Pat Riley has not surrendered despite the fact that his team lost the biggest star of the Big Three, LeBron James.
The Miami Heat president continues to "retool" the team to hopefully continue to perform well enough to join the 2015 playoffs and even have a chance against the new formidable teams in the NBA.
In a Yahoo! Sports article, Pat Riley and Ron Shade, Deng's agent, discussed matters on July 12, 2014 and hammered out a deal the next day. Deng was still undecided on Saturday until Riley and Erik Spoelstra convinced him that the move would be wise financially. It also helped that he would be filling in the void that James left.
Deng was recently signed by the Heat for two years with a player option in the second season. Deng played most of his career with the Chicago Bulls after being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in January 2014. Deng will take on the role of small forward in lieu of LeBron and said that he wanted to play with the Miami Heat because he believes that the core group of the team is still intact and that there are financial advantages for him too, such as having no state income tax.
In a report by ESPN, the two-year deal for Deng is worth $20 million. Other teams were previously interested in the swingman, such as the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks. He will be in his 11th season in the league come the 2014-2015 season. Deng played 40 games with the Cavs in the 2014 season. He is a two-time All-Star too.
The Heat has retained most of its players after the loss of James. Chris Bosh has been re-signed for a five-year $118-million contract as well as Dwayne Wade. The Heat will finalize the details for Wade's re-signing. Wade previously opted out of his contract and may receive less due to the addition of Deng. Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen were both also re-signed by the Heat. Forwards Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts were also signed by Miami. Deng will be a good addition to the Heat particularly in terms of defense. He averaged 16 points and almost 6 rebounds a game during his tenure with the Bulls and Cavs.
According to USA Today, Deng was expecting a bigger salary with the Cavs but things immediately changed when James transferred, consuming much of the team's salary cap space.
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