Miami Heat Mailbag: Could the Heat have offered more for DeMarcus Cousins?

On the latest Miami Heat mailbag: Did Pat Riley blow an opportunity to trade for DeMarcus Cousins? Does Dwyane Wade regret leaving? Should the Heat trade or commit to James Johnson and is this the Heat’s team going forward?

You can send future mailbag questions to LockedOnHeat@gmail.com. Thanks to those of you who have sent questions. In addition to answering them on the podcast with my co-host David Ramil, I’ll answer them in this weekly column. Let’s do it.

Q: I’m disappointed  that the Heat didn’t get Boogie. The Kings got a jar of jelly beans in return. We could’ve offered more – @heatweedguy

First of all, great Twitter handle. I really feel like I know you now.

Secondly, WTF ARE THE KINGS DOING?

I really don’t mind the players. If the Kings want to rebuild, rebuild. Get young, fast. But just one future first-round pick? Did Vlade Divac even ask for a second first-round pick? Did he even know you could trade multiple first rounders? The Pelicans have plenty to give away, and they definitely don’t hang up if the Kings say “Okay, but we need your 2019 pick, too.” If it means pairing Anthony Freaking Davis with DeMarcus Freaking Cousins, the New Orleans Freaking Pelicans do it, right???

Here’s my question: How is this any worse for the competitive balance of the NBA than Sam Hinkie running the 76ers? The league forced Hinkie out and appointed Bryan Colangelo in order to stop The Process. But at least that was going somewhere.

Where are the Kings going? What are they doing?

Here’s The Crazy Thing No. 216 about this: Cousins WANTED TO BE IN SACRAMENTO. Do you understand how hard that is to screw up? A top-10 NBA player wants to play for your small market franchise, and you still find a way to eff it up and get just 25 cents on the dollar in a trade.

— End of rant —

And yet I don’t think the Heat could have offered even 25 cents. Part of the reason the Kings traded Cousins for so little is so that they could tank and keep their top-10 pick (which, if it fell outside the top 10, would have gone to the Bulls)…

Wait… what’s that? More rant? Woah, boy:

Why on Earth do you think you have to trade away a franchise player for nothing just to keep your pick? Haven’t you heard of this thing called TANKING? Rest players! Play Arron Afflalo 35 minutes per game! And for what??? So you can blow another draft pick???

(Calms down and straightens tie.)

Sorry about that.

The Kings wanted draft picks, which is something the Heat don’t have. They didn’t want Goran Dragic or Hassan Whiteside–not if they’re rebuilding. And Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson wouldn’t have been enough to get it done. The only way I see something like this working is if the Heat traded Whiteside in a three-team deal to acquire a first round pick that they could have sent Sacramento, but that’s probably too complicated for the Kings front office. The Heat never had the assets to get Cousins. They’ll have to acquire its Star another way.

Q: That’s it…I don’t care what the Heat have to do, you gotta keep James Johnson. – Jake Albright

Q: We know how Pat Riley thinks when it comes to free agency, but do you think he has potentially changed his mindset and sees this as our team going forward? – Jacquez Leandre

Let’s try to remember why Pat Riley is considered “ruthless.”

Exhibit A: He traded fan favorite Glen Rice and assorted parts for Alonzo Mourning.

Exhibit B: He traded Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant a future picks to the Lakers as soon as Shaquille O’Neal became available.

Exhibit C: He cut Mike Miller and Joel Anthony to avoid the luxury tax (okay, maybe this was more Micky Arison, but still).

Exhibit D: He played hard ball with Dwyane Wade and let him walk. DWYANE WADE.

If Riley is willing to part with Rice, Butler, Odom, Grant, Miller, Anthony and Wade for completely rational reasons, I see no reason why Riley would get emotionally attached to this group. This ream reminds me a lot of the 2003 Heat team. Some direction, but not a lot. Young, but not that young. Just sort of seeing what happens. Riley wasn’t looking to upgrade the roster in a big way until he heard Shaq was available.

Riley won’t hesitate to upgrade this roster, it just depends on whose available.

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Is this talk of “landing a whale” in free agency utterly unrealistic? Between the idea that “stars want to play with stars,” and the new CBA designed to encourage stars to re-sign with home teams, I fear NBA purgatory for the Heat. – Daniel

Riley would prefer first- and second-round playoff exits every season over lottery picks year over year. He believes in a basketball karma, which I guess is still better than whatever business model the Kings have.

So what you fear, Daniel, is not at all what Riley fears. We think about Riley as someone who either goes big or goes home, but let’s remember that those Zo-Hardaway teams were basically the Atlanta Hawks of their day. Those teams lived in Not Quite Contendersville for years, and we were still happy with them.

Riley just wants to win as much as possible, preferably more than he loses. Let’s face it, he doesn’t need more rings to throw on table anyway. His legacy is cemented.

Now, when Shane Battier takes over, well, we’ll see how that changes.

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With all this talk from Dwyane Wade about The Heat still being part of him and how he has been watching all their games with interest do you think he regrets his decision to leave Miami. Is there any chance of him coming back? – Claudia

I’ve never heard of an NBA player who watches every game of another team. That’s a big time and emotional investment. I watch every Heat game because I write and podcast about the team. Wade watches every game and still plays for a different NBA team. 

Is there any doubt at this point that Wade misses South Beach? Isn’t it a guarantee that Wade watched that 13-game win streak and thought about what it would be like playing with that fun group, then looked over and saw Rajon Rondo playing Connect Four in the corner by himself and sighed in disappointment? That for sure happened.

Next: 4 questions the Heat need answered at the All-Star Break

I won’t go as far as to say Wade regrets it. People with killer instincts like him don’t dwell too much on the past, plus winter in Chicago is almost over. But I do think he wants to end his career in Miami. Call it an educated guess.