Shaun Livingston to the Heat? "A dead issue" for now.

Heat president Pat Riley called signing point guard Shaun Livingston a "dead issue," because Miami has no open roster spots.

Riley said Tuesday he still is intrigued by Livingston--drafted by the Clippers with the 4th pick in 2004--but no signing is imminent. "We're hopeful but we have to wait. Everyone has to be patient if that's going to happen."

One of the main issues is salary cap space. The Heat is $415,000 under the luxury-tax threshold so the Heat would need to create space. Another question is whether Livingston could contribute this year--or in the future. He suffered a horrific knee injury in February 2007 and has not played since. He injured almost every part of his left knee, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament and lateral meniscus. He also sprained the medial collateral ligament, dislocated his patella and tibia-femoral joint. He sustained the injury after landing awkwardly following a missed layup. Doctors initially told him he might have to have part of his leg amputated. 

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trailblazers had been interested recently in Livingston too, but Portland passed on him and Monday Minnesota vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale said that Livingston had chosen to sign with Miami. Asked whether Livingston was on his way to Miami, Riley said Tuesday afternoon, "not right now...he was here 10 days ago."

Livingston was a topic of interest during the Clippers media day, particularly since free agent acquisition and former Heat point guard Jason Williams abruptly retired last week. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy noted the Clippers offered Livingston a two-year contract (the first year guaranteed and second year a player option) that he turned down.

Would the Clippers reach out to Livingston again?

``I don't think we need to. They know where we stand," Dunleavy said, according to the L.A. Daily News. "We still like Shaun a lot.''

Dunleavy watched him work out this summer.

"He looked good," Dunleavy said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "That's not the issue. What you don't know is how he'll hold up."

Would you like the Heat to sign Livingston? Is he worth the risk?

Comments

[gs]

he wouldent make the heat a better team than it is right now. dont sign him

[Pedro Heizer]

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[matt]

i think it wood be a good thing to sign him because he has shown that he can play, he's better than all the other guards that the heat have

[AP]

He's young and has a lot of upside. We can get him cheap. We have a hole at PG. Seems to me like a no-brainer. However, my knowledge of salary cap is little.

[Phillip]

Question is: Is he another washed-up former star for the Miami Heat fantasy on-paper team or is he for real? I say try it -- if he's 80% of what he was, we have a pretty decent PG solution, and he'd work well with D-Wade. But I think Riles is going to wait until after a trade or something so he doesn't have to exceed the salary cap to sign him, and is banking that he'll still be around. Really, he's a 2009 signing early.

[Winters]

They should definitely sign Livingston. He is only 23, his best years are ahead of him. He is a pass first point guard whose size would cause matchup problems when he is healthy. Also adding another guy from Illinois cant be a bad thing when trying to resign D Wade long term.

[Rod]

The biggest reason why Shaun Livingston wouuld be valuable to us, is becasue currently we do not have anyone that can create shots for others, other than D.Wade. His size and lenght can also cause matchup problems in both end of the floor. The only problem is that we do not have the money to sign him right now, but theres nothin that we lose in signing him, Im all for it.

[Danny]

I say we go for it. Sure he might not be able to help us out right away, but if we hang on to him now he'll be a success later on. I dont see what we have to lose, get rid of Jason Richards' contract or whoevers our 15th man and sign Livingston!! Do it Riles!

[Dude]

LIKE BARACK OBAMA SAID IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE!

[SHA]

ofcourse........ if u take a shot on penny hardaway, why not shaun........ he is a project worth taking the risk on because he is young and, experienced in the leauge....... how can this be a bad thing i mean we have that richards guy on the team and, he is out for the season he holds a roster spot because the heat siGned him....... even if shaun doesnt play he'll play next year and at the age of 25 if he is fully healthy, our current pointguard issue will be no more...... MARK MY WORDS PEOPLE.... I DONT KNOW IF EVERYONE REMEMBERS BUT, WHEN TIM HARDAWAY INJURED HIS KNEE IN 93-94 NOONE THOUGHT HE HAD ANYTHING LEFT.... THEN THE HEAT GOT HIM FOR HIS FINAL BUT BEST YEARS....... WITH LIVINGSTON THE SKY IS THE LIMIT BECAUSE EVEN IF HE REHABS ANOTHER YEAR HE'LL ONLY BE 25 YEARS OLD 26 MAX........ A 6 FOOT 7 PG WITH MAD SKILLS IS WORTH THE WAIT TO ME........ BUT THATS JUST MY OPINION.......

[steve]

I wouldnt sign him. He sucks. And he's hurt.

[Jimmy]

Sha he cant shoot. Neither can Wade(3pt range). Cant have a backcourt that cant shoot.

Especially with a lowpost presence like Beasley..... need shooters to open the floor aruond our inside-out duo of focal points (Wade and Beasley)

Plus Livingston cant push tempo and will never be the same..... Tim's injury was WAY WAY different and he still was never as good for us as he was for Golden State before he got injured.

No to livingston, not worth losing the luxury tax money we recieve (9 million dollars)

[gobola]

Livingston worth is no than high to loose the luxury tax money(some millions)and also, please ,remember the problems with White Chocolate's knees,in Miami he never was the same that used to be...