The management includes Mitch Kupchak, whose been an assistant GM or GM with the Lakers for nearly 30 years. He's ultimately the guy making player decisions. Again, Lakers have won 5 titles since the Rockets last NBA title. Seems weird to call the Lakers a dumb organization when practically any other team other than the Spurs would have killed to have their success over the past 20 years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/wi_esp82">@wi_esp82</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTicketMiami">@TheTicketMiami</a> apparently not. I take blame for that. Shouldn't have replied to tweet w/o fully checking it out</p>— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) <a href="https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/605377013160022016">June 1, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/wi_esp82">@wi_esp82</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTicketMiami">@TheTicketMiami</a> it may be more a mess than I thought</p>— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) <a href="https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/605379323122589696">June 1, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
... So this gulf between Wade and the Heat isn't just about Wade and the Heat; it is about trying to undo the precedent Wade, James and Bosh set by taking less to play together in Miami (even though, given the lack of state income taxes in Florida, it wasn't actually much of a discount). James and Bosh have gotten their max contracts since. Wade hasn't. And he has never been the highest-paid player on a Heat team, either. Believe it or not, there was one that featured Jermaine O'Neal making $7 million more than Wade. Riley, the godfather, loves the idea of family, but the mafia is a family, too. Makes sense the Heat wouldn't believe the market will pay Wade what Wade believes the market will pay Wade. He is not as valuable anywhere, in the Heat's mind, as he is in Miami, so Miami wants to work with its favorite son and keep him here -- but not at the crippling expense of all future flexibility. The Heat seem to want Wade to opt in to his contract for next season at $16 million, then become a free agent and leave their and his future blank-check open. This will give the Heat the flexibility it craves to make a run at a player like Kevin Durant. Pipe dream? Maybe. But that's what Wade himself once told the Heat about his great friend LeBron James being in Miami. Miami wants to have the flexibility that gets Riley in a room with Durant. The Heat can have room for Wade, Bosh, Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside and Durant, but only if Wade opts in for this year and gives them that flexibility by being a free agent in 2016. This requires Wade to have a lot of trust, obviously, and the leap of faith that the team will take care of him in 2016. It also requires some creativity and relationship-building with Whiteside, who will be tucked away in something called a "cap hold." And it ultimately involves -- and this is a big ask -- Wade being OK with newcomers who haven't done much of anything for the organization, such as Dragic and Whiteside, earning more than he does. That's how last week became a public mess -- the Heat pushing for Wade to opt in and Wade refusing to give the team an answer about his plans. You don't know the mercenary side of Riley very well if you think he's going to be pressured into paying Wade excessively by public relations. He isn't going to give Wade the end-of-an-era Kobe kiss that was popular in the short term in Los Angeles but crippling in the long term. Riley values Wade, yes, but that 2016 flexibility means more to him than the short-term risk of being temporarily unpopular by alienating the city's most popular athlete. He'll give Wade "fair" value, and maybe a little more than fair value based on past giving, but he'll also remind Wade that injuries have him playing only in two-thirds of the games his salary pays in recent seasons. ... The Heat's argument regarding Wade is simple: Wade is an international superstar who makes more money in endorsements when playing games that matter in the playoffs -- the kind the team didn't have this season. And, like Mourning, there's a paid life after basketball as an ambassador in which money can be made up with an invented lifetime position. "Heat lifer," an expression Wade coined, can echo in employment and eternity after Wade's playing days if he's willing to do what he has always done -- help the team a little more by helping himself a little less. Sounds nice in theory, yes, but it will have to happen over the objections of his union and his ego, and things can get messy and complicated in the emotion business when a team isn't really working as a team. Feelings get hurt, trust and communication break, pride and public opinion infect, and next thing you know things are so noisy that one side is preaching "principle" and the other is pronouncing it "principal." It has been a very healthy and fruitful relationship. The next step is going to test it. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12988628/dwyane-wade-miami-heat-relationship-tested
I love this...this is awesome...These three players intentionally joined forces one summer and all took a paycut...James now is getting his max...and so is Bosh, while Wade is left holding his nutz...Talk about loyalty huh??? Get your's while you can should be the mantra of every NBA basketball player...
Sure, if we're counting the acquisition of Shaq in the 1990's or the reboot with Pau Gasol, they have been top notch. The Lakers have made a comedy of dumb moves since 2010, however. The only really good move they made ws getting Howard for damaged goods in Bynum, but that didn't end up working out so hot for them
The old owner who died was the one who made the decisions. And now the cba has changed. The Lakers cant rip off other teams so easilly. And why they are stupid right now? Giving young that awful contract that will take assets to dump. Giving Kobe a contract that takes them out of the two max slots until IF he retires. Having one of the worst coaches in the Nba aound their rookies instead of a good one to develop them properly. Their disregard of the analytics. No wonder they plan to put Randle and Okafor together in the frontcourt, it will be HILLARIOUS. And they still will lose their pick next year and it will be high lottery. The ultimate proof of being idiotic.
So Rilley wants to go after Durant.. not surprised. Most of the teams will go after him next year because everyone will have capspace.
Heat want wade to use his opt in clause to go after durant according to cbs sports. Slonik on Twitter reporting that Wade was initially offered less than 10 million per year by the heat
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/jnewman3345">@jnewman3345</a> it was under 10M per, I believe</p>— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) <a href="https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/605772195193683971">June 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yikes. Although to be fair, if Wade could actually play near a full season that would help a lot in justifying a higher payday.
A Wade associate has told people that Wade would welcome a contract averaging $20 million annually over the next three years. If that's true, it would be understandable, considering the year 13-15 pay ranges for Duncan and Nowitzki. Wade's agent, Henry Thomas, politely declined to confirm that or anything regarding Wade's specific financial expectations. We've heard the Heat would prefer Wade opt in for $16 million next season, then take a very significant pay cut over the following two years. But it's important to note that those numbers were not confirmed by the Heat, which obviously isn't saying what it will offer when formal offers can be made July 1. And I would be surprised if the Heat didn't make a solid offer at that time; whether it's to Wade's liking is another story entirely that must play out. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2015/06/asking-and-answering-questions-on-wade-heat-scenarios-dolphins-canes-marlins.html
Explain to me how Bosh gets the supermax and Wade is told to take another paycut? Dwyane Wade is going to finish his career never being the top paid player on his (or any other NBA team if signing elsewhere) team at this rate. LOL.
That's why you never trust the franchise. Take care of yourself first and foremost. There's no loyalty on either sides.
I'll explain: Wade made a huge mistake last summer assuming LeBron would return. Simple as that. Wade and his team blew it and can't blame anyone but themselves. He's had a great career and the four-year run with LeBron was fantastic. I don't feel sorry for him one iota.
Wow..less than 10 per? In every game of the Heat I watched this year Wade was by far the best player. I have a very low opinion of Wade because I think he plays dirty. But this is preposterous. Insulting.
