I think Riley will make a trade for Carmelo. and thats not as bad as some heat fans make it out to be. Melo will only have 2 years left on his contract, and according to bballinsiders, that last year has an early termination option. that makes his contract really flexible imo.
if they can talk him into, getting into the best shape of his life, playing the 4 the majority of the time, and buy into the offense, I can't see why anyone would be against giving it a go. especially if you consider that both Johnson and Waiters seem open to taking less to stay in Miami. a little work and they would be able to afford them, plus melo, plus ellington.
IF they do work out a deal for Carmelo, I assume they would have to include either RIchardson or Tyler Johnson. Knicks would probably want TJ. Riley would insist on them taking Mcbob's contract. AND he might give up whoever they draft. Knicks don't seem to have much leverage tho, Carmelo has no trade clause and options will be limited. Heat will have the Bosh cap space, so they won't have to give up much to get him. they would likely ask for Winslow, and I would hope Riley would laugh in their face.
IF they pull this off, this is the lineup I could see happening.
Whiteside
Anthony
Winslow
Waiters
Dragic
Bench:
James Johnson
Mcgruder
White
Halsem
Richardson
ellington
filler for the rest.
they REALLY need to find a true backup PG.
I would have Justise in the starting lineup, and move JJ back to the 6th man role. that starting lineup gives you 3 proven scorers, a do everything, defensive minded wing. plus Hassan. it also allows you to use JJ off the bench(he would still get his 20 mins per game) in a iguodala type role. to provide some scoring off the bench as well.
white, richardson, and mcgruder are cheap, they are both on basically minimum deals. haslem too.
whether they get carmelo or not, they will be hard pressed to be able to resign Reed. he'll probably get good money offers this offseason , so they will need to find another backup center.
is that team, on paper, a title contender? maybe not, but its a team that can compete to get out of the east IMO.
