these guys are different and awesome. They obviously are great friends and want to dominate the NBA together.
I got this of another board, shows how much off a paycut they took... Pat Riley has done a great Job, they will Miller signed as Well as Haslam back. "If Wade, Lebron, or Bosh re-signed with their own team the most they could have gotten would have been: $123.7 million over 6 years ($98.8 over 5 years). If they signed with another team and there was no sign-and-trade agreement the most they could have gotten would have been: $94.7 million over 5 years. With the deals Lebron and Bosh did sign (Wade's is reportedly a little bit lower) they will make roughly $110 million over 6 years ($87.9 over 5 years)" http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1033184&start=30
Makes you want to root for these guys. It was a purely basketball decision and they really are unselfish enough to pull it off. As a Rockets fan you root against them, but these are all good guys as basketball players.
They both did a sign and trade. Toronto got 2 first round draft picks. One is the 2011 pick they had previously traded to Miami (so they get their own pick back) and Miami's 2011 pick (lottery protected). They also got a trade exception. Cleveland got 2 first rounders and 2 second rounders.
amare stoudamire 5 years/100mil joe johnson 6 years/120 mil kobe 3 years/90mil LBJ 6 years/110mil wade 6 years/107 mil bosh 6 years/110 mil Pat railey executive of the year for pulling out this type of hat trick and getting 3 superstars at their prime at a such a bargaining price
Actually, I believe that James Jones agreed to be BOUGHT OUT rather than waived, and the result was that his salary cap slot for next season went down to $1.5M. That opens another $360k in cap room for the Heat. Also, don't be surprised if Jones is back on the Heat, with a wink-wink deal having been made between him and Riley. I think Miller and Haslem end up splitting that cap room. Maybe a third guy.
I haven't been following this closely but I'm not sure why Riley is getting so much credit. This is something those 3 players wanted to do and it was likely that if they were to pull it off, it would be on a team where one of the 3 was already located due to the complexities that would've been involved in having all 3 of them move to a new team. I'm not saying that it couldn't have happened otherwise but it's easier to pull off if one of them is already there. Miami basically did what the Knicks and Bulls did in terms of creating space for two max contracts. Not that hard. Most GMs could plan ahead and create space, esp. if they knew that bringing these 3 together was a possibility well in advance (not saying that definitely happened but who knows what went on behind the scenes). Toronto was never going to be the spot. They knew that and never even dreamt of the possibility. Even if Riley was the Raptors GM, he couldn't have pulled this off there. Those 3 wouldn't want to play in Toronto. Cleveland isn't a desirable spot either even if it would have been more doable than Toronto. Bottom line: This was 99% due to the wishes and plans of the new Big 3. Riley had it easy, esp. if there were shady things going on well before July 1st, which may or may not be the case.
They didn't give up $30 million. They made $20 million more by doing a sign and trade for 6 years, than doing a 5 year straight signing with Miami. It must have been important enough for them to get an extra $20 mil.
Not to mention the lack of state income tax for 41 of their games.... I was just pointing out that the $30 million figure was more a product of the media than a true deciding factor. DD
