Team MHB

Ok. Yesterday we were successful in making a significant trade this off-season. The deal sending Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simeon, and a future conditional draft pick for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount.

Immediately we have improved our offense. But here is what makes the move even more productive: Pat Riley freed himself from Walker’s abomination of a contract. I still don’t know how Riles got that sold but here’s some prospect of what next off-season could look like as reported by the Miami Herald’s Michael Wallace (no, not the 60 minutes guy)

The Heat could have as much as $21 million in expiring contracts next summer, making it a potential bidder for a 2008 free agents crop that could include Gilbert Arenas, Ron Artest, Corey Maggette, Elton Brand, Baron Davis and Jermaine O’Neal.

Pat, you’ve done it again.

According to espn.com’s Mark Stein, The Heat are close to signing a deal that will bring Ricky Davis and Mark Blount in return for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, and Wayne Simeon.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3077037

Sources told ESPN.com that the Heat will soon complete a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire swingman Ricky Davis and center Mark Blount.

The latest incarnation of the deal, according to one source, has Miami sending Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac and Wayne Simien to the Wolves for Davis and Blount.

Mark Blount is no throw-in either ( I picked him up off waivers in my fantasy league last season). This guy had some great spurts last season with some impressive numbers. Consistency was his only problem and the possible trade could be the answer.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Could this be the end of Antoine Walker?

Let’s start with Dorell Wright. Reading mostly from what Ira Winderman has seen as well as personally seeing the Heat play against the Hawks, I don’t think he will be our starting small forward this season. The feeling is that his game compliments Wade’s so they are going to put him on the back-burner until Flash’s return. At the Hawks game, he was jump-shooting and shot-blocking. The latter resulting in him fouling out (he must’ve been hanging with Zo). When he chose to fire up mid-range jumpers instead of slashing to the basket, he was pulled. To get back in the mix he’s either got to develop a jump-shot or return to a high-flier and get to the rim as well as rely more on team defense rather than blocking shots (which is awesome when he does but also gets him into foul trouble).

If this were a RPG, Jason Williams would have the dexterity of negative 100. He walks the ball up court, fires up air-balls, misses layups, and somehow manages to strain, pull, or bruise something every couple of games. I definitely think he would be an excellent candidate for a bionic man experiment.  This season I am interested to see that if what the Heat camp has said about J-Will is true ( I posted the comment earlier), that he has gotten back to form from when he was with Memphis. I’m finding that hard to believe this preseason.

Smush Parker came here to give us help at the point. The role I could see him filling is a guard similar to Damon Jones. With Shaq in the middle and Flash on your side you have to improve your filed goal/3 point percentage. If he does fill a role like that he would be a better fit than Donkey was he won’t get posterized on defense ( I was at that game Bron Bron threw down on Damon, it was worse seeing it in person).  BTW Damon Jones earned the name Donkey by the way he followed around Shaq like Donkey does Shrek (aside from his Kool-Aid smile).

If I’m correct, this will be the first off-season Shaq has had to rest. Since being in the league he has always advanced deep into the playoffs. Not counting his off court dilemmas ,his wife and him are on the outs, his conditioning for a full season sound like it should be interesting. Adding the ability to have Zo help out with minutes should allow the Big Diesel to roll season long, we can only pray.    

Udonis Haslem. Finally some good news. Towards the end of last season Udonis was hurt and it showed. This pre-season he is showing that he’s healthy. That baseline jumpshot he has is there and he’s sinking them without Dwyane on the court, which was unheard of before. Look for UD to improve on his dependable 9 and 9 a game.

I was disappointed the other day when Pat Riley had called out Antoine Walker in the media. If you listen to the LeBatard show, I had re-written Limited-Fake-Pavoratti’s lyrics to reflect the current state of affairs in Toine’s world:

        Antoine no KFC

        Stick to your Slim Fast meals

Well anyway, the real fake guy (limited fake that is) just so happened to rewrite the song with fat boy lyrics and call in before I had the chance. Aside from all that I don’t expect anything from him. The only role I would suggest for him to fill is to stand in the corner and chuck 3 balls to spead our offense. He’ll sink a few.

Penny has impressed a number of onlookers. I have not seen him play yet but from what I’ve heard he’s in better shape to make the team than Allan Houston is to make the Knicks. I’m hoping this guy is our off-season gem. 

Out of our new recruits, I like Brian Chase, Devon Green, and Marcus Slaughter. Chase has a nice handle and shows a decent outside shot. Green shows decent fundamentals and Slaughter is a guy who can get up ( look for some alley-oops for him if he makes the squad).

Hopefully Wade can come back to us and return to Flash form, we desperately need him.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Riley pull one more move before the season starts. Towards the end of the Atlanta game, the Hawks stacked up in the middle and decided to let us try and shoot our way back into the lead. We failed miserably.

Gone our Kapono, EJ, and Posey. I don’t know if we have that guy to fill that void right now.

I’m sure you heard about Shaq scouting Brian Chase for Pat Riley. Here’s how it happened, courtesy of the Miami Herald:

The way O’Neal tells it, he was at Wizards All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas’ charity event this summer, when Chase caught O’Neal’s attention.

”I saw a little man go at Gilbert Arenas like I’ve never seen anybody go at Gilbert Arenas,” O’Neal said.

So O’Neal approached Arenas.

‘I said, `Hey, who’s that?’ ” O’Neal said. “[Arenas] said, `He’s about to sign with the Wizards.’

‘I said, `No, he ain’t.’ And I made the call.”

Article Courtesy of Chris Perkins for the Palm Beach Post

MIAMI — The summertime reports on oft-injured Heat guard Jason Williams were glowing. And as he zipped around the court with relative ease in Friday night’s intrasquad scrimmage, he again confirmed he was true to his rigorous off-season training program.

“I’m really pleased with him,” coach Pat Riley said. “I think he has been a standout this summer.”

The Heat had serious doubts about Williams’ health and durability after the season. While Riley wants his point guard to play at least 70 games, Williams has missed 23 and 21 games, respectively, in his two years in Miami. And frequently he was so hobbled it was counterproductive for him to practice.

“I’ve got to have somebody I can depend on and rely on,” Riley said. “And he understands this. He and I had this conversation. That’s why we went after (Milwaukee’s) Mo Williams.”

The Heat eventually addressed its concern about Jason Williams’ health by signing Smush Parker, a former Los Angeles Lakers point guard.

Jason Williams addressed the Heat’s concern by spending the summer working out 21/2 hours a day, five days a week. He worked on strengthening problem areas such as his knees, quadriceps and abdomen, all of which have caused him to miss games in the past two years.

So far it has worked. He now runs pain-free and walks without a limp. He has also lost 10 pounds and reduced his body fat percentage.

“He’s back to the Memphis J-Will,” guard Dwyane Wade said.

That would put Jason Williams on track to play 70-plus games, likely score somewhere between 10 and 14 points per game, and eclipse the hallowed 3-to-1 assists to turnovers ratio coveted by NBA point guards.

“I expect to play 82 (games),” said Williams, who added he feels the best he has felt in his career.

The Heat aren’t concerned about Williams’ talent. They’ve seen him run the offense with precision, both feeding the ball inside to center Shaquille O’Neal and keeping the ball moving around the perimeter. They remember him hitting his first 10 shots in Miami’s Eastern Conference title-winning Game 6 against Detroit in 2006. They recall the 14-assist, zero-turnover game last season.

Williams, who averaged 10.9 points per game last season while tying a career-best by shooting .413 from the field, also has proved adept as a three-point shooter, hitting at least 100 in each of his two years with the Heat.

If the Heat keeps him for the entire season and allows his contract to expire, that money is available to spend on a free agent next summer.

On the other hand, a good start by Williams makes him attractive trade bait for a team looking to cut salary for next season. In exchange, perhaps the Heat could land a veteran who could push their title hopes over the top.

“We’re not looking to trade him at all,” Riley said of Williams. “We just want to make sure we have him available. And he has been the one that has impressed me the most with his work ethic.”

Article exert courtesy of Ira Winderman at South Florida Sun Sentinel

MIAMI - Owner Micky Arison and center Shaquille O’Neal both took sarcastic note Friday of ESPN.com’s Mark Stein ranking the Heat 20th of the 30 NBA teams going into the preseason.

“I think it’s great,” Arison said, as he sat courtside at the team’s public scrimmage at AmericanAirlines Arena. “The more they insult Dwyane [Wade] and Shaq, the better it is. Get them angry.”

Asked about the ranking, O’Neal told 790 The Ticket, “Mark Stein has always been a stupid guy to me. I’m going to have fun making him look stupid.”

The Garnett trade left Minnesota with a surplus of shooting guards and small forwards — two positions where the Heat has been looking to add depth throughout the offseason.

The Heat’s interest likely centers on swingmen Ricky Davis and Trenton Hassell, veterans who apparently don’t fit in Minnesota’s plans to rebuild around a youthful nucleus of Al Jefferson, Gerald Green and former University of Florida star Corey Brewer.

Davis, 28, averaged 17.0 points, 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds last season and is due $6.8 million in the final year of his expiring contract. Hassell, 28, started 68 games last season as the Timberwolves’ top perimeter defender and has three seasons and $13 million left on his contract.

The Heat is in need of a perimeter scorer to fill in early for Dwyane Wade, who is expected to miss camp and at least the first two weeks of the regular season while he recovers from knee and shoulder surgeries.

For more info on Ricky Davis I recommend the following links:

Ricky Davis Is a Drinking Champion… - Fanhouse

Tricky Ricky in Miami? - Slam Online (Read the comments, they paint a better picture)

Amerikaz Most Hated - unlimited.nba.free.fr

Whatever Happened to Ricky Davis? - Sport Swag

 By the way, these were all found by simply going to Google and typing “Ricky Davis” and “Crazy”.

We don’t have any association with Habitat for Humanity but there charity work in the Gulf Coast relief effort has been amazing. If you get a minute and can spare a few bucks, check it out and do some good. Your Halo 3 party isn’t till later anyway so you’ve got some time!

 http://www.habitat.org/

http://www.habitat.org/gulfrecoveryeffort/

In lue of the bucks matching our offer sheet for point guard Charlie Bell, let’s look at their off season moves:

They draft a Chinese guy, Jianlian Yi who wants to play in a city with a large Chinese population.

They overpay Mo Williams to the tune of 6 years $51M dollars.

They re-sign Desmond Mason, who “felt angry and betrayed when he left Milwaukee less than two years ago.”

Refuse to offer Charlie Bell a $3M a year contract until the Heat offers him $18.5M over five years. Since he is a restricted free agent however, they have the right to match the Heat’s over and thus retained him. All of this done after Bell states he does not want to play in Milwaukee and they signed Royal Ivey to fill his postion.

Oh, it’s not over. Here are some comments the GM, Larry Harris made after matching our offer:

“It’s going to sound funny saying this, but some things that Mo Williams did with his contract, (he) made a great sacrifice for Charlie Bell. I think that says a lot without going into too much detail,” Harris said. “I give Mo a lot of credit. He did some things to help us do what we needed to today.”

 “The sun will shine here just as it does in Miami,” Harris said.