With LeBron James finally making the decision to return home to Cleveland on Friday, it’s safe to say that the real free agency period of 2014 has truly begun.
There was always going to be a trickle-down effect from whatever decision James came to, and his former teammate Chris Bosh proved to be the player in line to make the next move.
The rumor – and a strong one at that – was that Bosh would strongly consider leaving the Miami Heat to join Dwight Howard and James Harden in Houston if James left, but the power forward ultimately decided to stay put when Pat Riley offered him a five-year max contract, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Chris Bosh has reached agreement on a five-year, $118 million contract to re-sign with the Miami Heat, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
After LeBron James announced he was leaving the Heat to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bosh strongly considered a four-year, $88 million offer to sign with the Houston Rockets. He will get an additional guaranteed $30 million by re-signing with Miami.
So the Heat will look to re-sign Dwyane Wade and build a different way with their mega star suddenly gone. Unfortunately for Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets, their plans for this summer have failed pretty miserably.
First came the news that Chandler Parsons signed a huge three-year, $46 million offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks earlier in the week. It’s unclear what the Rockets will do at this point, but either way, this is not what was envisioned when they allowed him to become a restricted free agent this summer.
Then there is the fact that they had enough room to draw in one more star to form a trio with Harden and Howard, but failed to actually bring anyone in. With the opportunity to grab Bosh knocking on the door, Morey quickly moved Jeremy Lin and a 2015 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers to create enough cap space to acquire Bosh, only to learn later in the day that Bosh would stay with the Heat.
So now after giving up Lin for nothing (cash and and overseas player to be named), no Bosh and a messy situation with Chandler, the Rockets are stuck in limbo. To be clear, they’re not exactly in the worst of situations given that they still have two very dynamic players and one of the best defensive point guards in the league in Patrick Beverley. Still, what promised to be an exciting summer has turned into a dreadful one, and Morey now has to find a way to spin things around in the right direction.
Regardless of the moves that are sure to come, Beverley remains highly optimistic about the upcoming season ahead.
No matter what. We will be a force this year. #RedNation
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) July 12, 2014
The Rockets will still look to be a very good team, but a force? At this point, that’s a tougher sell. On that note: Happy 25th Birthday, Mr. Beverley.
Tweet of the Day: LeBron James Is Coming Home
James Park is the chief blogger and deputy editor of Sheridan Hoops. Find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.