| Riley Misses A No Brainer Authored by Andrew Friedman - September 9, 2005 - 3:11 pm
Damon Jones should still be a member of the Miami Heat, but he isn't because Pat Riley refused to use part of Miami's $5 million midlevel exception on a key contributor to last season's team. In retrospect, Riley asks, "How much are you willing to pay a backup?" A backup? Damon is as much of a backup to this Miami team as Antoine Walker will be this season. Neither one would start on the team, yet that doesn't mean neither one would have a significant role. Damon would have been an extension of the starting lineup, much like Walker will be. Riley's question was extremely superficial and quite disappointing. There are several reasons why not resigning Damon Jones makes absolutely zero sense.
First, this issue would not be a concern if only Miami was still in the running for Michael Finley, or any other free agent who is worth using part of the midlevel exception for. In other words, not digging into the midlevel exception to retain Jones makes no sense unless there is a better alternative. There's not. This idea makes even less sense when you consider that resigning Jones would have only taken up part of the midlevel exception, leaving the Heat with enough money to offer other free agents.
Jones is an astronomically smarter choice than any of the point guard alternatives the Heat must now choose from. The biggest name in the remaining group is Gary Payton, and one idea that has been thrown around lately is to use the midlevel exception on both Payton and Latrell Sprewell. This idea is one of the most moronic ideas imaginable. As if a personality conflict wasn't already a criticism, bringing in these two egomaniacs would be utter nonsense and ratify that assessment. Not coincidentally, these are the only two players who together, or perhaps individually, would command the entire midlevel exception.
Second, Miami needs a shooter. Damon Jones was the best shooter left in the free agency. He was perfect for his role last season, and he would continue that same role had he been resigned. Miami has no other proven shooters to choose from now. The Heat must hope Antoine Walker (32%), Jason Williams (31%) and James Posey (33%) can bring their career three-point numbers up. Damon Jones shot 43% from behind the arc for the Heat last season. Miami would have known exactly what they were getting in regards to outside shooting with Jones. It would have been one less question to answer before the season. At this point, Miami has no idea the answer to the outside shooting question. And with every other long-range shooter gone from last season as well (Eddie Jones and Rasual Butler), this only makes the non-signing of Damon Jones harder to fathom. Eddie Jones has shot 38% for his career while Damon Jones has shot 39%. Rasual Butler has shot a not too shabby 36% for his career as well. With these three gone, Miami has some major work to do in finding a replacement. Miami finished last season third in the league in three-point field goal percentage led by these three, and nobody was trusted more at taking threes than Damon Jones.
Third, a key aspect to championship success is continuity. With Damon Jones, Miami would have gotten back some of that continuity, in addition to some camaraderie. Not to mention, Damon Jones was a fan favorite. Trading Damon Jones was a terrible move internally and public relations-wise. Shaquille O'Neal was allegedly very upset to see Damon Jones not be resigned. Miami will also have to work another brand new point guard into a core that is already welcoming three new faces. The new point guard will have to learn the system, a system that Damon Jones already knew how to succeed in.
The fourth and fifth reasons why not resigning Damon Jones is a bonehead move, or rather, lack of a move, involve the Heat's recent history and Pat Riley's superficial question, "How much are you willing to pay a backup?" Pat Riley, of all people, should know how important a "backup" point guard is. Look back to just this past postseason when Lindsey Hunter played a debatably series-altering role in containing Dwyane Wade for various stretches during Detroit victories in addition to providing untimely offensive bursts off the bench, from Miami's perspective. And who could forget back in the 2000 playoffs, when Chris Childs lit the Heat up in the fourth quarter of Game 7, quieting American Airlines Arena's first playoff series crowd and ending the Knicks/Heat rivalry once and for all in favor of New York. Who could forget that? Pat Riley must have. He must have forgotten how important a role a backup point guard can play, whether it is offense, defense, or maybe just outside shooting and guaranteed chemistry. Damon Jones would have been the perfect player to fill this particularly imperative role, doing what he did last season as a starter off the bench, putting opposing teams in their place with very potent, consistent outside shooting.
Very potent, consistent outside shooting.something Miami truly lacked since before Tim Hardaway's deteriorating knees prohibited him from participating in competitive athletic endeavors with the Heat. In fact, finding a player to do what is seemingly a simple job, hit open outside shots, is something the Heat has not been able to find since the Tim Hardaway era ended. The best player at it since then besides Damon Jones has been Eddie Jones, and even he was constantly criticized in Miami for being inconsistent or incompetent when it came to outside shooting, especially the beginning of last season. Besides the two Joneses, Miami has been unable to find anybody worth keeping. Recall:
Anthony Carter (35% FG), Kendall Gill (13% 3FG), Sam Mack (25% 3FG), Eddie House (30% 3FG), Travis Best (33% 3FG), Mike James (29% 3FG), LaPhonso Ellis (25% 3FG) (The numbers in parentheses are from the respective player's most recent season with Miami). These are players who Pat Riley previously had faith in fulfilling this role in the recent past. Riley finally finds someone in Damon Jones who succeeds at it, and he declares Miami "unwilling" to negotiate a higher contract to keep him.
There is clearly a reason why these previously mentioned players were not brought back. They are some of the most notable outside-shooting failures in Heat history and are frustrating examples of what went wrong from 2001 to 2003 in Miami. However, not every player Miami brought in since 2001 was a failure. Rafer Alston played the role nicely in 2003/2004, but the Heat was not going to match an absurdly high offer from Toronto. The other decent outside shooter Miami used in the past was Rasual Butler, but he was included along with Eddie Jones in the trade for Walker, Williams and Posey. Riley has completely missed a no-brainer by not resigning Damon Jones, one of the brightest spots from last season and an easy solution to the concerns of continuity and outside shooting.
One response to this argument might be, "Well, last season, Damon, Eddie, and Rasual all had Shaquille O'Neal giving them easy, open shots." Such a comment neglects the fact that the previously mentioned long-range failures were often left with wide-open shots as well, due to a variety of reasons: newly instituted zone defenses, double teams Alonzo Mourning or Eddie Jones drew, and the fact that Miami has been so bad at finding consistent outside shooters, that teams would simply give these players huge amounts of space. Riley states, "If we can bring in a point guard or shooter who can get 500 open looks like Damon did, we will feel pretty good about it." The open looks are one thing, but making them is another.
How much are the Heat willing to pay a backup? Obviously, not enough. |
