The 2006 NBA champions, The Miami Heat, has finally made a good acquisition. It’s maybe late because the dawn of the new season is coming, but that’s better than never.
After being very quiet in the off-season with dull moves like signing former superstar yet geriatric Penny Hardaway and letting go roleplayers like Eddie Jones and James Posey, the Heat sent out-of-shape forward Antoine Walker, Wayne Simine (who is supposed to be primed for a breakout year), Michael Doleac and a conditional first-round pick to the Timberwolves for Mark Blount and Ricky Davis.
Ricky Davis, a 6-7 guard/forward, has averaged 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.06 steals and 30.4 minutes in his career. Mark Blount, meanwhile has averaged 8.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.91 blocks and 23.7 minutes while shooting 51.3 pecent from the floor and 73.6 percent from the foul line in his seven-year career.
The Wolves gets Michael Doleac, a 6-11, 262-pound center, averaged 3.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 13.4 minutes a game. They additionally get Antoine Walker who averaged 10.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists and 25.1 minutes as a Heat. This former all-star who spent 11 seasons in the NBA has career averages 18.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 36.2 minutes a game. Last but not least, Simien during his two-year career has averaged 3.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 9.9 minutes a game.
How will this trade impact both teams?
The Heat finally gets rid of Antoine Walker who is in the downfall of his career and will never seem to get back to his former all-star form. We’ll get to see if he can revive his career once he arrives in Minnesota, where his veteran presence and leadership is needed by the young rebuilding squad. The Wolves also get promising Wayne Simien, who may now be competing major minutes at the small forward and may also get some backup time for the Timberwolves’ major acquisition, Al Jefferson. Wayne Simien is a good pick for the rebuilding Wolves, who has sent franchise player Kevin Garnett to the beantown, Boston Celtics.
In the meantime the Heat gets Ricky Davis, who is an upgrade to Antoine Walker at the small forward position. This player may be enigmatic due to his image of off-court problems but has showed improvements in the past years. Mark Blount surely will get minutes backing up old big guys Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning at the center and can play backup to Udonis Haslem at power forward. We’ll probably see a starting lineup of Shaq, Haslem, Davis, Dwayne Wade (once he comes back) and either Jason Williams or Smush Parker.
The Heat had a very quiet off-season. They failed to get Mo Williams and Charlie Bell out of Milwaukee Bucks, and only settled for a very old former all star Penny Hardaway and former Los Angeles Lakers point guard Smush Parker. We will be watching within the next months how this trade affects the former champs, whose roleplaying veterans Eddie Jones, James Posey and Gary Payton have already packed their bags and left Florida.