Among one of the more interesting rumors to come out lately comes from
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that seemingly came out of nowhere but would be fantastic for Pat Riley's championship dreams if it were to come true.
Like Anthony, Nene has an early-termination option he can exercise after the season, and sources say he is upset with all the attention focused on Anthony's situation while his isn't being resolved. Nene, arguably Denver's second-best player, has made a list of three teams he's interested in signing with or being traded to -- and not surprisingly, one of them is Miami, where his fierce interior presence would be the missing piece for the Heat.
Any team could use a low-post presence like Nene who is averaging career highs in points with 15.2 and field goal percentage with a scintillating .644 and the Heat would be no exception. His skills next to Chris Bosh would compliment each other nicely, to say the least. It would be a final piece to the puzzle and make them truly a force to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, the reality is that the Heat won't have any cap space to sign the highly coveted free agent next summer unless they trade away Mike Miller or Udonis Haslem at a minimum to be able to fit a player who is currently making $11.6 million this year. If Joel Anthony continues his recent strong play, there might be a taker for his 5-year contract but it still stretches the imagination that the Heat could fit Nene next to Bosh, Wade and LeBron's max contracts.
The Heat may or may not have a mid-level exception or something similar to that after labor negotiations are (hopefully) resolved by the start of the next season. Nene would take significantly less than he could command on the open market but the Heat's only chance in that regard (which is still a long-shot) might be that he would take a one-year offer at a discounted rate for a chance at a ring and a bigger payday later.
Similarly, it would be hard to imagine the Heat trading away Haslem after his commitment to the franchise with his loyalty in signing a smaller deal last summer to stay with his hometown team, though the Nuggets were one of the teams along with the Dallas Mavericks who made a big push to sign Haslem away from the Heat.
Though it remains a pipe dream, the fact that Nene has the Heat on his wish list should certainly be a concern for the rest of the league. If money is not the biggest concern and winning rings is, rest assured that Pat Riley will do his best to make it a reality.
