The Vertical Front-Office Insider Bobby Marks, a 20-year executive with the Nets, offers his thoughts on the offseason plans of NBA teams whose seasons have ended.

THE PLAN GOING FORWARD

The sacrifice of free agency

Along with winning comes sacrifice. In the Heat’s case, the summer free agents on their roster will need to sacrifice if Miami wants its core to return.





Although free agent Hassan Whiteside is the primary focus, the direction the Heat go with free agent Dwyane Wade will set the tone on how Miami constructs its roster.

View photos What will Miami do with Dwyane Wade? (AP) More

Salary-cap rules force teams to make a decision on their own free agents before they are able to utilize cap space. In the Heat’s case, even with only $48 million in guaranteed contracts Wade ($29 million hold) and Luol Deng ($13 million hold) have Miami at the salary cap.

Because of Whiteside’s early Bird rights, Miami is limited to paying him a salary that cannot exceed the average player salary (projected to be more than $8 million). With Whiteside looking at a payday close to $21 million, the Heat will be forced to use cap space if they wish to sign him. Whiteside cannot sign a two-year contract using early Bird rights with a player option for the second year and then opt out in 2017 to establish full Bird rights.

If Miami brings back Wade at $15 million, then enough room would be created to sign Whiteside. The Heat will also be able to retain restricted free agent Tyler Johnson and exceed the cap because of early Bird rights. However, in order to create that room for Whiteside, the cap holds of Deng, Joe Johnson and Udonis Haslem would need to be released, making the three unlikely to return. Miami would have only a small portion of cap space ($4 million) and its room mid-level ($2.9 million) to fill out its roster.

The Heat also can emphasize the impact of having no state income tax in Florida. According to sports accountant Robert Raiola, Miami can offer Whiteside a contract starting at $16 million that would net the same amount of money after taxes as signing with the Lakers starting at $18.1 million. Taking that approach would allow the Heat to bring Wade back at $15 million and leave Miami with $10 million in cap space to fill out its roster. It would also give Miami flexibility in 2017 when the cap will approach $109 million.

As Pat Riley and the Heat have shown, do not discount any option when it comes to the salary cap.

The Chris Bosh situation

Miami and All-Star Chris Bosh find themselves in unchartered territory heading toward free agency.



Bosh, who has not played since the All-Star break because of a medical condition, has a $23 million cap hit for 2016-17 and accounts for close to 50 percent of the Heat’s guaranteed salaries for that season.

View photos Chris Bosh last played on Feb. 9 before All-Star weekend. (Getty) More

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