In his Sunday column for The Miami Herald, Barry Jackson detailed a disagreement the Heat and Chris Bosh had over the idea of using blood thinners to allow him to return to the court as we outlined here. In addition to the report on Bosh though, Jackson provided the latest rumors and details on several other Heat-related topics, with a focus on the team’s free agents. Let’s dive in and round up the highlights…
- The Heat would prefer to lock up Hassan Whiteside for something a little below the max, selling him on the lack of income tax in Florida, his comfort level with the Heat, and the fact that his current team could offer him bigger raises than any other suitor. Still, as Jackson points out, another free agent center option like Al Horford would have a higher max salary than Whiteside, so Miami could easily justify going to the max to keep the club’s incumbent center.
- The Heat’s preference for Dwyane Wade‘s next deal would be to make it for just one year, to give the franchise flexibility in 2017. One Heat person estimates to Jackson that a one-year contract for Wade would be in the $15-20MM neighborhood.
- Miami would like to re-sign Joe Johnson, but he may not be as willing as he was earlier this year to accept a discount to play in South Beach. The Heat would likely dangle the $2.9MM room exception for Johnson.
- An Eastern Conference official expects Luol Deng to get a two-year deal that pays him at least $12MM annually. That price may be too steep for the Heat, even though they’d like to bring Deng back.
- Amar’e Stoudemire, Gerald Green, and Dorell Wright aren’t expected to return to the Heat, though that could change if Stoudemire and Green are willing to re-sign for the minimum.
The “SPO” must go!! Whiteside at 16-17 mil per 4-5 year deal, Wade 1 yr 12-13 mil! Deng 11mil a yr 2 yr. deal, Johnson 2yr. deal 3 mil per. Forget Durand, never gonna happen! Riles and Mickey will eventually realize
SPO isn’t the man. No fire in the belly with this guy! not a “POP”, Good Luck Heat!
Lol at this guy.
The heat of this take has reached radioactive levels
Lol “spo” has 2 rings on his hand and the Heat are still a contender without Lebron. Do you know how many active head coaches have at least 2 rings as a head coach? Two: Pop and “Spo” lmao.
The Heat say all the right things about wanting Bosh back but the underlying fear is that he may again play a half season and come down with another clot early in 2017 meaning he’ll be on the Heat books for $23m until early 2018 through the free agent bonanza summer of 2017. That would slam the door on picking up a top player. Doctors say blood clots are very rare and if you get one it is rare you get a second. But if you do then you are considered high risk for a third. Much as the Heat love his game, he could risk the next three years of team building and Riley doesn’t have 3 years to hang around paying max money to someone who misses the post season. With Bosh out of the picture but still impacting the payroll for max money, next season becomes a year to keep the top players, refine the rookies and hope to pick up more consistent veterans on the cheap. 2017 is the target.
It’s going to be a tough sell job to get Whiteside to accept less than a max offer. As Pat Riley said recently, salary is a matter of status for NBA players.