MIAMI
At this time four years ago, NBA free agency was a circus: Chris Bosh was offering regular updates on his free-agent wooing, and LeBron James was joining Twitter.
It’s a touch different this time around.
Teams are holding their cards very close in most cases, Miami’s “Big 3” of Bosh, James and Dwyane Wade basically are silent on their plans, and the overwhelming majority of free agents don’t seem to be anywhere close to finding a team for next season.
Then again, no one signs until July 10. Here’s a primer on where things stand:
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Carmelo Anthony is in Chicago, he’s in Houston, he’s in Dallas, and Thursday, he visited Los Angeles. He also was going to meet with the Knicks while in L.A., and there’s still the possibility that Anthony will end up right back where he started with New York. Whatever happens, the Melo Watch is the story of free agency so far.
There have been some slipups along the way, most notably what the Rockets were thinking by plastering images of Anthony wearing Jeremy Lin’s number (Lin, who remains a Rocket for now, wasn’t impressed).
Anthony-to-the-Lakers might be a long shot, but it would seem his wife, La La, has a name made for L.A.
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The top free-agent point guard isn’t free anymore.
Kyle Lowry agreed to a four-year, $48-million deal late Wednesday night, meaning he will be staying in Toronto and continuing to lead a young Raptors team that was a break or two away from getting to the second round of the playoffs last season.
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Besides the Miami trio of Bosh, James and Wade, there remain tons of quality players out there:
Luol Deng seems like he’d fit with a number of teams who actually have some money to spend.
Pau Gasol is getting interest from a number of teams, including Oklahoma City.
Greg Monroe and Chandler Parsons are expected to get nice pay raises next season, regardless of where they are.
Lance Stephenson is negotiating with Indiana, which probably still remains the frontrunner to retain the guard.
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The first two days of free agency came and went without really a peep from the Heat or any of their players from the last four runs to the NBA Finals. The “Big 3” all are tweeting, sure, but it’s almost entirely limited to the World Cup or their kids – no hints on basketball moves, yet. And Pat Riley has remained quiet, like always.
Clearly, teams aren’t waiting around for the Heat to make moves, but there’s still a sense that when the Miami dominoes start moving, things leaguewide will start happening in a hurry.
As for James, he posted a vacation photo of himself smiling and standing among family Thursday afternoon at an undisclosed location. If he’s anxious, it’s not showing.
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Jason Kidd left Brooklyn in infamous fashion, but many eyes are on player movement, and with good reason. It might seem odd in some circles that names such as NBA Finals hero Boris Diaw, Spencer Hawes, Jordan Hill, Shawn Marion, Josh McRoberts and Paul Pierce aren’t getting more attention.
Look for that to change, quickly.
