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Dwyane Wade “Thought About” Cavs In Free Agency

October 5th, 2016 at 4:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Dwyane Wade was one of the last top free agents to make a decision on his next team back in July, and while the Bulls and Heat were his primary suitors, along with teams like the Nuggets and Bucks, there were whispers that the Cavaliers were involved as well, with amateur sleuths attempting to track the whereabouts of Wade and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

Cleveland never really made sense as a destination for Wade unless he and/or LeBron James were willing to take a significant pay cut to make it happen. However, in an interview with Leo Sepkowitz of SlamOnline.com, the longtime Heat star admitted the thought of teaming up with LeBron again crossed his mind, but he ultimately couldn’t pass up the opportunity to return home.

“For me, it’s as simple as, I got a deal in Miami for $41 million, I got a deal in Chicago for $47 million,” Wade said. “It didn’t come down to the money. I thought about Cleveland, but I didn’t fit there. You don’t just do something because, ‘Oh, I could win the ring there.’ I have three rings. I don’t need to chase the ring. This is what I wanted to do. I couldn’t fight it. If you fight it, you’re gonna always be like, You shoulda, or, What could’ve—I don’t like to live my life like that.”

Wade also acknowledged that his decision to leave Miami was one that caught the NBA world off guard, particularly coming on the heels of Kevin Durant‘s announcement that he was leaving the Thunder to join the Warriors.

“I made a decision that was like, ‘What?!’ We were already like, ‘What?!’ when KD made his decision, so it was like, ‘What?! What?!’—like a double ‘What!'” Wade told Sepkowitz. “I’m happy that he made his decision for himself, and myself the same. If you’re a supporter of mine, then you’re happy that I made the decision for me. Doesn’t mean you love it, but you’re happy for me.”

If things don’t go smoothly for Wade and the Bulls in 2016/17, the former Finals MVP will have the opportunity to explore the market again next summer — his two-year deal with Chicago includes a player option.

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Central Notes: Wade, Blatt, Valentine

October 4th, 2016 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bulls signed Dwyane Wade for his leadership ability as much as for his production on the court and his addition is already paying off for the team, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com writes. Wade acknowledged that the coaching staff has given him free reign to stop practice whenever he wants to address something on the court, Friedell notes.

“No question,” Wade said after a recent practice. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here as well. One of the reasons they were interested in me is because of what I come with from the standpoint of being there. I’ve been to five Finals and have a lot of experience. Sitting down with [coach Fred Hoiberg] talking about all our young guys and what they can learn from me and also Jimmy Butler as well and Rajon Rondo as well. As I said in my post, it’s about us policing each other, us three leaders but also passing it down to other guys. So, yes, he gave myself — and I’m sure he gave Rondo and Jimmy — carte blanche to be able to say the things we need to say, but at the same time respect what coach is doing and respect what coach is saying and find your times to talk.”

Here’s more from the Central Division:

  • Bulls rookie Denzel Valentine is expected to miss at least two weeks of action due to a left ankle sprain, Friedell reports in a separate post. “Denzel, he’s doing OK,” Hoiberg said. “He’s probably going to miss, I’d say conservatively, probably two weeks. [The ankle] is pretty swollen, it swelled up on him right away. It’s just about getting him right, keeping him engaged with what we’re trying to do with adding to our package and trying to get him better as quick as possible.”
  • The Pacers have rounded out their coaching staff with one last new hire. Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com has the details on new assistant video coordinator Jared Bartling.
  • Former Cavs coach David Blatt, whose ouster last season didn’t sit well with him given the circumstances, accepted an NBA Championship ring from the franchise, international journalist David Pick relays (via Twitter). “(Cleveland) offered and I graciously accepted because they presented it to me in a way that was very respectful,” Blatt told Pick. “The Cavaliers wanted to give me a ring because the organization felt that I contributed to the championship. It’s not my championship, I recognize that, but I also feel that I did something there. The big thing for me was that I felt that they felt it was earned, not given.“
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Players Who Can Veto Trades

October 4th, 2016 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.

Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.

Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:

No-trade clauses

Players whose offer sheets were matched

Players accepting qualifying offers

  • None

Players re-signing for one year (or two years including an option)

Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.

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Central Rumors: James, Pacers, Bulls, Pistons

September 29th, 2016 at 10:40am CST by Dana Gauruder
LeBron James averaged a career-low 35.6 minutes per game during the regular season last year and Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue plans to limit his minutes even more this season, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com reports. Lue is determined to keep James and his other veteran players fresh heading into the postseason as they try to defend their championship, McMenamin adds.  “I’ve looked at the schedule, just seeing what makes sense and what’s smart when playing four-in-five type of nights,” Lue told McMenamin. “Can’t run our guys into the ground. We have to be smart, understand we have to take care of our bodies and take care of our key guys. Make sure that when we get to the playoffs we’re ready to go.”
In other news around the Central Division:
  • Pacers power forward Kevin Seraphin thought he might end up in Europe this season because there was so little interest in him during free agency, Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star writes. Seraphin signed a two-year, $3.6MM deal with Indiana after a poor season with the Knicks in which he was overweight, missed games with a knee injury and lost confidence, Ayello continues. Seraphin fired his agent and thought he’d end up in Europe until the Pacers came to the rescue, Ayello adds. “It was tough,” Seraphin told Ayello. “All that waiting. I kept thinking, ‘How the (heck) do I not have an offer?’ I feel like I’m young, and I still have a lot of potential; I still have a lot in the tank.”
  • Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo have taken leadership roles in the Bulls’ early practices, Sam Smith of Bulls.com reports. They have already done some on-court counseling to their younger teammates and that’s an encouraging development for a team that suffered through chemistry problems last season, Smith adds. “You just want to cut down all the chatter,” Rondo told Smith. “Only a couple of guys should be talking in practice. As far as disrupting, when they do stop practice coach has the voice, then assistant coach has the voice and then the other players.”
  • The Pistons gave journeyman power forward Jon Leuer a surprisingly lucrative four-year, $41MM contract this summer because of his offensive versatility but he’s also making a strong impression defensively in training camp, according to Aaron McMann of MLive.com. “The one thing I would say I’m surprised with is that he’s a lot better defensively than I thought,” coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy told McMann. “I thought he was decent – maybe average – defensively. I think he’s got a chance to be a lot better than that.”
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Heat Notes: Riley, Bosh, Whiteside, Waiters

September 27th, 2016 at 6:41pm CST by Luke Adams

While some teams won’t admit they’re in rebuilding mode, Heat president Pat Riley didn’t mind using the R-word on Monday, as Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald tweets. Comparing the current roster to recent Heat teams, Riley noted that the franchise was “tweaking” the roster during the Big Three era, “retooling” it after LeBron James returned to Cleveland, and is “rebuilding” now. With Dwyane Wade gone and Chris Bosh unlikely to suit up for the Heat again, it will be interesting to see if the team goes into full-fledged rebuilding mode this year, perhaps shopping veteran point guard Goran Dragic.

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald passes along a couple more comments from Riley, who said he has yet to “hit send” on an email he wrote to Wade, and added that he’s had thoughts about “moving on” from his role with the Heat but still gets excited by the prospect of a new season.
  • Asked about losing Bosh, Dragic admitted that it helps to have some certainty about what the roster and lineup will look like, but said he’d prefer to have the “small chance [Bosh] could be back,” per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “It’s not the prettiest situation right now.” Dragic said. “But we need to clear our heads and have one focus, one goal to get better as a team, get to know each other and try to build that chemistry we are going to need this season.”
  • Tom Ziller of SBNation.com makes a case for why the Heat should waive Bosh, rather than keeping him on the roster.
  • After being one of the league’s most underpaid players in recent years, Hassan Whiteside now has a maximum-salary contract, but he won’t let the new deal make him complacent, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
  • Winderman and Jackson have each published pieces on Dion Waiters, with Winderman writing that the Heat’s new shooting guard won’t be thinking about filling Wade’s shoes, while Jackson notes that Waiters opted for happiness over money when he chose to sign with Miami.
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Eastern Notes: Wade, Young, Siakam, Wright

September 25th, 2016 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Now that the shock waves have died down over his move from Miami to Chicago, Dwyane Wade wants to prove he can still be an elite player in a new environment, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. After a contract standoff with the Heat, Wade surprised the NBA in July by agreeing to a two-year, $47MM deal with the Bulls. When Chicago opens camp this week, it will be the first time Wade has been with a team other than Miami in his 13-year career. “When I don’t have anything else left to prove, then I don’t need to play the game of basketball,” Wade said. “I want to prove I’m out of my comfort zone. I’m in a totally different environment, a totally different system. This is a challenge for me, at this stage of my career. Leave it up to me to put myself in a challenge and not just fade to black in the comfortableness of Miami.”

There’s more tonight from the Eastern Conference:

  • James Young is ready to battle for a roster spot as the Celtics open camp, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Boston has 16 players with guaranteed contracts, and the competition for the final slot is expected to come down to Young, second-year guard R.J. Hunter and rookie forward Ben Bentil. Young, a 6’6″ shooting guard, has been with the Celtics for two seasons but has played in just a combined 60 games. He will make more than $1.8MM this season, but may be in the organization’s dog house after being benched during summer league for his poor play. “I’m not thinking about contracts or the next year,” Young said. “I’m just staying in the present right now, gotten a lot better, still getting better. And there’s a lot better for me to come, so I’m not even thinking about the future, who they got coming up or what’s going on. I’m staying right here in the present.”
  • Rookie forward Pascal Siakam will be ready when the Raptors open training camp on Monday, tweets Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Siakam, the 27th pick in this year’s draft, suffered a left MCL sprain in summer league and missed all but one game. Wolstat adds that Delon Wright, the 20th pick in the draft, is making progress but won’t return to action for a while. Wright had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder August 1st and was expected to need at least four months to recover.
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Bulls Notes: Felicio, Hoiberg, Wade, Dinwiddie

September 25th, 2016 at 7:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Chicago’s offseason moves should give Cristiano Felicio an opportunity for more playing time, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. The 6’10” Brazilian center appeared in just 31 games with the Bulls during his rookie season and spent much of the year with Canton in the D-League. However, he stood out as part of Chicago’s summer league squad that won a championship in Las Vegas. The Bulls lost both Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol in free agency over the summer. Robin Lopez, who was acquired from the Knicks in the Derrick Rose trade, is the only true center on Chicago’s roster, which could mean a lot more playing time for Felicio. “I learned so much because the Bulls last year, they had a lot of big guys and they were always talking to me and giving me tips,” he said. “It was my first year and I didn’t know what to expect through the season and they were always talking to me, telling me what to do and what not to do in the NBA. It for sure helped me a lot in my first year.”

There’s more news out of Chicago:

  • Coach Fred Hoiberg once again seems to have a roster that doesn’t fit his preferred style of play, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Hoiberg promised a pace-and-space system when he became head coach, but he hasn’t been given the outside shooters to make that work. This summer’s top two additions, Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo, are both more slashers than shooters. The only change in Hoiberg’s staff was the addition of Dr. Wendy Borlabi as a “high performance coach” who is focused on the mental aspects of the game.
  • Bulls management has talked about limiting Wade’s minutes during the regular season so he can be more effective in the playoffs, Johnson writes in the same story. The Heat did the same thing last year, as Wade averaged a career-low 30.5 minutes and stayed healthy enough to play in 74 games. “In Miami, Coach Spo [Erik Spoelstra] wanted me to play 30 minutes a game in the regular season, and when he told me that the year before, I wasn’t on board,” Wade said. “But [in 2015-16], he wound up doing it and it was successful for me. Every year is different. I work very hard, man. I just need to take care of my body, especially as I get older. I always have the mentality that I’ll do whatever for my team that I need to do. But I’m not trying to play 40 minutes.”
  • Spencer Dinwiddie probably comes into camp as the favorite to back up Rondo at point guard, according to Sam Smith of NBA.com. Dinwiddie, whom the Bulls traded for, waived and re-signed over the summer, will get competition from rookie Denzel Valentine and Jerian Grant.
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Heat Notes: Dragic, Bosh, Babbitt

September 24th, 2016 at 5:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Goran Dragic, who was excited to be teamed with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh when he was swapped to the Heat at the 2014 trade deadline, may finish his career in Miami without either one, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Wade signed with the Bulls over the summer and Bosh faces an uncertain medical future after failing his training camp physical. That leaves Dragic as the team’s new leader, and he says he wants to embrace that role. “When you have D-Wade next to you, or C.B., then they can take the game in their hands immediately,” Dragic said. “Now, probably it’s going to be a little bit different. I’m ready. I already felt great last year at the end of the season.” Dragic has four seasons and more than $70MM left on his contract.

There’s more news out of Miami:

  • Miami has the option to apply for a Disabled Player Exception if its medical staff decides Bosh can’t play this season, notes Bobby Marks of The Vertical. If an NBA-designated doctor agrees, the Heat would receive a $5.6MM exception that they can use until March 10th. The exception can be used to sign a free agent to a one-year contract or acquire a player with one season left on his current deal, either through trade or waivers. The Heat have 15 players with guaranteed contracts, including Bosh, so a roster spot would have to be cleared before the DPE could be used. However, the Heat may be looking to get the rest of Bosh’s remaining salary removed from their cap, which they can’t do if they use this exception.
  • Luke Babbitt may have changed teams, but his role will be the same, Winderman writes in a separate piece. Babbitt, who was acquired in a July trade with New Orleans, was used as a stretch four with the Pelicans to create room in the paint for Anthony Davis. With the Heat, he expects to create room for Hassan Whiteside and driving lanes for Dragic. “That’s what NBA offense is, is spacing,” Babbitt said. “So to give guys, to maximize those guys, Hassan, Goran, to open up driving lanes, you have to have people to space it out that can shoot, that’s the way the league is going now.” Babbitt, who just re-signed with the Pelicans last summer, said the trade caught him by surprise. “I didn’t really know it was coming,” he said. “But once I got the news, mentally it just totally shifted over and I was excited. I had a good couple of years in New Orleans, but with this kind of rebuilding group I feel like I kind of fit with what we’re trying to do here.”
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Udonis Haslem Hopes To Play With Wade Again

September 17th, 2016 at 3:30pm CST by Luke Adams

As we noted earlier today, Dwyane Wade admitted on Saturday morning that the one think he’ll miss most about playing for the Heat is his longtime teammate Udonis Haslem. Per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, that feeling is mutual. Haslem referred to Wade as “family,” adding that he’ll support him “through thick and thin.”

Haslem and Wade have been teammates in Miami since the 2003/04 season, but with Wade having signed in Chicago earlier this summer, they’ll be opponents in 2016/17. Still, both players can hit the free agent market again next year, and they likely won’t retire quite yet, so there’s a realistic chance of a reunion at some point, as Haslem told Jackson.

“I’m going to damn sure try,” Haslem said, when asked about the possibility of potentially finishing his career alongside Wade. “I mean, I don’t know. I guess I’ve got to wait until next summer to see how that goes. But, I never give up without a fight. So there’s ain’t no time to start now.”

While Wade heads to Chicago, Haslem is preparing to enter his 14th season with the Heat, and while he’d like to reunite with Wade eventually, he may not want to leave Miami to do so. “I was thinking more him of him coming here,” Haslem said. “I never said [I’d leave the Heat]. I won’t ever say that. When I said play with him again, I never said leave.”

The idea of Wade eventually returning to South Beach for one final season with Haslem may appeal to the 36-year-old big man and to many Heat fans, but as Jackson observes, it’s not clear how realistic that scenario is. Heat president Pat Riley and Wade didn’t part on the best of terms, having still not communicated with one another since the former Finals MVP left the Heat more than two months ago.

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Heat Notes: Wade, Haslem, Offseason, Bosh

September 17th, 2016 at 12:03pm CST by Luke Adams

For the first time since 2003, Dwyane Wade will begin training camp this month with a team besides the Heat. Asked what he’ll miss the most now that he’s no longer playing in Miami, Wade said that he’ll miss longtime teammate Udonis Haslem, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (via Twitter). Like Wade, Haslem joined the franchise for the 2003/04 season and has been in South Beach ever since — of course, unlike Wade, Haslem re-signed with the Heat this summer.

Here’s more out of Miami:

  • As Bobby Marks of The Vertical details in his rundown of the Heat’s offseason, the team was forced to use nearly $20MM in cap room during a tight window after losing Wade in early July, since that space wouldn’t have been available if the team had matched Tyler Johnson‘s offer sheet first. The result? A handful of short-term deals that essentially serve as placeholders while the club retools.
  • Within a mailbag this week for the Sun Sentinel, Winderman discusses the short- and long-term outlooks for Chris Bosh and Haslem, who may have coaching in his future. Winderman also tackled more Bosh-related concerns and addressed LeBron James‘ lingering influence in Miami in a separate mailbag.
  • In another Sun Sentinel piece, Winderman examines the Heat’s current roster and their departed veterans in a player-by-player breakdown.
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