Dame Lillard asks for Miami Heat (emergency pod) | Five on the Floor

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Or as it turns out, it seems like it may have occurred a couple of days ago, according to some of the reports. But Dame Willard has requested a trade out of Portland and he has made it clear through various parties that Miami is his preference. So yesterday, all the podcasts and everything was dealing with Gabe Vincent gone. Max Strews is gone to Cleveland. The assets that were coming back, the trade, well, in the case of Strews, the asset that was being passed on to Oklahoma City, along with another second round pick, two second round picks being passed along to unload Victor Oladipo's contract. It's not official, by the way, as we speak, but it's something that we still think is going to happen. And some of the other things that have been occurring, obviously, in free agency throughout the league. But the big thing here was Dame. And of course, we do mention Kevin Love coming back to Miami on a one-year deal, plus a player option, 3.7 million in the first year. Josh Richardson coming in one year, plus a player option at the minimum after a conversation with Eric Spolstra. But we know what you want to talk about. So it is Dame Willard. It is finally happening. He had cover to do it. We've discussed that as well, Greg. The national media, everybody has been saying, what are you doing staying there at this point? But I think he kind of had his mind made up to a certain degree. And look, giving Portland time to do something in free agency, the only thing that they've been able to do in the free agent and trade market other than waive some decent young players is sign Jeremy Grant to a significant extension, which now looks like it may be a little silly if Dame ultimately leaves and you go young. But Greg, let's get to it, just the news of the day. And then we're going to spend the rest of the episode talking not just about Dame, but also about another addition by the Heat and also by how this might actually end up getting done. Are you surprised it's happening now? Well, yeah, because I actually had a party at a bowling alley planned for my daughter today. And as I'm driving to that, this all starts happening. So yes, I'm surprised. There's never a good time to all of a sudden be in the midst of this. But here to say Aaron Goodwin, who is their agent for Damien Lillard, reached out to Joe Cronin on Saturday morning and put in his trade request. And I think we all kind of knew this was coming. And Dame basically gave him the opportunity to try to swing big yesterday. They locked up Jeremy Grant. They did not close the deal on anyone else. Draymond Green, who they had speculated about, but never made sense, went back to Golden State. No Siakam, no other mystery player out of nowhere like Karl-Anthony Towns that was delivered to Portland. So he went and did what many Heat players had a feeling he would do. I'm just going to say that. And he demanded a trade. It's reported that Miami is his preferred destination. That's from Chris Haynes, David Aldridge, a slew of other characters. I'd like to also tell you, I think Ethan will as well. One package, and I'm not going to move too quickly here, but I just, I'm trying to sum up kind of what's happened so far. The speculated package from Chris Haynes, the names that were mentioned were Tyler Hero, Duncan Robinson, Pix. There has been Brooklyn thrown around, but I just want to be really honest. I think that part of that is that as this starts to play out, they're going to put some other teams in the half, the Sixers were mentioned, but this is Miami all the way. And for them to finally have the guy who said, I want to come to Miami, Riley has always talked about, all we got to do is get a guy to come to say he wants to come. We'll figure it out. This is the all-in move. This is the absolute moment where you go all in, just like you did during the Big Three era or any of the other moments where you felt like that's what the Heat did. Even if it means you take Nurkic, even if it means you sacrifice every asset you have. I'll just end with this. I was told earlier today as I was texting furiously in a bowling alley that Dame really wants Jimmy, Bam, and Caleb to be there when he gets to Miami. So keep that in mind because I do think Portland will accommodate Dame. But to what degree, Ethan, I think is a big question mark that was left to be answered. No doubt. And I think when we look at the situation, we've said again from the beginning, if there was one guy that was worth going for and waiting out, this was the player. This is the guy who fits the best with Bam and Jimmy. This is not new news here, but also that both players wanted him. And, you know, that matters a lot because you have your two best players aligned on the best possible guy to bring in. We know the friendship between Bam and Dame, but also the Jimmy part matters a lot to me. And not to me, but in this situation, because Jimmy is not the easiest guy to play with. And you have to be of a certain mentality to be able to work with him on a daily basis. And I know we talked a little bit about this with Donovan Mitchell and Donovan denied it, but I can just say this pretty flatly. I've never heard a single thing. And we did hear things when it came to Donovan Mitchell, even if he denied it. We have not heard a single thing about Dame Lillard being in any way concerned about dealing with Jimmy Butler on a day to day basis. They are the same in a lot of different ways. Now we can talk about how Jimmy ran from the grind. No, he ran from bad situations. He ran from a bad situation in Minnesota, Chicago at the end. Billy, maybe not necessarily a terrible situation, but we know the history of that franchise and all the things that they've screwed up over the years. And he didn't feel that they handled his contract extension properly. They are meant to play together. And here's the other part about it is Brady. And we'll get to some of the specifics of all this and how it's going to look on the court. Again, Jimmy Butler winning a championship with Dame Lillard is not going to diminish Jimmy Butler winning a championship. And Dame Lillard joining the Miami Heat to play with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo is not going to diminish Dame's career. This thing is completely and 100% aligned. I think even more so than the big three was where there was a perception out there to a certain degree that LeBron, at least for those who didn't like LeBron nationally, well, he had to join Dwayne, who'd won already. Or then it kind of got flipped into, well, Dwayne's never won without LeBron or without Shaq. There was some of that stuff, right? There's none of that with this, I don't believe. Dame was never going to get close with Portland unless they added at least one other legitimate star of his level, which I don't believe they were ever going to have the chance to do during his prime or relative prime. And in Jimmy's case, he's, look, he played with Embiid, but Embiid wasn't this Embiid that he was, when Jimmy was there a couple of years ago, this is the right time for both of them. But Brady, you've talked about it, and then we'll get to compensation and where this may go. This is the guy, right, of anybody. 100%, I mean, we've speculated, I've joked around about how Tyler survived every single trade speculation out there. But when you talk about a guy that you go all in for, as Greg mentioned, it's Damian Lillard. And you talked about the fact of comparing it to the big three and expectations and people not looking at it like that. Like, Damian's proven himself as a player. The only thing on his legacy that he has left to cross off the board is a championship. Like, everybody knows who Damian Lillard is. He's already a top 75 guy. He's one of the greatest shooters in the history of basketball. Like, there's already, the legacy is already there for him. It's just one more step. And like you said about the national media side of things, nobody's looking at it like previous things, like Kevin Durant going to the Warriors or anything like that, just because his team went to the finals. Like, this is not that. This is far from that, because this is a team that is, as we've been talking about, not going to be in contending stages whatsoever. It's just good to finally see that both sides have come to a realization. But it's also funny, the difference, I guess, is we're still talking about the, you know, I know the big three was the little 12. You still have to fill in that little 12 for this team because it's a bunch of minimums you're filling in and the amount of guys you're sending out. And I think it's interesting when Greg was talking about the Caleb being a part of that, because Dame's really been an advocate for Caleb, like over time. Like, even if you look stuff up in the past, like he has praised him a ton. I think even as soon as this pass run, I think he did an interview with somebody. I can't even remember, but he was like saying, Miami wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Caleb Martin. And he was very, he just praised him a ton. So I think that would be interesting. And his talk, you know, he was talking about Damian Lillie as a player. We know what he is. We know what he could do with Bam. We know what he could do with Jimmy. We know that they can mesh. But defensively, you're going to need somebody to cover up for him a little bit and do certain things, and probably guard opposing point guards. It's another reason why it'd be good to keep Caleb Martin around in a potential deal. So that's the part that'll be interesting. I think we've talked about the hypothetical situation on the court of Damian Lillie enough, where we're kind of just like immune to it. But like, we can't just skip past the fact that Damian Lillie, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo would hypothetically be on the same team. Like, that is a very strong core that I think we're like immune to at this point, because we've talked about it for so long. But it's the guy to kind of, in terms of being on Jimmy's same wavelength, it's the guy that could carry him through a regular season. Like, it's a guy that's not going to land them in a play-in. It's a guy that can get them over the hump in the regular season, while also being a playoff killer that's done stuff in big games and big moments. It just feels like the perfect match, especially with the fact that he's calling out Miami. It's the best-fitting Big Three, in my view, if it happens. Again, Alex would get mad at me for jinxing this. But it's the best-fitting Big Three since the 2008 Champion Celtics Big Three. And I know we don't like to talk about that team, but those three guys, at the point that they were in their particular careers, and the fact that you had a defensive anchor in Garnett, and then you had guys that did not occupy the same spots on the floor, a guy in Ray, who was an off-the-ball wizard, as we know, and Paul Pierce, for whatever it is that we say about Paul Pierce, was still an elite scorer at that point, working the mid-range and various other spots. LeBron and Dwayne occupied the same spots on the floor. They had the same roles on their teams. It took a little bit of time for it to come together. Then you look at some of the other Big Threes. Yes, Durant, Curry, if you want to call it Durant, Curry, Klay, that team was so stacked, I don't even call it a Big Three, because there were so many pieces to that. Phoenix right now, people are talking about that. I call it the Emo Big Three, or the Emo Three. But Haydee, Beal, Booker, I mean, Durant at this stage is probably the best defender of the three, but there's not a defensive anchor in that group. If we talk, Greg, about Dame and the problems that Dame has had defensively, which some of them may be just caused by the situation in Portland, but some of them he may have declined as a defender. He was never an elite defender to begin with. But Jimmy and Bam cover all that up, and the system covers all that up. And Dame also provides the buffer between Jimmy and Bam on the offensive end, that better than anybody else in the NBA, you want a guy who can space the floor? Get a guy who can shoot from 40 feet. I'm sorry, I don't mean to take it out of your, take the words out of your mouth. You're so right. It fits like a perfect glove. Shout out to Gary Payton. And I'm just interested, I guess, at what the package ends up being, because I do wanna say this, and we're not gonna get caught up here and y'all can come scream at me after listening, but whatever. Like if you do lose Duncan Robinson in this trade and Max Struis has left too, like there are, we need more shooters. And we haven't talked about Thomas Bryant yet, and we'll get there as a player that's also been added to Josh Richardson and such. So I do think that there's more pieces that need to come. I think that minimum guys are gonna be big, but just you're waxing poetic about the fit. And also I think we should acknowledge this. We love Jimmy, and Jimmy has ascended to a level in this organization that I don't think any of us thought he would ever reach. Dame Lillard is the biggest name that they've brought here since LeBron James in 2010. Like it is, like we talk about stars, and then we talk about mega stars. Dame Lillard is a mega star. And so I just think- He's a First Valley Hall of Famer, is he not? Yes, he is. He's a top 75 player. There is no doubt. And so I just think, I mean, the dude scored 70 in a game last year. So I just, it's everything the Heat needed wrapped in one player. And we're gonna get to the other moves and stuff later in the minutiae of it all. But man, for him to just signal Miami so strongly, I'll just say this, the Heat gotta get this damn deal done. Well, I believe they will. And I don't, they're too far down the road here. And some of this, I feel like on the podcast, we've talked about this so much on playback and off the floor and others that were sort of repeating old ground here. But the Heat waited for a reason. And I kept saying that they waited for a reason for this particular player. They had enough intel, obviously. And I said this, look, if they ended up getting blindsided, then we were going to kill them for that, right? Like if they got blindsided and they didn't work. But it's obvious that behind the scenes, they kind of knew where this thing would play out. And it has played out pretty much as we've outlined it here, where it was going to be a bit of a slow process only because Dame wants to not be the bad guy. You can't be the good guy in this situation, but he wants to not be the bad guy on the way out the door. And he wants to make right with Portland. And probably nothing is ever going to make it right with everybody in Portland. But you want to do it with as many people as you can. So you get the statue, so you get the homecoming. So you become part of that city forever. And I understand it, okay? But everything has moved to this direction. And what I said was when you started to hear all the national media guys give him the cover and from all stripes, okay, from all networks, everybody from the carnival markers to the thoughtful people like Tim Legler were saying, get the hell out of there, Dame. Like there's no reason for you to still be there. They're going another direction. And by the way, Portland, get him out of there because you're going a different direction right now. And you don't need to progress stop your young guards, particularly Shaden Sharp, Simon's to a degree, but particularly Shaden Sharp and Scoot with a guy who is still going to command that kind of touches, that kind of attention, still going to be the face of your franchise. Let your group grow in a Western conference that continues to improve at the top where you could not contend this year anyway, even if you probably got one more borderline star to go with what you had. And also a bottom of the West, which has come up because you've got teams like Oklahoma City and Utah who are stockpiling first round picks and have enormous flexibility. And so it never made any sense for them to stay together. But this was a bit of a, okay, I don't want it to be me. I don't want it, you know, and the other side is I don't want it to be me. And I think that the Heat read this properly. Now, if they don't end up getting him when everything's out of the table, that's a different episode that we'll have. But my belief at this stage is that they will. And it's going to come down probably to how much compensation they're willing to give up. And that's probably going to be Caleb Martin. And we've talked about that, the Caleb part of this, that he's the Portland would like, he fits their timeline. He's a plug and play type player. He'd be a good leader for a young team. I think with what he's experienced in Miami and that ultimately it may come down to, you know, them requesting him over one of the Heat's sort of unproven prospects or the Heat being willing to take back Nerkich and his contract. And if they're not willing to take back Nerkich, then they're going to say, okay, then give us Caleb. And I even saw that Ira tweeted this about Caleb now. So it's gotten more into the space now that he may end up being that piece. And I thought Ira made a good point on his tweet. With the Shaq deal, that was Karan Butler. That was Karan Butler. Shaq said, I'm only going to Miami if Wade is still there. Lamar was always going to be part of the package. Brian Grant's contract was always going to be part of the package. But the other, the last piece of this was were the Heat going to part with Karan and what would, and ultimately they parted with Karan. And ultimately if they have to this time, they will part with Caleb. And if you look at the Josh Richardson signing and Spell masterfully getting that done with that phone call, which Greg, you've documented that one-on-one call with him, they brought in some protection for Caleb Martin leaving by having a wing who they know can play, know who fits in their system, a little bit older than Caleb, but actually a better three-point shooter than Caleb is on overall. And I know Brady, you can get to some of that and you did last night. So they have protection if they have to include Caleb Martin. But at this point, there's no excuse not to get this thing finished. And it's just what kind of leverage do you feel you have? And some of that has to do with the other teams that could get involved, but the Nets have traded Joe Harris already, somebody that's got a contract was usable in a trade like this. Philadelphia has been talked about. I don't know about that. The Clippers have been talked about. Miami, as you said, Greg, Dame wants to be in Miami. And ultimately I think he will be in Miami. It's just, I think it's just going to come down to the Caleb piece. Now we're going to talk about all that more. I want to save that for future episodes. We got days to go on this. We're going to do a spy report. Now we're going to talk about another player that the Heat have brought in and how he might fit. We're going to have Brady break him down. And now it's time for the spy report here on five on the floor, sponsored by Closure Investigative Agency, your trusted private investigative company, experienced professionals with over 25 years of private investigations experience. Their headquarters right here in South Florida in West Palm Beach, but they proudly provide their investigative services nationwide. Their team is so good, so dedicated, so thorough, so professional, so aggressive that other private investigators use them to help solve their own cases. They've got a proven track record of going above and beyond. And again, they're a full service, nationwide private investigative firm. That means they can handle all kinds of different cases, experts in the field of workers, compensation, insurance fraud, backgrounds and due diligence, infidelity, locates, missing persons, asset searches, surveillance, interview statements, and service of process. You can reach out to them at 844-403-2550. That's 844-403-2550. Or check them out on the web at CIAgency.net. That's just one A in there, CIAgency.net. And now the spy report. Welcome back to five on the floor. Thanks to our sponsors. Also, as we mentioned, prize picks use that code 5FIVE and Better Edge use that code 5RSN. Get $20 to play. That's our gambling partner. Brady, they signed Thomas Bryant today, 25 years old. He's had roles with Washington and the Lakers. He's never really kept a full-time role, but he's had like a month here and a month there that's been really good. How does he fit with Miami? And what do you think that this means for the other potential bigs that Miami might've looked at or might've kept? Well, I think for starters, it's good to set the bar, the fact that they signed this guy on the minimum. So it's not like you're getting an all-timer here. You're just dealing with the options that you have and trying to find the best one. So there's going to be downfalls or weaknesses to each guy. But the strengths are the fact that his role is going to be simple. He's going to play behind Bam. He's going to be this screen dive, repeat type of role. He has a little bit more offensive juice than any of their backup bigs that they've had in recent years. Like just talking about the Deadmans, the Zellers. He just has more of an ability to do things, not just on the perimeter, because he's actually shot the ball decently well in previous years. He can pop a little bit and do some of that. I don't think on high volume, but he could do a little bit more. There's trust to him in the post. There's stuff that he could do in that little in-between range. So there's just more in general offensively, but it's still ideally, you're going to want to have him as kind of just a main screener and just primarily on the boards, the opposite boards. That's something he's been good at. But I'll say this. I think the one downfall that everybody points to is the defensive side of things, because I think that's why he gets played out of a lot of rotations is the fact that he can get picked on and drop. My take on it is the fact that is there a better situation for Thomas Bryant with that description when heading to Miami and getting to play in a zone for most of the time off the bench? Like, I don't think there's a better situation. And then adding the fact when we're sitting here talking about maybe Miami having Jay Rich and Caleb hypothetically at the top of the press backing into a zone, they still have that base that they can get to or Haywood Highsmith and Jay Rich, if we're talking about that scenario, the top of a zone. Thomas Bryant's role is not very difficult defensively as it once was. He's going to sit there. He's going to have to box out. He's going to have to just be big and get in the way and get some boards to go in the other direction. So I don't mind it at all. I like it. I think compared to especially, like I said, the bar compared to past their two previous backup bigs, I think everybody ultimately always ends up getting annoyed with. It's probably another case of that. I think give it a couple months, they're probably gonna be annoyed with him as well. But I think that's the thing with the guys on a minimum. You could rotate guys in and out, see what they can provide. But I just, it just feels to me with this guy specifically, there's a little bit more that they can get out of him than the rest. And then finally, I'll say one more thing is the fact that when we were talking about Dame and stuff, you need a guy that's going to set a ton of high pick and roll stuff because that's basically all of Dame's offense in Portland, which is set a screen high and let him work in an open court. Just let Thomas Bryant do that all night. And I think that's a pretty decent role. Yeah, it's interesting. When we're looking at players, they bring in there's like two tracks. There's with Dame and without Dwayne, Dame, Dwayne, Dame and Dwayne. That's why we've kind of talked. We've done those episodes. We've done who are they bring in with day? And there's certain guys who will fit, I think, well in either circumstance. And if you look at the three guys that essentially they've either kept or brought in right now, Kevin Love, Josh Richardson and Thomas Bryant, they're guys who could be rotation players with Dame or without Dame, but they actually all fit better with Dame. I think even Kevin Love, I think, fits better with Dame. And now you have Kevin Love coming back who provides some of that Udonis Haslam voice in that locker room. If Kyle Lowry is traded, so you take another veteran out of that room. In addition to having already taken Udonis out of that room with him finally retiring. And now you have a guy who you trust to sort of impart stuff to the other younger players that you may have to play now or your minimum guys in a guy like Kevin Love. And I think Jovich is going to be in this trade. But if he's not, then having him learn from Kevin Love for another season would be ideal also. So I think that either way, these were these were good signings. Greg, you like this signing. And we're not going to get a whole bunch into the Dame packages here because I want to save that for a separate episode. This was kind of you mentioned you were supposed to be at a birthday party with a daughter. I was supposed to be on the water with my daughter today, too. So this is this is like just a little bit of inside baseball here. Did I not, Brady, text you that I'd be out from between one and two? So funny. I knew I was going to report the Dame trade immediately. I was like, it's happening today. Literally one to two. We were waiting to go over to the dock and and to go out of the water today. My daughter and I on a Saturday and then it started to rain. But literally at the same time, we're at lunch and that report comes in. He asked for the trade and she looks at me and goes, Dame stuff. And I said, yes, we're going. So that's exactly that's exactly how this stuff happens. But like, oh, that guy who scored 70. I said, yeah, that guy, he goes. And where's the number zero? So they'll have to fight over at him and Josh Richardson. I have a feeling Josh will lose that if Dame comes. But Greg, just close the loop on this on the Thomas Bryant signing. And again, we'll do another episode. I'm sure, sir, over the weekend. Absolutely. So I just wanted to sneak in that the fact that they're getting minimum guys, particularly ones that are not super, super old. Thomas Bryant is still got some upside there. I just want to point out that he had a month and I'm going back through here. It was January where he played 16 games 25 minutes and he scored 14 points, got eight rebounds a game and shot 62 percent from the field. And I just I think he's a good upside signing. I had heard the name Nerland's Noel. It's a vet minimum option to kind of slide into your role as a reserve big. And it looks as if Thomas Bryant is going to be that guy instead. And I like that option better. I mean, I think that he just he proved more functional. I thought when I was watching the finals and they were warming up when Thomas Bryant was warming up and he was like a bench warmer for Denver, I thought to myself, man, they are deep as hell. And I think that that just will show itself in Miami. I think he'll have a productive season as a heat player, final thing here. And we thank our sponsors, Closure Investigative Agency, Price Picks, Better Edge for this episode. This comes in from Barry Jackson. And I agree with this one. He has gotten deals done with three rotation players in the past 20 hours. Love Jay Rich and Thomas Bryant somehow paired 600,000 for their payroll before they started. Andy Ellis Berg is a magician. And then he says with Riley, Simon, etc. also getting things done. I've said this for a while and you probably get embarrassed if he hears this, but honestly, honestly, I don't I don't want to be. Look, Eric obviously is up there. Pat is up there. If there's one person in this organization, they really can't lose. It's probably Andy. All right. Thanks to Greg. Thanks to Brady. Alex will be back on future episodes. Thanks, everybody, for joining us for playback. We have more than 800 over the past couple of days, and I'm actually going to start bringing on some national media guys to join us there over the next week or so. So we're building out that platform. Screw Twitter. Get off the floor. Three bucks and five cents a month. We don't shut it down just because we're a megalomaniac. Have a good one.