Pat Riley and Dwyane Wade have decisions to make.
Escorted out of the playoffs by a hungrier, more athletic, and more talented Atlanta Hawks team, the Miami Heat begins looking to next year. But will next year be any different?
Miami will have 11 players under contract next season: Dwyane Wade, Jermaine O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, James Jones, Daequan Cook, Dorell Wright, Chris Quinn, Yakhouba Diawara, and Mark Blount. Expected to be roughly $12 million over the cap, the Heat is limited to the Mid-Level Exception for any meaningful free-agent signings. However…
POTENTIAL LUXURY TAX DILEMMA
With the salary cap expected to decrease next season, the luxury tax is also expected to lower to approximately $68 million. If the Heat wants to stay under the tax threshold, not only can’t it use its MLE to sign anyone new, but it’ll need to shed about $3.5 million by trading off one or more of its existing players and replacing them minimum salaries. Assuming the Heat is able to find an interested cap-friendly team, potential roster casualties include:
* DORELL WRIGHT ($2,887,165 salary in 2009-2010): minus brief flashes and summer league statistics, Wright hasn’t lived up to his potential with the Heat. A lot is due to injury and Miami’s glut of players at his position, so maybe another team would be interested in the athletic wing. His is an expiring contract, so taking him isn’t much of a commitment. If Miami cuts ties with Wright, it would likely need to find a home for either Cook, Quinn, or Diawara as well in order to sneak under the tax threshold.
* JAMES JONES ($4,330,000 salary in 2009-2010): Jones’s season was derailed by a wrist injury before it got started, so he was never really able to earn his keep. But he’s still accurate from behind the arc, money from the charity stripe, and a decent defender. His contract is expensive compared to his production, but it has a team option after 2009-2010, so if anyone takes him, they can cut ties at the end of the season.
* UDONIS HASLEM ($7,100,000 salary in 2009-2010): Haslem provides the hard work, consistency, and leadership that make him a great compliment for a championship team. Like Charles Oakley and PJ Brown before him, Haslem is a Riley-guy, but sloughing off his salary puts the Heat well under the luxury tax threshold, allows Beasley to move into the 4-spot, Jones to move into the starting lineup, and a smattering of one-year veteran contracts to help the Heat compete next season.
The decreasing salary cap could also put a damper on the potential free agent bonanza planned for the 2010 off-season. If you were Pat Riley, how would you proceed?
Tags: Dorell Wright, Dwyane Wade, James Jones, Miami Heat, NBA Free Agency, Udonis Haslem