Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh received sobering news on Saturday. He suffered a pulmonary embolism, which will cause him to miss the rest of the 2014-15 NBA season.

Bosh was hospitalized at South Miami Hospital on Thursday but, amid a conflicting diagnosis, underwent further testing on Friday. The diagnosis was confirmed today.

This is a serious and scary condition, but Bosh sought treatment reasonably promptly and, according to Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, avoided a potential life-threatening situation.

“Bosh… is currently resting comfortably. Chris is OK, and his prognosis is good,” the Heat said in a news release.

A pulmonary embolism occurs when a substance – most often a blood clot, as is the case for Bosh – that develops in a blood vessel elsewhere in the body travels to an artery in the lung and forms an occlusion (blockage) of the artery. The obstruction, which blocks blood flow through the lungs and puts pressure on the right ventricle of the heart, can be fatal.

The blood clot (thrombus) most commonly originates in a deep vein (deep vein thrombosis) of the leg. A piece of the clot breaks off from the wall of the vessel in the leg, travels via the bloodstream up the body, through the right side of the heart, and lodges in an artery of the lung.

A blood clot that forms in a blood vessel in one area of the body and travels to another area of the body is called an embolus. When an embolus lodges itself in a blood vessel, blocking the blood supply to a particular organ, the blockage is called an embolism. The term pulmonary refers to the lungs.

It is rare to have a single pulmonary embolism. In most cases, multiple clots are involved.

Blood clotting is a normal process that occurs in the body to prevent bleeding and promote healing after an injury. The body forms blood clots when the platelets within the blood encounter a damaged blood vessel, and then breaks them down as the damaged tissue heals. However, clots can form unexpectedly, without notice, and have dangerous consequences.  Read more…

Note: This post was moved from being an update to a previous post to a new post on its own. The words, however, are the exact same.

The Miami Heat’s long, arduous search for an elite point guard is now over. The Heat has acquired what it hopes is its point guard of the future in Goran Dragic.

The Heat received Dragic and his brother Zoran Dragic from the Phoenix Suns as part of a three-team trade that involved the New Orleans Pelicans. In return, the Heat sent Norris Cole, Shawne Williams, Justin Hamilton and $369K in cash to the Pelicans and Danny Granger, $2.2 million in cash (equivalent to Granger’s salary for next season) and two future first round draft picks to the Suns. The Pelicans sent John Salmons to the Suns to complete the deal. Williams and Salmons will be waived by their new teams. By rule, Williams is not allowed to re-sign with the Heat.

The Heat have struggled thus far this season, their first since LeBron James left after a four-year stay in Miami to return home to Cleveland. But through the struggles has emerged a potential future star in Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside has been rampaging through the NBA with reckless abandon, utilizing his massive 7-foot-7-inch wingspan to throw down monstrous alley-oop dunks, snatch rebounds out of the sky from high above the rim, swat basketballs as Godzilla would planes, and generally wreak havoc on both ends of the floor. He will now have a first rate point guard off of whom to feed; the Dragic-Whiteside pick-and-roll pairing would seem as deadly as any in the league.

The addition of Dragic presents the prospect of a formidable starting lineup for the Heat, when healthy, in Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh and Whiteside. It figures to be as talented as any in the Eastern Conference, outside of perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers. If things go well, the Heat could challenge for an NBA title as early as this season, a concept which seemed all but impossible after James’ departure.

But, while the upside is both massive and readily apparent, this was a risky trade for the Heat.

Miami will send Phoenix the first of its two first round picks two years after its obligation to the Philadelphia 76ers is satisfied (most likely this season). That pick is top-10 protected in 2015 and 2016, and becomes unprotected in 2017 if not previously conveyed, meaning it will be sent to the Sixers in 2015 assuming the Heat make the playoffs. The pick to be sent to the Suns is top-seven protected in 2017 and 2018, and becomes unprotected in 2019 if not previously conveyed. Assuming the Heat don’t even up with one of the seven best picks in the draft in two seasons, it will be conveyed in 2017, but Miami could still wind up sending away a lottery pick.

The second first round pick goes to the Suns in 2021 with no protection whatsoever. The 2021 draft is a long ways away; there isn’t a single player on the roster whose contract extends out that far. There’s a long history of NBA teams making costly mistakes by not worrying about a seemingly distant future. One need only to imagine a scenario whereby an aging Heat team struggles to finish with one of the worst records in the NBA, only to have its premium draft pick stripped away, to see the risk.  Read more…

Note: In my effort to keep things organized, I have moved my update to reflect the acquisition of Goran Dragic to a separate post above. 

After LeBron James left last July, Miami Heat president Pat Riley said “I want this team to be as competitive as it’s ever been.” But he spoke of pursuing two simultaneous courses of action: trying to stay competitive for the following two seasons, while maintaining maximum flexibility for the all-important summer of 2016.

Riley acquiesced to those distinct courses of action by re-signing Chris Bosh and honoring his commitment to Josh McRoberts, contracts that weigh on the team’s summer of 2016 flexibility, but refusing to allow anything to increase the burden any further in filling out the roster.

The NBA has struck gold with the frivolous distraction that is professional basketball. The salary cap will explode higher than helium-sucking angels in the years to come, on the strength of an enormous burst in league-wide revenues. After a relatively tempered rise from the current $63 million to a projected $68 million next season, 2016-17 cap projections are expected to reach as high as $90 million (unless a salary cap smoothing mechanism is implemented), as the league’s massive new $24 billion TV rights deal takes effect.

With just the contracts of Bosh ($23.7 million) and McRoberts ($5.8 million) on the books, the Heat figures to have as much as $60 million of summer of 2016 cap space with which to work.

Will Riley again hit the jackpot in 2016, as he did in 2010?

Such a story could be painted: 2016 Hassan Whiteside could play the part of 2010 Dwyane Wade, the in-prime free agent superstar who loves Miami and recruits others to join him. He would be selling the opportunity to play alongside his dominant interior-oriented self and his ideally-suited perimeter-oriented frontcourt teammate Chris Bosh. He would be selling one of the NBA’s few universally appealing cities, an increasingly critical local income tax haven, as well as the organization’s track record of success.  Read more…

It was a simple twist of fate. Had it not been for Dwyane Wade’s third significant hamstring injury thus far this season, he would not even be here at all. And yet, it now appears that combo guard Tyler Johnson could be here for years to come, as the Miami Heat development machine has churned out another talented rookie.

First, it was Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside has been rampaging through the NBA with reckless abandon, utilizing his massive 7-foot-7-inch wingspan to throw down monstrous alley-oop dunks, snatch rebounds out of the sky from high above the rim, swat basketballs as Godzilla would planes, and generally wreak havoc on both ends of the floor.

Now, it is Johnson, whose exploits have provided promise for the future.

For president Pat Riley, head coach Erik Spoelstra and the Heat front office, Johnson, who went undrafted in June out of Fresno State, has become a scouted, developed talent. The team paid him $75,000 to attend training camp before he was waived in late October so that he could be directed to the Heat’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Johnson played well for the Skyforce, averaging 18.5 points, 4.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds. He shot 49.0 percent from the field, including 42.3 percent from beyond the three-point line.

Johnson was re-signed by the Heat on Jan. 12, to a 10-day contract paying out $29,843, just before the NBA D-League Showcase in Santa Cruz. It did not amount to much. He was with the team for five games. He was inactive in one and did not play in three others. His only action was 1:44 of mop-up duty in one game, during which he scored two points on a pair of free throws, his only statistics. The Heat then chose not to re-sign him. He went back to the Sykforce on Jan. 22 as an unrestricted free agent.

Five days later, on Jan. 27, Wade strained his right hamstring. Two days after that, Johnson was re-signed to a second 10-day contract.

Johnson had two breakout performances during his second 10-day stint – including 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in a road win over the Boston Celtics on Feb. 1, followed by an 18-point effort against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

Multiple NBA teams were circling as he again became an unrestricted free agent Sunday morning. The Heat, however, got their man.

Johnson was signed to a two-year minimum salary contract on Sunday. It will pay out a guaranteed $199,950 for the rest of this season, bringing his total payout on the season to $334,637 (not bad for an undrafted basketball player in his first year out of college). It also contains a non-guaranteed second season at $845,059, which will become 50 percent guaranteed on August 1.  Read more…

The NBA has formed its largest international digital partnership through an expansion of its arrangement with Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Limited, the league announced in a joint press release issued late Thursday night.

Tencent – a publicly-traded company with a current market capitalization of $163 billion, whose shares trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE: 0700) and whose American Depository Receipts trade over-the-counter in the U.S. (OTC: TCEHY) – will become the league’s exclusive official digital partner in China.

The new five-year pact will provide Tencent the exclusive right to stream live games, original programming and highlights to hundreds of millions of active users across its online and mobile platforms, including Tencent QQ, Tencent Video, Tencent News and Weixin, the popular messaging app also known as WeChat.

The deal will provide Tencent the right to offer for the first time in China the NBA’s League Pass package, which will allow subscribers to watch a full season’s worth of games live and on-demand on their computers and mobile phones. The deal also provides for interactive gaming and the sale of merchandise.

According to The New York Times, the agreement calls for the NBA to receive a guaranteed payout of $500 million over the life of the deal, with an additional $200 million more expected through a revenue-sharing arrangement. It will start on July 1, 2015, the first day of the 2015-16 NBA season.

It remains unclear as to how much of the revenues in this new deal would be incremental to those provided in its existing arrangement, but the increment figures to be substantial. And it will have a material impact on the salary cap.

By the league’s math, an estimated annual payout of between $100 million and $140 million increases the salary cap by $1.5 million to $2.1 million, respectively, and the luxury tax by $1.8 million to $2.5 million.  Read more…

The Cleveland Cavaliers are stacked. They’re a nearly perfect team on paper.

They’re also going to be very expensive next year.

Want to see how expensive?

I had a fun-filled 45 seconds creating the excel document below for someone who asked me for it. I thought you might enjoy it too. Pick whatever numbers you want. See how ludicrous (or how reasonable) you can make their 2015-16 payroll obligations!

You can change any of the numbers with light grey backgrounds. You can make them whatever numbers you want (within the parameters of what is legal; if you make a mistake, the number will change color to red to alert you). If you don’t want a player to return, simply delete his salary (or set it to $0).

If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can even model potential trade scenarios into this. But bear in mind that the Cavs have limited assets for trade. They still have their 2015 first round pick, but because of a swap right given to the Chicago Bulls, it will likely be a very low pick (the pick attributable to whichever of the Bulls or Cavs finish with a better regular season record), and it can’t be traded until after the selection is made anyway. And because they owe their 2016 first round pick to the Boston Celtics, which is top-10 protected through 2018 and unprotected in 2019, thanks to the Ted Stepien rule, they are restricted from trading any further first round pick until that which is two years after the obligation to the Celtics is fulfilled. Do you really want to be trading picks that could extend out to 2021? As far as second round picks, the Cavs don’t even have any until the year 2020.

I have added notes for each row to guide you along. If you mess up, just refresh the page and start over. Enjoy!  Read more…

Update (1/27/15): Hassan Whiteside is showing soft touch at the rim, developing low-post moves, and solid range on his jumpers to go along with his world-beating shot-blocking and rebounding skills. His game gets more exciting with each passing day. He is becoming one of the NBA’s elite centers. These developments imply that he is likely to command a starting salary higher than the $6.3 million projected average salary when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in two years. That, in turn, would mean that the Heat would need to carve out cap space for his contract. He would be eligible for anything up to the max, which I am currently projecting at $21 million. 

It was a simple twist of fate. Had it not been for Chris Andersen’s sprained ankle, Chris Bosh’s strained calf and Josh McRoberts’ torn meniscus, he might not even be here. And yet, 7-foot rookie center Hassan Whiteside, the Miami Heat’s mid-season acquisition, is quickly becoming the team’s most vital player.

Whiteside has become the focal point of a fan base desperately seeking out hope for the future during a painful post-LeBron-James transition. He’s rewarding us all with boundless energy, youthful exuberance, and quick ascent. In his limited experience, Whiteside has been rampaging through the NBA with reckless abandon, utilizing his massive 7-foot-7-inch wingspan to throw down monstrous alley-oop dunks, snatch rebounds out of the sky from high above the rim, swat basketballs as Godzilla would planes, and generally wreak havoc on both ends of the floor.

Whiteside is averaging a staggering 16.6 points, 14.4 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per 36 minutes played. He is shooting 69.2 percent from the field, while players he is defending are shooting just 43.3 percent.

He was never supposed to be this good this quickly. For a city so long starved for anything approaching decent play at the center position, the extraordinary exploits of the budding 25-year-old have been a joy to watch.

But Whiteside is quick to clarify one thing: He is not a rookie, at least in terms of NBA designation. And that distinction, however technical, is more significant than you may realize.  Read more…

The Memphis Grizzlies, aiming to bolster their scoring and playmaking options on the wing in the increasingly competitive Western Conference, are having discussions about trading for the Miami Heat’s Luol Deng or the Boston Celtics’ Jeff Green in advance of the Feb. 19 trade deadline, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.

Any Grizzlies offer for Deng or Green is likely to feature the $7.7 million expiring contract of Tayshaun Prince, as well as the promise of future draft compensation or additional players.

It is not immediately clear how willing Miami would be to trade Deng, who is not even halfway through the first of a two-year, $19.9 million contract he signed with the Heat in the wake of LeBron James’ return to the Cleveland Cavaliers via free agency this past summer.

After James departed, Heat president Pat Riley said “I want this team to be as competitive as it’s ever been.” But he spoke of pursuing two distinct and simultaneous courses of action: trying to stay in the playoff race for the following two seasons – even while the Heat’s 2015 first round pick is owed to the Philadelphia 76ers via Cleveland if it is outside the top 10 – but with a clear focus on maintaining flexibility for the expected availability of several top free agents in the summer of 2016.

With the Heat already at 15-20 as it begins a challenging five-game road trip out west, it is unclear as to how willing Riley might be to sacrifice the former for the benefit of the latter. Doing so could, among other things, put at risk the Heat’s ability to clear its first round pick obligation off the books this summer. The pick obligation to the Sixers is top-10 protected through 2016, and becomes fully unprotected in 2017 if not previously conveyed.

Nevertheless, all trade proposals would surely be considered even if not ultimately pursued.

But trade scenarios are complicated.

Deng is earning $9.7 million this season – he has a $10.2 million player option for next season as well – but he also has a trade bonus which, by rule, he cannot waive, in whole or in part, except to make a potential trade legal.

Deng’s trade bonus would be valued at 15 percent of his remaining salary for the season, the amount of which would depend upon the exact day he is traded. If Deng were to be traded today, his bonus would be $840K; if he were traded at the trade deadline, it would be $480K. The amount of the trade bonus, if any, would be allocated entirely to this season.

A straight up trade of Deng for Prince would be legal, but only if Deng were to agree to surrender the vast majority of his trade bonus (all but $20K). Deng would therefore effectively hold veto power over such trade discussions.  Read more…

The Miami Heat lost Josh McRoberts for the rest of the season after he underwent surgery to repair the torn lateral meniscus in his right knee last Monday. As a result, the league office has granted the Heat a disabled player exception equal to half his salary, or $2.65 million.

The Heat can use the exception to acquire one player to replace him:

• The Heat can sign a free agent to a contract for the rest of the season only, with a salary of up to $2.65 million.

• The Heat can trade for a player in the last season of his contract only (including any option years), who is making no more than $2.75 million.

• The Heat can claim a player on waivers who is in the last season of his contract only (including any option years), who is making no more than $2.75 million.

McRoberts’ status with the team will not be affected. He will continue to count as one of the NBA-maximum 15 players on the roster. He can return to the active roster before season’s end if he is able to do so (and any replacement player would not be affected). He can be traded while injured. However, if he does return or is traded before the Heat has used the exception, the team would lose it. Otherwise, it expires on March 10.

The Heat had hoped to use the exception to lure free agent forward Josh Smith to Miami. The Detroit Pistons made an abrupt and shocking move to release Smith last Monday, despite $36 million in guaranteed money still to be paid on his contract. Players that good who are owed that much money virtually never hit the open market in such fashion. Smith, however, chose to sign with the Houston Rockets.

The Heat must now look elsewhere in its search for a player who can replace the injured McRoberts and help improve a thin power rotation. Potential targets are both intriguing and problematic.  Read more…

The Miami Heat formally applied to the league office for a disabled player exception on Monday, shortly after Josh McRoberts had season-ending surgery to repair the torn lateral meniscus in his right knee, in a move they hope will help them land soon-to-be free agent Josh Smith.

The Detroit Pistons made an abrupt and stunning move to release Smith earlier in the day, despite $36.0 million in guaranteed money still to be paid on his contract. His contract has an additional $9.0 million still to be paid on his $13.5 million salary for this season, and calls for salaries of $13.5 million in each of the following two seasons as well.

Smith will now spend 48 hours on waivers, during which time any team with the necessary cap space or a qualifying exception large enough to absorb his $13.5 million salary cap hit can make a claim to pick up the remainder of his contract. The only such team is the Philadelphia 76ers, which is not about to do so.

At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Smith will clear waivers and become an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with the team of his choosing. Players this good who are owed this much money virtually never hit the open market in this fashion.

A number of teams have expressed an interest in signing Smith once he clears waivers, including the Heat, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies.  Read more…