DALLAS - OCTOBER 1: Erick Dampier #25 of the Dallas Mavericks poses for a portrait during NBA Media Day at American Airlines Center on October 1, 2007 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2007 NBAE (Photo by Tim Heitman/NBAE via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Erick Dampier
Tim Heitman
I’ve lost count of how many centers the Miami Heat have under contract. Roughly the size of the Orc army in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, by my guess. But I could be off by a few.
But they might add one more -- Erick Dampier. The Miami Herald was doing a little speculating.
Monday was the first day the Bobcats could look at trades for Dampier. He has a non-garunteed $13 million contract, one that can be waived and you save a lot of money. The Bobcats want some value for that, but if nothing else they will waive him to save money. One way or another, he is going to become a free agent in the coming weeks.
If there is one thing Pat Riley does, it’s find value in that market.
Is Dampier that much better than what the Heat currently have on the roster? Well, yes. Which says plenty about what they have. Anthony has shot blocking skills but is undersized for the five. Big Z has a midrange game but is not fleet of foot. It gets worse from there.
Frankly, Bosh is going to end up playing plenty at the five this season, and many nights that will be fine. But by the playoffs the Heat need to be able to counter when they run into Dwight Howard or the two O’Neals and Perkins in Boston or Andrew Bynum in Los Angeles. Teams will attack that spot in a seven-game series if they think they have found a weakness.
Or, the Heat could just overwhelm teams at other spots on the floor. That may be the model that works best.