Heat's Big 3: A Threat or Not to Lakers?

[gts]

My biggest question to you is don't they have larry birds rights to Haslem, Arroyo and Cook.
If you're answer is yes, then they would have a formidable supporting cast...unless ofcourse other teams tries to sign these players to a hefty deal enough for them not to match it etc. Miami then gets 7 scrubs and that would be difficult.

no they will have to or already have waived those rights to create cap space..

if they keep the "bird" rights then there are cap holds equal to the players last season placed against the team's cap space until he resigns or signs with another team... so they have to waive those rights, no way around it.. nba's cba is pretty loophole proof now days

[kobesabi]

I'm a little surprised LBJ didn't go for a team that would unquestionably be his own. You know, like a true "King" would do. But whatever, it's a done deal and we'll all watch to see if it's a trainwreck or they become world beaters.

Any guesses which teams will play on Xmas day?

Yea, he surprised me too. I'm not sure he still has heart of a king. King don't lower himself to another King or abandon his castle.

It's not done deal yet until he sign right? Flip flop can still happen right?

I'm thinking ABC will set a match for Lakers vs Miami on Xmas this year.

[kobesabi]

i think spol will remain head coach.. he was wades guy, he was an assistant coach and video guy who worked with wade and when the position came up wade pushed riles into hiring him

ESPN said yesterday on the radio that Wade said he still wants Erik Spoelstra to be coach.

[gts]

great analysis gts... i was waiting for you to chime in... the Heat are really putting it all on the line with these three.

now, how many vets chasing rings might consider joining that team, versus the lakers? anyone going to come to the heat or lakers just to chase a ring? i am sure rumors will be flying.

ha, yeah i waitied until about 5 minutes to six and dragged the family out to dinner, didn't want to watch the decision...lol

riles is a smart man good basketball mind and savvy gm, he'll take his time and get the right guys..i expect alot of one year contracts this season for miami.. but he'll talk a few solid vets into playing for peanuts..i could see raja bell there no problem unless he gets a solid offer from someone else that he just can't turn down

to me the interesting part will be to see what those teams that still have that massive cap space do, they could really play spoiler here

[Lakers_Kobe_Fan]

Not Yet...I guess the Lakers still have the size advantage.

Lakers have Bynum/Pau and Odom who all 3 are really good....Then lakers 2 best defensive wings in the game...kobe/artest....they both candle leDiva/Dediva

Also I am not sold out that much on Bosh....Pau has the length and experience over him

Like gts said they dont have any cap space..only veterans who are hungrier would want to join them...not young players who want to make money

I honestly dont know how this team turns out to be....PP/Ray/KG came toghter when they went through playoffs hell and wanted to win it now...

We all saw in last couple of days how all these 3 like attention....who knows if this will even work out...with these ego maniacs

I feel sorry for Erik spoltra/whatever....cause its only days when Pat Riley will say he will coach this team

Bynum would be huge for the lakers

[bladefd]

Wow, the Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert is really really pissed.
http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gi...er_100708.html

Sucks to be a Cavs fan. They had so much hope and happiness with LeBron there. He takes all of that away by ripping the hearts out of Cavs fans on national tv. I don't like LeBron..... This is absolutely outrageous how he approached it.

Burning LeBron jerseys on streets around Cleveland.. crazy to say the least

[tamaraw08]

no they will have to or already have waived those rights to create cap space..

if they keep the "bird" rights then there are cap holds equal to the players last season placed against the team's cap space until he resigns or signs with another team... so they have to waive those rights, no way around it.. nba's cba is pretty loophole proof now days

Thanks so much for the info, I think this is huge bec this basically hampers Miami to acquire adequate support. There's about )4 orphaned teams here, Cavs, Toronto, Phoenix(Amare) and Utah(Boozer) That should be able to use atleast their MLE then you add the teams that cleared all the cap space like the Clips, Nets etc to gobble up the top 20 decent FAs and voila, the Heat will wind up with Scrubs. Then again some teams just don't care and wont even use some of their cap space or MLE to sign the likes of Haslem, Q Richardson etc.
Teams like OKC or Utah would need a big guy like Haslem or the Clips would need a back up pg like Arroyo or the Bulls would need a legit shooter like Q...

[kobesabi]

riles is a smart man good basketball mind and savvy gm, he'll take his time and get the right guys..i expect alot of one year contracts this season for miami.. but he'll talk a few solid vets into playing for peanuts..i could see raja bell there no problem unless he gets a solid offer from someone else that he just can't turn down

Riley will probably use the SAME persuasion tactic to all the vets with FL "low-tax" against LA.

to me the interesting part will be to see what those teams that still have that massive cap space do, they could really play spoiler here

yea, it'll likely be Cavs and Knicks...to retaliate dissapointment. Lakers can help them get their revenge if they give us quality players for cheap :)

Maybe in 2011, we'll see more part-time Lakers fan (from Anti-LeBron camp). lol

[kobesabi]

no they will have to or already have waived those rights to create cap space..

if they keep the "bird" rights then there are cap holds equal to the players last season placed against the team's cap space until he resigns or signs with another team... so they have to waive those rights, no way around it.. nba's cba is pretty loophole proof now days

Thanx. That's beautiful music to the ear. If they can't make it the first year, I don't see how it will be easier in the years after as their big 3 salaries increase - due to even smaller room to work...unless Riley pull some magic trick. Any other possible idea/trick that they can still use?

[dd24]

The Heat are definitely a threat. Like some others have posted, we just need to wait and see who they can sign for a center. If they can lure someone like Brad Miller for the vets minimum and get a couple of decent players off the bench like an outside shooter they could actually turn things around quicker than I originally even thought. Chalmers is decent, he's not as good as Blake but he's decent. Right now the Lakers have a better bench (because of Odom and possibly Fisher), and the Lakers have a better coach. The size in the middle with Bynum is the biggest difference but if the Heat get a guy who can provide some defense it would make that a somewhat slimmer difference.

I don't think them not being able to play together is an issue. We saw them play together on the Redeem team already. There were no issues with guys getting touches or one person needing the ball in their hands. They came back with a gold medal too.

I think one of the things that disturbs me the most (and maybe this means I'm getting old or something) is these guys were good enough friends they wanted to play together. Back in the day Jordan wouldn't have told Bird or Magic that he wanted to play with them. These guys wanted to play against the best and beat the best in order to be the best. Jordan wouldn't have joined the Pistons. He waited until he could beat them. It seems almost like taking an easy way out I guess, for a lack of better words. Of course I take into consideration the talent the Lakers, Celtics, or even the Spurs have put on the court. Those teams typically have 2 top 20 talents and 3 or 4 top 50 or 60 talents. That seemed like the recipe to win. Now there's 3 top 20 talents on a team. Over the next year or two they'll get those other top vets too, right at the tail end of their careers but with just enough gas left in the tank. I guess I'm very disappointed in the NBA in general now. It's so much less interesting all the sudden..... and I'm a hard core basketball guy. I really just don't like the way this all went down.

[Lakers_Kobe_Fan]

talents on a team. Over the next year or two they'll get those other top vets too, right at the tail end of their careers but with just enough gas left in the tank. I guess I'm very disappointed in the NBA in general now. It's so much less interesting all the sudden..... and I'm a hard core basketball guy. I really just don't like the way this all went down.

this is like a gay thing to me...best friends for ever....MJ....Kobe wanted to beat their best peers in order to be recognized as the sole best player

this is all crazy for me...say bye bye to ur legacy lebron and nobody is every comparing him to MJ again....and no nonsense like king james...and chosen 1 sh!t

[dd24]

The worst part is, the media is going to go crazy over this thing so it's going to be shoved down everybody's throats.

I feel like my favorite sport just became like baseball. There's a few teams who are decent, but it's really just about the Lakers and Heat now. This is going to hurt a lot of NBA teams. I was just reading today about how over 20 teams lost money. Like I mentioned before I'm a hard core basketball guy, now I really don't have much interest in watching those other teams. I liked the NBA because there was some parity. I like the NFL because of the competition. I don't follow baseball near as much as I used to because the competition just isn't what it should be.

[Frank Foley]

Ironically, I think signing Lebron hurts how good the Heat could be in the upcoming season. Now they HAVE to fill out the roster with minimum salary guys. But, assuming the new CBA doesn't implement a hard cap and keeps the MLE, Miami will be pretty scary in about a year or two. I'm praying that idiot Kahn has some sort of protection on that TWolves 1st rounder Miami might be able to swap its pick for in the Beasley trade. Imagine if they got a high lottery pick to play alongside WBJ.

[gts]

The worst part is, the media is going to go crazy over this thing so it's going to be shoved down everybody's throats.

I feel like my favorite sport just became like baseball. There's a few teams who are decent, but it's really just about the Lakers and Heat now. This is going to hurt a lot of NBA teams. I was just reading today about how over 20 teams lost money. Like I mentioned before I'm a hard core basketball guy, now I really don't have much interest in watching those other teams. I liked the NBA because there was some parity. I like the NFL because of the competition. I don't follow baseball near as much as I used to because the competition just isn't what it should be.

it's not going to change the balance of power too much.. last year the cavs were a threat, this next year they won't.. last few years heat were never a threat now they will be.. basically you have one team getting worse one getting better.. toronto hasn't been in the mix for some time now..

[Lakers_Kobe_Fan]

Ironically, I think signing Lebron hurts how good the Heat could be in the upcoming season. Now they HAVE to fill out the roster with minimum salary guys. But, assuming the new CBA doesn't implement a hard cap and keeps the MLE, Miami will be pretty scary in about a year or two. I'm praying that idiot Kahn has some sort of protection on that TWolves 1st rounder Miami might be able to swap its pick for in the Beasley trade. Imagine if they got a high lottery pick to play alongside WBJ.

no its just a 2nd rounder......