THE HEAT IS OFF

It was a tough weekend for the Miami Heat, as they focused all their free agent attention on Maurice Williams, only to have him sign a larger contract with his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks. While courting Williams, the Heat missed out on chances at signing Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, and Jason Hart. None of those guys would have been the missing link for the Heat, but they are all upgrades over the point guards left on the free agent market. Left out there is Brevin Knight, Jannero Pargo, and an aging Steve Francis. Knight is a good backup, but his inability to hit open shots would be highly detrimental in the Heat's offensive system. Pargo is a perennial backup as well, which leads us to Steve Francis.

Francis is a former 3 time all star, but after last season with the Knicks, those all star days seem long gone. Francis seemed slow and out of place playing in the Big Apple, but so did a lot of guys last year. Would the Heat be willing to role the dice on him, banking that a change a of scenery and a chance to play with 3 future Hall of Famer's would have him focused again? When he was at his best, Francis was a bit of a ball hog, dribbling too much instead of getting the offense into a flow, but he also never had weapons like Shaq & Wade to work with.

For years now, Miami has been a perfect location for a mediocre point guards to come play and go on to big pay days elsewhere. Our system has made career seasons for Erik Murdock, John Crotty, Raefer Alston, & Damon Jones, just to name a few. All these guys left after their big season for the $, but never played as well. Would this system do the same for Francis? I hope so, because if you watched the Heat at all last year, you knew that if Wade was not creating the offense, the team became stagnant. Francis is the type of guy, if he is back to his old ways, that can get a shot off. He is not afraid of the big shot, which is another issue they had last season. If Francis is the point guard they opt to go with, then they are getting the best option on the market at the given time, something has to be said for that, but it cannot be overlooked that they missed out on some guys that might have fit better.