Miami

Heat's Biggest Hole


Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services 

If any team must be on a win-now schedule at the expense of the future, it should be the Miami Heat. They've mortgaged much of their future to bring Shaquille O'Neal in; now they have to maximize their chances at a ring while he's still dominant. So where is their biggest hole?

The biggest question is should Dwyane Wade play point or shooting guard. The Heat's second-best point guard is Damon Jones, who is a terrific set-up point guard in that half court offense that Shaq requires. He'll find people coming off screens and he'll dump the ball down low, but he's not going to break you down. A backcourt of Jones and Wade would be a good combination.

However, that would mean both Eddie Jones and Wesley Person are performing backup duties at the shooting guard spot. Perhaps one of them could slide over to the small forward spot to give Rasual Butler a run for his playing time. At worst, the Heat have enough depth at the swing positions not to have to worry about it.

Do the Heat regret not picking up Jameer Nelson instead of Dorell Wright, given they are in the win-now phase? Nelson would have been a terrific point guard for them, either as a backup or as a starter.

Shaq finally has a backup center that can allow him to rest in the usual second quarter second-unit time in Michael Doleac.

What that leaves is the power forward position. The Heat do have last year's sensational Udonis Haslem, and a playoff stabilizing force in Malik Allen. They also have Spanish rookie Albert Miralles. Otherwise, that's about it.

If the Heat could pick up someone like Karl Malone, they would really be set to take center stage.

You can be fairly sure the Heat are likely not done dealing this offseason.

TEAM NOTES
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NEWSLINES

SportsBusinessNews writes about New Orleans: A 10-game weekend plan boasts Shaquille O'Neal's only appearance in New Orleans with his new team, the Miami Heat, while the 15-game plan includes a smattering of high-quality opponents.

Karl Ross ofThe Miami Heraldwrites: The body discovered this weekend off Fisher Island was that of a deckhand on the yacht where recording star and MTV award-winner Usher was being feted, Miami-Dade police confirmed Tuesday. The apparent drowning victim was identified as Craig Robert Rochel, 34, who crewed on the Gray Mist III, a 146-foot yacht docked at the exclusive residential island. A spokeswoman for Fisher Island said Rochel sometimes lived on the vessel, and would have been sleeping there the night of the party, Friday... The New York Post reported that Usher's party was one of the weekend's most lavish events, featuring live panthers on diamond leashes. The guest list reportedly included Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, pop star Christina Aguilera, rapper Lil' Kim and model Naomi Campbell.Publicists for Usher, contacted by The Herald, declined to issue a statement. Usher was quoted in a Post article saying he had nothing to do with the drowning death. 

Gary Levin ofUSA Todaywrites: Miami heat.MTV's Video Music Awards topped the cable charts with 10.3 million viewers. Even without controversy, the live special is reliably one of cable's biggest draws, and MTV ranked second Sunday behind NBC's Olympics. But this year's results were the lowest since 2000: off 4% from last year and down 14% from 2002's record turnout.