Heat In Search Of Identity

It certainly does not seem that long ago when the Miami Heat were consistent visitors to the NBA playoffs. They had a good mesh of players with defined roles. But free agency has reared its ugly head. That’s when the roof caved in for the Heat. Dwayne Wade had knee and shouulder surgery yet his return so far hasn’t really paid any dividends for the team. But it goes beyond D-Wade.

Shaq, to be quite honest, is a shell of his former self. Mind you he isn’t Adonal Foyle (reserve center for the Orlando Magic) just yet, but his skill set appears on the downslope. What didn’t help the Heat either was the fact that they allowed forward James Posey to escape to Boston, 3-point sharpshooter Jason Kapono went to Toronto and even Eddie Jones left - to Dallas. And it isn’t so much allowing the trio to leave Miami insomuch as the team got little to nothing in return.

Because of the lack of 3-point shooters, it is getting much easier to defend Miami players, especially Shaq and D-Wade. The Heat hope that small forward Dorell Wright would step up, but he’s languishing on the bench. So Miami decides to turn those reins over to one Penny Hardaway, who is averaging in his time on the court 3.8 PPG - this after sitting out 2 seasons. Granted, the Heat did make some acquisitions during the offseason in swingman Ricky Davis, forward-center Mark Blount and guard Smush Parker. The problem there is that even at this juncture of the season, no roles have defined for the trio.

So what does Heat coach Pat Riley do? He mixes and matches players in searching for answers to the offense. And the end result validates the Heat’s problems: they are shooting an OK 44% from the floor but they rank dead-last from the free throw line and are averaging about 89.5 PPG. I would have to venture to say that Miami, if it wants to be relevant again, need to do 1 of 2 things: make a blockbuster trade to get some title-winning talent, or play this season out in the hopes of making a splash in the free agent market when it will have the money to make some noise.