they still owe that highly restricted pick to Cleveland too, could be double jeopardy if they fall far enough
If the Hayward offer is not matched, him, but I like their first round rookie that they got to pair with Big Ugly Al.
I am thinking Miami isn't so bad. Bosh probably will be 22 and 8 again without Lebron, and Wade probably 18/5/5 if he is not injured.
Depends whole lot on what the others are doing... Remember last season Kyle Lowry was enough for the 3rd seed? 4-8 anything goes
Yep, it's impossible to guess right now. Sure, Miami depends on health, but so does every East team. The Pacers are probably the only East playoff contender without significant health concerns. Maybe the Bobcats. Miami still has a good amount of cap space too. Maybe they can add Deng or at least an Ariza. Are there any news about what they plan to do with Wade and Haslem contracts? Will they make them whole? These guys opted out to help the team, I could see Riley giving them the same deals back. If he doesn't, then they might actually have room for Deng AND a few lesser guys.
Don't sleep on Toronto. Terrance Ross is 23 Valancuinas is 22 Derozan is 24 They have one 30 year old in Chuck Hayes. They are young and will only get better.
They need a better secondary playmaker than Chalmers. Even if Wade somehow stays healthy, they still can't expect Wade to be the main playmaker a la pre-2010. Not the way Wade plays. They have to at least find a few cheap Sessionses, Jameer Nelsons and Rodney Stuckeys on near minimum deals (and maybe they still have ~2.5 mil room exception, I'm not sure).
That would be my early bet as well. But Toronto is a bit scary. They had a number of people in their contract years. Lowry was in his best shape and on his best behavior. Generally, Lowry and Amir Johnson are fairly injury prone players. Lowry more than Amir, but Amir's ankles are pretty bad. Also, Valanciunas tends to get banged up a lot. He kept missing lots of games in Europe and during his rookie year, but he was healthy last year. 2Pat is also not the healthiest player. They were an unusually healthy last year, a number of overperforming players. Maybe that's the new normal for these players now. Or maybe they'll regress.
Bosh will be 25 and 10 without LeBron and will be an all star. Miami will be a top 4 playoff team in the East.
Is he going to play close to 40 minutes a night to get those numbers? He practically played 5 seasons in 4 years. 78 playoffs games. And he's 30 years old.
