and dont forget Antoine Jamison. Its amazing if you dont have 5 guys playing their natural positions, than you can win a game or two. im glad we got stromile, but if we got walker, i would have been happy also.
Exactly! I really like the Walker signing, the guy isn't a loser and he doesn't suck, he's a freaking good player and a good fit for Miami. He'll be able to help carry Miami while guys are injured and if he were on Miami in the playoffs they may have gotten past Detroit.
And, to show you how good he is, people say he "stunk it up" in Dallas, and he did by comparison of his career stats. His numbers in Dallas while playing the same position 2 or 3 other guys were playing while being a #3 or #4 option? 14 ppg, 8 rpg, 5 apg. 'Toine doesn't suck, not by a long shot.
AW isn't worth 6yrs/$54MM to the Heat unless they win a championship. If they do, everybody shuts up. But if you look at AW's market value, the Heat way overpaid him because nobody else in the NBA was going to give him that kind of money. I don't see him averaging 20/9 on the Heat unless he pushes Haslem to the bench and Shaq declines faster than we think. But if that happens, the Heat won't win a championship. The fact is Riley will kick SVG to the side, take over for 2-3 years and then leave the Heat in a financial hole.
Walker will get tons of easy baskets playing with Wade and Shaq. I think he is not the perfect fit for Miami, but by no means does he "suck" nor have Miami made a mistake. Definitely an upgrade and a reasonable risk.
Whatcha talkin bout Willis?!? How many shots does he take to get those 20 points? I wouldn't want him on my squad if this bum wants the ball all the damn time.
I think Walker is the perfect fit for the Heat. Like you said he will get tons of easy baskets and he could easily make a living off of doing just that but it's his other intangibles that he brings. He will be able to spread the floor when Shaq posts and shoot the 3 and his mid-range jumper isn't too shabby either. In addition he can also run the floor pretty well for a big man and candle handle the ball which allows him to create for himself in addition to the 9boards he gets per game. Most importantly this not only gives Miami a bonafide 3rd scoring option but with Toine starting and Haslem coming off the bench that gives 2 power forwards who offer two totally different things and by different I mean good.
When you say the Amnesty Rule changes everything, are you anticipating another Amnesty Cutting period in the future - because I was under the impression this was a one-time deal?
I cannot see them letting this happen just once from now until 2011, and it will be the NBAPA that will suggest it first, to increase player movement and to make their players more money. Faced with the oppurtunity to cut more money off their bottom line (if not their payroll/cap number), how could the owners say no?
Well, not really. Doesn't that luxury tax get distributed back to the teams? In the end it will cost more to have these amnesties. With the exception of teams way over the threshold with bad contracts, I can see teams refusing future amnesties as less luxury tax means less funds distributed to the teams. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Just an educated guess, but I can't imagine Howard Schultz and Michael Heisley (to retain their 3-4 extra million a year glommed from distributed tax revs) voting against saving their ownership brethern 30-40 million a year.
One thing's for sure. I'd take Antoine Walker for that price WAY before I even consider Foyle for 8 mil/per or Okur at around 9 mil/per. Last year's offseason, this deal's a no-brainer. This offseason just happened to favor guards.
Miami is loaded. Haters will always hate, Antoine Walker is a solid, versatile NBA player with a lot of talent.
