Simmons ain't the best on air but I love his columns and his podcasts are decent.

Hood, Hairston, Napier and Anderson are going to be steals. With the Heat bring in Napier it looks like Mario is on his way out. Wiggins is a good fit for the Cavs they need a nice wing stopper and Wiggins should be able to address that need from the get go.

Parker will get his chance to morph into a star with the Bucks.

Supposedly Parker wanted to be drafted by the Bucks because its close to Chocago but that is an awful franchise.

If the Heat can still get Kyle Lowry they would have improved their guards incredibly

Besides Simmons crying about the Heat the NBA drafting Isaiah Austin from Baylor was the best moment of the night.

He'll be there around seven years.  His second contract he'll be a restricted free agent and if hr's a star there is no way the Bucks dont match any offer.

I dont watch college basketball so I have no idea what any of these kids will be as pros.  Only saw highlights of Napier from the championship game.  

UD opted out of his contract to free up more cap space for Riley.  Haslem is one of the most unselfish people I've ever seen in sports. He's left so much money on the table to stay with the Heat it's unfathomable. He's never been the best player on any team he's played on but there is a reason he is the co-captain. One day that #40 will be hung in the rafters. Fans of other teams won't understand but UD is Miami.

Wade and Bosh will opt out by Sunday night.

Bosh would.

Wade maybe. Wade is the one who wis really stuck in the middle. If LeBron is leaving then he probably wouldn't opt-out, but does he want to be the only person who doesn't opt-out if LeBron and Bosh leaves? Probably not. Even if he doesn't plan on leaving. He knows he has to take a pay-cut no matter what to save face. Even for all he has done for the Heat, he'd be public enemy number one if LeBron and Bosh left and he didn't even attempt to restructure his contract.

I don't think Wade will leave because no one will give him the contract that the Heat could anyways, but I don't think him opting out says anything about LeBron.

But I could definitely see Bosh opting out with the attempt of actually looking around at his options. While I think the chances of him leaving is minimal, I do think there is a chance he will definitely search his options. Bosh is the actual wildcard in all of this, more so than Lebron. He is still healthy and in his prime and could command top dollar with other contenders. Him opting out is certainly not a fait accompli.

In the end, I think they'll sign back at lower deals to get bench help, but I don't think it's a sure thing. If the last time these three guys were free agents teaches anybody anything, including the Heat, it's that nothing is a sure thing.

on SportsCenter, the idea of Pau Gasol going to Miami was mentioned - that would be a great pick up, he's Chris Bosh but better. fuck, let Chris Bosh leave if that happens.

God bless.

Eh, no.

Gasol was horrid on his team Defense. I'm still not convinced that all of his troubles had to do with him being on the Lakers. He could still be a good player, but I don't think he's better than Bosh at this point.

Next to LeBron, Bosh is the best asset the Heat have. Bosh has barely shown any regression physically and only shown it stat wise by being within a big three system. Gasol has had his FG% drop to 480 and his mpg to 31.4. Even with three scorers, Bosh has remained at 16.2 ppg, that's only 1.2 points below Gasol. Mind you, Gasol was on a team where he might as well have been the lead scorer.

Gasol would be an improvement in rebounding, but I don't think he's as good offensively as Bosh and he doesn't stretch the floor as much. Also, he's three years older than Bosh.

i'd rather have Gasol. not a big fan of Chris Bosh's game, he basically just shoots jump shots, fuck that.

God bless.

I could see that. Sometimes I think Bosh needs to go in the post more. He shoots far too much. But I'd still rather have him over Gasol.

There's a difference between flexibility and demanding to upgrade at every position, as LeBron did.

As I said, no one was demanding it. And there was a chance that with everyone coming off contract, except Norris Cole, that the big 3 could have not opted out, drafted, done what they had been doing the previous years, by getting vets at the minimum and through the mid level exception and been content had they won the championship and not lost in dominating fashion.

No matter what you say, all three opting out wasn't near a guarantee and certainly didn't have greater than 50/50 odds of happening prior to these finals. There wasn't even remotely a true fever, which is different from talk, of the three opting out prior to them losing the championship, and Lebron was the only one demanding whole sale change, as in an upgrade at every position, and even that came because of the finals lost.

Would they have stood pat? No. NO ONE has said that in this thread. But would everyone have had a meltdown big enough for the big three to feel they absolutely needed to opt out in order to re-tool had they not lost in the finals? Would Pat Riley needed to have had that press conference? I don't think so. As I said, I think if they had won, there was a very good chance that they might not have felt like they needed to opt-out. And even with you living in Miami and following the team, you couldn't have said the same either way with certainty before the finals loss.

No matter what, A LOT changed in a month. It put the big three on a course where they HAD to opt-out. Not talk of opt-out, not maybe opt-out, but HAD to opt-out. That's a course they had not been on prior to a month ago. At least not with any certainty. I don't think anyone could dispute that whether they live in Miami or Chicago or New York.

That finals changed a lot.

So, while I believe Bosh will stay. I won't completely trust a statement he made a month ago that had not taken into account a brutal finals loss. A statement he made when there was a good chance he wasn't going to opt-out. When the only changes that seemed to be needed were those that could be fixed through vet. minimum's, mid-level exceptions, and drafting. When Pat Riley didn't need to hold a post-finals press conference. And when LeBron wasn't asking for upgrades at EVERY position. I don't care what article or statements you find through all of the big three tenure, those things won't be taken into account. Those things happened this past month and they can't be ignored as if the big three opting out was always the plan and this was always going to happen.

How'd you come up with those odds?  I'm a 100% sure you pulled them out of the air. As Let It🩸 said Riley has a press conference at the end of every season. 

i'm sure Carmelo will eventually tear apart the Bulls if he does go to Chicago like he does with every team he's on but it'll be entertaining til then.

------

just saw on SportsCenter that in Lebron's 11 year career he's never been the highest paid player on any team he's been on, with the Cavs - Ben Wallace, Shaq and Larry Hughes made more money than him and the last four years in Miami, he and Chris Bosh have been tied with the highest salary.

God bless.