The Heat have suspended point guard Rafer Alston indefinitely for making himself unavailable to the team. He had a recent nasty outburst when taken out of a game and the Heat just aren’t going to put up with that kind of stuff from a player who has been awful. Alston has played in 25 games (all starts) for the Heat this season and he is averaging 26.2 minutes, 6.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Alston is only shooting 35.5% from the floor so the Heat won’t miss him while he is out.

Jermaine O’Neal has been playing some very good basketball in the month of February and has really stepped it up the past few games with Dwyane Wade out.  O’Neal is only averaging 13.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.4 blocks on the season.  This month has been much better for O’Neal though, with him averaging 16.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.0 blocks.  He has scored 18 or more points in five of the last six games and kept the Heat from falling apart with D. Wade out.  They are 2-2 without Wade and O’Neal is the main reason why.  O’Neal has had a lot of injury problems the past few years though, and has been playing through a strained back lately.  If O’Neal can stay healthy and keep up this productive play, it could really help the Heat make a surge in the Eastern Conference playoff picture when Wade returns.

The Miami Heat’s superstar guard Dwyane Wade has missed three straight games with a calf injury.  Wade injured his calf early in the game against the New Jersey Nets on 2/17 but the injury is not deemed serious.  He had an MRI on the calf and it revealed a minor strain, and no tears or long-term damage.  The problem with a calf strain is that it is similar to an injury like a hamstring strain, meaning that it can linger for quite a while if it doesn’t get enough rest.  The Heat need Wade as he is averaging 26.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.1 blocks this season.  They don’t want to rush it though and make the injury worse, so they are “cautiously optimistic” that Wade could be back as early as this weekend.  Don’t be surprised if Wade is out longer though.

The Heat will be without back-up point guard Mario Chalmers indefinitely due to a torn ligament in his left thumb. He has played in 46 games (22 starts) for the Heat this season and he is averaging 24.7 minutes, 7.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game. The Heat are lucky that they held onto Carlos Arroyo who will take over Chalmers’ minutes. Arroyo has played in 38 games (11 starts) this season for the Heat and he is averaging 16.1 minutes, 4.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. The Heat should be o.k. until Chalmers returns to action because Arroyo is a decent ball player.

The Heat once thought that Dorell Wright was the best athlete on the team (that probably didn’t make D-Wade too happy). But he has never developed that athleticism into production at the NBA level. The real reason that the Heat want to trade Wright is because they don’t want to play the league’s luxury tax. Wright has played in 32 games (0 starts) this season for the Heat and he is averaging 17.9 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. He has now played in 171 games (55 starts) in his career with the Heat and he is averaging 18.7 minutes, 5.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. The Heat should be able to find a taker for Wright given his youth and possible upside.