Hollinger Sees Dorell Wright Trade

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Teams that need to make a deal

 

Miami Heat ($2.81 million over) surprised me with its decision to guarantee Carlos Arroyo's contract for the rest of the season because it made it harder for the Heat to get under the tax line come February. But with Miami's American Airlines Arena drawing poorly and another first-round playoff exit seeming highly likely, they're another team that I expect to cut money in the next month. It's not quite the slam-dunk case that the first three examples offer, but the dollar amount is small enough that Miami could accomplish the savings without much pain. The simple, one-step plan for doing this is called "trading Dorell Wright." If there is one player I can almost guarantee will be changing uniforms in the next month, it's Wright -- the financial incentives are too good not to.

 

The Heat can offer anyone the $951,066 he'll have left on his contract on trade-deadline day to take Wright off their hands, likely adding a sweetener for the trouble (for instance, either more cash or one of the two second-round picks they got from the Hornets on draft day last year). Any number of teams could pull off such a deal, with the prime suspects being the Clippers (a $3.3 million trade exception from the Zach Randolph deal and an owner who loves to make a buck) and the Grizzlies.

 

The added benefit of such a deal for Miami is a $2.8 million trade exception that they would carry into next year's trading season, giving the Heat an added means of loading up the roster following their expected free-agent splurge this summer.

Source

 

Wright highlights:

 

[Poe]

Wright's too good to let go. He's grown into an underrated versatile sixth man in this league and may potentially start for the Heat in the near future (similar to what Trevor Ariza did with LA).

 

Thing is, sports analysts still see him as just an athletic wing player with a Jamario Moon skillset (though I disagree, of course), so they believe Wright's contract is expendable. Let's just say that Pat Riley isn't dumb enough draft a high potential player in the first round, develop him for 6 years, recently give him a prominent role, then just throw him away just to get under the tax.

 

Sorry, there are much better candidates on this team to be traded than Dorell's. James Jones is easily the number one option to leave right now.