Tag Archive for: Goran Dragic Hassan Whiteside

Miami Heat

Heat Show Resolve in Wild Open to Free Agency

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The voices of doubt crept into Heat territory after a few lackluster off-seasons.

Questioning of the Riley way.

Dismissal of Heat Culture as a burden not a springboard.

Those voices now must remain quiet, in order to catch their breath.

This team was deemed unsalvageable and lost by local and national media alike.

Now they have done this.

The mutual interests of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat were an open secret.

In seasons past that smoke would not turn into fire.

Miami did their best to lure free agents such as Gordon Hayward to Heat Nation.

They just had something missing.

Fast forward to the present and Butler used his leverage to get out of Philly, despite new reports he had a 5-year max offer.

 

Butler wanted to be the number one guy, rightfully so.

The Heat needed that exact piece and made it happen.

It wasn’t smooth sailing by any means.

 

Dallas did not want to add Goran Dragic, instead vying for Derick Jones, Jr and Kelly Olynyk.

Meanwhile, J-Rich was already ditching Heat Culture for some cheese steaks (there’s a joke in here somewhere).

 

In the end it will be mostly forgotten, a slightly embarrassing footnote to an otherwise fantastic deal.

Which would eventually get done.

Within the same deal and lost in the Butler frenzy is a trade that Heat fans have been longing for since 2016.

Miami dealt Hassan Whiteside to Portland for Meyers Leonard and Mo Harkless.

They then flipped Harkless and a future first rounder to the Clippers to free up cap space for Butler.

Andy Elisburg is still the GOAT.

Dallas might regret losing Dragic, and he will be perfect for the same role next year as last.

If he isn’t traded next.

 

Regardless, the Heat have returned to relevance quickly, shedding bloat and keeping the young core mostly intact.

And they may not be done.

Don’t bet on Heat getting opt out help

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With the exception of the surprising return of Dwyane Wade — once from the icy depths of Cleveland and once from the brink of retirement — nothing Heat fans have hoped for has happened of late.

The Jimmy Butler deal? Nah.

A big move at the 2018 trade deadline? Nope.

Getting in the playoffs or getting higher in the lottery standings? Uh uh. Miami ended up in the worst possible in between position.

Benefiting from some lottery luck? Course not.

So the latest hope trafficking — sorry @Lefty_Leif of Miami Heat Beat for stealing the reference — has concerned the chance that Hassan Whiteside ($27 million) and Goran Dragic ($19.2 million) could opt out of the last season of their contracts and free up cap space for the Heat go get a star.

That, essentially, two players who were benched for parts of this season (Dragic after an injury and Whiteside because of the ascension of Bam Adebayo) would help the Heat out of its mess. 

This notion resurfaced this week from the nether regions of Twitter, and started to make the rounds. Even I have made the case that Dragic could consider this, since he’s 32 years old and his family loves Miami — so maybe he would be open to opting out to take a team-friendly 3-year deal that gives him a little more security.

But after poking around some Wednesday, and connecting with someone very close to one of the two players, and with a knowledge of the Heat’s situation, I’m not going to sell this line to any Heat fans anymore. It just doesn’t appear to be in the cards. That source said there was “zero chance” that Dragic or Whiteside would opt out.

“Believe me.”

I’m gonna believe that.

And so should you.