Sports Buzz

Dolphins players speak out on Philbin; details on Wake's deal; Heat-Knicks buzz

Wednesday afternoon update:

Here's the breakdown on Cam Wake's new deal: He got a $7 million signing bonus, which will be prorated over the five years, which means his cap number will be $2.2 million this season.

He did not get a raise in base salary this season and will make $615,000 in 2012. He will earn $3.56 million in 2013, $5.82 million in 2014, $8.2 million in 2015, and $8.275 million in 2016, according to NFL Players Association records. His base salaries are only guaranteed in 2013 and 2014. So if the Dolphins don't pick up a $3 million roster bonus in March 2015, he would become a free agent and his deal would have ended up being a three-year deal. The deal also has several million available in incentives.

Former Indiana offensive tackle Andrew McDonald, who auditioned for the Dolphins last weekend after going undrafted, told his school newspaper that Miami plans to sign him.

WEDNESDAY BUZZ COLUMN

Mostly Dolphins and Heat chatter today:

### Dolphins coach Joe Philbin has made a favorable initial impression on his players, and what stands out so far, Karlos Dansby said, “is his ability to get guys’ respect, which is a big thing. And his ability to have guys on point. His attention to detail is very keen and on point.

“If you treat people right, people are going to treat you right. He’s been doing a great job of that… Everything is different [from the previous regime]. He’s totally different, his approach to the game, his philosophy. It’s a good thing.”

Marlon Moore, among other players at a team charity event Monday, said Tony Sparano “was hard nosed,” and one difference is “Coach Philbin wants us to police ourselves. He doesn’t yell. Haven’t heard him yell once…. If the coach is calm, players are calm.”

(Quick aside: Ex-Dolphin Kory Sheets once said that Sparano mostly either yells or whispers. Philbin converses in a normal speaking voice. Though many players liked Sparano, some thought he was too negative and some grew tired of the screaming.)

Philbin “is always positive,” Nate Garner said. “It’s all positive motivation.”

Davone Bess likes that Philbin is “laid back but demands a lot from the players. He’s cool. Good sense of humor, very intelligent. The guys respect him and he respects us. Everything is real structured, very detail oriented. Offensively, we focus a lot more time on the details of routes we’re running.”

### Bess said the “best thing” about Philbin’s and coordinator Mike Sherman’s offense – which will be up-tempo a lot, no-huddle at times – is “everybody is interchangeable. The outside guys can play inside, inside can play outside. That’s what is going to make this offense more attacking. It’s a lot of open space, getting the ball out quickly and letting the players do what they do.”

### Though he’s ideal as a nose tackle in a 3-4, Paul Soliai said he feels comfortable in Miami’s new 4-3 base defense, noting he played in such an alignment at Utah. This defense, Dansby said, has “more unpredictability. I’m champing at the bit because I know it’s going to be totally different.”

### According to sources, the Dolphins discussed, but did not pursue, former Texans free agent receiver Jacoby Jones, who agreed to a two-year $7 million deal with Baltimore on Tuesday. They have shown no interest in the most prominent available receivers, such as Braylon Edwards and Roy Williams. The Dolphins like their receiver group but will consider adding one if the right veteran becomes available (Donald Driver might be that if Green Bay cuts him) or if the young receivers aren’t impressive in offseason practices.

### At right guard, the Dolphins haven't ruled out available veterans such as Jake Scott and Kyle Kosier, but they want to see how John Jerry develops. Garner and Artis Hicks can also play there. Hicks was signed as a tackle, but could be used at guard because of the addition of tackle Jonathan Martin in the draft. Last year's starter, Vernon Carey, remains unsigned, by the way.

### Jeff Ireland doesn't have a strong sense yet who will emerge as starting safeties among Reshad Jones (slight favorite for one job) and Tyrell Johnson, Chris Clemons, Jimmy Wilson and Tyrone Culver. Ireland, incidentally, as especially impressed how undrafted Arkansas State safety Kelcie McCray (10 career interceptions) played at last weekend’s minicamp. More than a dozen teams tried to sign McCray, whom Pro Football Weekly calls "smart and dependable" with "good speed and tackling ability."

### The reason LeBron James should have been involved in the Heat’s last play Sunday, as Charles Barkley explained it, is “James makes people better. What separates James is he can get [guys] shots – James Jones, Udonis Haslem…. Dwyane Wade is just a scorer. It should be LeBron taking those shots. The guy's the best basketball player in the world. He had just made a three and a great three-point play. LeBron finished a lot in Cleveland.”

Even a Heat official said privately it would have made sense to involve James more in the play and get him accustomed to being an active participant in those situations again, as he was a lot previously but much less so this year.

### Though James would “love” to have the ball in that spot, he has too much respect and appreciation for Wade to make an issue of it. And he’s respectful of Erik Spoelstra’s decisions. After practice Tuesday, James shouted a few times, “Spo: Not one Coach of the Year vote! That’s crazy!”

Spoelstra smiled sheepishly and kept talking to reporters. Fifteen coaches in the league got at least one first, second or third-place vote for the award, which was won by San Antonio's Gregg Popovich. Spoelstra wasn't among them.

“Great coach, has us prepared every night,” James said during a quieter moment Tuesday.

### Because Spoelstra has been using a smaller lineup more, Haslem is averaging fewer minutes as a starter in this series (17.8) than he did much of the season as a reserve (23-plus). Haslem has just 12 points (but 25 rebounds) in four games, but the biggest mystery of his season remains this: Why did his accuracy on jumpers plummet? On 10-to-15 footers, he shot 26 percent this year after hitting anywhere from 37 to 54 percent every previous season.

### What’s worrisome about the Heat’s reserve scorers is their shooting slump isn’t merely recent. Going back several weeks for each, Mike Miller has shot 35.8 percent (on his past 109 shots), Shane Battier 37 (on his past 119) and Jones 29.5 (on his past 61). Miller and Battier are in the low 30s in this series; Jones has logged 20 minutes total. Wade made it clear Tuesday “we need our shooters and bench to play well.” The Heat can survive poor bench shooting in this round, but it's highly questionable they could against the Spurs, Thunder or Lakers in The Finals.

Bosh suggested that "if we're lucky enough... to make the Finals," the Heat probably would not survive being outrebounded in every game (as Miami has in this series; by 11 total).

### For the first time ever, a first-round Heat playoff game (Game 4) drew a comparable local TV rating (17.4) to an average regular season Dolphins game (17.7 in 2011) – much higher than the 12s for Heat-Sixers last year. And whereas top courtside seats sold for less than $6000 in last year’s first round, one sold to a rapper for $12,500 for Game 5.

### Beyond his drop in velocity, another issue with Josh Johnson is he's getting too many balls up in the zone and "trying to be perfect," Ozzie Guillen said. Opponents are hitting .359 against him - worst among all MLB starting pitchers... Guillen said Heath Bell is very "embarrassed" by how he has pitched and his "location is terrible." But Guillen will let him pitch in the ninth when the Marlins hold a comfortable lead to try to rebuild his confidence; Steve Cishek will close otherwise.

Quick note to readers: For a lot more Heat-Knicks news from Tuesday evening - including Spoelstra defending his late game decisions, Jeremy Lin news, and some eye-opening LeBron/Battier numbers vs. Carmelo Anthony - see our last post, listed on the left side... For our transcript of Jeff Ireland's interview on Sirius XM Radio today, see our post before that.

Tuesday night Heat-Knicks notes

HEAT-KNICKS NOTES FROM TUESDAY NIGHT

Two days after squandering a last-second chance to tie or win Game 4, the Heat spent part of Tuesday’s practice working on late-game situations “so we’ll be more comfortable in our package,” Dwyane Wade said.

To refresh: With his team down two, Wade received the in-bound pass with 13.2 seconds left, dribbled, fumbled the ball briefly, recovered and missed a difficult 24-foot three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left.

“Look, guys,” coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday. “If you get Dwyane Wade going down the lane with an open lane, and you’re down by two, I think you take that. It was a pretty good opportunity to attack the rim. It was a broken play and we know what happened from there…

“We had an open trigger for LeBron James. We had an open window on the second one with Chris Bosh. Just made the wrong read and it ended up being a miscommunication between him and Dwyane. Otherwise, that would have been a pretty good opportunity.”

The Heat is now 6 for 16 this season – and 9 for 36 since the Big Three was assembled – on shots to tie the game or go ahead in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. Wade is 3 for 7 on those shots this season, James 1 for 2.

“I got a step on Amare Stoudemire, which I wanted,” Wade said of the last play. “I just lost the ball. I would do it all over again.”

James said, “Last play, we could have executed a lot better.”

Bosh said he “was trying to get to an open spot” on that play to give Wade another option. “Michael Jordan made it look so easy,” Bosh said of late-game shots. “It’s a low-percentage shot.”

TNT’s Kenny Smith said on that last possession, “I would have had the ball in LeBron’s hands and let Wade set the pick” instead of Wade with the ball and Bosh setting the screen.

“The Knicks are not going to switch and all of a sudden you have a runaway train [in James] going to the basket and/or if they switch or double team, you have the ball kicked back to Wade. Wade has hit many big shots in his career, but you still need to have the two best players involved in the play.”

LIN OUT

Knicks guard Jeremy Lin, who had knee surgery April 2, will not play at all in the series, coach Mike Woodson said. “He’s just not ready.”

### Wade, on Spoelstra’s predicament: “It’s tougher to coach us guys together than one of them apart. Perception is it’s easy.”

### Though Spoelstra has praised the job James and Shane Battier have done on Carmelo Anthony, he said where his team erred Sunday was giving him “an incredible amount of room to gain confidence as the game went along. We talked about that today. He was struggling in the first half. Then, because of our inefficiency offensively, we gave him three open court opportunities he took advantage of. We bailed him out twice. He had 14 free throw attempts.”

Anthony, who scored 41 points in Game 4, is averaging 26 points but shooting 39.8 percent in the series. James is averaging 27.5 points and shooting 48.6 percent.

### According to ESPN’s statistics department, Anthony is shooting just 29 percent in the series with James defending him (12 of 41) but 53 percent (20 of 38) with Battier guarding him.

### Bosh said the Heat needs to do a better job on Stoudemire, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds Sunday: “Amare is too talented for us to be giving him dunks. We have to make him work harder, get someone between him and the basket.”… Bosh said he’s sleeping fine despite having a newborn: “I’m a lucky dude. I’ve got a good baby.” 

Jeff Ireland addresses state of Dolphins

Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland addressed the state of the team with hosts Bob Papa and Ross Tucker on Sirius XM NFL Radio on Tuesday. Here’s what he had to say:

### On whether Ryan Tannehill is ready to compete to start immediately: “We’ve got to let this process play itself out. Certain guys develop at different levels. He has knowledge of the offense. He’s going to look like he’s ready pretty quick. There’s a competition here. There are two other experienced players who are great pros. We drafted him to let him compete for the position. We need to play better at that position, whether it’s a new player or Matt. That position really has to be more productive. We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him.”

### Would the Dolphins have taken him if he hadn’t gone to Texas A&M and hadn’t been coached by offensive coordinator Mike Sherman? “Absolutely. I started scouting Ryan back in August. My opinion of him didn’t change a whole lot when we hired Mike Sherman. It helped the process. I had a strong conviction about Ryan from October, December. The more I spent time with him, the more I broke down [tape], the more I liked him. When Mike and [assistant quarterback coach] Zach Taylor and [offensive line coach] Jimmy Turner came on board [from Texas A&M], it only helped the conviction.”

### On receiver: “We’ve got some good veteran players in Brian Hartline and Davone Bess. We’ve added depth in Legedu Naanee. We’ve got two young up-and-coming receivers in Marlon Moore and Roberto Wallace. We drafted two young kids and signed two young kids.” (Ireland didn’t mention Clyde Gates, but has told us previously he expects big things from him this season.)

"We have a pretty good young corps of receivers. We have some tight ends, some backs that can play in the slot. It’s about moving the football down the field, not necessarily always trying to get the ball to receivers. We’re going to develop the position and improve the position with the players we have on our roster. We feel pretty good about the position as it stands right now.”

### On the possibility of adding another receiver: “There is always a possibility of that. As my former mentor used to say, you never know when an acorn is going to fall off the tree right before training camp. We track those things during the course of the summer. There are guys out there getting ready for that prospect. We will get a good chance to look at the guys on our roster right now. If we feel we need to address that position, we certainly will do that.”

### On Lamar Miller: “Lamar has a very good set of skills. He can run, he can catch. We’ve got to get him more rugged from a blocking standpoint.”

### On defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle’s defense: “What Kevin’s job is, is to keep everyone confused until we line up. I’m going to contend he’s done a pretty good job. We got a pretty good group of front seven. It’s a nickel league. You will see us in a four man front, you will see us in a hybrid front. He will be using the players we have in the best position we can to get pressure on the quarterback and disrupt the guy throwing the ball and disrupt the receiver and use the talent to the best of their ability. The vision has been ambiguous [because] I know he’s going to do a lot of things.”

### On second-round pick Jonathan Martin, the offensive tackle from Stanford: “You can expect him to be a real good pro. You can expect him to come in here and learn the offense and be very up to speed about what our protections are. He fits very well in the scheme. Even he said you use different muscles on the right side of the line [as opposed to the left, where he played at Stanford]. He’s a long arm, good knee bender, good punch, plays with great awareness, very smart.” Martin will play right tackle.

### On Cameron Wake’s contract extension: “I have to give most of the credit to the pro scouting department – Brian Gaine. Brian and the pro staff hit the Canadian Football League at the beginning of the season. Brian brought his name to me a year before we signed him. Then we found out he was not eligible to sign. We were on his radar really early on. We’re glad to get him done the next five years. He’s a real pro, a great kid, handled this thing with great patience. We felt it was a win/win for both sides.”

### Ireland, on the state of the franchise and himself personally: “We’re extremely happy with the direction of the team right now. I handle [the criticism] great. We’ve built some momentum. Most of the plan – I’m not saying 100 percent – most of the plan has come to fruition…. We’ve got to win. There’s no doubt about it. My job is on the line, just like everybody else is. We’ve all got to win here. That’s what we’ve got to get accomplished.”

### On safety: “From the safety position, it’s going to be very competitive. We’ve got some guys that have played in starting roles. You’ve got Tyrone Culver, Chris Clemons, Reshad Jones. We’ve moved Jimmy Wilson [there]. We signed [Tyrell Johnson]. It’s going to be very competitive. It’s a young position. To say I have a crystal ball to say who is going to be the starters in this group, I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to. I’m anxious to see where that plays out, to be honest with you.”

### On Joe Philbin: “Great vision. A man of integrity. A man of mental toughness. A guy around a program that has been successful. His ability to put an offense together and be productive. I liked him personally, felt like I could work with him. There are a lot of things you like about Joe. He impressed me so quickly about how he presented himself. Just had an aura about being a head coach. It’s been a really good marriage so far.”

Check back later for Heat-Knicks notes and Wednesday's buzz column.