Forget Carmelo, Free Agent That Heat Has to Land Now Is LeBron
A funny thing happened on Carmelo Anthony’s way to South Beach.Last week everyone was buzzing about the ESPN report that the Miami Heat brass was talking about getting Carmelo Anthony to bring his talents, too, even if that meant getting LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to take yet another discount for their talents.
You could almost hear Heat Pres. Pat Riley, the recruiting legend who dumped his five championship rings like rocks on a conference table in front of LeBron James in Cleveland in 2010:
Hey, what are we in this for, to get even more money than we already have, or to be remembered forever?
Of course, that stuff works ever so much better when you’re the envy of the NBA, rather than roadkill for the Spurs, who rolled over the suddenly old, toothless Heat once more Sunday in San Antonio in five ever more one-sided games.
Game 4 dismay, before Game 5 dismay. (McClatchy-Tribune Photo)
Game 4 dismay, before Game 5 dismay. (McClatchy-Tribune Photo)
Suddenly, the free agent the Heat must land isn’t Melo, but LeBron, whose future in Miami is no longer as assured as everyone, including Bron, thought it was.
James’ 2010 free agency was preceded by two years of feverish speculation centered in New York. Knick fans held annual LeBronstock Festivals for his visits. Nike, his sneaker partner, made no secret of its preference, launching one of his shoes there, the dark blue pinstriped one paying tribute to Bron’s favorite baseball team, the Yankees.
In contrast, his 2013 free agency looked like such a non-event, even James, who never hinted at his intentions in 2010, said he in February that he couldn’t imagine leaving.
To his credit, James’ focus is on the present. In 2010 when his No. 1 seeded Cavaliers fell, 4-2 to the given-up-for-dead Celtics as he played left-handed with a right elbow that kept locking up–and was torched as a mercenary quitter before ever saying a word about taking his talents to South Beach–he seemed stunned at the season’s sudden end, without a clue about what he’d do.
Not that his Cavaliers had anything like the Heat’s prospects as Miami made its fourth Finals appearance in James’ four seasons, coming off back-to-back titles. At the end, Bron looked even more stunned, sitting on the bench with his head in his hands after leaving with 6:30 left, unable even to make it competitive.
Take a hard look at the Heat, as everyone suddenly began to, and there’s little but their three superstars, one of whom–Dwyane Wade–is 32, has seen his scoring average drop annually for five seasons, sat out 31 games this season to be ready for the playoffs but looked 42 in Games 4 and 5, scoring 21 points total, shooting 7-for-25.
What else is there? A bunch of aging, limited role players, who will no longer include Shane Battier, who’s retiring, and, possibly, Ray Allen, the hero of 2013, who’s thinking about it.
After Game 5, it was no longer the sentimental LeBron, leaving toward staying, while Bosh kept voicing the hope that they would remain together. Instead, it was the stolidly non-commital LeBron, taking back the hopeful hints he had given out.
Q: LeBron, you said in February you couldn’t picture yourself leaving Miami. Do you still feel that way?’
James: “I mean, I will deal with my summer when I get to that point. Me and my team will sit down and deal with it. I love Miami. My family loves it. But obviously right now that’s not even what I’m thinking about. You guys are trying to find answers and I’m not going to give you one.”
Notes Brian Windhorst, the writer who attended James’ high school in Akron, covered him as a prep, moved to Cleveland and covered him as a Cavalier, then went to ESPN to stay on the LeBron beat in Miami: “I really, truly believe that LeBron hasn’t considered it. So in this period now between now and the end of the draft, you’re going to see LeBron meeting with his team.
“And when he says ‘his team,’ he’s not talking about the Heat. He’s talking about his agents. He’s talking about his business managers and close friends [the three who, with James, call themselves the Four Horsemen: Maverick Carter, the captain of Bron's first high school team and now the slick Puff Daddy figure out front; Randy Sims, the diminutive personal assistant; and Rich Paul, the rotund one who moved back to Cleveland and is thought to be behind the years-long speculation talk about Bron coming home]….
“What LeBron decides doesn’t mean that Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will do the same. In 2010, they all were all represented by the same agency. LeBron now has his own agency and he will not necessarily act in concert with them.”
Movers of mountains that the Heat brass have been, their options are limited. The team is about to become the first to pay the dread repeater tax, which kicks the rate for its $14 million overage just under 300% (levies rise by $5 million increments) or a $38.8 million bill.
If James, Wade and Bosh opt in and return, their salary will be $61.4 million ($20.6 million for Bron and Bosh, $20.2 million for Wade). The projected cap is only $63.2 million. The Heat can execeed it by signing players to exceptions and re-signing their own, but can spend only $16.3 million on another 12 players before triggering the repeater tax again.
Last season, they paid their other 12 players $23.7 million. A similar tab would mean an $85.1 million payroll, an $8 million overage. Fortunately for the Heat, with bumper league revenue, the tax threshhold rose $5.9 million over projections to $77 million, so the team would get away with only a $21 million tab.
Of course, how to keep costs down while improving the team to James’ satisfaction? “Ah,” as Hamlet said, “there’s the rub.”
The notion of asking the the Big Three to take less is dead. Bron isn’t likely to sign long-term with a raise, much less with a cut. There will be no big fix for the team, only the hope of better health on Wade’s part, better performance on all their parts, and, most important, keeping them together to revamp another day.
The Heat now owns the sentimental tug–or one of them–on James’ heart. Despite being trashed for going to Miami, he’s actually a loyal guy whose first inclination is to stay, even in the ugly duckling market of Cleveland. In a story that somehow never got out, he tried to to the end to get Wade or Chris Bosh to join him, before realizing the only star who wanted to be there was him.
If James seemed to have no viable option in February as the Lakers messed up their salary cap giving Kobe Bryant a $48 million extension and the Cavaliers imploded, there is now–Cleveland, back from the dead after winning yet another lottery, which is expected to take Kansas’ seven-foot equation-changer, Joel Embiid, to go with Kyrie Irving and a talented, if volatile, young roster.
(All the other glamor destinations in the press are far-fetched. The Clippers, whom insiders think LeBron would like to play for, have no cap room. The Knicks have no cap room. Chicago could melt itself down for LeBron, rather than Melo, but there’s that business about 2010 when Derrick Rose pointedly refused to try to help recruit Bron.)
Riley’s best argument now would seem to be to drop that great silver-haired head, look soulfully into James’ eyes and say:
Trust me. Come back next season to see where we are in a year, with the big 2015 free agent class coming up and the ability to create as much cap space as we need.
If that’s still the way to bet, the ground just started trembling under the Heat. If it’s not The Big One yet, this isn’t over.
Also, did you see Diaw comments about Woodson? Coaching and a different system will help.
6/17/2014 4:08 PM