Put The Heat Back On!

The Heat are obviously more than one good offseason from turning it around, but there are still some pieces in place, that when healthy could contend for a playoff spot. If the Heat management makes some moves to complement the existing pieces, we could be right back into the playoffs. Here is what I would like to see happen to our roster. Draft Beasley, sign Diop, Duhon, and a cheap shooter. That would allow us to try to trade Haslem for another center or another point guard. It would leave us with a starting lineup of Diop, Beasley, Marion, Wade, Duhon. Diop would add that defensive presence in the front court and would not cost too much money. He is also young enough to get better instead of Mourning, who is far past his prime. Duhon has not been playing regularly all season, but when he gets in there he puts up good numbers (i.e. 22 points and 15 assists the other night), plus he is a very good defender at the point guard spot. Imagine bringing in 2 defenders to play with Marion in the starting lineup. This would make up for Wade and Beasley on that end of the court.

Bench would be Mourning (if he came back), D. Wright, Cook, Banks, [player from the Haslem trade], some cheap shooter, Joel Anthony, & 2nd round pick. I would not be adverse to resigning Chris Quinn, who has been playing great in the 2nd half of the season, or taking a longer look at Kasib Powell. The bench looks a lot like this years, except for whomever we could get for Haslem, and I am OK with that. I am banking on development from Cook, Wright, Anthony, and Quinn. Wright was really starting to play well when he got hurt, and Cook is only a rookie, so I expect more from him next year. Not every rookie can enter the league on fire. Remember he would only be a sophomore in college right now. As for the aforementioned Haslem trade, I am expecting that we can get a solid rotation player for him, from a team that feels they are one PF away from being a championship squad (i.e. Orlando, Houston).