Cuban is in a good position to acquire him. If Riley bumps up an offer that Deng can't refuse, then Dallas may not be able to get him.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Yahoo Sources: Miami, Luol Deng agree on 2-year, $20M deal. <a href="http://t.co/8HhLEYinAs">http://t.co/8HhLEYinAs</a></p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/488390032383041536">July 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Deal will include a player option on the second year of Deng's deal, source tells Yahoo.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/488390123893960706">July 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Nah, you have teams like Houston, Portland, Phoenix, NO and several others competing and retooling towards championship caliber teams. Not all will succeed. Maybe none will succeed. But they're all still competing while maintaining flexibility to improve. Miami is just settling for average. Not all franchises have this mentality. But I expected more from Pat Riley. Maybe he's just doing his guys (Bosh/Wade and the newly signed FA's) a solid.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Not sure how high Dallas would have gone if desperate, but Mavs pegged Luol Deng's value at $8M per year.</p>— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/statuses/488390121243164672">July 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I love how people on this board are wishing for all of the FA wings to be signed before tonight just to screw over a rival. It's great, mind you, just humorous.
Has Deng really regressed that much in 2 years? I didn't see him play a single game in Cleveland I don't think so I'm not sure. Is he just beat down or what?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Heat will likely re-sign Mario Chalmers after the signing of Luol Deng. Don't see enough $ for them to be serious suitors for Eric Bledsoe.</p>— Probasketballdraft (@Probballdraft) <a href="https://twitter.com/Probballdraft/statuses/488402680440573953">July 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Bulls offered him the same deal and he declined. Someone thinks his value is higher than it really is.
Perhaps someone also didn't want to keep playing for an organization that hung him out to dry during the series vs the Nets in 2013 (Spinal Tap situation). Perhaps he also didn't want to play 40 mins EVERY NIGHT as he gets older, for a coach that as great as he is, chooses to run his players to the ground. Perhaps.
Signing Bosh isn't so much different than Morey trying to build around 31 year old highly paid Pau Gasol. It's not the easiest way to rebuild but ultimately there are no bulletproof ways to rebuild. They have a desirable market, no state tax, a respected organization. They'll have flexibility. They'll possibly have max cap room next year if Deng opts out. Maybe it won't work, or maybe they'll retool and make some deep playoff runs again. What you are saying makes logical sense, but it's hard to imagine that any organization would be willing to go from a contender (4 finals in a row at that) straight to a tank. The Rockets weren't willing to do that either. It's just hard to sell. To owner, to fans. If they only had Wade left, that's different. They'd have no choice but to rebuild the Sam Hinkie way. But Bosh gives them a chance to retool over the next couple years. I'm not surprised to see them choose this route at all, and I'd prefer this route myself if I was their fan. As to paying Wade (and Haslem), yep, if they get big deals (similar money as they left on the table, maybe spread out over more years), then that's surely Riley just making his players "whole" for opting out. They opted out to help the team. Maybe the smart ruthless Morey-esque move would be to get rid of them or play hardball and push them into small deals. But they just have a different management style. Riley lets his players know that it's not just business. And while there are downsides (like maybe overspending on Haslem and Wade over the next few years), there are also positives, like Haslem, Wade, Bosh and previously LeBron taking paycuts. It's much harder to imagine someone like Haslem take a paycut or opt out of his contract for Morey. Because he'd know that Morey could move or cut him loose in a blink of an eye without no scruples. Just a different management style. Not a worse management style. It's hard to criticize Riley for treating his players better than most teams, when that culture also helped Miami to 5 finals and 3 championships in 9 years.
