Dan Le Betard on his show: Dwyane Wade told Pat Riley to speak to his agents, refused to get on the phone with him.
Both sides are saying things that can't be reconciled with the other at this point. Hard to know who is telling the truth.
To me its clear that the Heat didn't want to re-sign Wade unless he would come back at a steep discount and for 1-2 years only. That's why they made that initial lowball $10 million/year offer. If they wanted him back, they would NOT have done that!
Yeah, I think the lowball offer was just cover for Riley. I think, in a vacuum, he'd rather just have told Wade that his services were no longer needed and to find a new team. Riles isn't the sentimental sort. But you can't just tell the greatest player in franchise history to hit the bricks, so he offered deals he knew/expected Wade to decline and let Wade leave on his own.
makes it harder to do the "loyalty" , "family" , "taking care of your own" pitch in the future though
Just remember this post when people are killing Morey in the GARM for not treating his players like family the way Riley does.
lol at Wade.. hate that guy so whatever... and lol at wade trying to sell LBJ that the heat organization takes care of their players ... they seem to be like the rockets.. everyone is an asset. I will say the Lakers and Mavs are probably the two organizations that appreciate their players the most.
Tell that to Shaq, Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Corey Brewer, Steve Nash, Devin Harris, etc. Cuban broke up a title team to chase a star. The Lakers have routinely let guys go to pursue the next star. Yes, the Lakers let Kobe have his team killing contract. Cuban has yet to give Dirk a team killing max deal in his decline. For the record, I don't think Cuban would do this with Dirk, but they are friends and have a special bond. He's certainly allowed plenty of players to walk and dealt others in his effort to find stars.
No. Are they better than who? Cavs? Toronto? Celtics? Nope So are they better than all of Atlanta, Detroit, Indiana, Charlotte? I can see them barely in the playoffs with good health.
I haven't killed Morey for that and I've never extolled Miami's "family culture." Riley is just a better marketer and a more charismatic pitchman than Morey. One of the best in the league, along with Jerry West and, apparently, Popovich (though it's weird to me to associate Popovich with "charisma").
Mmm.... I dunno about that. Assuming you just mean in the first round, that means they have to finish at least 4th. Cleveland and Toronto are locks to be top 4 barring a major injury. And Boston's acquisition of Horford should move the needle to 50+ wins. To get the 4th spot, they'll have to beat out Atlanta, Charlotte, Indiana and Detroit. And I wouldn't totally rule out Washington, Milwaukee, New York or maybe even the Heat (if Bosh is somehow miraculously healthy). I think between those seven teams or Chicago to get a top 4 spot, I'd take the field.
Why do you think that? He had a career year last year. 12, 6 and 12 with 2 steals? Improved his 3pt % to 36.5% That's All star #'s. Rondo is 30 and healthy. Bulls will be fine. I sure as hell would rather have Rondo running our MDA system than Patrick Beverly who's a bench hustle guy at best.
In terms of pure on court value, Wade is not worth even the $20m and is a VERY odd fit in Chicago. Miami may be better off spending the cash on Tyler Johnson and someone else. But I wonder if having a reputation of not taking care of a legend will hurt them. Then again, not sure what benefits we have seen with Lakers and Mavs taking care of Kobe and Dirk yet. Maybe it will take years for reputation or karma to catch up.
LOL at Riley. #heatlifer #family. Gone are those free agent sales pitches. When the Heat bottom out and have cap room, they will be in the same situation as the Lakers. A team not close to competing and hoping to attract top line free agents. But there is no allure. Meanwhile the Suns are rubbing their hands over the Heat 1st round picks they got from Dragic. And Bosh will fight to come back instead of medically retiring like Riley probably wants. LOL at Riley.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2 news nuggets from <a href="https://twitter.com/OTLonESPN">@OTLonESPN</a>: 1) Riley didn't text/call Wade at all in FA; 2) The $3-4M Whiteside earmarked for KD wasn't extended to Wade</p>— Pablo S. Torre (@PabloTorre) <a href="https://twitter.com/PabloTorre/status/751125182979403777">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
