Desperation time in Miami? Mike Miller being shopped.

[nba is the worst]

I will laugh my butt off if Miller signs for significantly less to play with Miami than he could have gotten from other teams, only to see him chained to that smaller contract and shipped out to a non-contender.

Mike

As will I...



I'm waiting for the Perk for Miller ideas to start popping up  

JO for Miller works!!!  Talk about a dual-edged sword!

Think Miami bites? (I know they bite, I meant take the trade!)  

Funny - but I think the heatles know how bad JO is...

[wdleehi]

I don't get the "desperation time"



I see a team trying to fix a hole.



Is Boston in "desperation time" looking for a backup SF? 

[csfansince60s]

I don't get the "desperation time"



I see a team trying to fix a hole.



Is Boston in "desperation time" looking for a backup SF? 

I think that the situations are quite different. Boston is solid at the 1-5. It is only our depth (which was a strength at the beginning of the year and hopefully will be eventually) which is hurting right now.

Miami has not had a decent 1 or 5 on the roster all season. They are looking for a solid starter at either of those positions to plug a glaring hole in their starting line-up. We are not so desperate.


In addition, despite MM's injuries earlier, he has played in 22 games for them, giving them 39% from 3 land, approx 80% from the line and 5 rebounds per game. He is in effect their fourth best and 4th highest paid player.

If the Cs were to be shopping their 4th best player (take your pick as to whether that's RR or PP or RA or KG) or for that matter our 5th (Perk) or 6th (BBD) best player, I would say we were in great need, but perhaps not desperate.

Miami is desperate to live up to their self-created hype. Good luck to them! (Not really!!!)

[2short]

I'll trade them Nate for Miller.final offer

[wdleehi]

I don't get the "desperation time"



I see a team trying to fix a hole.



Is Boston in "desperation time" looking for a backup SF? 

I think that the situations are quite different. Boston is solid at the 1-5. It is only our depth (which was a strength at the beginning of the year and hopefully will be eventually) which is hurting right now.

Miami has not had a decent 1 or 5 on the roster all season. They are looking for a solid starter at either of those positions to plug a glaring hole in their starting line-up. We are not so desperate.


In addition, despite MM's injuries earlier, he has played in 22 games for them, giving them 39% from 3 land, approx 80% from the line and 5 rebounds per game. He is in effect their fourth best and 4th highest paid player.

If the Cs were to be shopping their 4th best player (take your pick as to whether that's RR or PP or RA or KG) or for that matter our 5th (Perk) or 6th (BBD) best player, I would say we were in great need, but perhaps not desperate.

Miami is desperate to live up to their self-created hype. Good luck to them! (Not really!!!)

They are looking to move an asset to improve a weakness.  


That's what teams do.  


They are trading a guy that is going to get the leftover minutes in the playoffs behind Wade and Lebron.  (so we are talking about 15 minutes or less) And they have another player capable of those minutes.  

[MBunge]

I don't get the "desperation time"



I see a team trying to fix a hole.



Is Boston in "desperation time" looking for a backup SF? 

I think the "desperation" comes from the fact that the Miami coach openly talked earlier in the season of how Miller would be on the floor at the end of games to help the Heat close things out.  That's how important he was supposed to be.  Heck, before the season began, plenty of posters here talked confidently about Miller starting with Wade or LeBron handling the PG duties.

Mike

[Cman]

No.  Why would Miami be desperate?  They're sitting atop the East, and are one of the best teams in the NBA.

[MBunge]

They are trading a guy that is going to get the leftover minutes in the playoffs behind Wade and Lebron.  (so we are talking about 15 minutes or less) And they have another player capable of those minutes.  

Which is why I never understood why Miami bothered with Miller at all, given their frontcourt weaknesses even when Haslem was healthy.

Mike

[nba is the worst]

No.  Why would Miami be desperate?  They're sitting atop the East, and are one of the best teams in the NBA.

Their 12-13 record vs current .500+ teams, 0-3 vs the Celtics, and the lone Christmas day win vs the league's top 6, should make them concerned, even if you don't want to go as far as 'desperate"

[the_Bird]

This shows one of the issues that you *knew* was present with how the roster is constructed - not a lot of pieces that can be trades under the current trade rules to make any changes.

I know this is something I posted about over the summer, but the Heat are more-or-less stuck with their current roster because they have so few medium-salary guys that they can plug in to make the numbers work, if they want to acquire an MLE-level player.  If they want to make a change, it's either a HUGE trade (Bosh), or giving up Miller.  It's hard to simply make the numbers work without trading Miller, since I don't see teams wanting anything with Joel Anthony at his contract.  

That leaves basically Miller and the injured Haslem (signed through '14-'15) as the only players that can make the dollars work.

[the_Bird]

They are trading a guy that is going to get the leftover minutes in the playoffs behind Wade and Lebron.  (so we are talking about 15 minutes or less) And they have another player capable of those minutes.  

Which is why I never understood why Miami bothered with Miller at all, given their frontcourt weaknesses even when Haslem was healthy.

Mike

Who were the bigs that they would have targeted with those monies?  Miller signed for about the same per-season as JO.  The premier free agent centers last season were who, Brendan Haywood (who signed for a lot more than Mike Miller) and...  well, help me remember.  Was Camby ever a free agent?  He signed for a fair amount more than Miller, and it seemed pretty clear he was staying in Portland. 

JO, I think, was about the best option for big men commanding $5M - $6M.  Not sure what Miami could have done much differently, Mike Miller was a good signing at the time, given the players who were available to them.

[Bankshot]

They are trading a guy that is going to get the leftover minutes in the playoffs behind Wade and Lebron.  (so we are talking about 15 minutes or less) And they have another player capable of those minutes.  

Which is why I never understood why Miami bothered with Miller at all, given their frontcourt weaknesses even when Haslem was healthy.

Mike

Because Miller had been an excellent all around player.  He can shoot, rebound and he's a great passer too.  I hope they do get rid of him and then he plays great after they trade him away.  I just think he needs time coming back from injury.  He'll probably be better next season.

[action781]

his contract makes him a terrible trade piece. no GM in their right mind would want him the way hes been playing and with 4 years left on the MLE. hes stuck there.

I dont know. To be honest I think his contract is quite alright. He signed for a bargain to play for the Heat when other teams were willing to give him 7 to 8, maybe even 9 mil a year over the same length. MLE for a guy who averages 13 points and 5 rebounds a game for his career along with 46% from the field and 40% from three while being a veteran presence who can play a vital sixth man role is pretty good for an MLE price.

I initially agreed with jsingh, but now that I think about it, he's really not too badly priced.  Look at Travis Outlaw, Francisco Garcia, Nocioni's original contract, etc.  Lots of role players similar or lower caliber of Miller in this league being paid in the vicinity of $2M more per season over 4 seasons.

[MBunge]

Who were the bigs that they would have targeted with those monies?  

They could have signed JO or Brad Miller. I don't think anyone could have forseen how much injuries would limit them this season.  I believe Louis Amundson and Amir Johnson were also available.

But who knows what big Riley could have sweet talked into coming to Miami if he'd made that a priority, instead of signing Joel Anthony and Big Z and calling it a day.

And I wonder how Raymond Felton would have looked in Miami?

Mike

[MBunge]

They are trading a guy that is going to get the leftover minutes in the playoffs behind Wade and Lebron.  (so we are talking about 15 minutes or less) And they have another player capable of those minutes.  

Which is why I never understood why Miami bothered with Miller at all, given their frontcourt weaknesses even when Haslem was healthy.

Mike

Because Miller had been an excellent all around player. 

But they had just signed the two best wing players in the league and had real question marks at center and PG.  Why spend what little cap room they had left on a back-up wing who won't play major minutes unless Miami plays Wade or LeBron out of their natural positions?

Mike