Do you remember the time when all these big free agents were scrambling around in the big offseason of 2010 (especially that LeBron James guy)? And then three of the biggest free agents all ended up in one place? Yeah, that was fun.
But in any case, here’s a nice few nuggets from Tim Bontemps, beat writer for the Brooklyn Nets. He talked to Miami’s Dwyane Wade a few minutes earlier.
Wade said that his biggest takeaway from his 2010 meeting with the Nets was that Jay-Z wasn’t there.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 7, 2012
Wade said Jay-Z called into his meeting, but that he went to LeBron’s.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 7, 2012
Wade was very complimentary of the Nets, and of Brooklyn. Said it’s “absolutely” a more attractive franchise now that they are in Brooklyn.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 7, 2012
When I told LeBron what Wade said about Jay-Z only coming to LeBron’s meeting, he smiled, paused and said, “It’s true.”
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 7, 2012
Basically, Wade just wanted to feel welcomed by the important people within the franchise. He wanted to feel wanted. This is basically the same feelings that Deron Williams had when he visited Dallas last offseason; he said the dealbreaker for him was that Mark Cuban didn’t show up when he was there.
Would Jay-Z have made that much of a difference? Who knows? But Wade has also mentioned in the past that he wasn’t going to go anywhere, anyway. And he helped pull off one of the biggest free agent coups in league history when LeBron James AND Chris Bosh went to Miami to form an unprecedented squad. And we now know them as the defending champions.
But the influential people within NBA teams should know: if you want a certain star free agent on your team, show up to the meetings. That might make a difference.
