Miami Heat still a popular free agent destination?
By Bryan Rose
Before the Miami Heat signed both LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010, they weren’t exactly a hotbed for free agent activity. Sure, they had Dwyane Wade on the roster and yes, Shaquille O’Neal previously helped bring in veteran talent.
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But for the most part, you didn’t lump the Miami Heat in with the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls or Los Angeles Lakers when you talked about prime free agent landing spots.
Of course, with LeBron on the roster the Miami Heat were constantly in the rumor mill as players clamored to join the franchise and the franchise brought in significant talent (including James and Bosh themselves). But now with James elsewhere, does that mean the Miami Heat are now an unattractive locale moving forward?
Not according to the Sun Sentential who believes the Heat will still be inciting to free agents moving forward.
"What resonates with players, especially free agents, are the available assets that could surround them. So what will matter more than “Heat family” or location is whether Dwyane Wade still will be an All-Star in 2016, whether Chris Bosh will be a franchise player then, whether Luol Deng will stay, whether Shabazz Napier and other young players develop, whether the Heat can mine something out of upcoming drafts. If the Heat can remain competitive in these two intervening years, that also will matter. While LeBron James went back to the lottery-laden Cavaliers, it is doubtful that another top free-agent without such hometown ties would have made a similar move to a team coming off four of the worst seasons in recent NBA history."
What Miami has that most other franchises don’t is the lure of South Beach, though that hasn’t exactly proven to be a massive selling point in the past. Players want to join winning franchises and if the Heat can continue to put up solid seasons, there’s no reason to think they won’t be able to attract key free agents.