Miami Heat Blog – Page 108 – NBA Blog

Heat re-sign guard Mario Chalmers

The Miami Heat announced today that they have re-signed guard Mario Chalmers. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chalmers, a 6’2”, 190-pound guard, has appeared in 225 regular season games (132 starts) averaging 7.9 points, 3.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 1.45 steals and 26.7 minutes while shooting 40.9 percent from the field, 35 percent from three-point range and 77.8 percent from the foul line. Among Miami’s all-time leaders, he ranks eighth in steals (327), tied for ninth in three-point field goals made (272), 12th in assists (826), 19th in minutes (6,012), tied for 19th in games played (225) and 22nd in three-point field goal percentage (.350).

He has appeared in 33 career postseason games (eight starts), averaging 8.1 points, 2.7 assists, 2.1 rebounds, 1.52 steals and 26.4 minutes while shooting 43 percent from the field, 36 percent from three-point range and 75 percent from the foul line. During the 2011 NBA Finals, Chalmers increased his postseason averages in the six-game series against Dallas in points (11.8), assists (3.5), rebounds (2.7), minutes (29.0) and three-point field goal percentage (.400). He currently ranks among the Heat’s all-time postseason leaders in steals (third), assists (sixth), three-point field goals made (tied-seventh) and games played (10th).

Chalmers shot a career-high 87.1 percent from the foul line last season and set a new Heat record after dishing out 13 assists off the Miami bench at Toronto on April 13, the most from a non-starter in franchise history. He also currently holds the Heat all-time record for steals during a regular season game with nine vs. Philadelphia on November 5, 2008 and tied the franchise mark for steals during a postseason game with five vs. Atlanta on May 1, 2009. Additionally, during his rookie campaign, he became just the fifth player, and the first rookie, in franchise history to start in all 82 games while on his way to earning Second Team NBA All-Rookie honors.

Chalmers was originally drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (34th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft. His draft rights were acquired by the Heat in exchange for two 2009 second-round draft picks and cash considerations on draft night.

Antoine Walker gets probation in Las Vegas casino case

Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $770,050 in restitution to three Las Vegas casinos after pleading guilty to failing to repay gambling debts.

Walker’s lawyer declined to comment after his sentencing Tuesday in Clark County District Court.

Prosecutor Samuel Bateman says the felony charge could be dismissed if Walker fully repays the debts incurred in 2008 and 2009 at the Planet Hollywood, Red Rock Casino Resort and Caesars Palace casinos.

He faces a year in prison if he violates probation.

— Reported by the Associated Press

LeBron James says he mostly kept to himself after Finals defeat

LeBron James’ talents made it to Miami last season, but his personality did not.

For two weeks after the Finals ended this past summer, James said he stayed mostly in a room by himself and talked to almost no one. There were plenty of things to confront during that extended personal therapy session, both technical and spiritual.

It’s going to take some time to determine whether James has been able to address those issues. But there’s one aspect he feels he has control over and he intends to make it a priority when his unmerciful offseason finally comes to an end this week.

James is determined to be finished playing the villain.

Of course, he doesn’t get to make that choice for others and there are constant reminders of that. He got roundly booed attending a high school basketball game in Cleveland last Friday night, for example. But as for the acceptance of it, James says that is over.

— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

Miami Heat hope to land Shane Battier

Once NBA teams can speak with free agents beginning Monday, Miami Heat president Pat Riley has his franchise in strong position to sell Shane Battier on signing to play with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Battier has been a primary target in free agency for the Heat, and sources say the pitch of Riley, coach Erik Spoelstra and key Heat players could ultimately confirm Battier’s strong feelings about chasing a championship in Miami.

Riley and Spoelstra see Battier as a strong defender with an ability to hit the open shots that’ll come his way playing with James, Wade and Chris Bosh. Battier has been a proven playoff performer, and possesses the professionalism and maturity to navigate within the harsh glare of the Heat’s existence.

Battier, 33, is still studying the marketplace, and how his personal scenario could change as different teams use the amnesty clause to create salary-cap space. Nevertheless, Miami currently stands as the most compelling option for him.

— Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Read NBA fan opinion or share your views in this basketball forum topic.

Mavericks will not get their championship rings on Christmas Day

The Mavericks will unveil their championship banner on Christmas, but won’t be getting their rings, which is not unusual considering the lockout has thrown everything out of balance.

Mark Cuban wants to convene with Dirk Nowitzki , Jason Terry and Jason Kidd on the design of the rings and contact between players and owners/management remains off limits until the new collective bargaining agreement becomes official next week.

The Mavericks will have the rings designed after input from the players and will have them presented at a later game.

— Reported by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News

Las Vegas NBA odds say Heat will win 2012 championship

The Las Vegas oddsmakers are banking on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat to get back to the NBA Finals in 2011-12, and once again the folks in Sin City view the Heat as the favorites to win it all.

Miami’s Big Three, runners-up a year ago, are listed at 2-to-1 to take home the title in the truncated NBA season.

“There was very heavy betting on the Heat at the start of last season because you have LeBron and Chris Bosh and they’re saying that they’ll win seven championships,” Benjamin Lee Eckstein of AmericasLine.com said. “Once again this year they’re the immediate favorites.”

— Reported by Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News

InsideHoops.com editor says: We have a ton of NBA free agents who still need to find homes and plenty of trades that may materialize, but just based on the core players each team has under contract right now, this certainly seems reasonable.

Kurt Thomas could end up with Knicks, Bulls, Heat or Mavs

Kurt Thomas knows there is a good chance he could be playing on Christmas Day. He just doesn’t know where.

Thomas, the league’s oldest player at 39, could end up with the Knicks, Bulls, Heat or his hometown Dallas Mavericks.

“That’s the great thing about free agency,” Thomas said Monday. “A lot of things can happen. Teams have to make a decision on players but I also have a say in where I might end up.”

Thomas spent last season with the Chicago Bulls and the club is interested in re-signing the 6-9 forward/center.

— Reported by Frank Isola of the New York Daily News

Read NBA fan opinion or share your views in this basketball forum topic.

NBA amnesty clause will include protective bidding system

An expected windfall for NBA contending teams in search of affordable talent could wind up short-circuited by the league’s soon-to-be-approved collective-bargaining agreement.

The Sun Sentinel confirmed Sunday that instead of players being released under the league’s “amnesty” provision going directly to the open market, a bidding system has been put in place for teams operating below the league’s salary cap to add such players at a deep discount.

“That’s what the clause is in there for,” a party familiar with the impending process Sunday told the Sun Sentinel. “It’s so the Lakers can’t go in and scoop up all the players.”

Under the amnesty program, a team can waive a player in order to remove his salary from its salary cap and luxury tax, while still paying out the balance of that contract. It had been widely assumed that such players then would immediately hit the open market…

However, in an outline of the proposed collective-bargaining agreement obtained by the Sun Sentinel, the NBA instead has instituted “a modified waiver process” that would allow teams operating below the salary cap to “submit competing offers to assume some but not all of the player’s remaining contract…

“Some of it is still not 100-percent worked out,” a party familiar with the impending policy told the Sun Sentinel.

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Center Samuel Dalembert interested in Heat, Knicks, Rockets

The 6-foot-11 Dalembert is a free agent. And the Heat is high on his list for when the free agency signing period is expected to begin Dec. 9 following a five-month lockout.

“That would be fantastic,” Dalembert said in an interview Sunday night from Haiti with FOX Sports Florida about the possibility of joining Miami, which is where more than 50 of his relatives live and is about one hour south of his Boca Raton, Fla., home.

As for the volunteering part, it likely would require a big pay cut for Dalembert to join the Heat, which will be over the salary cap. Dalembert, who made $13.43 million last season for Sacramento, might have to sign for the $5 million mid-level exception…

Dalembert said he’s not going to “put my eggs all in one basket” regarding the Heat. So he also named New York and Houston as teams he will consider in free agency.

“It’s one of my options as well,” Dalembert said of New York, where he spent portions of the offseason working out with Elton Brand, once his teammate in Philadelphia. “It’s a building process. It can be similar to Miami when they get all the pieces together. It’s something that can work and they need a big (man)… (Amare Stoudemire) can go to a comfortable situation (if the Knicks get a quality center and Stoudemire can play less at center and more at his natural position of power forward).”

— Reported by Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida

Read NBA fan opinion or share your views in this basketball forum topic.

Heat may waive Mike Miller

According to league sources, the Heat had planned to waive Miller and had let him know through back channels so he could prepare. This information was not all that secret — teams in need of shooters were already doing background research on Miller and considering bringing him in. Miller had a number of suitors when he was a free agent a year ago, including the Chicago Bulls.

He may not want to take his house off the market just yet, though. With the expected luxury-tax changes, the Heat still may end up waiving Miller with the amnesty clause before next season to allow them to free up enough space to use the mid-level exception again. But considering they will be paying Miller either way, they would much prefer to have him on the roster and see if offseason surgeries to his thumb and shoulder will allow him to return to his form from two years ago, when he was one of the best shooters in the league.

— Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

Read NBA fan opinion or share your views in this basketball forum topic.