Comments on: Winderman: Tampering? That's a bigger fantasy than the one LeBron/Wade/Bosh had

By: ray

ray — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:56:34 +0000

go figure wade & shaq then bron and shaq and then they meet up wade and bron I think it was funny when wade said “I feel bad for who has to gaurd both of us” referring to he and bron! What about Bosh? Left out! I’m saying the Heat are highly overated at this point Bron did absolutley QUIT on game 6 against Boston even the commentator made that clear! and his post game comments pointed to him leaving, he knew and I did! Lebron is NOT who he was in high school! He is thus far overhyped for revenue and he is destroying himself publicly! Delonte & his mom at his own MVP celebration, Boston quitness, Cavs Quitness, 2nd to Wade, partying with nude women with a writer next to him who was invited while setting a horrible example for kids and his woman must be pissed! His possible father coming forward to expose him for a DNA test fraud case! And Dan gilbert getting ready to drop bombs on him!Lebron James is a Joke he is Not WADE, Kobe JORDAN or any other true star. He is soft and although he has his moments that is all they are! Win a ring with the heat and that fight was fixed to the nba and the fans so bye bye baby Jordan your legacy has officially transferrd to D. Wade!!! He must have beat Lebron in that online poker game in his “Forever Drake video” “Lequit” “LEBUM” “LE-OSER” EVERYONE “QUITNESS”

By: al

al — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:17:02 +0000

LOL!!! The Cavs biggest error was treating LBJ like he was a GM. How do you let a player dictate what your organization is going to do? Shaq? Jamison? Williams? Hughes? None of those are a legit #2. The Cavs screwed the pooch big time. They had the best player in their history and let him get away. Do you really think a quality owner would have allowed LBJ to leave? The cavs are and always have been a joke. LBJ was the only thing that made them relevant, and the crappy Cavs organization let him get away. that whole state is a mess.

By: al

al — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:15:06 +0000

By: george

george — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:51:17 +0000

This is all getting pretty silly. Wade, Bosh, & James all formed the dream of playing together in the NBA during their time together on the Olympics. New York was the first team to have the idea of clearing cap space to try and sign them. Riley picked up on the idea and started making similar moves. Then, Chicago, Nets,& Clippers. The players idea was to play together………not necessarily in Miami. But, it was pretty clear that it wouldn’t happen in Cleveland or Toronto. During the process Wade was torn emotionally between Chicago and Miami. Bosh was kind of floating and it looked like he would probably have to choose between playing with Wade in Chicago or possibly with Lebron wherever he signed. It is possible that New York could have pulled this off if they hadn’t signed Stodimire early. But, Wade preferred Bosh over Stotimire because that is player with which he shared the dream. In the end Miami was their choice.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:47:51 +0000

Getting sick of this stuff. LBJ had right to play with his friends. Was classless in how he did it and was not honest, lacked integrity. 70% of what Gilbert said was correct. 30% over the top.
Stern just like Selig. First MJ “leaves” NBA for 2 years to try to play baseball. Can we say gambling problem anyone? Then Wade is agent for Miami to land all three. Read Brian Windhorst column. Too many coincidences. Remember, baseball players didn’t do steroids. The increase in homeruns was because they were just in great shape. Stern covering up just like Selig did. In about 5 years we will find out all about NBA’s dirty little secrets.
Who cares about NBA and baseball. Thank g-d for college sports. As a society we spend too much time on these overpaid, immature, selfish professional athletes. Definitely not ones I want my kids to look up to as “role models.”

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:23:47 +0000

I love how all of these Heat fans are automatically assuming that their team is going to be a winning team and that other teams are going to be losing teams. Get over yourself. We have no clue how these 3 are going to perform with each other. Better yet, we have no clue how good the support players around them will be. Quit talking so much and just let things play out. We will know how good they are when the season gets going. Until then, shut your dirty mouth. The Heat have done nothing but spend ridiculous amounts of money on 3 players. You act like you just won the championship or something. As of right now, the Lakers are the best team. As much as it hurts me to say that, it is true. I will be the first one to say congrats if the Heat turn out to be a success, but right now, I’m not counting on it.

By: willmose

willmose — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:13:56 +0000

The NBA felt it needed a good team in the Florida market. Cleveland, Chicago and New York (like it matters whether the Knicks are good or not) not so much.

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:01:07 +0000

Sure it was overpaying. But LBJ wanted him & the owner complied. He was under contract so that’s what they had to pay. Gilbert is willing to spend anything it takes to win. Be careful, Shaq might end up with the Heat yet–& you won’t have to pay the 20+ mil because his contract expired this year.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:21:43 +0000

Spending $20 Million on a 2009 Shaq (no matter who thought it was a good idea) should be a major indication that their current regime isn’t putting together a championship team. Ever.

By: tb

tb — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:09:23 +0000

the problem isn’t that the players got together and talked about what team to join. The problem is wade was a heat employee while this was going on and he was getting them to join the heat. Same as if any other employee of the heat went to bosh while he was under contract to discuss this.

By: johnmaine

johnmaine — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:07:51 +0000

The new 68-team NCAA Tournament format has just been released by the Division I Men's Basketball Committee: http://bit.ly/9DQNZm

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:04:33 +0000

Michelle, please. You don’t know a thing about the Cavs or you would not make this statement. They spent everything they possibly could, including paying Shaq over 20 mil for just this past season, trying to get the pieces around LBJ to win the championship. Over 60 wins & best record in the league the past 2 years. BTW, you mention Boston & LA. Can you name at least 2 players from each team (without checking). I doubt it.

By: michelle502

michelle502 — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:42:17 +0000

What part of ‘FREE AGENCY’ doesn’t anyone understand?!!! LeBron needed help on the court – the head honchos in Cleveland didn’t care about what LeBron needed or else those self-righteous hyprocrits would have done what it took to make sure LeBron had help. NO ONE – and I mean NO ONE – despite what the media says – can win a championship alone!!!!!!!! Therefore, LeBron saw he wasn’t going to have any meaingful help, and went the way it made sense for him – which was Miami. If the owners are crying ‘foul’ about this because these 3 superstars are together, then why aren’t they investigating the Lakers for the superstars they have? Or Boston, for theirs? Bottom line: the owners are spoiled crybabies who don’t care about their players – just the profits. GO MIAMI HEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:30:54 +0000

So people believe Henry Thomas and his agency weren’t involved having Bosh and Wade, and all the negotiations with the Heat happened after July first and were held in 6 days. That’s a real stretch.
Lots of phony trips and BS statements by all of the three players invoved in just a few days. Had they waited a couple or 3 weeks or so after the 1st to come out with this it would be one thing. But it came out 7 days after the ist and on the the ist day that signings could happen. Very hard to believe it all came together so fast. If Riley didn’t have some kind of idea he doesn’t umnload some quality players as he could be stuck with a 20 win team if no one signerd with Miami.
Best yet is that Stern who projected last Dec. that the cap would be 50-54 M and a few weeks ago comes out and says it will be 56.1 M. Then on signing day he says it is now at 58 M giving the Heat who had done everything to clear more cap room, more space to sign all 3 players now at about 110 M apiece. Hope they can keep their lights on for that kind of money They gave up so much. The bogus cap projections by Stern smell as bad as as the Scott Foster (referee) 120 calls of short duration before and after games to Donaghy’s gambling phne that were determined to be irrelevent.

By: Surrounded

Surrounded — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:29:36 +0000

So the team that won the most regular season games two years in a row did not surround LeBron with enough talent????? He wasn’t playing with a bunch of stiffs and “superstars” are supposed to be able to carry a team when it isn’t playing up to potential. The only constant on that team during the playoffs the last two years couldn’t play up to Wade’s standards and lost.
Who besides Shaq clogging the middle helped Wade win his ring?
Also, Cleveland and Toronto were the two teams that weren’t complaining about tampering. Mark Cuban is the one that brought it up.

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:24:12 +0000

Where do you get 50 mil laying on the table? From the total amt each gave up over the 6 years? That’s about 8.5 mil per year to fill out the roster. Not much.

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:11:34 +0000

Re Chris Paul–He’s gonna come & play for the minimum & throw away about 20 mil a year to be with his pals. Sure!

By: johnmaine

johnmaine — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:04:15 +0000

Carmelo Anthony gets married, LeBron gets booed, Chris Paul refers to New York’s “own big three”: http://bit.ly/9DQNZm

By: Motoko

Motoko — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:03:07 +0000

Winderman is correct.
According to ESPN, their reporter asked David Stern if the so called “Summit” was allowed on the NBA free agency rules. He said they could have their summit and he obviously was aware that the three were talking to one another back on June 1.
What else that was very telling about this is the fact that on Thursday after Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade said they were signing with the Heat, a reporter asked how much Bosh was going to be paid? Bosh said, “I have no idea but it is not about the money.”
I believe none of the three had any idea what the bottom line was going to be, nor did Pat Riley. What is probably more logical is that Micky Arison gave the bean counters for the 3 players a number he was willing to spend and told them to “figure it out among themselves.”
To the credit of the agents involved, not only did they get the 3 contracts signed, but left 50 Million Dollars laying on the table to use to fill out the roster.
If anything, that is what has Mark Cuban and some other owners getting their panties all waded up because Professional Athletes just don’t do that. Its supposed to be every man for himself grabbing all the cash you can with long drawn out silly negotiations. Or at the very least, it typically does not work out so easy as it did for Micky Arison and his organization.
Clearly, the fact that Wade, Bosh and most imporantly James, are all so willing get the business side out of the way and move on to the more important business of preparing for the Season shows that these 3 NBA players mean business.

By: johnmaine

johnmaine — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:02:27 +0000

Carmelo Anthony gets married, LeBron gets booed, Chris Paul refers to New York’s “own big three”: http://bit.ly/9DQNZm

By: Cire

Cire — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:58:46 +0000

And you were there, right?
You made a stupid comment ….. sounds like a fool to me.
I’m tempted to tell you to get smart and start rooting for the Heat, but better for you to back your hometown LOSER team.

By: Matt Lowe

Matt Lowe — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:49:40 +0000

They met in a room and worked essentially changed the industry……..sounds like collusion to me.

By: Cire

Cire — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:49:26 +0000

And you’re a Gomer, fool. And you live in which rustbelt city?
We love watching all the whining going on from all of YOU LOSERS!
wha wha wha hahahahah
Watch out Gomer – the Heat just signed another straggler. I’ll buy you a beer when I see you so you can cry in it.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:44:06 +0000

If three team owners decided to trade all their best players to one of their teams and them split all profits, would that be OK ?
Isn’t that essentially what happened when Jester James, Wade and Bosh all decided to join the Miami Heat several months if not years ago ?
It’s collusion whether it’s by the players or the owners.

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:42:50 +0000

Wow…I cannot believe Mark Cuban and the other owners are complaining about this. This is just SOUR GRAPES, get over it. Here are the facts:
1) Cleveland did not surround LBJ with enought talent to win.
2) Florida has no State Income Tax
3) Weather, fun, women, entertainment, etc. of Miami and South Beach.
4) Chicago, Cleveland, and NY all have terrible winters/weather.
5) Only Miami had enough cap space to sign the TRES MAGNIFICO.
6) Come it is a no brainer Miami over Cleveland, anyone person in there 20s would have choosen Miami. (see number 3)
For those in Cleveland/Ohio that don’t like LBJ’s ego driven and self-fulling “Decision”…I have no problem w/that complaint b/c that was in bad taste. However, do not gripe b/c he did not choose your City.
Oh and it may get worse in 2012 b/c I think Riley wants to have the “FOUR KINGS”, b/c rumors are already circulating that Chris Paul wants to come to the HEAT!
GO HEAT and the TRES MAGNIFICO!!!!

By: Lesco

Lesco — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:41:52 +0000

Bunch of sour grapes; it’s almost laughable. Everyone out there including the Bulls, Knicks, Cavs and Nets wanted this trifecta and if Cleveland wanted to keep Lebron, they “shoulda put a ring on it”.

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:31:07 +0000

There is only one city that will be happy about this deal. Fortunately, I live here.

By: yep

yep — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:19:18 +0000

Of course Mr. Winderman is in full support of this deal. It gives him some material for his newspaper columns the next several years. Not like he’s going to get much out of the Dolphins or Marlins anytime soon…

By: bg

bg — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:19:01 +0000

verrrrrry objective.
the only imbecile is the one who wrote out this ‘logic’.
you might be stretching things just a bit for the old hometown there, homer.
did i mention that ira is a homer?

By: Ogyu

Ogyu — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:03:15 +0000

Thanks, Homer Q. Moron.