Dwyane Wade And Lakers Have Mutual Interest

I think you're pretty spot on in your analysis abeer3.

I was completely opposed to good old HGH jaw when this was brought up before. But I'm kind of intrigued by it now in a certain way. Not an awful lot, but somewhat. I'd still take LMA over Wade of course, but again I don't think LMA is coming here. Love or Dragic? I'd take Wade over both of them in a heartbeat. Might as well pay a superstar if you're going to pay someone a superstar salary.

This moves Kobe to the three, and I'm not that against it. If you lock down Wade, maybe Ed Davis signs here cheaper than he's been talking about. Maybe you can convince Lin to stay for a bargain, too, or maybe Mo Williams comes. Then you're looking pretty good.

There is something a bit enticing about having him play alongside Kobe for his farewell tour. The key would be a short contract, 1 plus 1 or 3 years max.

 

no tnx. Or he can come for the MLE type of money. Not more.

 

Not "It's gonna be easy" or breaking Kobe's nose?

 

There was a group of us that brought up a point about that Kobe contract and it's basically playing out right now: We take care of our guys and the rest of the league took notice of it. Dirk joked about not getting a Kobe deal. Zach Randolph said it was great to see the Lakers take care of their guy. And now Wade wants to be taken care of and Riley is putting his foot down and saying he's not paying that deal. Players around the league thought it was crazy when Kobe took it, but here we are two years later and players are thinking "damn I want that deal". Who's willing to pay it? Well we're the ones who are willing to do it and maybe no one else is.

I think Riley and the Heat should be ashamed of themselves the way they've insulted Wade. I don't like Wade, but what I've heard is they've asked him to opt-in on his final year of this deal to be underpaid OR they wanted him to settle for something like 10 million a year. If Wade left, that 10 million makes more sense. In Miami though this is likely to be his last deal. How many times is he supposed to take a pay cut? Wade is directly or indirectly responsible for ALL their success over the last decade and brought the ONLY three rings that city has ever seen. Now they want him to keep taking pay cuts while they pay guys like Bosh and Dragic? The saying in sports is "there's no loyalty, it's a business" so the one team that shows some loyalty (and even we aren't that loyal) has some good faith among players.

 

I need to watch the video again, but the hit I remember on Kobe didn't stick out as a hate filled memory like Raja Bell closelineing Kobe. Maybe I just need to be reminded.

It's gonna be easy was just stupid, but I don't hate him for it.

 

Yeah, it's not that flagrant of a hit. Like maliciously trying to hurt Kobe:

 

I disagree, it was too hard of a foul for an All-Star game, and exhibition game that means nothing. Defense isn't even played in these games, if you're Wade there and get beat, you let Kobe dunk it or whatever and move on. Instead he slammed down on his shoulders and face to draw the intentional foul. Might not have been flagrant, but it might have been, debatable if he was making a play on the ball or not. Always thought that was a cheap shot by Wade and to me it stunk of jealousy.

 

Well, if we strike out on EVERYBODY and it's a 1+1 type deal, I'd be down. I mean, theoretically if we ended the season with both of them healthy, and Okafor is RoY, we could do damage in the playoffs (assuming Kobe and Wade play enough to get us there). At that point I'd be all for signing Rondo to a one-year deal. Suffocate the other teams with old-man smell.

 

I don't mind Wade if he's willing to take a cheap deal and come off the bench. Wade's role is now really like a Ginobili role. Other than that, no.

Kobe and Wade should take turns playing games. Lol.

 

It's unlikely he settles for the cash I want to give him, but it's even less likely he leaves Miami, takes a reasonable salary here, AND comes off the bench. Not a chance. If he comes, it slides Kobe to SF for sure.

Spacing is going to be a b**** with that unit, but it'd be better than what we have now. And in a weird way it'd be a good fit for the future too. An aging vet sure, but he seems well liked and he has a track record of drawing FAs. We all want a SF this summer, but if the Lakers really think they've got a chance at Durant maybe they try to go a different way this summer in anticipation of Durant being available.

 

Yeah, it was s**** for an All Star game foul, but I just don't see it as that big of a deal compared to all the times I've seen players try to take Kobe's head off, or take his legs out from under him. Whether Wade was being too competitive, or jealous, I don't know, but it's not enough for me to hate him.

The steroids are a bigger deal to me actually.