ESPN 760 - The Palm Beaches Sports Leader

The summer of 2009 NOT 2010

Jun 27, 2009 -- 11:39am

Listen to D-Wade, the time is now, not later!

Now that the draft is over with, here is what I would do if I were Pat Riley:

I would call the Houston Rockets and offer up Jermaine O’Neal and his $23 million contract for Tracy McGrady’s $23 million deal. Why would the Rockets do it? Houston made a deep run into the post season last year without T-Mac and have been informed that Yao Ming is likely out for a significant period of time. Rather than playing Luis Scola as an undersized 5, get O’Neal, keep Scola at 4 and re-sign Artest to go along with Battier and Aaron Brooks. O’Neal becomes a great Yao fill in and then when Yao returns you have a 3-big rotation of Yao, JO and Scola.

Then I would go for the franchise changer. Despite the fact that Chris Bosh’s expiring $15 million deal allows him to test free agency in 2010, I would roll the dice and bring him to Miami. In order to get Bosh you would have to give up a potential future all star player in Michael Beasley and a lethal shooter in Daequan Cook along with the expiring $8 million contract of Mark Blount in order to get it done. Why would Toronto do it? They are going to lose to Bosh after this upcoming season anyway so why not move him for a player in Beasley that you can pair with former #1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani to build an athletic frontline that can score with anyone? In addition they just traded Jason Kapono, Cook would be a perfect replacement.

So what would this do for the Heat? It would give them an amazing chance to win it all this season if T-Mac is healthy. A 3-headed monster of Wade, Bosh and McGrady is as good as any trio in the league. Those deals likely get Wade to re-sign this summer before the season actually begins. In addition it should give you a better chance of re-signing Bosh long term because you would give him a taste of what it’s like to play with Wade in Miami for a Pat Riley run team. In addition, McGrady is going to search for that next big deal and with Battier and Artest in the mix,it would be more difficult for him to succeed in Houston. In addition the Heat would still not have a dollar guaranteed to anyone for the 2010-11 season. They would likely need to add to their bench but their team would look like this:

PG – Chalmers, Quinn, Beverly

SG – Wade, Jones

C – Bosh, Anthony

SF – McGrady, Moon, Diawara

PF – Haslem, Wright, Dozier

In addition there are some lower level free agents that the Heat could consider on one year deals. All of the following are guys in their 20's who were first round picks:

Chris Wilcox

Robert Swift

Sean May

Dahntay Jones

Kwame Brown

Chris Mihm

Rodney Carney

Thoughts?

heat offseason

(See 4 Comments | Post a Comment)

To draft or not to draft...

Jun 25, 2009 -- 7:30pm

DRAFT:

Blake Griffin

Johnny Flynn

Gerald Henderson

Terrence Williams

Danny Green

Taj Gibson

DON'T DRAFT:

James Harden

Jrue Holiday

DeMar DeRozen

Brandon Jennings

I'M NOT SURE IF YOU SHOULD DRAFT:

Ricky Rubio

Tyreke Evans

Hasheem Thabeet

Stephen Curry

nba draft

(See 2 Comments | Post a Comment)

Shaq-O-Lution of a trade

Jun 15, 2009 -- 3:17pm

When the Lakers shipped Shaquille O’ Neal to Miami they received Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom and a future 1^st round pick in return. The Heat won a title with Shaq and thus nobody could complain about the trade here in South Florida.

It’s fascinating to examine the evolution of this trade and what both teams are left with.

The Heat took Shaq and flipped him to Phoenix for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks and then took Marion and Banks and shipped them to Toronto for Jermaine O’Neal, Jamario Moon and a future 1^st round pick. So all in all it became Odom, Grant , Butler and what amounted to be Jordan Farmar for Jermaine O’ Neal and Jamario Moon with a Shaq in between.

The Lakers have kept Odom, they cut Grant and drafted Farmar with the Heat’s pick. After one year they took Butler and moved him along with Chucky Atkins to Washington for Kwame Brown and Laron Profit. The Brown expirement didn’t last long as he was ousted along with Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol and 1^st round picks in 2008 (Donte Green who was traded from Memphis to Houston to Sacramento in a deal for Ron Artest ) and 2010 in exchange for Pau Gasol and a 2010 2^nd round pick. So all in all it became Shaq for Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Jordan Farmer.

I think the Heat would have no problem trading Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon for Gasol, Odom and Farmar.

shaq for pau

(See 1 Comment | Post a Comment)

Water Skiing

Jun 12, 2009 -- 3:17pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z91I2OtJgDA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fneswsports%2Ecom%2F2009%2F06%2F12%2Fdwyane%2Dwade%2Dautograph%2Dsession%2Dprank%2Dwater%2Dskiing%2Daccident%2Dvideo%2F&feature=player_embedded

dwade is funny

(See 3 Comments | Post a Comment)

Flo - Rida

Jun 04, 2009 -- 10:42am

How good of a sports state do we have? Look at what we have done in pro sports since 1995:

Miami Heat : 2006 NBA Champs

Florida Marlins: 1997 and 2003 World Series Champs

Florida Panthers: 1996 Stanley Cup Finals

Tampa Bay Bucs: 2003 Super Bowl Champs

Tampa Bay Rays: 2008 World Series

Tampa Bay Lightning: 2004 Stanley Cup Champs

Orlando Magic: 1995 and 2009 NBA Finals

The only pro teams in our state to not make a final round of their respective sports since 1995 are the Dolphins and Jaguars.

There may not be a better state in that time when factoring in all teams within the state and their success.

right round

(See 6 Comments | Post a Comment)

Closer Than You Think

May 31, 2009 -- 10:54am

Wade James

Titles 1 0

Finals 1 1

EC Finals 2 2

Playoffs 5 4

Finals MVP 1 0

Playoff ppg 25.7 29.4

Playoff rpg 5.3 8.3

Playoff apg 5.9 8.3

Reg. ppg 25.2 27.5

Reg rpg 4.9 7.0

Reg. apg 6.7 6.7

Reg. MVP 0 1

All Star Games 5 5

Teammates in ASG 3 2

avg of 2nd scorer 17.7 15.9

lebron vs wade

(See 2 Comments | Post a Comment)

MLB TV Analyst Sean Casey with Evan

Newschannel 5 Sports Anchor Ryan Lieber w/ Evan

West Virginia University Head Football Coach Bill Stewart w/ Evan

University of Illinois Head Football Coach Ron Zook w/ Evan