With just about everyone (Majerle [already gone],
Hardaway, Bowen, Mason, ready to leave Miami and little
money to sign any big time free agents, the Heat are
lucky just that Anthony Carter re-signed. If Grant can
regain his form from a few years ago, if Jones can show
more of his scoring skills, and if Zo plays (that's
not even a sure thing) Miami will still be around 50
wins like last year. <br>But the need for changes is
there and one direction the Heat might go is to sign
Rod Strickland to split time with AC at the point
and/or try to get Ruben Patterson to add his physical
play at SF. Recent troubles with the law might scare
some teams away and lower Patterson's contract
demands, hopefully enough for the Heat to pick him
up.<br>I believe that no matter who they pick up or lose,
Pat Riley can lead his team into the playoffs.
Unfortuinetely, I'm tired of bein the fan of a team that can win
enough to make it to the playoffs and just be a sure bet
to be out before the finals. It doesnt matter if you
win 50 games or 80 games or just barely make it into
the playoffs, unless you can take the conference or
league then it doesn't matter. What the Heat really need
is someone to light a fire in the team come playoff
time so that they can fight through the tough games of
the last 5 or so playoffs (last year don't count,
that was jus horrible).