Miami's got a $3.35 mill trade exception & it appears that Riley wants to use it. The article reports that they can't bundle the exception with any players. Can someone explain to me why they can't? If we can't use it with players involved, then I can't see anyway we could send them Walt without a third team involved. I was thinking that we might be able to acquire the rights to Ken Johnson in the trade. Anyone have any ideas? http://www.miami.com/herald/content/sports/basketball/heat/digdocs/006280.htm Heat won't sign pick this year Second-rounder Johnson will get a shot in summer HEAT NOTEBOOK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BY BARRY JACKSON bjackson@herald.com Heat general manager Randy Pfund said Tuesday that Miami this season likely will not sign center Ken Johnson, the Heat's second-round draft pick who recently returned to the United States after leaving his team in Italy. Johnson, who wasn't getting along with his coach in Italy, is a skilled 6-11 shot-blocker. The Heat, which drafted Johnson 48th overall in June, encouraged him to sign in Europe to develop his skills. ``We're probably overloaded with bigs,'' Pfund said. ``Teams in Europe want scorers. He's not in that mode. He will try to build his strength up and we will bring him in next summer.'' Despite being less than $1 million below the NBA's $53 million luxury tax threshold, coach Pat Riley said he hopes to use the team's $3.3 million trade exception to acquire a small forward in a trade. The Heat has until next August to use the exception -- acquired in the Tim Hardaway deal with Dallas -- but cannot package the exception with another player. According to several NBA general managers, small forwards thought to be available include the Clippers' Corey Maggette, Phoenix's Rodney Rogers, Washington's Tyrone Nesby, Houston's Walt Williams and Chicago's Ron Artest. One GM said the Knicks would consider moving Latrell Sprewell for a top power player, but a Heat-Knicks trade is improbable. Nor is the Heat a realistic option for power forward Karl Malone, who has pushed Utah for a trade to a contender, possibly to Dallas or New York. The Heat has a better chance of making a trade after Dec. 15, when this past summer's free agents can be dealt. Before that date, Alonzo Mourning, Brian Grant, Eddie Jones and Eddie House are the only players Miami can trade. Small forward Kendall Gill, out since Nov. 6 with a finger injury, had his cast replaced by a splint but said he still feels pain and is at least two weeks from returning. Swingman Sam Mack (hip flexor) is also out at least another 10 days. ``With two guys out, it has created a problem,'' Riley said. But the Heat does not want to sign any free agents such as Isaiah Rider. ``I feel very uncomfortable doing that,'' Riley said. ``I don't think anyone can come in . . . in six days and make a difference.'' Heat owner Micky Arison said he's not discouraged by the poor start: ``Obviously, you hope for better. It's very early. I would like to see us with everyone healthy.'' The Heat put on sale fewer than 1,000 tickets for Friday's Wizards games, starting at $10. ESPN's Jack Ramsay said he's not shocked by the Heat's start: ``Alonzo is not the same. Anthony Carter is better as a backup. They don't get to the free-throw line.''
How about Walt for Pat Riley's copyright of the word "Threepeat". That would be a great deal 'cause we could tax the heck out of the Lakers when they win their third in a row this year.
Yes, Like addition by subtraction. More minutes for Oscar, TMO and Langhi. Later Walt...don't let the door hit you in the A$$ on the way out. DaDakota
Walt is part of the reason we're winning lately. People complain that this team doesn't know what to do and can't score, yet people are ready to dump a veteran player who is one of our main offensive punches off the bench why? Because you didn't like his play LAST year!? He's also in the last year of his contract, why trade him!?
Are you people high? Walt is part of the reason we're winning, and one of the few healthy scorers we have left. If Rudy thought TMo and Lanky were better that the Wizard, they would both be playing, wouldn't they?
b**** b**** b****! God, you'd think we were 1 - 14, not 7 - 8, the way you guys talk. I hope you don't hurt yourselves jumping back on the bandwagon when we get over this down stretch (against a very tough schedule lately, I might add).
Amen, sammy Im ASHAMED at a majority of posters on this board. We go on a hard road trip and get sacramento at home without a healthy francis and tonight he and mobley are out and you guys act like its the end of the world. We are 7-8, not the bulls 1-13, its like i heard people saying in chat we wont beat memphis tommorrow, please the grizz arent very good we will take them. Walt is one of our offensive threats right now and seeing how hes on a final yr of his deal and the goal is playoffs why would we trade him?? Plus, part of being a fan is not jumping off the deep end every time something goes wrong, i see why too much extremist posting here, heavily slanted toward the negative side, as hard as it is to control it you have to be able to keep a level head. I mean did anyone expect to beat sacto without our 2 big guns, back to back for them or not... i sure didnt, but they tried hard and played well. This years goal is simply to make the playoffs which we will do, next year once tmo and griffin mature and we have a healthy taylor plus rice with plenty of open looks we will be contender material even more so the following yr as the 3rd yr should be close to griffins and morris's breakout years. I dont mind getting upset at the team when we lose but theres a difference between disappointment, which is how i felt last night, and embarrassed/frustrated which is going to the negative extreme and isnt good nor necessary.
This is ridiculous!!! I can't believe were 7-8! The season's almost over! We're worse than the bulls! It's time we trade Steve, maybe for Eric Snow or Tyrone Lue. Since we get rid of Steve we might as well trade Cat too. Another problem is Rudy! What has he ever been good for we should get a real coach like Doug Collins! It's time we start winning before it's too late. When you ladies are done b****ing we'd sure love to have ya'll join us in some meaningful discussions.
Guys, The point of this thread isn't to dump Walt for the sake of dumping him. It's to get a player or two to improve our team. Walt is shooting well (for now) & is one of our best offensive weapons thus far, but he's done this throughout his career. He'll be hot for a few games & then totally disappears for an even longer stretch of games. He's in his 10th year & has done this throughout his career, so I doubt that he's going to start being consistent at this point in his career. If we don't trade him & he becomes a FA at the end of the year, then we may very well lose him for nothing at all. I doubt that the Rockets have plans to offer him anywhere near what he's making this year & with his career 3pt shooting percentage, someone might offer him more than the Rockets are willing to pay him. The article indicated that Miami is in need of a SF. Since, Riley likes veteran players, Walt is currently hot, & we have a glut of SF's, it only makes sense to look into it. Why not trade him while he's hot & more attractive to a team in need, instead of waiting for the inevitable disappearing act that he'll do sooner or later. It's probably a moot point though. Looking at Miami's salary, they have 3 players making $10 mill or above (ZO/Grant/Jones), 4 players making between $1.5 mill to $3.25 mill (Carter/Ellis/Gatling/Gill), & all the rest making less than $591K each. With, maybe the exception of Gatling, I'd doubt that they would trade any of the 7 highest paid players, but you never know. Our best chance to be involved, would be to broker a multi team trade of some sort.
I'd be up for trading Walt if we could get anything for him, but I don't see much the Heat has they're willing to trade that we'd want. Maybe in a 3-way. Otherwise, I'd be more interested in acquiring Ken Johnson. I'd throw them the Toronto second-rounder for him, and maybe an additional one. Our draft needs are pretty specific; I'd doubt we'll be able to nab a decent center in the second round. If Miami were up for it, I'd pick him up, even if it was just to sit him on the bench this season and threaten Cato with him.
i'd trade Walt for the exception alone. its a win win situation for Maimi & Houston. if we don't use the exception, it just becomes cap space.........and that is always useful down the road.
point taken, but that 5 mil gets smaller with every game played at some point during the season we will only owe Walt 3.35 mil
