Cash isn’t king, Waiters says
Free-agent guard picks opportunity over bigger money.
MIAMI — It came down to more than just money for Dion Waiters.
That much is obvious, as the free agent guard signed with the Heat for the $2.9 million room exception. He r e p o r t e d l y s i g n e d a t wo-year, $6 million contract that includes a player option for the second season to play for Miami despite getting better monetary offers from other teams as a skilled 24-year-old scorer.
The Heat made the signing official Tuesday afternoon.
“Dion is not a room exception player,” team President Pat Riley said in a statement. “He wanted to play for the Miami Heat and chose to forgo other more lucrative financial opportunities to be a part of our championship organization. We are very honored that he made the commitment to come to South Florida and sign with us. Dion is young, athletic and explosive, which fits in with our roster. He will add a great dimension for us at the off-guard spot. I really like the depth and versatility that we now have in our perimeter positions.”
The Thunder extended a $6.8 million qualif ying offer to Waiters before free agency opened July 1, but they rescinded the offer last on Kevin Durant’s decision and still believed they would re-sign Dwyane Wade.
“I was like almost 100 percent sure I was going to end up in Brooklyn,” Johnson said. “I had already kind of come to the assumption that everything was going to play out the way it didn’t really, like they were going to re-sign Dwyane and everything.”
Things didn’t work out like the Heat or Johnson envisioned.
After Wade dec ided to sign with the Bulls on July 6, Miami was left with $20 million in cap space and a hole to fill at shooting guard.
“I think that kind of threw a wrench into everything,” J o h n s o n s a i d o f Wad e ’s departure.
With Wade’s free-agent decision coming in the final hours of July 6, Johnson was waiting for the free-agent signing moratorium to end at midnight on July 7 to officially sign Brooklyn’s offer sheet.
The Nets’ $50 million offer over four years was structured to make it hard for the Heat to match with $38.5 million coming over the final two years of the contract. With a few hours between Wade’s decision and the end of the free-agent signing moratorium, Miami proposed that Johnson reject the offer who singled to open the inning.
Ichiro started Tuesday in his c u s t o mar y l e a d o f f s p o t , a n d moved within three hits of the 3,000-career hit milestone. He went 1 for 5 with a stolen base and came up to bat twice in the eighth. The second time, he flew out to left field to end the inning.
Ichiro, who replaced the slumping Marcell Ozuna in center, nearly homered in the game’s first at-bat as he sent Phillies outfielder Peter Bourjos crashing into the wall to make the catch and prevent an extra-base hit.
“It livened the place up a lot when he got that hit,” Stanton said. “It was definitely a big help for us. Unfortunately, (that first one) didn’t get out.”
Adeiny Hechavarria followed Stanton’s double with a two-run single off reliever Severino Gonzalez that was followed by an RBI single by Miguel Rojas.
The Marlins sent 10 batters to the plate in the eighth, collecting four hits and three walks.
“The first (Stanton hit) obviously was relief from the stand- week to make him an unrestricted free agent. Waiters could have accepted the qualifying offer at any point, and it would have become a guaranteed one-year deal at that price with the freedom to still sign offer sheets with other teams.
Waiters offered his first public comments on the signing through his Instagram account Tuesday, along with a photo of himself looking sheet and sign a new deal with them that was structured more evenly.
“It was very late in the process,” he said. “It was only a matter of like an hour and a half that I had to make the decision to either sign the offer sheet I had kind of committed to or just not sign it and restructure a new deal.” point of we haven’t scored in a while and you feel like hopefully it has a chance to open things up a little bit,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “The next one kind of opens up the flood gates, gives to the ocean:
“I d i d n’ t d o i t f o r t h e money. . . I d i d i t f o r t h e oppor t uni t y to go out & have fun. Everything else will take care of its self !!! I just felt like it was the best situation for me...& my family. I could have waited & got wat I wanted. But I rather be happy then miserable at the end of the day!!! Meaning Yu can have everything & still not be happy... #heatnation
Johnson decided to “keep the commitment” he made and signed Brooklyn’s $50 million offer sheet. Once Johnson signed it, it meant the Heat had to match the poison-pill structure of the Nets’ offer — $5.6 million in the first season, $5.8 million in the second season, $18.8 million in the third us a little breathing room.”
Tom Koehler’s tendency to dominate the Phillies came in handy before the Marlins worked their way out of their scoring funk.
Koehler’s six shutout innings held let’s get it!!! #provethemwrong #stamped #Philly”
Waiters is the 10th-highest paid player on Miami’s roster, but he is one of the favorites to replace Dwyane Wade as starting shooting guard. Waiters will compete with Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington for the job. season and $19.6 million in the fourth season — if they wanted to keep him.
With the help of owner Mi c k y A r i s o n , t h e He a t decided Johnson was worth the investment.
Even with the big contract, the starting shooting guard job might not belong to Johnson. With Monday’s addition of Dion Waiters, Johnson will have to compete with Josh Richardson, Wayne Ellington and Waiters for playing time at shooting guard.
Johnson was a key part of Miami’s rotation off the bench last season before undergoing rotator cuff surgery in February to repair an injured left shoulder that kept him out until the playoffs. He averaged 8.7 points on 48.6 percent shooting to go with three rebounds and 2.2 assists in 36 games last season.
With a c rowded group at shooting guard, Johnson even expects to play some minutes at point guard this season to give starter Goran Dragic a breather.
“I’m not worried about it,” Johnson said. “I think me and Josh are going to have a good opportunity to play both guard spots. It’s interchangeable. Whether I’m coming off the bench or whether I’m starting, I’ve shown that I have the ability to fit into any type of role.” the fort, as he struck out five and allowed three hits and one walk in his second consecutive strong start against Philadelphia in less than a week.
Koehler (8-8) exited the game after only 73 pitches after he experienced some tightness in his pectoral muscle.
“Tom gave us pretty much what we needed tonight,” Mattingly said. “We’ve got a couple of guys kind of banged up in the pen — well, not banged up, just we were down today — and Tom gave us just what we needed. We’ve just got to be cautious with any situation at any moment.”
In four starts against the Phillies this season, Koehler is 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA, allowing four earned runs in 28 innings.
Over his past two starts, Koehler has allowed one earned run on five hits for a 0.64 ERA.
“We just stuck with the same game plan me and Jeff (Mathis) had last time,” Koehler said. “We were able to execute pitches and get some early contact and guys played good defense behind me.”
The Marlins sent 90 consecutive batters to the plate without producing a run until Stanton sliced a fastball from Jerad Eickhoff to right field in the sixth.
Mike Dunn, David Phelps and Nick Wittgren each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to help the Marlins shut out the Phillies for the first time this season.