A Dwyane Wade reunion with the Heat would create rotation and chemistry issues, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel explains in his latest mailbag. A buyout agreement between Wade and the rebuilding Bulls is possible, though not close to happening. It’s widely assumed Wade would seriously consider returning to Miami but the Heat already have plenty of options at the guard spots, Winderman notes. Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters, who was re-signed this summer, are the starters and Tyler Johnson is being paid lavishly to be the main backup. Josh Richardson, Rodney McGruder and Wayne Ellington are also viable rotation options and if Wade were to close out games, coach Erik Spoelstra would have a tough dilemma deciding which player loses those minutes, Winderman continues. In fact, the Heat brass and coaching staff may privately be wishing they’re not faced with the prospect of Wade getting bought out and looking to re-join them, Winderman adds.
In other items involving Eastern Conference teams:
- Avery Bradley may be a newcomer to the Pistons’ locker room but coach Stan Van Gundy expects the shooting guard to be quickly embraced as a leader, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com reports. Bradley was traded by the Celtics in their efforts to clear cap space and sign free agent forward Gordon Hayward. Van Gundy wants Bradley’s toughness and defensive approach to rub off on his other players, Langlois adds. “What Avery’s really embracing is a chance to play a bigger role as a player and as a leader,” Van Gundy told Langlois. “That’s something that excites him.”
- Nets guard Caris LeVert believes the club can make the playoffs with better health and this summer’s roster changes. “I feel like it’s really realistic,” Levert told Fred Kerber of the New York Post. “Last year, we were like top seven in the East when we had all our players healthy. Just building off that momentum with the pieces we’ve added — obviously we lost a great player in Brook [Lopez] — but I feel with the pieces we’ve added we’ll be in that conversation.”
- Paul Pierce will have his No. 34 retired by the Celtics, team co-owner Steve Pagliuca informed Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. “It’s going to be fantastic,” Pagliuca said. “For our era, the most recent era, he embodied the Celtics’ leadership, the Celtics’ brand and was the MVP of the championship team.” Pierce’s 34 will be the 22nd number to hang in the rafters at TD Garden.
I think retiring Allen’s number is out of the question because of the terms he left, and Garnett may be a Timberwolve at heart, but I feel like KG deserves to have his number retired in Boston for what he brought to the city.
I don’t agree with KG ya he was good here and all but that honor should to players who have been here longer than a few seasons no matter what happened in that time the C’s retire to many players numbers PP34 should be the last one for a long time KG will get his number up in Minnesota
Agree with you, mcase, they wouldn’t have won without KG, so much love, but he wasn’t in Boston long enough to retire his number. I’ll always think of him as a Timberwolf and they will take care of him there.
Yep. I still wear his jersey and he’s my most favorite Celtic of the past 10 years. But retiring his number is not warranted. It should reserved for players that you can’t picture in anything but a Celts’ jersey.
As we’ve seen with Pierce the past few yrs it was hard watching him with those other teams but the C’s did good by trading him because they needed to rebuild
Yeah I felt KG’s short length of time would be an issue, you guys are probably right. It’s just hard because he was so great to have on the team while he was here.
Pierce was good at all stages of the Celtics rise, and good versus top players. He should have won a title at Kansas though, and maybe another at Boston. But a real HOFer.
I could see them not reassigning the number for a long time, but generally agree that his number should be retired in Minnesota rather than Boston: