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Just got this from the Orlando Sentinel:
The chase to win the next NBA championship is on.
Don’t follow the bouncing basketballs. Keep your eye on the stack of cash.
It is Game On for the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, looking to unseat the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference. (Sorry Celtics, but your run is over). Rasheed Wallace is retiring, and I don’t see Doc Rivers coming back, giving the East champs a completely different look.
The Magic have reason to be afraid. Very afraid.
Each team is dumping salaries and freeing up their rosters to make a run at multiple free agents, all with max contracts. How would you like a heat lineup with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh? Or A Chicago lineup with Derrick Rose, James and Bosh?
The Heat traded their No. 18 first-round pick and guard Daequan Cook for Oklahoma City’s No. 32 selection in the second round, adding another $3.4 million in added salary-cap space, As it stands, Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers are the only two Heat players who could be under contract when the free agency period begins July 1.
And they have cleared more than $45 million in salary cap space. And they have an advantage in signing Wade because of the Larry Bird Exception, which allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents up to the player’s maximum salary.
That means that signing all three studs is very doable.
Over in Chicago, the Bulls are also working hard to dump players. They cleared up salary cap room by agreeing to trade veteran guard Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick in the draft to the Washington Wizards on Thursday.
The Wizards can take Hinrich _ and his $9 million salary next season _ without having to copenstate Chicago with a player or draft pick of similar value.
Chicago now has $30 million in salary cap space, but don’t have to worry about re-signing their superstar, Rose.
Obviously, this is all going to be about ego management as well. I’m not so sure that James is willing to be buddy-buddy with D-Wade in Miami. If both play in South Florida, it will be Wade’s team, and James becomes his high-priced sidekick. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant have the rings to prove that it can work, but there is also much acrimonious spittle between both of them. Just look up Shaq’s “Kobe, How Does My A** Taste?” video.
How this shakes out will obviously determine whether there will be a power shift in the league, seriously impacting the Magic.
As with everything, just follow the money trail.
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