K.J. wrote:Alex86, you have a great storyline. I would be reading with interest.
Thanks K.J, much appreicated.
My brief from on high was clear, save face by grabbing a superstar. Any star. Our first port of call was Chris Bosh, who was ensured his offer remained intact, unaffected by the New Jersey’s duo’s renege on our designs in forming a three-pronged super team. Unfortunately Bosh disagreed, saying that their decision might not change our franchises overtures toward him but it certainly affected his willingness to sign in Miami. As such he turned his back on our offer and inked a 5 year deal in New York, in itself an intriguing move that pits Bosh head-to-head with his one-time prospective teammates just across the way, if New York can get him a running mate that could be one hell of a tussle. An optimistic pitch for Dirk Nowitzki had barely started before his representatives got that vacant look behind their eyes and struggled to fight back the incredulous laughter, I imagine they practically sprinted back to Dallas to sign on for another 5 years. Running out of franchise players to throw money at we went begging and pleading Amar’e Stoudamire, who opted to join the reigning rookie of the year Tyreke Evans to kick start Sacramento’s rebuilding process. Joe Johnson became the foil that Bosh needed to challenge the big two in New Jersey, signing on in New York rather than our tiny cast of misfits here, while Carlos Boozer didn’t even leave Utah to hear our offer as he re-signed with the Jazz for less money than we offered. An attempt to convince Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to join forces in Miami fell on deaf ears as they decided, somewhat unsurprisingly, that Rondo and Kevin Garnett were a better shot at success than Avery Bradley and Michael Beasley. Rudy Gay appeared interested for a brief time, but took the tender offer made by Memphis and with it the caveat of being an unrestricted free agent next season.
Even players a tier or two lower in quality ran a mile at the mention of Miami. Raymond Felton accepted fewer dollars to stay in Charlotte and Luis Scola unsurprisingly chose Steve Nash making his life easy in Phoenix rather than our apparently rudderless vessel. Things reached a nadir when we were even unable to convince the ghost of Allen Iverson and, possibly even more damningly, Darko Milicic to sign with us.
And so with a string of failed negotiations and the free agent pool having almost been stripped to the bone in terms of quality our options became clear. Tank. Tank good, tank hard and rebuild through the draft. So I implore the lowest possible expectations as I introduce you to your 2010/11 Miami Heat, they are after all put together with the expectation of being pummelled –
2010-11 Miami Heat-PG Steve Blake
SG Quentin Richardson
SF Rasual Butler
PF Michael Beasley
C Earl Barron
6th Avery Bradley
7th Carlos Arroyo
8th Tony Allen
9th Louis Amundson
10th Jeremy Evans
11th Keith Bogans
12th John Bryant
R Kevin Seraphin
R Latavious Williams
Ouch.
On the plus side if nothing else we have flexibility, with $38m spare cap room and only Avery Bradley and Kevin Seraphin guaranteed money next year. Beyond that we have a clean slate. The bad news, besides the obvious lack of quality, is that Erik Spoelstra deems it acceptable to start our best prospect from the bench. But then I suppose there’s something to be said for making rookies earn their minutes. Even if they’re minutes currently owned by Rasual Butler.
Season previews unsurprisingly had us dead last in the East, but looking at the rest of the conference it’s clear that this summer’s free agency bonanza has changed the landscape of the NBA for years to come.
Season Preview Eastern Conference1. Nets (Devin Harris, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, DeMarcus Cousins, Brook Lopez)
2. Knicks (Joe Johnson, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, David Lee, Chris Bosh)
3. Bucks (Brandon Jennings, John Salmons, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington, Andrew Bogut)
4. Celtics (Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins)
5. Bulls (Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Loul Deng, Udonis Haslem, Joakim Noah)
6. 76ers (Louis Williams, Evan Turner, Andre Igoudala, Elton Brand, Spencer Hawes)
7. Bobcats (Raymond Felton, Stephen Jackson, Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, Anthony Tolliver)
8. Magic (Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Drew Gooden, Dwight Howard)
The Nets roster is straight up insane. Two young, high ceiling bigs on the front court, 2 superstars and a lightening quick point guard who can play off the ball, as will be necessary with Wade and James on the team. Add in bench options like Courtney Lee, who brings spot up shooting and good defense and Yi Jianlin, who while no world beater is a rock solid 7th man and you’re in business. They’re going to be so tough to stop this season, and for the foreseeable future beyond that.
As for the predictions, if the Bobcats make the playoffs with that front court then Earl Barron is suddenly starting to look like a serviceable option. Both the Hawks and Pacers are better squads for my money, particularly the former. Other than that it looks pretty reasonable, although Orlando isn’t going to barely squeak in as the 8th seed with Dwight anything like healthy.
Season Preview Western Conference1. Lakers (Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum)
2. Jazz (Deron Williams, Allen Iverson, Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur)
3. Mavericks (Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Caron Butler, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood)
4. Nuggets (Chauncy Billups, J.R Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Nene Hilario)
5. Kings (Beno Udrih, Tyreke Evans, Al-Farouq Amuni, Carl Landry, Amare Stoudamire)
6. Hornets (Chris Paul, Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, David West, Emeka Okafor)
7. Trailblazers (Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby)
8. Spurs (Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Richard Jefferson, Taigo Splitter, Tim Duncan)
I find it hard to disagree all that much with the West. You could do some jigging around with seedings, but if pushed I’d have to concur that those 8 are the most likely to make the post-season all things being equal.
So with the season upon us we finally have time to breath and take stock of the quagmire we find ourselves in. The objectives for the season are pretty simple, first and foremost we’re going to suck so at least suck hard enough to give ourselves the best possible shot in the lottery. It shouldn’t be too hard looking at this roster. If at all possible given that assets in this squad are very thin on the ground, I’d like to trade into the draft for a 2nd pick, another lottery selection ideally. With that in mind it’s time to hit the phones and we actually manage to snag a deal with the first team we call up.
Trade-
Toronto receives-Michael Beasley
Kevin Seraphin
Miami receivesDaniel Orton
Raptors 2011 1st Round Pick
What this means for Toronto?Beasley’s ability to score allows them to bench the failed experiment otherwise known as Hedo Turkoglu. Beasley is just a year older then Orton and in dealing for him Toronto gets the much more NBA ready player and former #2 pick at the expense of somebody who nearly slipped out of the lottery. Seraphin is an end of the bench project who they’ll hope to develop into a contributor.
What this means for Miami?In case you hadn’t noticed the Heat are –bad- this year. Losing Beasley for Orton, who is very raw, is downgrading, but the Kansas State standout never quite caught fire in Miami and they instead take their chances on acquiring talent through what should be a good draft pick given Toronto’s poor roster.
Winner – TorontoAt least in terms of right now as they picked up the best player in the trade and if nothing else The Raps got better talent-wise without getting older or taking on a ton more salary. It might be worth revisiting if Miami picks a winner in the draft but the class of 2011 has already been labelled a weak one by experts. That Daniel Orton came out of the draft much rawer than anticipated and isn’t slated to get anything like significant minutes under Erik Spoelstra’s leadership swings it in The Raps favour.
Well that’s pretty much the only chips we had cashed in nice and early. If Toronto don’t net us a good pick then that trade be the noose that hangs me, but I’m barely exaggerating when I say their roster is almost as bad as ours. Michael Olowokandi is now their starting centre. Orton isn't anywhere near ready as things stand but he has potential to be a viable option a season or two down the line. Most importantly despite Beasley's youth and ridiculous talent level I have the suspicion that the guy will never figure it out, he's destined for a career as a high-level scorer on bad teams, and is potentially a cancer for locker room morale. With that in mind I'll take my chances in the draft (assuming I still have a job by then) and cross my fingers for a Kyrie Irving or Derrick Williams level pick.
Marvellously Erik Spoelstra doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a rebuild as both our young projects will start the season from the bench, kept out by 30+ year olds in both cases as Louis Amundson steps into Beasley's role from the bench. It's going to be a long year.