I knew this day was coming – the day the blog would relocate and become a real website!! WordPress was the perfect starter home for the past 2 years so I could learn the ropes. But as of today I’m making moves to a new look and feel at http://crankuptheheat.net/. Head on over when you have the chance.

And as always, thanks for reading

Pedro Heizer

Pedro, I know you aren’t the biggest fan of LeBron James, so what do you think of this on going thing about him not participating on the Dunk Contest? Kyle P. via e-mail

Kyle,

I’m not sure if you know this but, last year at the All-Star Slam dunk contest, LeBron James said “Right now I’m preliminarily putting my name in the 2010 contest Saturday night,” he said before continuing in the third-person, “LeBron James is saying in 2010, in Dallas Stadium, he will compete.” Fail on you LeBron. You broke your promise to the NBA nation. How do you think this is going to look on you as you attempt your lies to the poor fans in Cleveland by saying you are going to stay there? I’m sure that’s not going to help.

Here is my problem with LeBron James, he thinks he is the best thing since slice bread. What happened to the humble LeBron James, that in 2003 had much less body art and less self-centered? People tend to forget who they are as fame and fortune hit their head. They tend to start thinking they are like a god walking among men and that isn’t healthy.

Don’t get me wrong, LeBron James is an extraordinary athlete who is one of the three best in the game. But, that doesn’t give him the right to go to last year’s All-Star Dunk Contest and say what he did. Basically what that meant was, “hey i’m better than any of these guys and I can take any of them on”.

Pedro, There has been alot of rumors going around saying the Miami is going after LeBron. What do you think of it? do you think it will work? Julia Muzikowski via Twitter

Julia,

My answer to that is quite simple to say the truth, no, they are not going to play together in Miami. Wade is a superstar and LeBron is a superstar, you simply can’t have 2 superstars in one team.. look at the Magic (O’Neal, Hardaway), or the Nuggets (Carmelo, Iverson). 2 superstars can’t play together. LeBron needs this own team, and Wade needs his own team.

I know what you guys are thinking, “But Pedro, they played so well in the Olympics! surely they can play together” The only think i have to say to that is, it’s simple to play together for a period of time, let’s say a summer-worth. But to play an 82-game NBA season is not that simple. They would both want to score points and be the hero, and let’s face it, Miami is Wade’s house no one else’s.

Once again, thank you guys for filling my inbox, twitter and facebook with questions! I really appreciate all the support and love. Please, if you guys have anything you would like to ask fine me on Twitter, facebook, or e-mail me at pedro@heizer.us. I’ll begin having days (maybe once a week) in which I reply to your emails in the site.

Alston will hit the ground running. Many are speculating he will start as soon as Sunday versus the Clippers in LA.

Skip-To-My-Lou will give the HEAT the spark they have been missing all this year, he will bring a skillful playmaking abililty that Arroyo and Chalmers have lacked all this season, and most importantly, he will bring the defesive mindset of the Miami HEAT organization.

After last night’s Celtics game the HEAT and it’s fans needed a boost and Alston is just that. Now, many people are filling my twitter account wit comments saying how the HEAT must really suck if we are excited to have Rafer Alston.. the answer to that is no, we don’t suck, our point guards do. Alston is nearly averaging 10ppg, and 4 asp. Chalmers is averaging 8ppg and 4apg as well. Arroyo is averaging 5 ppg and 2apg. So clearly, signing Alston is clearly an upgrade from our current point guards, who by the way have been doing a horrible job.. So much so that Erik Spoelstra has been going with Wade at the point guard position.

No on puts it better than Riley himself. Riley told the AP today, “We are thrilled to have Skip back in a Heat uniform, as he brings another set of skills and experience to the point guard position. From his time in Miami, we know both his game and him as a person, and we had a great experience with him in the past. We are very happy to have Skip back in the HEAT family.”

With the vacant spot on it’s roster, the Miami Heat will try to re-sign point guard Rafer Alston, who was bought out by the New Jersey Nets today. Alston is a proven veteran that has played in Milwaukee, Toronto, Houston, Orlando, New Jersey and Miami. Alston was part of the 2009 Eastern Conference Champions Orlando Magic. Also, he was part of the exciting 03-04 Miami Heat squad that reached the playoffs in Dwyane Wade’s rookie season.

Alston was averaging 9.7 points, 3.9 assists and 2.3 turnovers for the Nets this season, but shooting just 34.3 percent from the field. For his career, Alston has averaged 10.3 points, 4.9 assists and 1.8 turnovers and shot 38.4 percent. Some believe Alston will start in Miami and have Mario Chalmers as his primary back-up. Alston can be expected to sign with Miami as early as Thursday because of the NBA rule 48-Hour waiver period. If that was the case, Alston could start as soon as Friday’s away game at Phoenix.

On another note, Carlos Arroyo could soon be gone as well. Miami has until tomorrow to decide whether they are going to retain Arroyo or if they will release him. I speculate that Miami will release Arroyo in order to try to get under the luxury tax threshold. not only that, but there is no need to have three point guards in the roster. There is no way Chalmers is leaving so the only one that makes sense is Arroyo. Miami used him for almost half a season and now they release him.. sounds good to me, I never really liked Carlos. (I know that will cause a ruckus between my readers that like Arroyo).

With the addition of Alston, the subtraction of Quinn and the potential subtraction of Arroyo, the Heat would be between $1 million and $2 million above the luxury tax threshold, which the Heat has been trying to get under.

I think this summer of 2010 is being as over-hyped as Windows Vista was when it first came out… I don’t see anything major happening. I think LeBron will stay in Cleveland, and Wade will stay in Miami..

No, Wade isn’t going to Chicago.. the Bulls are like the Cubs they are cursed ever since the great Jordan left. The Bulls are a one man team… It’s the Rose show and the future of that franchise is riding on the point guard’s ailing ankle. Why would Wade leave Miami to go to a team that is worse? He isn’t just going to go to the Bulls because it’s his home town and he idolizes Michael Jordan. LeBron to the Clippers? Is that even a relevant team? I thought the only team in LA was the Lakers… That rumor probably came from some Clipper that got annoyed with Blake Griffin not playing and he made the LeBron rumor. Okay.. so Wade and Lebron in New York. No, that won’t work, LeBron nor Wade want to play in that mess that we call Knicks. Sorry to break the news to you guys, Wade and LeBron are staying in their respective places… Miami and Cleveland.

Where else could Wade go? Give me a place you think he can go and I’ll shut it down because it would be as dumb as the HEAT Message Boards telling us Riley is actually thinking of a trade with Houston that will send Wright and O’Neal to Houston for Tracy McGrady…

Now, How about the other players. How about Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Manu Ginobili, Carlos Boozer, and Tracy McGrady? Here is what Miami is going to do. They should go after Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. No, they shouldn’t go after LeBron James, regardless what Wade said about thinking he “want” to play with James.. No, he really doesn’t. Wade is a superstar and so is James, they can’t co-exist in a NBA Team.

Bosh and Boozer would be great for Miami. They can move Bosh to the center position, put Boozer in the power forward, Beas in the small forward, Wade at shooting guard, and Chalmers running the point. That’s a monster roster. then with the money left we should sign some second-tier free agents who are willing to sign for less money in order to play with a championship contender.

I know many of you people don’t agree with me leaving Chalmers as the point.. Well though, I think Chalmers is the next Rajon Rondo of the NBA. Give him time, he will flourish under a star-studded team much like Rondo.

Don’t get me wrong, I was a fan of Mario Chalmers from day one. As soon as I heard Miami traded for ‘Rio I was excited to see him play. When he started on opening night and I saw him play I thought to myself, “Man, this kid id for real.” Regardless of what I thought, people still doubted Chalmers and wanted to see a better point guard. When Chalmers was not invited to play in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge during All-Star weekend, I thought that he deserved it more than Michael Beasley (I was never a huge fan of Beasley last year). Mario was leading all rookies in steals and assist/turnover ratio and he was left out of the game. Chalmers played with a grudge the end of the season and had a terrific second half to the season. Mario averaged 10 points per game, 2 steals per game, and nearly 5 assists per game.

Still, with the solid year Chalmers had, many experts said Miami’s top priority of the summer was to pick up Allen Iverson to improve the point guard position. I won’t be surprised if Chalmers took all that to heart and worked even harder this summer to prove all the doubters wrong. By the summer, Iverson was considered a cancer much like T.O in football. After the Sixers, every team he went to became bad and he ended up being traded. After his embarrassment in Detroit, many didn’t see many teams picking him up. People saw a great shot for Iverson here in Miami, but basketball guru Pat Riley had other plans. He wasn’t going to sign a washed up player to a Mid-Level Salary if he wasn’t sure he was going to perform. In a nutshell, Iverson had too high of a price tag. The Heat fans that wanted Iverson, were angry and questioned Riley when he said he was not picking up a point guard. (It’s all part of Riley’s Master-Plan people…)

When Memphis picked him up that shocked many people. Memphis ad a solid point guard and the other players didn’t seem like they were too excited that they picked up Iverson. But nevertheless, Memphis picked him up and he ended up playing only three games due to an injury. Iverson seemed like the arrogant jerk he has always been “I had no problems [with the hamstring]. I had a problem with my butt sitting on that bench for so long,” Iverson said after his first game back after his injury. “I’m not a bench player. I’m not a sixth man,” he continued. “Look at my résumé and that’ll show I’m not a sixth man. I don’t think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It’s just who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success that I’ve had since I’ve been in this league. I’m not a sixth man. And that’s that.” Soon after that rant, Iverson left the team for “Personal” reasons. Not after that Iverson was released from the Grizzlies.

After he was released, the “AI to Miami” bandwagon was back to full speed. What could be better? Iverson had just been humbled by his experience in Memphis, and now he was asking a very much lower price. Again, Riley passed on him and he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. I think that was a great place for him. He came around full circle, from the arrogant jerk to the humbled Allen Iverson. I think he will play really well in Philadelphia.

Now, not many people are saying how brilliant Pat Riley is. He passed on Iverson not once, but twice. People were begging to question his judgment. Just as people were questioning Riley’s judgment, Mario Chalmers began to play incredibly. Chalmers is averaging 10 points per game, and 4 assists per game. My case and point? Mario Chalmers is begging to play like the player Riley saw last year when he traded for him. If Allen Iverson was in South Beach, sure the arena would be full, but then after this season it would be empty all over again because Miami wouldn’t have had blossomed it’s Point Guard of the future (Chalmers). Riley is a pure genious, no one else would have had the guts like he did to pass on a future Hall of Famer like Iverson. We all know how he loves vets (he signed and traded for many in the summer of 2005 on route to Miami’s first NBA Championship.) But this time around, Riley was thinking of something he hasn’t thought about before. He was thinking about the future (2010). If this was two years ago, I would see Riley picking up Iverson because of Riley’s “Win Now” attitude. Thankfully, Riley has learned his lesson in the 2007-2008 NBA Season and is ready to build for the future instead of the now.

O’Neal is Miami’s X-Factor for many reasons:

First, he establishes a low post presence the Heat have been missing since Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning patrolled the the court. Second, he’s a scoring threat because he not only hits the high percentage shots, but can hit the mid-range jumpers from the corners.

Beyond that, he also seems this season to have something to prove. I believe he wants to show the NBA, and the world, that he’s still got what it takes to be a premier center.

How much of a difference does Jermaine make for the Heat?

Co-Captain Udonis Haslem told SI.com “He makes a ton of difference, anytime you can have an inside presence it makes everybody better, even Dwyane [Wade].”

Agreed, Udonis, JO’s play has elevated even All-Star Dwyane Wade’s game at times.

So far this season, O’Neal is logging 31 minutes per game and averaging 15 points and eight rebounds per contest; both slightly higher than his career average.

Unlike the O’Neal who previously donned a Heat uniform, JO hits the mid-range jumper with ease. This makes him a valuable asset and will be crucial in helping Miami make some noise in the Eastern Conference this season.

So far this year O’Neal is leading Miami with a .607 field-goal percentage and is averaging more points than anyone on the team other than Wade. With JO as the second-leading scorer for the Heat, it gives Dwyane some breathing room.

Wade is also getting help from his other teammates, as five other Heat players are averaging in double figures. This clearly isn’t the same Miami team from last season, where Dwyane had to carry the load every single night.

No, this year Wade trusts his teammates more and is passing the ball to them more often to let them take the shot. A year ago he would have simply done it himself, driving to the basket or taking the jumper.

More than anyone, though, Jermaine O’Neal is coming to the aid of Dwyane Wade this year. JO is ready to take on his critics and convince those who doubt him.

To those who said he was too old, or couldn’t play anymore, he wants to send a message; that he isn’t too old, and he can still play.

Some people tend to forget that JO just turned 31 this past October. That’s a year younger than when Shaquille O’Neal came to Miami. If Shaq could help in delivering a title to South Beach at age 33, there’s no reason to believe the younger, and frankly more skilled O’Neal can’t do the same before then.

Jermaine is not the same player he was last season. Last year JO wore two knee braces. From my own personal experience I can tell you that wearing those types of braces restrict your explosiveness and agility.

Case in point? Now that he’s no longer wearing them, O’Neal’s explosiveness and agility are back; which is a very good thing for the Miami Heat.

O’Neal can thank Dwyane Wade in part for his his new-found youth. Wade recommended O’Neal work out with legendary trainer Tim Grover, the same guy who trained Dwyane Wade himself, along with the likes of Gilbert Arenas and a guy named Michael Jordan.

Grover is known as a guy who can revive a players career, bringing them back from long stretches of not playing basketball.

As Gilbert Arenas put it, “He saved my career.”

When people thought Jordan’s career was over, Grover was the one who helped him win the last three of his six championships with the Bulls; after he’d taken a year off to play baseball.

Any Miami fan knows about him from his work with Wade. After injuries and surgeries to his shoulder and knees, there were questions about whether Dwyane could ever be as explosive as he was during the first few years he was in the league.

Grover went to the Olympics to begin training Wade, and even worked with him after the Olympics prior to the 2008-2009 NBA season.

What was the result of all that work with Grover?

Oh, nothing more than an MVP-caliber season and a scoring title, along with all of the explosiveness of his youth, that proved Wade was back for good.

Spending the entire summer training with Grover, Jermaine O’Neal seems to be seeing the same results. Everyone is feeling that this time Jermaine is for real.

Some cynics state he’s only now playing well because he wants to get a max contract next year (O’Neal becomes a free agent at the end of the season). They could be right, and that could be part of what is motivating him to do so well, but I’m not sure.

“He’s healthy,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra told SI.com’s Mark Montieth. “The energy, the liveliness you see in his legs, is a residual of the time he put into sweating and working in the summer. He’s allowed us to establish something (inside).”

Dwyane Wade also can’t help but notice the difference O’Neal has been this season: “This is the best Jermaine has played in at least three years,” he told the Miami Herald

Starting Five:

-          Mario Chalmers

-          Dwyane Wade

-          Michael Beasley

-          Udonis Haslem

-          Jermaine O’Neal

Key Reserves:

-         Jamaal Magloire

-         Daequan Cook

-         Quentin Richardson

-         Carlos Arroyo

-         Yakhouba Diawara

Significant Off-Season Additions:

-         Acquired Quentin Richardson from Timberwolves

-         Signed Free-Agent guard Carlos Arroyo

Significant Off-Season Losses:

-         Lost Jamario Moon to the Cavaliers

Man on the Hot Seat: Michael Beasley

The second overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft is in the hottest of seats this season. Coming off the lowest point in his life during the summer at rehab, Beasley is ready to prove the doubters wrong. Beasley averaged 14 points in 25 minutes of play last season as a rookie sixth man. That doesn’t seem like a lot but not many players in the league can produce that much in such a limited role. No matter what people say, Beasley is an enormous part of the Heat and hopefully he can get his act together on and off the court.

Biggest Question:

Can Dwyane Wade produce another MVP type season alone and stay in Miami after this season if that’s the case?

I believe Wade has the power to produce another type of season like last season. The problem this time around is will he want to do it alone? This year Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers are not rookies anymore and Wade should be expecting more help from them. The fact that Beasley was the second overall pick in the 08 Draft makes him a target for success.

Wade has already been public about wanting more help in Miami or else he will bail on them at the end of the season. What will Pat Riley do? Trade for talent? Tell Wade to navigate to storm alone for one more season and help will be on the way? If you listened to Wade over the off-season, he is really serious about this, he is in the prime of his career and he doesn’t want to waste it in a team that will not go back to the Finals. As of right now, The Miami Heat might as well be called the Miami Wade until we see if the rest of the team can help the One Man Band.

09/10 Record: 48-34 (4^th East, 2^nd Southeast Division)

Playoffs: Eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals by the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-3)

For you people at are interested, Arroyo will wear number 8 previously used by Antoine Walker and Shaun Livingston.

Now, here are my two cents about this. Miami needed depth at point guard, and team officials met Saturday to discuss a number of potential candidates. They settled on Arroyo, why? I don’t know, but coach Erik Spoelstra has been told he has been brought in to play backup to starter Mario Chalmers. Why don’t we trust that Chris Quinn can play solid backup? Now Miami has 4 point guards in its roster. Mario Chalmers, Chris Quinn, Carlos Arroyo, and John Lucas III. Lucas III and Arroyo’s contract are not guaranteed but they were invited to pre-season. Lucas seems on his way out, I don’t like the way he has been playing and it seems that with the Aroyo acquisition, Lucas III could possibly be on his way out.

One interesting thing i found on the NBA website, Arroyo played for Puerto Rico in the 2004 Olympic Games, scoring a team-high 24 points for his country when it stunned the United States 92-73 in an opening-round game. That’s pretty neat I would say.

I don’t hate him, I just liked Jamaal Tisley better. I hope he can prove me wrong. What do you guys think?

In 2005 Lucas signed a contract to play with the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Summer League team. The Timberwolves also signed him to their training camp roster. In the regular season, Lucas was a member of the Houston Rockets for two games before being waived. Later in 2006, Lucas signed with Snaidero Udine of the Italian League. After a month or so, Lucas again signed with the Rockets to a three-year contract. On October 30, 2007, Lucas was one of four players cut from the Rockets’ roster. He then returned to Italian basketball, joining Benetton Treviso. He was then later released by Treviso during that same 2007-08 season. Lucas was signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder in September 2008, and he was released by them in November before playing in any NBA games for them. Well on the bright side, he did win a championship.. NBA D-League Championship that is..

That’s the kind of player Pat Riley wants to keep Dwyane Wade happy? If I was Wade, I would go into Riley’s office and ask him to sign Jamaal Tinsley, no questions asked.

And what’s the deal with this other player Shavlik Randolph? Has Pat Riley gone mad? This guy, Shavlik Randolph, is a forward.. Didn’t we already discuss this in a previous post on how half of out roster are forwards? Why do we need another forward? just in case our other five get hurt?

Randolph went undrafted in the 2005 NBA Draft, but, was signed to a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. Randolph broke his ankle in 2006, in an accident during practice. On September 25, 2008, Randolph was signed to a non-guaranteed free-agent contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. His first game with the Blazers was played 38 games into the season, on January 14, 2009 against his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Randolph had 4 points in only 4 minutes of play. The Blazers did not resign him and he became a free agent.

Miami doesn’t need players of that caliber in their team. They are trying to build, at least i think, a championship team to support Dwyane Wade on his quest to win his second tittle. With players like this, Miami will not accomplish that goal and will eventually be left scratching their heads when Wade leaves in 2010 to sign with the Bulls.