Dwyane Wade will meet Wednesday with the Denver Nuggets, who are offering two years and $52 million. Wade so far hasn't accepted Miami's two-year, $40 million offer. Chicago also remains very much in play.
Lots of Heat and Dolphins today:
With Kevin Durant joining Golden State, the Heat is now expected to shift its focus to re-signing Dwyane Wade, using its $20 million in cap space to strike a new deal. The Heat has always been optimistic that it will re-sign Wade and has offered Wade a two-year, $40 million contract, with $20 million payouts each of the next two seasons. Wade so far has declined to accept that and wants a third year in the deal. He is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with the Milwaukee Bucks, who would need to clear cap space to sign him.
More on the Heat below, including potential options to round out the roster (scroll down for that):
DOLPHINS ROOKIE TALK
• The Dolphins have been a magnet for criticism though a decade of 67-93, and it’s difficult to think of any personnel decision that would exasperate their fans more than beleaguered Dallas Thomas beating out first-round pick Laremy Tunsil at left guard.
It’s still very difficult to fathom that could happen – considering Tunsil’s unique athleticism, draft position and exceptional body of work at Mississippi.
But Thomas ended minicamp with the starters (getting all significant first-team snaps), while Tunsil showed growing pains during the offseason program, victimized by some mental and physical errors. Thomas was simply better in the eyes of the coaches, though offensive line play is the most difficult to assess without pads.
In one case, Tunsil failed to move over quickly enough to block Ndamukong Suh, leaving Suh unabated to the quarterback.
Growing pains are expected, especially because Tunsil is changing positions. But the Dolphins must hope Tunsil develops quickly in August, that a player who has never played guard in a game becomes better than a player (Thomas) who has played it for years.
“There is no way Tunsil is not starting opening week,” ESPN’s Mel Kiper predicted by phone last week. “It should be an easy transition to guard. For a kid with that kind of talent to move inside --- where he has a tackle next to him like Branden Albert --- shouldn’t be difficult. [Converted tackle] Brandon Scherff was a really good rookie guard [for Washington]. Jonathan Ogden played guard his first year [for Baltimore].”
Tunsil doesn’t minimize the move, though, saying recently: “I’ve got to learn a new position” and “I've got to learn the playbook. All types of things I've got to learn.”
For a player who wasn’t beaten for a single sack last season, what has it been like to be beaten several times in practice?
“It's not tough at all,” he said. “We're in the NFL now. The top level of football. Everybody is going to be good. You've got to go over that point where you've go to be better that everybody. You've got to outwork everybody.”
Say this for Tunsil: There have been no maturity issues for a player who fell in the draft largely because of a two-year old bong photo. Teammates are impressed that he asks questions.
“In order to be good, you've got to be a pro about everything,” he said while helping do gardening at a Dolphins community event in Liberty City last month.
He agrees with Adam Gase that there “is room for improvement” but won’t bite when asked if starting is important to him.
Let me be clear: The skill set is too impressive for him not to be very good in the long run. But whether that happens by the Sept. 11 opener, whether he earns more trust than Thomas, remains the question.
“I’d be very surprised if he’s not a very good offensive tackle longterm,” Kiper told me. “The only thing that can hold Laremy Tunsil back is Laremy Tunsil. The only time I saw him struggle was when he seemed bored out there. He was dominant otherwise. And there is no boredom in the NFL.”
• Kiper told me he does not believe Jakeem Grant’s size (5-7) will hurt his chances of being an effective slot receiver: “Look at Wes Welker; this league is 7 on 7 catching the ball, making plays in traffic and space and creating space. This kid is lightning quick.”
But he must eliminate drops (nine last year at Texas Tech).
And Kiper loves the upside of receiver Leonte Carroo, who has drawn raves from teammates and said he’s losing seven pounds to get to 210.
“He was a nightmare [to cover at Rutgers],” Kiper said. “The thing with him is he’s thick and a tough guy. He is like smaller power forward like Charles Barkley who can muscle you around. When it looks like he’s covered, he’s not because he shields defenders very well and has vertical stretch ability. I am not going to say he’s Anquan Boldin but he’s a good player.”
• Seventh-rounder Jordan Lucas could end up being anything from the backup in the slot behind Bobby McCain (he’s competing with Ifo Ekpro-Olomu and Tyler Patmon) to not making the team.
HEAT CHATTER
The Heat has not told Tyler Johnson whether it will match the offer sheet that he will sign with the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday. But everybody involved, starting with the Nets and Heat teammates, expect the Heat will not match because of the huge salaries and Heat cap hits in years three and four of the four-year, $50 million deal ($18.9 million in year 3, and $19.6 million in year 4).
Conversely, the Nets are allowed to have cap hits of the average of his four-year salary every year (meaning $12.5 million each of the next four).
For 2018-19, the Heat has already close to $74 million committed to just four players: Chris Bosh, Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow. Committing another $19 million to Johnson would leave the Heat with a bit over $12 million in space to fill out its roster, with the cap expected to settle at $105 million, according to USA Today. (That doesn't even include Dwyane Wade or Josh Richardson).
And Miami wants to have the flexibility to be in the market to sign an elite player most offseasons in this new era of inflated spending. So that type of financial commitment to Johnson simply doesn't make sense, and that's no knock on Johnson.
• The Bulls' signing of Rajon Rondo leaves them without enough cap space to pursue Wade, meaning the Nuggets and Bucks are his only known suitors beyond the Heat.
The Bucks will meet with Wade this week, according to ESPN's Marc Stein, but would need to clear out cap space to make a legitimate offer. The Nuggets, who have plenty of cap space, has reached out to both Wade and Udonis Haslem.
The Heat still expects to strike a deal with Wade. But Wade likely would ask for all of the Heat's remaining cap space, which will be a tad over $20 million if Miami doesn't match the Tyler Johnson offer sheet.
• If Wade takes all of the Heat's remaining cap space and the Heat doesn't trade Josh McRoberts, Miami would need to fill at least six roster spots with minimum contracts and one with a $2.9 million room exception.
Despite the inflated market, the Heat is hopeful that some decent vets would fall through the cracks and have to settle for the minimum. Among the "fall through the crack" candidates (and some of these players will assuredly get paid more than the minimum):
Guard: Marcus Thornton (a Heat target previously), Beno Udrih (could be back at minimum), Wayne Ellington, Randy Foye, Alan Anderson, Leandro Barbosa, Seth Curry, Kirk Hinrich, Gary Neal, Brandon Rush, Lance Stephenson, Mario Chalmers
Small forwards: Chase Budinger, Chris Copeland, Gerald Green (Heat, initially not inclined to bring him back, now might consider it), Tayshaun Prince, James Anderson
Power forwards or centers (some of these can only play PF): David Lee, Josh Smith, Jason Smith, Quincy Acy, Luis Scola, Brandon Bass, Chris Andersen, Andrea Bargnani, Tyler Hansbrough, Udonis Haslem (wants most of Heat's $2.9 room exception), Chuck Hayes, J.J. Hickson, Ryan Kelly, Chris Kaman, Charlie Villanueva, Steve Novak, Kendrick Perkins, Thomas Robinson, Anderson Varejao, Willie Reed (Heat has inquired)
Again, some of these players will get money (it's only July 4). But some could be willing to settle for bargain deals if the money dries up in a couple of weeks. There are several remaining free agents that we excluded from the above list (such as Gerald Henderson and Kevin Martin and Nene, etc.) because they would seemingly be in line for more money than what Miami has available.
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
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