Mega Trio In Miami - Yes We Did

source: heat.com

The Mega Trio have officially signed today, with both LeBron James and Chris Bosh coming to Miami through a pair of sign-and-trade transactions. All 3 of them took paycuts. James and Bosh each signed a 6-year, $110.1 million contract with their original team, while Wade signed a 6-year, $107.5 million contract with the Heat ...

Since James and Bosh did not come to the Heat as free agents, it will be interesting to see how the Heat take advantage of this (well, the Heat did pay the price and gave away 6 draft picks) and bring in more free agents. They are now in the process of signing Mike Miller, and their own free agent Udonis Haslem. And they are looking to add Jason Williams, Matt Barnes and Derek Fisher ...

The sign-and-trade between the New York Knicks and the Golden State Warriors has completed. The Warriors will pay David Lee $80 million over 6 years, while the Knicks will get Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf ...

New Signings:
1) Tyrus Thomas (Charlotte Bobcats) ... 5-year, $40 million
2) Kyle Korver (Chicago Bulls) ... 3-year, $15 million
3) Brian Cook (Los Angeles Clippers) ... 2-year, $2.5 million
4) Matt Bonner (San Antonio Spurs) ... a 4-year contract

Other News:
1) Anthony Morrow (New Jersey Nets) ... 3-year, $12 million offer sheet
2) J.J. Redick (Chicago Bulls) ... 3-year, $20 million offer sheet
3) The Knicks are close to signing Raymond Felton ...

Mega Trio In Miami - How About 3 + 1 = 4

Heat president Pat Riley has just pulled off another amazing deal about an hour ago. The Miami Heat have (finally) traded Michael Beasley, their No.2 overall draft choice in 2008, to the Minnesota Timberwolves to create another $4.9 million in cap space to sign yet another team USA member Mike Miller to a 5-year, $30 million contract. Even though the Miami Heat have only 5 players under contract as of this moment, 4 of them were actually team USA members ...

source: mikemiller33

The Mike Miller signing wasn't as easy as some of you might think. The New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Clippers were about to overpay Miller to make sure they would get at least something this summer. Pat Riley predicted all this, and gave Miller the $30 million offer with a deadline of yesterday night. He basically didn't let the Knicks and the Clippers enough time to make better offers or counter-offers to the one he gave Miller, and also forced Miller to take the opportunity of playing with 3 other team USA members before Riley gives it to someone else ...

For the work that Pat Riley has done so far, maybe we should just give him the next 5 NBA Executive of the Year Awards ...

Mega Trio In Miami - Helps Are Coming

Don't ever underestimate the Miami Heat's chance for an NBA title just as soon as this coming 2010-2011 NBA season. Let me be the first to breakdown who might be on their way to join the Mega Trio in Miami next year ...

PG: Jamaal Tinsley, Rafer Alston, Carlos Arroyo, Royal Ivey, Chris Quinn, Kevin Ollie, Anthony Johnson, Jason Williams, Travis Diener, Earl Boykins, Allen Iverson

SG: Larry Hughes, Devin Brown, Michael Finley, Luther Head, Bobby Brown, Jerry Stackhouse, Keith Bogans, Tracy McGrady

SF: Joey Graham, Devean George, Steve Novak, Sasha Pavlovic, Bobby Simmons, Rodney Carney, Dominic McGuire, Ime Udoka, Cartier Martin

PF: Joe Smith, Brian Scalabrine, Shelden Williams, Tim Thomas, Malik Allen, Anthony Tolliver, Josh Powell, Shavlik Randolph, Earl Barron, Louis Amundson, Sean May, Juwan Howard, Fabricio Oberto, James Singleton

C: Jason Collins, Theo Ratliff, Johan Petro, Ben Wallace, Brian Skinner, D.J. Mbenga, Jamaal Magloire, Primoz Brezec, Tony Battie, Jarron Collins, Francisco Elson, Ian Mahinmi, Rasho Nesterovic, Patrick O'Bryant

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I know the list is really long, but this is exactly the point I'm trying to make here. Now let me give you a shorter and detailed version ...

PG: Jason Williams (Wade won his last championship with him and have called him already ...)

PG: Travis Diener (Wade went to Final Four with him ...)

PG: Rafer Alston / Carlos Arroyo / Kevin Ollie (all good backup point guards ...)

PG: Allen Iverson (Pat Riley wanted him last season and if he doesn't mind signing for the minimum ...)

SG: Michael Finley / Jerry Stackhouse (I don't see how they are not coming to Miami ...)

SG: Keith Bogans (well, he was good and smart enough to start for the San Antonio Spurs last season ...)

SG: Larry Hughes / Tracy McGrady (only if they don't mind signing for the minimum ...)

SF: Steve Novak (Wade went to Final Four with him and he's a 6'-10" deadly shooter with unlimited range ...)

SF: Joey Graham (he started a playoff game for the Denver Nuggets last season ... )

SF: Ime Udoka (he, too, played for the San Antonio Spurs just 2 seasons ago ...)

PF: Josh Powell / Louis Amundson (they both played in the Western Conference Finals 6 weeks ago ...)

PF: James Singleton / Anthony Tolliver / Earl Barron / Shavlik Randolph (what can I say, they are just good ...)

PF: Juwan Howard / Joe Smith / Malik Allen / Fabricio Oberto (another playoff run?)

C: Ben Wallace / Rasho Nesterovic / Theo Ratliff (another playoff run?)

C: Tony Battie / Brian Skinner (they still can play ...)

C: Ian Mahinmi / D.J. Mbenga (give them a chance to start for a playoff team please ...)

Mega Trio In Miami - How It Happened

It's now official! We will have a mega team in Miami next season. It is supposed to be huge that LeBron James has decided to play for the Miami Heat along with team USA teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. If everyone has been following the news in the past 24 hours, however, knew this is his decision all along ...

If he weren't going to the Miami Heat, why would he schedule a party in Miami tonight? And why would the police department plan to send an extra squad working around LeBron James' house tonight if he were to stay in Cleveland? Not only did we know, but also everyone knew even before he said it live on ESPN. It is just the matter of whether you wanted to accept the truth or not until now ...

The news of course broke many hearts in Cleveland and New York. The Cavaliers can't keep their own superstar in Cleveland, and this essentially ends all of their playoff / championship hopes. And there are news reporting that fans in Cleveland were seen burning LeBron James' jersey right after his free agency announcement. The New York Knicks, on the other hand, got their brilliant plan stolen by Pat Riley and the Miami Heat. Not only did they complete it, but also they did it 10 times better ...

The Miami Heat ended up having, not just 2, all 3 superstars in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Heat president Pat Riley also didn't trash the whole team for 2 full NBA seasons like the New York Knicks' way, allowing the team to make the NBA playoffs in each of their past 2 seasons. Once the NBA playoffs are finished, he traded Daequan Cook to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and completed the buyout of James Jones' contract to give the Heat enough cap room for possibly 3 superstar free agents. (Yes, he structured the contract this way 2 years ago to give himself a chance to do this ...)

Then, I really don't know how he did it, he talked Joel Anthony to opt-out of his contract for next season to give the Heat another $0.9 million to spend this summer. You have to really appreciate the work that Pat Riley has done this past month and the past 2 seasons in order to make everything happened today. Like Kevin Garnett said, "Anything is possible!"

source: espn.com

2010 NBA Free Agency - Mega Trio In Miami

LeBron James will announce his free agency decision at 9pm ET on ESPN tonight. Even though it is pretty much a done deal that James will join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, everyone is still busy making phone calls ...

On James' side, their people are calling players and agents around the league to see who will indeed join the Mega Trio in Miami for just the veteran minimum. On the Miami Heat side, team president Pat Riley is still discussing different trade scenarios that will send Michael Beasley to the Charlotte Bobcats to create another $5 million in cap room for another LeBron James' buddy Mike Miller. The offer on the table is $27-$30 million over 5 years, with a deadline of Thursday night. And as for Dwyane Wade, he is trying his best to bring ex-Heat starting point guard Jason Williams back for another run in Miami ...

With the belief that the Miami Heat has successfully pulled off Mega Trio plan ...

1) The Toronto Raptors have signed Denver's restricted free agent Linas Kleiza to a 4-year, $18.8 million offer sheet.

2) The New Jersey Nets have signed Travis Outlaw to a 5-year, $35 million contract and now have their sight set on Luis Scola.

3) The Boston Celtics have signed Jermaine O'Neal to a 2-year, $12 million contract.

4) The Dallas Mavericks have re-signed Brendan Haywood to a 6-year, $55 million contract.

5) The New York Knicks will proceed with their sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors (David Lee for Anthony Randolph) if LeBron James decides not to join the Knicks tonight.

2010 NBA Free Agency - Mega Trio In Miami

People in Miami can finally breathe easy as Chris Bosh has chosen the Miami Heat over the Chicago Bulls today. We're not sure if his decision has anything to do with the fact that there is no income tax in the state of Florida, but he has already agreed to sign with the Miami Heat and will not change his mind ...

Dwyane Wade has said it yesterday that if Chris Bosh decides to sign with the Miami Heat, he will re-sign with them also. This is exactly what happened today. And it is reported that LeBron James was on his way flying to Miami to meet with Heat president Pat Riley after Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh told him about their decisions over a conference call earlier today ...

source: thecanadianpress

With Chris Bosh going to the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls have quickly gone to plan B and signed Carlo Boozer to a 5-year, $80 million contract. After his commitment to the Chicago Bulls, he, too, reached out to LeBron James. But before the Bulls have a chance to overpay Ray Allen to pry him from re-signing with the Boston Celtics, they have agreed to a 2-year, $20 million deal that will keep the Big 3 in Boston intact. Now the Celtics are in the process of getting Jermaine O'Neal to join them ...

Knowing that they are about to lose out on LeBron James, the New York Knicks are considering a sign-and-trade deal that will send David Lee to the Golden States Warriors for team USA invitee Anthony Randolph. Let's imagine the pairing of Amare Stoudemire and Anthony Randolph playing under Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun system ...

Even though Kevin Durant is not one of this year's free agents, he has agreed to a 5-year, $86 million contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder. And ex-Chicago Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro has agreed to coach the Los Angeles Clippers next year, that feature Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordon ...

2010 NBA Free Agency - Superstars Update

It has been reported that LeBron James wants Chris Bosh to join him in Cleveland but Bosh doesn't like the idea of playing in Cleveland and wants James to join him in Miami or Chicago instead. Chris Bosh has made it clear since day 1 that he doesn't want to go to a place where he will have to play center, and Cleveland certainly is one of those places. The Cleveland Cavaliers currently have no center under contract, and will send their only big man Anderson Varejao to the Toronto Raptors to make the sign-and-trade work ...

It is expected that Carmelo Anthony will accept the Denver Nuggets' 3-year, $65 million contract extension this summer, but it definitely will not be this week since he's getting married in New York this coming Saturday. The Denver Nuggets are now holding their breath because who knows what will happen after the Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh announce their decisions on Thursday ...

After the Orlando Magic signed Chris Duhon to a 4-year, $15 million contract on Tuesday, we have 13 signings thus far in the first 6 days of this year free agent frenzy ...

1) Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies) ... 5-year, $81.6 million
2) Darko Milicic (Minnesota Timberwolves) ... 4-year, $20 million
3) Drew Gooden (Milwaukee Bucks) ... 5-year, $32 million
4) John Salmons (Milwaukee Bucks) ... 5-year, $39 million
5) Amir Johnson (Toronto Raptors) ... 5-year, $34 million
6) Channing Frye (Phoenix Suns) ... 5-year, $30 million
7) Hakim Warrick (Phoenix Suns)... 4 year, $18 million
8) Steve Blake (Los Angeles Lakers) ... 4-year, $16 million
9) Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics) ... 4-year, $61 million
10) Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) ... 4-year, $80 million
11) Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks) ... 6-year, $123.7 million
12) Amare Stoudemire (New York Knicks) ... 5-year, $100 million
13) Chris Duhon (Orlando Magic) ... 4 year, $15 million

2010 NBA Free Agency - More Superstar Signings

Some of the top free agents are finally signed as we are now 5 days into the 2010 NBA free agency period. The Boston Celtics have re-signed the 32 years old Paul Pierce to a 4-year, $61 million contract. With coach Doc Rivers also agreed to return for next season, the Boston Celtics are looking forward to keeping the whole team intact and re-signing Ray Allen this week ...

The Dallas Mavericks have re-signed Dirk Nowitzki to a 4-year, $80 million contract. He was eligible for a max contract worth $96 million over 4 years but decided to take less to give the Mavericks more cap room to sign other free agents. To make sure he will finish his NBA career in Dallas, his contract includes a no-trade clause ...

The Atlanta Hawks have finally re-signed Joe Johnson to a 6-year max contract worth $119 million. The offer was on table since the first day of free agency, but Johnson did not commit to it right away even though he had an awful playoff performance just a couple of months ago ...

After 4 strikes (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson), the New York Knicks have signed Amare Stoudemire to a 5-year max contract worth $99.7 million. There was no question that the Knicks would at least get Stoudemire in this year's free agency as they were the only team willing to pay him max money. When he met with the media today, he said "The Knicks are back!!!" ...

source: espn.com