There’s a lot going on in the world of sports right now. We’ve got the U.S. advancing to the Round of 16 in the World Cup, Wimbledon going into its second week and Tiger returning in not so rare form at Colonial.
But what could be more exciting than free agency beginning in the NBA? Everything, you say. Well, in the nine months I’ve been gone I didn’t see any of you start a blog so you will read every damn last word I have to say about a sport that doesn’t start again for months.
The most intriguing matter in the NBA of course, is The Decision Part Deux: The Race for Lebron. The Miami Heat now appear to have pulled back into the lead for King James’ services after Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem opted out of their contracts. This frees up $55 million in cap space for the Heat to add free agents.
One would presume, however foolishly that Wade, Bosh and Haslem will be convinced to take substantial pay cuts to lure in another prime free agent (Carmelo Anthony) and convince Lebron to stay. Wade should see this pay cut less as a sacrifice or a slight and more as a statement of his value because, while there are certainly some teams stupid enough to pay him what he made for the Heat in 2013, teams that don’t have to rely on Star Wars theme nights to sell tickets would question paying him more than $10 million a year. And in the case of Udonis Haslem, I hope he got a least a handshake deal from Pat Riley because I think he may have just signed his own career death warrant.
The Heat will most likely be competing for Carmelo Anthony with the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and L.A. Lakers. The Bulls and Rockets can offer the most money, with the Bulls being the best fit, unless adding a terrible defender to the worst defensive team in the league is fitting.
The Lakers have the least realistic plan and hope to sign both Lebron and Carmelo by offering almost $10 million less than Kobe Bryant makes to partner the dynamic duo up with a 36-year-old who missed all of last season and a guy named Swaggy P. The only thing the Lakers have in their favor is the offer to Lebron, Carmelo or both to name their own head coach, because apparently, coaching is the last piece of any championship puzzle.
Anthony’s current team, the New York Knicks, have obtained Jose Calderon and set their sights on poaching Laker free agent Pau Gasol in order to entice Anthony. Does Carmelo have some sort of affinity for Spaniards that only Phil Jackson knows about? I know his wife’s name is LaLa but I don’t think its Spanish, it’s just stupid.
This should all make for an interesting few weeks or not, depending on your perspective. But its better than watching a bunch of dudes chase a white ball around for 90 minutes.
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