Mar

12

Heat Players On Borrowed Time

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main 

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Although there?are 21 games remaining in the Miami Heat’s season, team coach/president Pat Riley is already looking ahead to next season.? He is also looking into the short-term, as the team is awfully thin at guard and small forward, missing Dwyane Wade, Dorell Wright and Marcus Banks, due to injury.?

First the short-term solutions.? For right now, the Heat intend to add more than likely a swingman to the roster on a 10-game basis - perhaps as soon as Wednesday.? And there’s some interesting prospects out there for the taking:

  • Julius Hodge.? Hodge was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the 1st round in 2005 and also played with?Milwaukee; since Hodge joined Albuquerque of the D-League, Hodge?has averaged 26.3 PPG in 3 games.
  • Gerald Green.? Green, the 18th pick of the 2005 NBA draft, has traveled around, going from Boston to Minnesota to Houston; the Rockets waived Green last week.
  • DerMarr Johnson.? Although he is 6′9″ (not exactly swingman height), Johnson has averaged 17.3 PPG and is shooting 39.5% from three-point range as a member of the D-League franchise in Austin, TX.?

Or if push comes to shove, the Heat can also check on some former camp invitees and early season prospects such as guard Brian Chase or forwards Marcus Slaughter and Luke Jackson.? there’s only 2 who pique my interest, and that would be either Gerald Green or Luke Jackson; Green is probably the closest to NBA game shape and is a known commodity in the league, while Luke Jackson is quite familiar with the Heat franchise and would fit the profile of a “swingman”.

Riley, as stated earlier, has identified a “core” set of players he has earmarked for a return to the Heat for next season; the group includes Wade, Daequan Cook, Shawn Marion (if his contract is rectified), Udonis Haslem and Wright.? Riley also said the team wou7ld round out that group with the usage of their projected $6 million mid-level exception and $2 million bi-annual veterans exception.? Notable names omitted from the core group - not surprisingly in my opinion - are guards Jason Williams, Ricky Davis and Marcus Banks (surprisingly) and center Mark Blount - all of whom have 2 years remaining on their contracts, respectively.?

Perhaps Riley said it best about the renovation of the team, which began in earnest with the trade of center Shaquille O’Neal to Phoenix as he told Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald, ”It’s time to start over again.? It’s not quick. It’s not something we have to do desperately. [But] you can bring the pieces back together in one year to be very competitive.”? So look for the 2009-10 season?to be the year when the Heat actually improves as a team, as a whole.



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