Stephen A. seems to be insinuating that Bosh is feeling pressure, could sign in Houston to ensure his max deal, and then Lebron, Melo and Wade form a new Big Three. Says nothing close to being done but that Bosh is the one to keep our eyes on.
Edit:
RT @GaryParrishCBS: LeBrons gonna break their hearts all over again? Thats rough, man. Rough.
Nice call, literally and figuratively. Really strange. Something tells me on the Sunday after the fourth weekend last year and the year before, this wasn't the case.RedOctober3829 said:
Stephen A ended his segment with, roughly, "Wade isn't going anywhere."Ed Hillel said:
I would absolutely prefer Lebron, Melo, Bosh to Lebron, Melo, Wade.
Unless this is some elaborate plan by Dan Gilbert to drum up ticket sales, this story has serious legs.knucklecup said:
Crazy idea that probably wouldn't work under the cap, but what if Houston got involved in the Jack deal, in order to help Cleveland get LeBron, which would in turn help them get Bosh?
The only thing I can fault LeBron in is that he is trying to have his cake and eat it too. For instance, he makes it very obvious that he wants Miami to move up to get Napier, and Miami, who need to start sucking up to him, do it. Then he says "Ah, thanks for doing that guys, but now I'm going to take a look at Cleveland." Then he goes to Cleveland, listens to their future ideas, says that he wants them to keep Varejao because he likes him, and basically wants Cleveland to do everything in order to get him. LeBron is a great player, and teams should go all out to get him, but it irks me to see GM LeBron floating around the league and basically forcing teams to make deals in order to get a shot at signing him.
The only thing I can fault LeBron in is that he is trying to have his cake and eat it too. For instance, he makes it very obvious that he wants Miami to move up to get Napier, and Miami, who need to start sucking up to him, do it. Then he says "Ah, thanks for doing that guys, but now I'm going to take a look at Cleveland." Then he goes to Cleveland, listens to their future ideas, says that he wants them to keep Varejao because he likes him, and basically wants Cleveland to do everything in order to get him. LeBron is a great player, and teams should go all out to get him, but it irks me to see GM LeBron floating around the league and basically forcing teams to make deals in order to get a shot at signing him.
Houston still has to move Lin in order to create the cap space to sign Bosh. They wouldn't have the room for Jack and Bosh.Kliq said:
This absolutely has legs. Too many Domino's have to fall in place for anything to be done right this second, but I wouldn't be shocked if we're waking up to news.RedOctober3829 said:
Perhaps they're waiting for the slowest day in sports after the all star game so Lebron can have all eyes on him?
Cleveland can't sign Lebron to max deal without ridding themselves of Jack, Houston can't sign Bosh without ridding themselves of Lin.
RT @highkin: My read: This is play to pressure Wade into taking less. LeBron & Bosh can get max deals elsewhere. Wade doesnt have options.
Yeah, that trade would be treading water. They need to send Jack somewhere, and Lin somewhere else. Presumably both could be pretty easily moved if you attached a pick.Kliq said:
@FSOhioZJackson: On TV just now @WindhorstESPN said he believes LeBron has called the meeting to inform Pat Riley of his decision, whatever it is.
bowiac said:
Exactly. If Houston really wants to get involved, which is actually a pretty smart idea (tip of the cap to Kliq) they should get a tentative Lin deal on the table and then offer to trade Cleveland a future 1 for a future 2 that they could use to attach to the Jack deal. To merge the Jack and Lin deals together, you are looking at like a 5 team deal or something.
Blacken said:
Whats so weird now? I thought it was the super high cap hit in the first year or something that made it weird.
Windhorst stated a couple different things in his live piece just now, somewhat contradicting himself.
Stated that Lebron has done everything according to plan, then said he will be having a meeting with Riley not to be sold on the franchise, but to inform Riley of the decision he has made, whether to return to Miami or go elsewhere.
Windhorst has a career because of Lebron, so he knows the damage control role like the back of his hand.
Stated that Lebron has done everything according to plan, then said he will be having a meeting with Riley not to be sold on the franchise, but to inform Riley of the decision he has made, whether to return to Miami or go elsewhere.
Windhorst has a career because of Lebron, so he knows the damage control role like the back of his hand.
I watched that segment, and I don't think Windhorst had any "info". He suggested that LeBron wanted might want to wrap things up before he goes to Brazil for the World Cup final, but even that was just a guess.RedOctober3829 said:
Next season is when his contract jumps to $15 million, not the first year of the deal, and was ultimately why the Knicks weren't able to resign him without repercussions.wutang112878 said:
wutang112878 said:
Cap hit is the same every year (8-ish M). But his salary in real dollars this season is 15M. So if you take Lin, you are stuck paying him a ton for 1 year of work.
Thats a lot of money, even if you have the cap space, for a likely late 1st round pick. I'm sure plenty of owners will say no thanks.
Also, why would you be the team that ignites Lebron to Cleveland, Bosh to Houston? Regardless of what league you're in, do you really want to help create two super teams, one in the east and one in the west?radsoxfan said:
knucklecup said:
Why did Boston facilitate Rasheed Wallace being traded from Atlanta to Detroit, putting them over the top in 2004 and helping to form a core that made it to the Eastern Conference finals six straight seasons? Because they thought it was the best move for their franchise at the time.
knucklecup said:
Because if you don't do it, someone else probably will. Certainly hard to know for sure that another team won't unless there is some collusion going on.
If the trade is going to get made, you may as well be the team that benefits. Cleveland and/or Houston might get desperate and attach some pretty good assets if they think they are that close to getting their guys.
Slightly different scenarios.jon abbey said:
What team is Jeremy Lin and/or Jarrett Jack away from beating a Houston team with Howard, Bosh, and Harden & and a Cleveland team with Lebron, Irving, two other number one overall picks and all sorts of possibilities to acquire Love or somebody else significant?
Well said.radsoxfan said:
I do think that because multiple things have to happen in order for these things to occur, the price that Cleveland and Houston will have to pay to rid themselves of these contracts could be considerable.
Woj on Fox Sports Live just now said Cleveland is not putting all of their eggs in the Lebron basket and that they could look to Trevor Ariza, Channing Frye, etc. to help for next years playoff push.
If Lebron returns to Miami, it will be because he's satisfied with the roster moves Riley intends to make. The only way for Riley to do this is to convince Wade to take a paycut. The tricky part for Lebron is to phrase this in a way that doesn't make it look like he's stabbing his friend in the back by giving the team a "me or him" ultimatum. But his actions here, flirting with Cleveland through media leaks, is his way of doing exactly that.
I agree with you but it's the wrong city to be playing in my opinion.SemperFidelisSox said:
And what does it say about Lebron as a person if he plants fake stories to sneakily manipulate his friend into taking less money?
On the surface, the Cavs thing seems pretty legit. I am sure Gilbert has apologized profusely by now. More importantly, the idea of returning home, winning back his original fans and then bringing a championship to Cleveland has to appeal to LeBron on multiple levels. He is going to be 30 next season and while winning more rings is almost certainly at the top of his list, you wonder if he also wants to try to shore up his legacy and undo some of the ill will created by The Decision.
Toying with the Cavs to pressure the Heat and Wade, on the other hand, is going to have the exact opposite effect.
Toying with the Cavs to pressure the Heat and Wade, on the other hand, is going to have the exact opposite effect.