Wednesday, July 9, 2008

What Signing James Jones means for Miami

The recent acquisition of James Jones by the Miami Heat seems like a great move, until you see the amount of money he signed for. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this guy. Growing up in Miami I remember watching him at the U and loved him. The issue with this signing isn't the player, but what signing this player means. Signing Jones does not leave very much money to sign a center and a point guard, which are our biggest needs, and everyone knows it. However, we aren't the New York Knicks here. Were not signing a bunch of good players regardless of what we need (see Knicks guards), and hoping that they will somehow form a formidable lineup with a fluid rotation, all while ruining these players' careers due to the playing time they now have to share with the rest of the good players at their position. We've got Pat Riley at the helm, and he knows exactly what he's doing. So what is the meaning of all this?

This means that there is probably some kind of trade being worked out that people do not know about, and I can tell you that it probably has to do with Shawn Marion and/or Udonis Haslem. When asked about the move for Jones, Riley alluded to "future moves" possibly being made. This is not a certainty by any means, but wouldn't it be such a Pat Riley thing to do?

One rumor I have heard (it hurts to type this), is a trade involving Shawn Marion and Udonis Haslem for Ron Artest and Brad Miller, with some other little pieces involved. Talk about a risk.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Artest is a great player, one of the most uniquely and broadly skilled in the league, but he's also a locker room killer, and not a center or point guard (as you rightly point out, two need positions).

Chalmers has been very impressive so far in the summer league, but we need a solid backup. The problem, as Riley mentioned, is that the list of available centers and point guards isn't very enticing - do the prospects of Kwame Brown, Jannero Pargo, or Keyon Dooling really make anyone salivate?

That is Riles' dilemma, and I'm not so sure how easily solvable it is.

Andrew said...

we don't have a back up PG... What about Marcus Banks, EJ!?!

That's my feeble attempt at sarcasm.

But I agree, we need to stick with our needs and it really does seem like Riles is looking long-term.