Category: Miami Heat Blog

LeBron James is seriously considering running for president of the National Basketball Players Association, multiple sources told ESPN.

James is giving a run “some very heavy thought,” one source said.

The biggest consideration for James will be the time commitment being the union president would require. James has limited time to give because of sponsorship and charity commitments in addition to playing. Deep playoff runs with the Miami Heat the past three seasons have also been taxing.

Still, James has been investigating the issue with advisers and fellow players this summer.

“It’s a very important position for where things are going,” a source close to James said.

Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

The Miami Heat did it again.

They won the competition for Greg Oden, another free agent multiple teams were chasing. And they got him to take less money than was being offered elsewhere. This has happened time and time again over the past four summers and it’s a central reason they’re two-time champs who are the oddsmakers’ favorite to do it again.

Because they got Oden at their price and on their terms — assuring Oden that he’ll be brought along slowly with an eye toward the playoffs, above all else — the Heat have set this up as an all-reward, no-risk transaction.

Oden’s story is well known. The five knee surgeries, the no games since December of 2009, a grand total of 82 games since being drafted No. 1 in 2007. Because of all that there is hardly any meaningful way to project what Oden will be for the Heat this season.

In an effort to put some sort of perspective on him, stories about Oden’s return have recently included what his player efficiency rating was for a 21-game stretch in 2009. This, of course, has virtually no value now. Even the workouts Oden had for various teams recently, which were controlled by him and done at relative low speed, hold little predictive value.

Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

Despite James winning consecutive championships and most valuable player of the year awards, the talk remains on his next move.

You don’t hear any discussions about the Heat possibly becoming the first team to three-peat since the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002, no one is talking about James perhaps ending his career in Miami.

Instead, there is only speculation of James playing everywhere from Dallas to Los Angeles to New York to even returning to Cleveland.

“I guess it’s a byproduct of the way the league is right now,” Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

“There’s always going to be speculation. That’s sort of the nature of the league. But he’s property of the Heat right now and no one can really talk about it.”

This should all sound familiar. James endured a similar struggle during the 2009-10 season, his first experience as a free agent.

Reported by Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra met with Greg Oden and watched him work out Tuesday in Indianapolis, as Miami continued to explore signing the seven-foot center whose career has been sidetracked by knee injuries.

Chet Kammerer, the Heat’s vice president/player personnel, joined Spoelstra at the workout, which was also attended by officials from the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans.

Bill Duffy, one of Oden’s agents, said Oden likely will pick a team next week and that every team that has shown interest “remains under strong consideration.”

Besides the Heat, Kings and Pelicans, that list also includes the Mavericks and Spurs — who met with Oden previously — and the Atlanta Hawks, who will watch him work out Thursday.

Another of Oden’s agents, Mike Conley Sr., said last week the Heat has as good a chance of any team but stopped short of calling Miami the front-runner.

Reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald

Pat Riley said the Heat remain interested in free-agent center Greg Oden, who is expected to defer his decision until next month as he works his way back from career-long knee issues.

“We do have interest in him and we will track him,” he said.

Riley said the Heat were not in contact with center Andrew Bynum, who ultimately took a free-agent deal from the Cleveland Cavaliers larger than the Heat could have offered.

As for spending more on coach Erik Spoelstra, whose contract is approaching its end, Riley said, “He’s one of the family here and as soon as that is broached, I’m sure it will be broached in a very positive manner.”

Under the new formula that goes into effect starting this coming season, the Heat, by currently standing $16 million over the $71,748,000 luxury-tax threshold set Tuesday by the NBA, would have to write a tax check to the league of $33.6 million at season’s end.

Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

For now, the prospects of paying a big luxury-tax bill next year is not enough to dissuade the Miami Heat from its plan to keep the its current championship core intact.

Heat president Pat Riley said Friday that the team does not currently plan to use its one-time amnesty option as a way of lightening its looming tax load, with the team’s focus instead being on simply finding ways to get better.

“Right now, we’re not using amnesty, no,” Riley said.

Amnesty would allow the Heat to essentially cut one player and pay whatever is left on his contract, but without that salary counting against the team’s cap space or add to future luxury-tax bills. Miami is currently in line to pay more than $30 million in tax for the coming season, though could shave off at least one-quarter of that by parting with someone like Joel Anthony or Mike Miller.

Reported by the Associated Press