Micheal Beasley!

Mired in the worst slump of his career, which had lovers and doubters alike questioning his place in this league, Beasley delivered his best ever fourth quarter performance against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. The Heat rode his hot hand — and perhaps more importantly his stellar defense — to a 100-94 victory over its new arch rival in the Southeast division.

While Wade paced the Heat with 38 points, Beasley’s 22 came when the team needed it most. The Heat were down by a point with less than three minutes to play when Beasley entered the contest for the final time. This time he never left. Beasley went off on Atlanta with the game in the balance, with two late steals, an alley-oop dunk, a layup and a 3-pointer. In all, he scored 14 fourth-quarter points, including seven in the final two minutes.

The moment became Beasley’s in part because center Jermaine O’Neal was lost for the night in the second quarter due to an ailing left knee. Still, the extended playing time was surprising considering the overheard halftime conversation between the second year forward and head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Attached is a rare glimpse into an actual conversation picked up on a private video feed:

Damn it!

Every time I want to write off the Heat for the season, they give a performance like this. Where do they come from? It’s amazing. How can a team lose three disgusting games to the Milwaukee Bucks and then turn around and beat the league’s best team… twice? Ok, not twice. But an off-balance 25-foot bank shot three-point heave away from twice…

Games like this string you along. They give you hope. They make you remember that despite all the torture, the Heat was just one Game 7 victory away from reaching the second round of the playoffs last season. They make you think of all the ways the Heat are better prepared this season. They make you think through all of the “what if” scenarios.

What if the role players can consistently give this type of effort? What if Michael Beasley ever reaches his true potential? What if the Heat had instead drafted Russell Westbrook? What would this team look like when Chris Bosh came knocking?

I’ll tell you what’s nice about this victory. It’s nice to be able to laugh in the face of Charles Barkley. Sir Charles remarked before the game that the difference between the Heat and Lakers is that if Kobe plays well the Lakers are virtually guaranteed a victory whereas if Dwyane plays well the Heat can still get blown out by double digits on any given night.

I can criticize my general manager for making stupid player personnel decisions. I can criticize my head coach for his stupid rotations and lack of understanding. And I can criticize my players for being utterly useless. But damn it if I’m going to let some old, retired guy make comments about a situation he doesn’t understand, even if he is a Hall of Famer. Who cares if he’s right? This is my city. This is my team.

Read more…

A lot of columnists have been focusing on all the roster charges and holds that reduce the maximum available cap space for teams like the Heat, which will have significant room to work with to sign free agents in the offseason. However, many of these columnists – even the most experienced cap gurus – have been making big mistakes in their analyses.

When a team elects to use its cap space in the offseason, it has four primary non-cash charges to worry about: cap holds, exceptions, roster charges for carrying fewer than 12 players, and the scale amount for unsigned first round draft picks:

1. Cap Holds. Most of us understand by now, assuming you’ve been reading my posts, that when players become free agents they have cap holds attached to them which count against their current team’s cap. To release such cap holds and free up the cap space, a team only has to renounce its free agents. That’s easy enough to do. Therefore, cap holds do not reduce the calculation of maximum available cap space. (The one exception, of course, is if the team intends to re-sign one of its free agents – at which point the lesser of (i) the cap hold or (ii) the amount for which the team intends to re-sign him should be incorporated.)

2. Exceptions. If a team ever falls below the salary cap, it automatically loses any of its unutilized Mid-Level, Bi-Annual, Disabled Player and Trade Exceptions. Exceptions are meant as a means for teams to operate above the cap; if a team is below the cap, they wouldn’t be applicable. Once a team loses its exceptions, it can never get them back – even if the team eventually gets above the salary cap. Therefore, exceptions do not reduce the calculation of maximum available cap space.

Read more…

Did you like what you saw from Warriors point guard C.J. Watson last night?

Well, he’ll be a free agent this offseason.

Watson has had an interesting road. Despite an excellent college career at Tennessee, Watson went undrafted in 2006 N.B.A. draft. He played professionally in Europe for a season before heading back over to this side of the pond. He then battled his way up through the D-League ranks as a rookie, but last season left no doubt that he’s an N.B.A. caliber guard. He finished up the season strong, with seven straight double-figure outings — including a 38-point explosion that helped the Warriors stun Utah on the road.

Still just 25 years old, Watson plays about 27 minutes per game this season for the guard-heavy Warriors and is averaging 10.1 points, 2.6 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He’s been on a tear of late to help fill the void of Monta Ellis’ absence. He dropped a career-high 40 to lead the Warriors to a 130-98 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. He’s scored 20 or more points in five of his last 7 games. Against the Heat last night, he dropped in 20 points (9-15 from the floor) to go along with 6 steals.

Watson is an excellent outside shooter off the catch or on the dribble. He’s more of a catch-and-shoot, off-the-ball point guard than a pure playmaker. As such, his assist totals are unspectacular. But his ability to put the ball in the basket is no longer in doubt.

Watson signed Golden State’s qualifying offer for one year, $1.03 million even though he had better possibilities, because he was worried that Warriors would match a multiyear offer sheet. Free agents with three or fewer years of experience are deemed “restricted,” in that their current teams are able to match any outside offers. He previously rejected a three-year contract from the Warriors worth $5.4 million. Apparently, Watson didn’t want to commit to three years with the Warriors, in large part because they have so many guards currently under contract.

Taking the one-year qualifying offer was risky, however. For one, Watson left more than $4 million on the table, a gutsy move for someone who was playing in the D-League less than two years ago. In addition, when Watson’s contract expires at the end of season, he’ll be in the exact same spot he was this past summer: a restricted free agent.

The risk appears to have paid off. C.J. will certainly improve upon his current $1.03 million salary next season. It does appear the Heat would have enough cap room to sign both Watson and a max contract free agent if it so chooses.

Is he the right choice?

Remember Marcus Thornton? He was the Heat’s selection with the 43rd pick in the 2009 N.B.A. draft. Pat Riley traded him to the Hornets in exchange for two future second round picks that probably won’t ever wear a Heat uniform.

As it turns out, Thornton is proving to be in just his first year what Daequan Cook has failed to provide in his third (and Michael Beasley in his second, for that matter) – a reliable and explosive scorer to propel the second unit.

All the adjectives are working for Marcus. It looks so easy, so effortless, what Thornton can do when he has the basketball in his hands and scoring on his mind. That was evident at LSU, where he was the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year as a senior when he scored in buckets and often took over games for the Tigers. Apparently, it wasn’t as evident to N.B.A. teams. Otherwise he wouldn’t have slipped all the way down to No. 43.

Now he’s proving them wrong. Against the big boys in the world’s toughest league, Thornton is simply doing what he has always done. Get the ball. Find the basket. Put the ball in the basket. Read more…

The Miami Heat now finds itself outside of the playoff picture looking in for the first time in the last two years. With Sunday’s loss to the Magic, the Heat fell into ninth place in the Eastern Conference, behind the idle Charlotte Bobcats and out of a playoff seed. Heat loyalists are, quite naturally, on edge.

You’d be right to be scared about Michael Beasley’s development. He is still just 21 years old, but appears to be regressing in his sophomore season – while fellow draftees Russell Westbrook and Brook Lopez are flourishing in positions of desperate need.

You’d be right to be scared about Dwyane Wade’s future in a Heat uniform. Even the addition of a second max contract player and two low first round draft picks may not be enough to make the Heat a contender in the East. Michael Beasley’s uneven play could ultimately be a deciding factor, and Chicago seems poised to make a strong push.

If you’re scared about missing the playoffs, that’s a bit premature. The Heat has one of the easiest schedules to close out the season in all of basketball. The combined winning percentage of Heat opponents from here on out is 42.7%. The Heat plays 8 games against teams with a record of 50.0% or better vs. 15 with a record of below that mark. If Miami just takes care of business against the league’s dregs, it’s almost certainly a playoff team. Circle March 31 on your calendar. If we can make it to April in good shape, the last eight games are a barrel of laughs: Detroit, Indiana, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey. An 8-0 finish should give the Heat some (false?) confidence heading into the post-season.

Competing with Miami for the final four playoff positions are Toronto, Chicago, Milwaukee and Charlotte. If the performances of each of these teams to close out the season are projected out by assuming they each beat the teams that currently have an inferior record and lose to the teams that currently have a superior record, the standings in the East would end as follows:

That would give the Heat a first-round match-up against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And, in all likelihood, a first-round exit.