For much of the past week, discussion on this website has been centered around the theoretical acquisition of Oklahoma City’s first professional superstar, Chris Paul. And while the debate has raged between those who agree with me and think, “If you can a player as good as CP3, you do it,” and those people who are wrong, there is nothing close to unanimity on the topic.
So, today, I will try to change the subject and delve into another trading opportunity the Thunder could theoretically, but probably not, have. The idea came to me when I read this article (insider access required) by Chad Ford. For those without ESPN Insider, the gist of the article circled around the pipe dream that Miami might possibly woo both LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join a re-signed Dwyane Wade in the Summer of 2010.
The likelihood such a haul is irrelevant to this discussion, as what really matters is the Heat’s managment’s willingness to do what it takes for a chance to make the biggest free agent splash in NBA history. Because it would take a lot. A LOT. And that’s just for the opportunity to possibly coax those two into turning down a lot of other attractive opportunities.
Some of you may be wondering, “what does this have to do with the Thunder?” That’s a good question. Ford layed out three scenarios in which Miami could make a run at next Summer’s three premiere free agents. Numbers one and three were basically non-starters with the former involving sign and trades (which would be practically impossible for a Heat team that would basically have an empty roster) and the latter asking the three superstars to accept less so they could all play together (that only happens when players are trying to get a ring at the end of their careers).
That leaves the second scenario, for which Oklahoma City could get very involved. See what and how after the jump.
In the second scenario, the one where the Heat can most control the variables, Miami can clear even more cap space that puts themselves into financial position where they can offer all three players maximum value contracts. At the moment, they possess only four contracts that eat into next season’s salary space. They are:
- Michael Beasley owed $5.0MM next season
- James Jones owed $4.64MM
- Daequan Cook owed $2.2MM
- Mario Chalmers owed $897K
With those four, the Heat have approximately $12.7MM tied up, and the assumption is that the salary cap will be around $52MM. While $40MM under the cap is a typically a lot, it is truly only enough to sign two max contracts. They need to shed another another five, or more, from their 2010 liability in order to have legitimate hope.
To do that, they have to trade some of the guys on that above list for expiring contracts or else trade with a team that can accept more in salary than what they send to Miami.
Enter the Thunder.
Sam Presti sat on his hands this Summer despite having a fantastical amount of salary cap space and ended up signing only veterans who took minimum contracts. They still have about $8MM they could use for this season if he wanted. So, if Miami should be making calls to the 405 area code if they hope to get in position.
In my mind, the most intriguing player that the Heat could part with would be Michael Beasley, the number two overall pick in last year’s draft. I think we are all aware of why Miami might be willing to trade him. He was not the instant impact player they expected when they drafted him, and he spent part of this past Summer in drug rehabilitation (supposedly for marijuana). There were also questions before the drug problems about Beasley’s attitude.
Of course, from a talent standpoint, there are few questions. After he dominated college basketball as a freshman in much the same way current Thunder star Kevin Durant did, many expected great things from him as a pro. And to put things in perspective, his rookie year was not bad. He averaged 13.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 24 minutes per game, which is typically enough to get a first year player mentioned as a Rookie of the Year candidate. However, due to the high expectations of immediate success, those numbers were largely yawned toward.
So, what it means is the guy probably needs more time to develop, a process the Heat won’t be interested in fostering should they stock their team full of all-stars. The Thunder, though, could bring him along at a fairer pace and most importantly, acquire him for a fair price.
What could that price be? Well, I doubt Miami, no matter how desperate would trade him strictly for the cap space. The Thunder could offer draft picks (they own Phoenix and their own in the 2010 draft, though they aren’t projected to have roster space for both of them) and possibly D.J. White or Byron Mullens both of whom earn about 1/5th of Beasley’s salary next season. For a team like Miami that will, best case scenario, still need cheap labor to surround their trio of superstars, those are attractive assets.
Would that be too much to give up for a possible head case with certain talent? Perhaps it would. Presti’s blue print for building the team has put a lot of emphasis on chemistry. On the other hand, it has never seemed to be Beasley’s teammates who have complained about him on the floor or off. So, it would be unlikely that his presence would upset the players. Also, Beasley has a good relationship with team star and captain Kevin Durant who actually played on the same youth league team when the two were growing up together in the Washington D.C. area.
The other question is whether the fans would accept him. This is a conservative part of the country that one would expect to turn their noses up toward someone with a questionable past. However, and this is a big however, that conservatism also brings about an air of Christian charity. Oklahomans have welcomed people seeking second chances with open arms (i.e. Eddie Sutton, JamesOn Curry, too many Sooner football players to count)…especially if those people can help their teams win.
The final point before opening this up to comments is this: Do the Thunder make such a trade knowing that they might be assisting another team to becoming an extended dynasty–especially when we are hoping our team builds such a dynasty during the same stretch? My thought is, why not? It is still a long shot for Miami to get all three, even if they shed the requisite salaries. Even if they do, they will be extremely thin when it comes to depth. Also, with Miami in the Eastern Conference, the Thunder wouldn’t have to worry about them until the Finals…and with a core of Durant, Beasley, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden that might be a yearly battle.
If Beasley could be got for that it would be down right silly not to do it. The likely hood of getting a player of his caliber with any draft pick is low, and I am certain that coming to an enviornment like OKC where he would be surrounded by kids his age that would excellent influences on him both life wise and basketball wise would make him into a major stud. Put him in the second unit and let your jaw drop at the production he and Jhard would put up.
on a slightly unrelated note, Ibaka seems to have the potential to become a hell of a force inside, wouldnt it be much better for his development to be in Tulsa getting regular playing time right now?
Nix on Beasley" "Based on the principles set out in Bill Simmons Book of Basketball I say pass."
Could you say which principles he fails on? I am not surprised with the conclusion but am interested in the principles.
I think Beasley is similar to Durant, but we don't need two alike player in the forward.
Ideally without hurting the defense.
and...
Of the current top 10 teams by wins the starting PG "on average is" in their 9th year
Summary:
A vet PG, a 3 pt attack and a big man scorer all tend to contribute to above average offenses. Something the Thunder will need to get to. If you make a big move it might be good for that move to address one of these 3 things or at least improve the offense in general.
correction: ...different than "the vast majority of" these teams...
Of the current top 10 teams by wins the starting PG in their 9th year and only 2 are in less than their 5th season. 9 of the ten are in the top 13 on 3 pt attempts. 8 of ten are top half on defensive efficiency. Their are all in the top 16 on Offensive efficiency. 9 of the ten had a big who scored 14+ a game.
The Thunder are different than these teams on 3 of the 5 criteria with the exceptions being the quality D so far and Green barely above the 14 point threshold.
They are all a bit above average on rebounds and a bit below average on assists.
All are below average on the 3 point game and none have a big averaging 15+ points.
By the numbers right now the teams who the Thunder are most like are the Heat, Bobcats and Bulls. All of them are slow pace, better on defense eastern teams lead in scoring by a wing, with young PGs.
Eh. I say pass on this one. As has been said, we have no need for him, and he's a headcase. At this point, I'd rather have D.J. White or Byron Mullens than Mike Beasley.
The good news is Shelden is a free agent again next summer.
The price will be higher but the demonstrated performance will warrant more pay.
With the recent talk of other Forward targets the one that got away was Shelden Williams. I gave a mild comment sometime late last season or in the off-season about giving him a second look. I didn't expect he'd pop up as much as he had in Boston and that is a very favorable circumstance but still... he was out there and is giving pretty much what they needed. A hometown product too. Never heard him express interest in returning there but who knows. The Celtics are a sweet gig. 61% of his shots inside, 19 PER, strong Adjusted +/-, strong rebounder, strong defense... this season...
(NOTE: The time setting got screwed up the update. So all new comments appear ABOVE this comment. Everything underneath is old. Sorry about that everyone. - ed.)
I could settle for some Finals appearances.... Hell, I'd fly back to OKC in a heartbeat to get to go to ONE of those games in my hometown. (I guess I'd stop in to see the folks while I'd be at it, too ;) )
I think Beasley could get along here just fine... and we might just get Bosh too! I'd say that that rivalry might turn into the new Celtics-Lakers! Very intriguing...
Pull the trigger on this one! Greens and Harden off the bench leading the second unit would be insane!!
Not interested. We've got potential dripping from our ears. I would rather have a player that GETS IT DONE NOW.
Fast pace city is what I was referring to.
I could definitely live with Beasley playing with Harden off the bench. Who knows he could actually turn into something really good a year from now. I mean everyone always says how we should give these players time to develop and from the looks of it Beasley isn't too far off from being a good player.
I hope some of us aren't being hipocrites because he smoked a lil weed. because i'm sure there's a lot of people here who has does something that they wouldn't brag about sometime in life. He's still a young kid and a place like OKC could help him grow being that it isn't a face pace do what you want at anytime of the night city.
Good play on the second chances for Sooner players when I believe there's been a lot of rape charges and worse coming from Stillwater, but enough of that. Truth is we don't know anything about Mike B aside from what we've been told by media, he could actually be remorseful and willing to become a more mature guy on and off the court.
could u imagine beasley in that say aahhhhhhhhh vid with kd, harden, and jeffy, im not sure if im for this or not i'd much rather us sign bosh that would be glorius
If you guys can get him, that cheap, you do it. You have to. He's a fantastic asset, even if he doesn't fit. And if he learns how to play defense, he WILL fit.
@Clark Matthews
Building talent is always good, BUT in light of all of his antics off the court this summer Beasley definitely doesn't fit the personality we are trying to build here. Beasley's not a guy I foresee being content in playing off the bench either. For what he's worth, a guy who is a borderline bust as the 2nd pick, he has too much baggage.
I think it's humorous that people compare Green to Beasley, even though I'll concede they're both 3's masquerading as 4's, is that personality-wise they couldn't be farther off. In the words of Bill Simmon's (in the comparison of the two): Jeff Green actually gives a damn.
I wouldn't mind seeing Beasley or Cook on the Thunder.
Too much of a defensive liability...He rarely, if ever, gets to play crunch time minutes for Miami, which is a huge red flag in my opinion considering the Heat are not especially deep at the 3 or 4.
Thats the beautiful thing about our roster we have so many people that can play multiple posistions. Which in turn leaves alot of different options for Presti.
I also wouldnt mind having Daquan Cook. Maybe they would take Ollie or Livingston. Some may say well that only leaves us with 2 PGs but Hardin could easily slide over for 5-10 min a game at the 1.
If Beasley was here I dont think that he would cause any problems in fact it might even be good for him. Afterall hanging out with KD and the kids here I doubt he would be out causing trouble. Im sure Beasley's mother would love him on this team for those reasons. I dont see anyone on this team that would be a bad influence. He would definatly get plenty of PT. Off the bench when JG comes out then we could give KD a break slide JG to the 3 and keep Beasley at the 4. If we somehow did get him then that would definatly leave no minutes for Collison.
No thanks. For a lot of reasons.
I wouldn't mind this trade if it were for the Suns pick since that pick doesn't look like its going to a lottery pick anyway. And since he's still in his rookie contract, the long term risk isn't that great. I think Beasely would be a great asset to come off the bench.
Nix :@Clark Matthews Honestly if we got him I’d like to see them just run a Suns style offense. They could run the floor with RW Harden KD Beasley & Green like no other.
That might work if Beasley actually became the rebounder he appeared to be in college. The fact that he's only averaging 5-6 rebounds a game is kind of surprising since rebounding is the one college statistic that projects well to the next level.
chris :In this case I think Pat Riley basically says “Yes! We made a mistake taking this guy. Thanks for taking him off our hands!”
Big sign you don’t want this guy on your team.
Yeah, except this scenario is an extreme case. If the Heat legitimately believe they can lock up three Redeem Team stars long-term, developing Beasley or holding on to him in hopes that he becomes as good as Chris Bosh already is to prove they didn't make a mistake is probably worse than giving up. Especially since Beasley's contract probably eliminates them from signing Bosh or LeBron.
I just think defensive presence at the five is such a glaring problem right now. and we also need a backup PG of the future. PF not a need right now.
@Clark Matthews
Honestly if we got him I'd like to see them just run a Suns style offense. They could run the floor with RW Harden KD Beasley & Green like no other.
Another note: Normally a GM wouldn't want to trade away a 2nd overall pick in his second year in the league, because it's kinda admitting they made a mistake drafting him. In this case I think Pat Riley basically says "Yes! We made a mistake taking this guy. Thanks for taking him off our hands!"
Big sign you don't want this guy on your team.
Yeah, I realize he's similar to Jeff Green as a player, but how many teams would kill to have two guys like Jeff Green?
Personally, I like the idea of having a scoring punch coming off the bench.
We already have a young, talented SF/PF tweener who is tight with KD. His name is Jeff Green. And he has the added value of not being bat***t crazy.
Based on the principles set out in Bill Simmons Book of Basketball I say pass.
Also, he won't come in and start over Jeff. So how much playing time would he get? The 3 and 4 are full? Now...If we had to trade Russ and Jeff to get RW, Beasley would be a nice pick up.
I’ll pass on that trade. Yes he was the 2nd pick, Yes he has all kinds of talent, but he is the Jamarcus Russell of the NBA. Sure his stats look ok for a Rookie, but if you actually watch him instead of look at stats you realize the kid is lazy, and plays with no heart. The last thing this team needs is a Lazy, pot smoking, nutcase. The kid made the NBA, making his money, it does not look like he has any urge to become a great or solid player.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Yeah, I'd be for this trade if the Thunder didn't already have Jeff Green, which is basically a reflecton of Beasley.
Also, with the salary cap expected to drop next year, the max contract amounts will also drop. If the cap is expected to be around $52-53 million, then the Max Contract, I believe, would be at around $16.5-17.5 million. So theoretically, if Miami cleared $35 million in cap (or the listed $40), they'd be pretty close to being able to sign not only both to max deals, but some other (or one other above average) role player.
I think the hardest part, like Clark said, is being able to clear the $35 to 40 million in cap space outright.
Note: This thread's comments are going to be a little jacked up. After the server update, it reset the timezone settings and so anything posted from here on our will appear above. Sorry about that everyone.
Hopefully that takes care of it. My timezone was set as European for some reason.
@Brett
Oh heck, I never noticed that. Nice find. I'll fix that.
@dylan
(snickering)
@Royce
At least for my view, but the timing is off. Your comment is showing as being posted at 7:22pm. It has been off since the server updated, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Of course, Jeff Green plays that position. Too bad Beasly isn't a 7 foot shot blocking monster.
@Royce
you probably did it on purpose to make sure your article had more views than Clark's. Which is ok, because he's a dirty OSU fan.
I have no idea why this posted below the bolts. Odd.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but Durant and Beasley are long-time friends, too.
I remember my dream going into that draft was to get Beasley and DJ Augustin.... obviously Presti is smarter than I am.