Whether they win or lose the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat will
probably be adding a lot of new faces to their 2014-3015 roster.
Of course the biggest question facing the Heat is will LeBron
James stay or leave for a chance to win more titles with another talented team that
is not only on the of cusp of a championship but one that also has the money to
pay him a huge contract?
Most indications are that James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh
will all continue wearing Heat jerseys next season but what about the rest of
the roster?
Miami has eight players who will be free agents once this
season is over and that’s not counting the big three who have Early Termination
clauses in their contracts. That also doesn’t include power forward Udonis
Haslem and center Chris Anderson who could also leave but both have Player Options
on their contracts which they are expected to exercise.
So what does Team President Pat Riley plan to do with the
eight remaining players who are not under contract?
Well salary cap restrictions would prevent him from keeping
them all since the Heat don’t want to be repeat offenders for exceeding the salary
cap. Honestly though, it wouldn’t be wise to keep them all anyway.
Forward Shane Battier is expected to retire so that’s one
less player Riley has to worry about and it’s highly likely that Ray Allen
might call it quits also since he would be turning 39 before the next season
starts.
Point guard Mario Chalmers is the fifth highest paid player
on the team after the Big Three and Haslem and he will probably be looking for
a raise. If his asking price is too high, Riley will be content to hand the
starting job over to back up point guard Norris Cole who is still playing on a
rookie contract.
Forward James Jones will most likely be given the option to
re-sign. Both he and Haslem are from the Miami area and Riley has always tried
to keep the two “home town” boys on the roster.
What Riley decides to do with the last four remaining free
agents is what will make this summer so interesting for the Heat. Backup guard
Toney Douglas’s roster spot will have a lot to do with what happens with
Chalmers.
If Chalmers stays then there will be little use for Douglas
and he could be expendable but if Chalmers is allowed to walk, then Douglas
could slide into Cole’s backup role with Cole moving into the starting lineup.
Rashard Lewis didn’t play much last season as the Heat
worked to help him deal with some injury and conditioning issues but he was a
valuable asset for them during their playoff series against the Indiana Pacers.
Lewis doesn’t carry a hefty price tag so if he is willing to play for a similar
amount then Riley will look to bring him back.
The final two question marks revolve around center Greg Oden
and forward Michael Beasley. Although neither has gotten extensive playing time
during the regular season or the playoffs so far, both were relatively cheap
additions.
Beasley is still a very talented and young player. If Riley
believes that he will contribute more now that he has a year’s worth of
experience in the Heat’s system then it makes sense to keep him.
One of the reasons Oden was brought in was because the Heat
knew they would see the Pacers’ again in this season’s playoffs and they felt
he could help them slow down Pacers’ center Roy Hibbert.
Oden didn’t progress fast enough to be a factor in their
series versus the Pacers but the Heat realized that they didn’t really need him
anyway. Oden has talent but his chronic knee problems make him too risky to
bring back.
From the looks of it, Riley could potentially have four or five spots to fill this summer.
Miami won’t have enough cap space to lure someone like
Carmelo Anthony to South Beach but as we have seen, Riley is a master of
shopping in the bargain bin and there are plenty of free agents who may be
willing to play for less in order to help James chase another championship.
One potential addition (or re-addition depending on how you
look at it) might be James’s buddy and ex-teammate during those first two
championships, Mike Miller who is a free agent after playing a season for the
Memphis Grizzlies.
The Los Angeles Lakers are seen to be cleaning house and
have a slew of free agents available who may be attractive to Riley.
There is also bigger name talent out there like Luol Deng,
former Heat player Shawn Marion, Rodney Stuckey, Beno Udrih, Kyle Lowry, Marvin
Williams, Caron Butler, and Shaun Livingston who might be willing to sign one
or two-year deals to join the Heat if they don’t receive suitable offers on the
free agent market.
There is one last name I want to throw out there that may
sound crazy a first but it could make sense for the Heat: Pacers’ guard Lance
Stephenson.
After all of Stephenson’s antics during the Eastern
Conference Finals, the Pacers may determine he is not worth investing a big
contract on. With other teams likely scared off by his erratic play and uncontrollable
behavior, Stephenson may not find much money on the open market for his
services either.
Despite all he did to get under James’s skin during the
playoff series, James still went up to him, hugged him and told him he was a
talented player.
Could James be laying the groundwork for Stephenson to
defect to the Heat by mending fences with him so soon after the series?
Stephenson’s teammates, coach and team president were all
put off by his antics but Stephenson could possibly be reined in playing
alongside strong personalities like James and Wade in a similar fashion that
Dennis Rodman was when he played alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Who really knows what the summer holds in store for the Heat
other than maybe Riley himself. One thing you can be sure of is that the Heat
will be a significantly different team next season, whether the Big Three
return or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment