Miami Heat to Re-Sign Mario Chalmers and James Jones

The Heat have locked up two of their key free agents, reports the Palm Beach Post: “Chalmers will remain with the Heat for at least this season and, according to sources, it is for more than the team’s original qualifying offer. He tweeted this at 10:17 a.m. Friday: ‘Imma MIAMI HEAT player until they don’t want me no more. Let’s get this ring’ The Heat’s initial qualifying offer, to make him a restricted free agent, amounted to roughly $1.1 million. Miami would have had three days to match had Chalmers received an offer from another team. Chalmers is now the favorite to start, with Norris Cole likely to get minutes unless the Heat adds another low-budget point guard option. … In a phone interview Friday morning, [James] Jones said that he turned down more lucrative offers in order to agree to a three-year contract with the Heat. He will be at training camp today. While he did not reveal which teams offered his an opportunity, he did say that mega-deals around the league impacted his available options. ‘I had to make pretty much a gut-wrenching decision,’ said Jones, who decided Thursday night. ‘It was a very complex situation but, at the end of the day, I came to the conclusion that being here was the best place for my me, and the best thing for my family.’ Jones and his wife have three school-aged children — two girls and a boy. ‘The stability definitely played a major factor at this stage in my career,’ Jones said. ‘It’s not all purely financial although that is a part of it. I had to weigh what is best for my family and myself, and Miami ended up being the best choice.'”