Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Paul trade a reality check
MIAMI — NBA free agency hasn’t even started and already the reverberations could be felt Wednesday at American-Airlines Arena.
In the wake of news that Chris Paul would be traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Houston Rockets for a package of players that includes former Heat prospect Patrick Beverley, talk at the Heat’s facility moved beyond summer-league preparations.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call,” guard Josh Richardson said, shortly after word came down of Paul bypassing free agency to instead join James Harden with the Rockets. “Teams are starting to get some great teams together.”
Richardson, who addressed youths at the Heat’s summer camp at South Broward High School, said it didn’t even take Saturday’s start of free-agency negotiations to heighten awareness of next season’s challenges.
“It definitely is like we’re going to have to come out and play well against these guys,” he said. “These guys definitely have a lot of weapons across the court. It definitely catches your attention.”
With the Heat having an anticipated $35 million in salary-cap space, it will have much of the organization’s attention focused on free agency, as summer-league
“If we do keep this team together, then I’m confident against anybody.” Josh Richardson
play opens this weekend.
With the Paul trade, it becomes increasingly possible that Blake Griffin, a potential Heat free-agent target, now leaves the Clippers.
“It’s our world; it’s our life,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday of the dual focus, on both acquisition and improvement, at this stage of the offseason. “This is what we’re used to. It’s good to get back to some action.
“The last 10 days we’ve had draft, we’ve had summer league practices — nothing like hearing the squeaky shoes on the gym floor, guys getting after it and working — and then we have free agency this weekend. It’s a good time of the year for us. We’re excited about it. We’ll attack it the way we do.”
The Heat achieved second-half success this past season with an ensemble approach, going 30-11 without an All-Star — past or present — on the roster. By contrast, the Rockets now join the super-team movement that already includes the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and runnerup Cleveland Cavaliers, with the Boston Celtics seemingly moving in that direction, amid pitches for Gordon Hayward in free agency and Paul George on the trade market.
While the Heat could yet bolster their star-status profile alongside Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic this summer, Richardson said he still could see success with the type of mix the Heat featured amid their resurrection from 11-30 at midseason.
“You look at a few series in the last 10 years, you see teams like the Spurs with five guys who are great players, but know how to play. They can do anything,” he said.
“I think we have a team where everybody started or played well at the end of the year and we started to learn each other’s tendencies. If we do keep this team together, then I’m confident against anybody.”
Richardson said continuity should not be dismissed, as teams such as the Rockets and potentially Celtics attempt to redefine themselves. In fact, he said the Heat could be closer in continuity to the Warriors than some of the emerging contenders.
“I feel like you just have to have a team where everybody plays the right way,” he said. “Golden State has superstars. But look at how they play. Everybody plays the right way — the way you’re supposed to play basketball.
“So you’ve got to have a team where everybody knows their role, everybody knows how to play with each other. Yeah, star power definitely is a huge help. But, that star has to know how to fit in with their teammates, know how to make guys around them better, how to bring guys up.”