Dwyane Wade doesn’t intend to leave the Heat, cautions Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald (Twitter link), but the contract squabble that apparently has him at least open to the idea will test the bond that has held Wade and the Heat together for 12 years, as fellow Herald scribe Dan Le Batard writes. Wade has subjugated his financial position multiple times over his time with the Heat, having never been the team’s highest player, as Le Batard points out, but it looks like he wants to recoup some of that sacrifice this summer. Here’s more on Wade and Miami:
- The Heat would love to end up with Arizona small forward Stanley Johnson or Croatian swingman Mario Hezonja with the 10th overall pick in the draft, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel makes clear. In any case, there’s a decent chance Kentucky shooting guard Devin Booker will be available to Miami at that selection, as Winderman hears the Hornets would like to end up with more out of the No. 9 pick than Booker could provide.
- Wade’s willingness to take a stand is symbolic of the union’s shift toward a more star-friendly strategy in which it appears poised to pursue collective bargaining agreement terms that will better suit the upper class of NBA players, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller observes. That could come at the expense of the rest of union membership, and the dynamic threatens to weaken the players association, Ziller argues.
- That Wade might find himself only the fourth most highly paid member of the Heat by the 2016/17 season, behind Chris Bosh, Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside, has to eat at the 11-time All-Star shooting guard, Winderman believes.
- Longtime starter Mario Chalmers figures to play a backup role if Dragic returns, but there’s little value for the Heat in trading Chalmers now, as Winderman posits in the same piece.
Looking at the Heat’s future cap situation, I feel like there are different ways for them to conduct this offseason if they want to set up for the next few years.
Though I think the Heat only really need a 3 and D player, and probably another shooter; Could the Heat attempt to move any, or all of, Josh McRoberts, Mario Chalmers, Birdman, Shabazz Napier, and possibly even Hassan Whiteside and/or Luol Deng if the right deal were to arise for them (obviously assuming Deng opts in or they agree to some sort of sign and trade if he opts out)? Maybe they could add a draft pick? Then, the roster space could allow them to bring in a couple of more young, and cheap talent to fill out the roster, and create flexibility. Maybe sign a free agent or 2 (depending on who or what they have to take on in the prior trade(s), and call it an offseason? Preferable roster in this case would be Dragic, Wade, Deng, Bosh, Whiteside (assuming Deng and Whiteside would be back), Tyler Johnson, James Ennis, Udonis Haslem, the 3 draft picks, Zoran Dragic, the 2 free agents/whatever they take on in the trade(s)(preferably 3 and D players), and then fill out the roster with young camp invitees like Khem Birch, Shawn Jones, Andre Dawkins, Beasley, and a couple of non drafted guys in this year’s group, getting to that total of 20 for camp. This would allow us to still compete this coming year, but have more flexibility moving forward, so we dont end up like the Clippers, and if anything, we would have some assets to deal during the season if the need arose. Obviously, a lot of things are probably complicated, and this stuff likely wont happen. I just think the Heat should consider moving those 4, and possibly those 6 players