At this early stage in the season it is fairly safe to say that Dwyane Wade is playing close to the best basketball of his career. Statistically speaking, his numbers have been nothing short of MVP credentials. You have to look no further than the league leaders of any significant category to illustrate this fact.
Scoring? He's a hair behind first place averaging 28.9 points per game.
Assists? Wade is in the top five, keeping up with the league's elite distributors.
Defense, you ask? In regards to the perceived biggest weakness of his game, Wade is top three in steals, and remarkably, tied for fifth in the league in blocks. Fifth. The six-foot-four shooting guard is keeping pace with centers and power forwards as he protects the paint of a Heat team devoid of any significant shot blockers.
His incredible performance creates an interesting dilemma for Pat Riley.
Right now Wade is near the peak of his game. Considering the fact that he is 26 and likely won't play at this level forever, do you make a move that might tie up cap space past 2009-2010 and relatively speaking go for broke, or do you wait and hope that Miami can land a big name free agent in 2010?
To a degree there has to be a sense of immediacy in any plans made. That does not mean there should be a mortgaging of the future (trading Beasley), just that if Riley can swing a deal for an impact player while keeping Beasley and Wade there should definitely be some consideration even if the deal takes up future cap space.
You don't want to waste away prime years of Wade's career in the hope that we can make a huge signing in the future. That approach can backfire pretty easily if Wade gets injured, ends up signing elsewhere, or if we simply cannot land a big name free agent in 2010.
Riley has the bargaining chips (Marion's expiring being the prime example), now it's just finding the right deal. With so many teams freeing up space for the future, it is clear that not everyone will be a winner in the 2010 free agent stakes.
Look at the moves New York has made. Intent on looking towards the future, they gave away two of their best players. While this makes sense for New York, Miami should not emulate this approach. Instead Riles should try to make deals with teams making lopsided deals talent-wise just to clear cap space.
Considering the fact that Golden State got Jamal Crawford for an under performing Al Harrington, then Miami should be able to wrestle away an impact player (ideally an inside presence) for anything short of Beasley or Wade.
If Miami could land such a player (Marcus Camby anyone?), then the Heat would be capitulated into post-season relevance instead of simply making up the numbers. Since a championship is the only thing that truly matters, then why wait for the future? The time is now.
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