Desperation time in Miami? Mike Miller being shopped.

[BballTim]

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

  How would Felton look in Miami with LBJ and Wade handling the ball all the time? Not so great...

[wdleehi]

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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

[BballTim]

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 they clearly had a need for someone who could spread the floor. They envisioned Miller draining open threes all day while teams collapsed into the paint to stop LBJ/Wade.

[CelticG1]

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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

They used the MLE on Miller didn't they?

[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

  How would Felton look in Miami with LBJ and Wadce handling the ball all the time? Not so great...

A lot better than either Arroyo or Chalmers, even if Spolstra remained too much of a wussy to make Wade or LeBron play nice with others.

Mike

[the_Bird]

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

As was noted, it was virtually impossible for them to sign JO since they had renounced his rights.  He wasn't THAT good for them even when he was healthy.  We signed him to be a backup, they would have been looking to him to be their started.

If they signed Brad Miller instead of Mike Miller...  yeah, they'd still be looking to improve that position.  

[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

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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

They used the MLE on Miller didn't they?

Teams with cap space don't have the MLE.  They squeezed him in with the little cap space they had left.  Didn't the big 3 take a tiny bit less than the max so they'd have room to sign M.Miller?

[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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

If they got Haslem and Miller to sign for under market value, why couldn't they have gotten Haywood to do the same?  We'll never know because there's no evidence Miami even bothered to try and get a quality big.

Mike

[soap07]

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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

If they got Haslem and Miller to sign for under market value, why couldn't they have gotten Haywood to do the same?  We'll never know because there's no evidence Miami even bothered to try and get a quality big.

Mike

I don't think their big men are all that bad. If a combo Dampier/Z/Joel Anthony/Haslem is the weakest point on your team, that's not a bad problem to have.

Additionally, Miller really has started to come on as of late. I'd love to see Miami trade him so they get worse.

[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 they clearly had a need for someone who could spread the floor. They envisioned Miller draining open threes all day while teams collapsed into the paint to stop LBJ/Wade.

You sign guys like Eddie House and James Jones to spread the floor.  You don't give a guy a 5 year, 30 million dollar deal to spread the floor, especially when the best center on your roster is Joel Freakin' Anthony.

Mike

[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

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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

If they got Haslem and Miller to sign for under market value, why couldn't they have gotten Haywood to do the same?  We'll never know because there's no evidence Miami even bothered to try and get a quality big.

Mike

Haywood signed for like $10M a year, didn't he?  I don't think it's reasonable to assume that just because Miller and Haslem signed below-market contracts, EVERY free agent would have been willing to leave money on the table.

Haslem's seems like a very loyal guy, who basically gave them a hometown discount.

Mike Miller had spent two or three years playing for some of the league's absolute worst franchises.  I can understand why he would be willing to leave a little money on the table to go someplace where he could be relevant again.

Haywood signed pretty early, and he went to play for a [dang] good team himself.  

Besides, look at Haywood's numbers this season.  He's not even playing 20 minutes a game.  Would he really have been the answer?

Let's not get too revisionist, here.  Mike Miller wasn't the Heat's most pressing need last summer, but he was the best player they could have gotten for the few dollars they had to spend.  

[soap07]

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 they clearly had a need for someone who could spread the floor. They envisioned Miller draining open threes all day while teams collapsed into the paint to stop LBJ/Wade.

You sign guys like Eddie House and James Jones to spread the floor.  You don't give a guy a 5 year, 30 million dollar deal to spread the floor, especially when the best center on your roster is Joel Freakin' Anthony.

Mike

Are you serious? Spreading the floor is just one of Miller's many abilities. Passing, rebounding, good scorer...

House/Jones are one-dimensional.

[CelticG1]

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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

They used the MLE on Miller didn't they?

Teams with cap space don't have the MLE.  They squeezed him in with the little cap space they had left.  Didn't the big 3 take a tiny bit less than the max so they'd have room to sign M.Miller?

I guess it doesn't really matter either way but yeah this was a terrible signing from the very start

[RebusRankin]

Who could they get?

[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

Who were they going to sign?


Shaq?  Too many burned bridges between him and Lebron/Wade

JO?  They renounced him.  That makes it much harder to get him to resign.

Who's left?  They didn't have the MLE correct?  They had cap space.  


They got Hasslem to sign for an under market contract to fit him in.  Same with Miller.  

If they got Haslem and Miller to sign for under market value, why couldn't they have gotten Haywood to do the same?  We'll never know because there's no evidence Miami even bothered to try and get a quality big.

Mike

I don't think their big men are all that bad. If a combo Dampier/Z/Joel Anthony/Haslem is the weakest point on your team, that's not a bad problem to have.

Those 3 average a combined 51 minutes a game, with 9.2 points and 11.2 rebounds.

Shaq and Perk average 47 minutes a game, with 16.6 points and 13 rebounds.  Heck, Semih averages more a game than Dampier and Anthony put together.

Mike