The Cat is out of the bag. Jamaal Magloire is back with the Miami Heat. A bruiser on the court and a stabilizing presence in the locker room, Magloire signed off Monday on his third one-year, minimum-scale contract with the Heat.
Known as the "Big Cat," the former University of Kentucky Wildcat becomes the Heat's fourth center under contract, joining fellow Heat free agent Joel Anthony, Cleveland Cavaliers free agent Zydrunas Ilgauskas and second-round pick Dexter Pittman, the burly center from the University of Texas. All, other than Anthony, are on minimum-scale contracts, with Magloire to earn $1.4 million this season.
"Re-signing Jamaal is a testament to his work ethic and his desire to win," Heat President Pat Riley said. "Over the past two seasons in Miami, he has been an asset to this team, in terms of being a role model for our younger players, with his professionalism and his strong locker room presence."
Bosh trades flannel for Fendi. {Shrug}
While James and Wade are internationally known on and off the court, Bosh's reach probably extends only to our neighbors to the north. He joked the ESPYS were his third time presenting at an award show but the first in the United States. Indeed, while James and Wade were at the MTV Video Music Awards, Bosh was mingling with Avril Lavigne at the MuchMusic Awards.
Maybe that's why Bosh has set up this private dinner in a curtained off room at XIV, where he has invited some friends and family along with Hollywood types (if Vivica Fox and Elise Neal can still be called that) to break bread and mingle.
"I'm trying to explore different avenues," Bosh said. "There is so much available to me now and I'm just trying to see what's out there, really. There's nothing really complicated about it. This all happened at a certain time and I'm trying to be more social with different guys in different cities."
It's a stark contrast to the Bosh I first met when he entered the league seven years ago out of Georgia Tech. Back then Bosh was just trying to figure out how to survive in Canada. When we spoke, there was a blizzard taking place in Canada and the more I spoke to him the more I saw him as a bookworm (he wore a plaid shirt tucked into his jeans and had his cell phone attached to his hip) than an NBA player worried about his image.
