Thoughts on Miami
Posted by Zach Lowe on Jul 8, 2010
I have no single, coherent thread to offer you, so I’m copping out with bullet points:
• Miami instantly becomes the most hated team in the NBA. The entire process has exposed LeBron James and his management as clueless, megalomaniacal or (more likely) both. The over-choreographed, spotlight-hogging manner in which they handled both the courtship and the “announcement” was an embarrassment, and a segment of fans will never forgive LeBron for it. It is astounding James did not grasp that a one-hour special was a bad idea.
And then there is Chris Bosh, a fantastic basketball player who has come across on Twitter over the last two weeks as an insecure attention-seeker—the equivalent, as one popular Tweeter put it, of a girl who demands that everyone tell her she is pretty. He asked followers in June where he should sign (thanks for the good times, Toronto!), he posted photos of himself with Wade, he told everyone how giddy he was in the minutes before midnight on July 1, and then, as news broke of his signing in Miami, he “playfully” asked what all the darn fuss was about and why he was getting so many e-mails. It came off, frankly, as pathetic, and in-the-know fans—to say nothing of Raps supporters—will never forget it.
Wade is the innocent here. He did what he said he wanted to do—stay in Miami and recruit the best talent. But now he must live with the fact that in 29 other NBA cities, Miami is the most hated franchise.
• Boston is transformed overnight from an irritating bully  into one of the potential heroes of the league. The Celtics will always be villains to some degree. But my bet is that the public will no longer perceive this version of the Celtics only as a group of over-the-hill mercenaries chasing a ring behind a chest-pounding, trash-talking power forward who picks on his inferiors. Not after tonight.
Now they’re a collection of declining stars who play together and manage to produce something greater than the sum of their parts. They are aging veterans reliant on defense, sacrifice and savvy to beat back a younger group of free agent mercenaries with more raw talent.
• Signing Tony Allen just got elevated on the priority list. (Note: As I write this, reports have just surfaced that the C’s have nearly re-signed Tony Allen. I’m just going to leave the post as is). The Celtics right now have two wing players on their nine-man roster—Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. If they’re going to have to get through a Miami team with Wade and James, they’re going to need two more competent wing defenders. Finding one on the free agent market is a lot more difficult now that the team has used its entire mid-level exception on Jermaine O’Neal.
There are useful wing guys out there who could be had for the veteran’s minimum. Expect Boston to kick the tires on Antoine Wright and try and entice a couple of other guys (Matt Barnes, Dorrell Wright) to take the minimum for a run at a ring. They could also sign-and-trade someone like Nate Robinson for a more expensive wing player under contract to another team.
But none of those solutions are as easy and certain as re-signing Tony Allen, since Boston holds TA’s Bird Rights. You can bank on him being back here. And if Boston gets nowhere on the free agent market or in sign-and-trade talks, you might even see the C’s discuss bringing Marquis Daniels back. (Note to cap gurus: This is tricky, because the C’s do not have traditional Bird Rights on Daniels. They have a sort of mini-Bird rights—see the Non-Bird Exception here . If I’m reading the rule correctly, the C’s would only be able to offer Daniels about $2.4 million for 2011).
• Please note: I have not and will not criticize the Heat for anything. The team was brilliant to position itself for this moment and pull this off when the moment arrived. There is already a back-and-forth between C’s and Heat fans, with Boston fans labeling the New Heat a manufactured team of Hessians and Miami fans scoffing that Boston did the same sort of manufacturing three years ago.
Two responses: 1) It’s a silly debate. This is the NBA in 2010. This is how you win; 2) If we’re being picky, the Celtics gave up actual assets to get Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett—namely Delonte West, Al Jefferson and Jeff Green. But even that argument doesn’t stand up to the strictest scrutiny. Miami, after all, had to give some things up to pull this off. They gave away last season, for instance. They gave away a promising young player in Dorrell Wright. They might have to give up Michael Beasley (if they can). They gave away a couple of draft picks, and they sunk more than $20 million into Jermaine O’Neal in part because O’Neal’s deal expired at the right time.
• The Bucks or Bulls will win the Central Division next season. One of those two teams will receive a top 4 playoff seed in the East, according to the playoff seeding format. Something to keep in mind.
• If Boston does sign two more wing players (Tony Allen and Player X) that will give them 11 players. They need at least 13 and cannot carry more than 15. Problems: One of those 11 players is Perk, who will miss the first third of the season. Another is Semih Erden, who is not ready. I’d expect Boston to carry the maximum 15 players to start the season, which means they’ll probably sign Luke Harangody (who has looked good in three meaningless summer league games) and take a look at any big guy with a pulse. That includes Kwame Brown and Ian Mahinmi and Sean May and any tall human who might be willing to sign for the league minimum.
• Many people are asking whether the Celtics could possibly deal Rasheed Wallace’s contract to the Heat for Michael Beasley. That will be unclear until we know the details of all of Miami’s new contracts. Wallace’s contract is worth about $1.4 million more than Beasley’s, so the Heat would have to have that much cap room to absorb Sheed’s deal. If the Heat give max deals to Wade, James and Bosh, they would not appear to have enough room under the cap to absorb Wallace’s contract.
Perhaps there is some other way to make a deal like this work, but I’m not sure either of these teams is all that interested in helping the other at this point.
That’s it for now. I’m traveling for a wedding this weekend. It will be a more holy union than that which we witnessed tonight. (Sorry, couldn’t resist).
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