Heat Team Report

By: Yahoo! Sports
Getting Inside

By all accounts it was a great season for the Heat. It went from 15 wins to 43 wins, the seventh-best increase in NBA history, before earning the fifth seed in the playoffs and taking Atlanta to seven games in a first-round playoff series.

“The expectation of our team this year was to make the playoffs,” rookie coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Heat did that. And guard Dwyane Wade(notes) turned in the best single-season performance in franchise history. He led the league in scoring and finished second in steals, eighth in assists and third in the MVP voting.

Now Miami looks to the offseason, where one of the big goals is taking a look at converting Michael Beasley(notes) from power forward to small forward.

“It’s going to be one of the major areas of focus,” Spoelstra said.

The 20-year-old Beasley came off the bench for most of the season behind forward Udonis Haslem(notes), who is a veteran team captain and a more polished player. The hope is Beasley can start at small forward alongside center Jermaine O’Neal(notes) and Haslem.

“I think he’s best at (power forward),” Spoelstra said.

But Miami needs Beasley’s offense to support Wade.

So, Beasley, who struggled mightily defensively, will work this summer on defending quicker players on the perimeter. The trick is that you can’t use your hands on the perimeter defending small forwards the way you would down low defending power forwards.

Beasley, who only played one year of college basketball at Kansas State, at least has better defensive grounding now. That’s a big change from when he entered training camp as a 19-year-old rookie in October.

“It really was like getting a junior high level defensive player,” Spoelstra said. He quickly added that’s not a knock on Beasley but rather a reflection on how his offense allowed him to get by without learning defense.

Beasley said he feels comfortable at that end of the court now.

“Toward the end of the season, it started to become second nature,” Beasley said.

If Beasley can make the switch, the Heat has a strong starting lineup of guard Mario Chalmers(notes) and Wade in the backcourt and Beasley, Haslem and O’Neal in the frontcourt. The first players off the bench could be guard Daequan Cook(notes) and forward James Jones(notes). That’s a good start.

If Beasley can’t make the switch, however, Miami has two problems: finding a quality starting small forward who is a consistent scorer, and a second consecutive season of bringing Beasley, the No. 2 pick of the draft, off the bench.

“We have four or five months to give him a look at (small forward),” Spoelstra said.

Season Highlight: G Dwyane Wade provided the best moments of the season and one of the best seasons in NBA history. There was the game at Chicago before the All-Star break when he recorded a steal in the final seconds. That set up F Shawn Marion’s(notes) game-winning dunk with 1.5 seconds left. Wade victimized Chicago again at Miami when he stole the ball in the closing seconds of double overtime and then hit a running 3-pointer to win the game as time expired. There was also the game against New York at Miami in which Wade finished with 42 points, 24 in the fourth quarter. And then there was the triple-overtime victory against Utah in which Wade recorded 50 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, four steals and two blocks, the first time in NBA history a player reached those minimums. There was also the career-best 55-point game against New York. You get the idea.

Turning Point: The trade that brought C Jermaine O’Neal and F Jamario Moon(notes) to the Heat from Toronto in exchange for F Shawn Marion and G Marcus Banks(notes) helped and hurt. The trade, made during the All-Star break, landed Miami two starters and gave it financial flexibility for the future via O’Neal’s $23 million expiring contract. However, Miami never had a quality defender at small forward after Marion’s departure, and that proved hurtful. Still, it was a good trade.

Notes, Quotes

• G Dwyane Wade could negotiate a contract extension during the offseason, something the Heat would love. Or Wade could negotiate after next season, when he has an opt-out clause, joining the star-studded free agent class of 2010. Or Wade could wait until his contract expires after the 2011 season, something that almost assuredly won’t happen. Either way the Heat clearly wants Wade to return.

“He’s our franchise player,” Heat president Pat Riley said. “We’ve spent (six) years together. We won a world championship with him. We love him to death. The fans love him. He’s irreplaceable … but we also understand he has the right to wait (to re-negotiate).”

Wade said he’s thinking about negotiating an extension this summer, something that would allow the Heat to immediately select a path for future trades and free agent spending. But he didn’t commit.

“The first thing I want to do (in the offseason) is go watch my son play baseball,” Wade said.

• Rumors will fly with the Heat, from draft night all the way until the February trade deadline. F Udonis Haslem is in the final year of his $7.1 million deal, C Mark Blount(notes) is in the final year of his $7.9 million deal and C Jermaine O’Neal is in the final year of his $23 million deal.

Coach Erik Spoelstra expects his current group to return intact. “With that being said, always expect the unexpected with (president) Pat (Riley),” Spoelstra added.

The big prize out there could be Toronto F Chris Bosh(notes). His contract expires at season’s end and there’s speculation he doesn’t want to return to the Raptors. Going a step beyond that, some suspect the Raptors might want to deal Bosh before the trade deadline so they can get something in return rather than allowing him to leave for nothing via free agency.

G Dwyane Wade said he’s confident the Heat will do the right thing, whatever that entails.

“We have one of the best presidents in the game at going out and finding the right guys,” Wade said.

Quote To Note: “Don’t get me wrong. Everybody wants to be The Man, quote, unquote … The 30 points (per game), is that something I want to so every year? Not really.” —G Dwyane Wade on getting offensive help for next season.

Roster Report

Most Valuable Player: G Dwyane Wade did it all. He had the best season of his spectacular six-year career by leading the league in scoring, finishing second in blocks and eighth in assists. And Wade, who missed 31 games each of the previous two season, only missed one game due to injury. Wade ended up playing 79 games because he sat out the last two as a healthy scratch to rest for the playoffs.

Most Disappointing Player: It’s not a player, it’s a position—small forward. After the trade that sent F Shawn Marion to Toronto the Heat never had the presence it had previously. Among Jamario Moon, James Jones, Daequan Cook and Yakhouba Diawara(notes) the Heat never re-gained its edge at that spot. That’s why Michael Beasley gets a shot during the off-season.

Free Agent Focus: Miami needs a backup point guard, a backup center and a starting small forward. But it has very little cash. It has about $69 million committed for next season and the projected luxury tax is $69.5 million. In other words, F Ron Artest(notes) is out of the picture. Look more for low-key players such as G Jannero Pargo(notes), who could return from overseas.

Player Notes:

• F Udonis Haslem has a $7.1 million expiring contract, and he knows the Heat wants to develop F Michael Beasley, his backup. But Haslem, one of president Pat Riley’s favorites, said he wouldn’t allow trade talk to dominate his off-season or season.

“I just won’t read the paper at all,” he said. “I don’t watch the news. I don’t get on Twitter. I don’t do any of those things at all.”

• F Michael Beasley said his rookie season was a good one.

“I learned so much, day-to-day,” he said. “Every day you learn something new. I haven’t really though about it much. But I can be a better playmaker. I can just play harder and do the little stuff.”

Beasley will stay in Miami to work on his game.

“I’m going to be around for a while, working out,” he said. “I don’t really have any plans or schedule. Whenever I leave, I’ll leave.”

• G Daequan Cook had an up-and-down season. He won the Three-Point contest during the All-Star break but didn’t do much afterward.

“After the All-Star break the competition went up another level,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Heat is hoping Cook can correct that during the offseason. Cook, F Michael Beasley, G Mario Chalmers and F Dorrell Wright will stay in town (the Heat isn’t participating in a Summer League) to work on their games. President Pat Riley has jokingly dubbed it “Heat Academy.”

Medical Watch:

• The Heat enters the offseason healthy.