The Cavaliers have a date with the Heat on tap for Tuesday night in Miami, giving LeBron James a chance to see old friend Dwyane Wade on the court for the first time since a February trade sent Wade back to South Beach. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN details, Wade’s time in Cleveland was short-lived for a handful of reasons, but the failed union didn’t have a negative impact on his friendship with James.
“I mean, I hated to see him go,” James told McMenamin. “I still do. I still do. So, my emotions were mixed because that’s my guy and I didn’t want him to go but, I mean, listen, I felt like that’s where he belongs. I felt like that’s where his heart has always been, even in the one year in Chicago. … I just felt like that’s where he belonged. I mean, you want to be as happy as you can when you’re in this profession, and I felt like Miami is the best place that creates happiness for him. So, I hated to see him go, I wish he was still here, but I understand. That’s why there’s no hard feelings.”
Here’s more on the Cavs:
- Injuries have prevented Rodney Hood from meeting the starter criteria for restricted free agents over the last two seasons, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks observes. That means Hood is only on track to receive a qualifying offer worth about $3.4MM, rather than one worth $4.7MM. For more details on how the starter criteria impacts RFAs, check out our piece from last spring — we’ll soon be publishing an updated version for 2018 RFAs.
- Bill Livingston of The Plain Dealer makes a case for why Jose Calderon should remain a part of the Cavs’ starting lineup heading into the postseason. The team has a 21-8 record this season in Calderon’s starts.
- With Tyronn Lue away from the Cavs for health reasons, the club has responded to adversity and rallied around its head coach’s absence, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Cleveland is 4-0 so far under interim head coach Larry Drew.
- George Hill, acquired in one of Cleveland’s deadline trades last month, is becoming more comfortable in his role with the Cavs, says Colton Jones of AmicoHoops.net.
- While the players acquired in those trade-deadline deals have been solid contributors for the Cavs, those trades were important for another reason — they’ve allowed Kevin Love to re-emerge as a primary scoring option, according to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com.
Well I am waiting for the article describing the Hood situation. He’s better than $3.4mil! There is room for him in the Cav offense, and the Hill-Calderon duo did not work out well in the Miami game.
The amount of a qualifying offer can quickly become irrelevant if a restricted free agent just signs a long-term deal instead, but occasionally the starter criteria really has an impact. The two RFAs who signed their qualifying offers last year (Noel and Len) both failed to meet the starter criteria and had lower QOs because of it.
Okay good. I think there was another situation earlier where HR said that a team could not offer more than a QO to someone (maybe, Jahlil Okafor/ Sixers).
Yeah, whenever a team declines a third- or fourth-year option on a player’s rookie scale contract, that team can’t offer the player a starting salary worth more than the option would’ve been. That rule still applies to the team the player finishes the season with, if he’s traded (ie. Jahlil Okafor). So that’s the case for the Nets and Okafor, the Magic and Mario Hezonja, the Warriors and Kevon Looney, etc.