27-year old center Joel Anthony has opted out of his contract for the 2010-11 season thus becoming a unrestricted free agent. Anthony played in 80 games (16 starts) for the Heat last season and he averaged 16.5 minutes, 2.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He has played in 169 games (45 starts) in his three years with the Heat in which he has averaged 17.0 minutes, 2.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.4 blocked shots. Anthony isn’t closing the door on the Heat and I don’t blame him for testing the open market instead of settling for slightly under 900K.

The Heat have traded 23-year old shooting guard Daequan Cook and the #18 overall pick in tonight’s draft for the #32 overall pick. This move was made to save money to spend on free agency starting next weekend. Cook played in 45 games (3 starts) for the Heat last season and he averaged 15.4 minutes, 5.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game despite only shooting 32% from the floor. He played in 179 games (26 starts) in his three years with the Heat and he averaged 22.2 minutes, 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Cook only shot 36.8% from the floor with the Heat and 35.8% from three point range. The Heat won’t miss Cook too much.

The Heat have picked up their team option for the 2010-11 season on 24-year old point guard Mario Chalmers. Chalmers played in 73 games (22 starts) for the Heat last season and he averaged 24.8 minutes, 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He has now played in 155 games (104 starts) in his two years with the Heat and he has averaged 28.6 minutes, 8.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Chalmers lost his starting job last season but he has the potential to earn it back if he gets the chance to. He might wind up being a backup if the Heat bring in a big time point guard or shooting guard for 2010-11.

I was amazed to see that the Nets turned down a deal that would have given them Michael Beasley for Keyon Dooling. The Heat evidentally are trying to rid themselves of Beasley so that they will have more cap space to lure some free agents to play with D-Wade in 2010-11. The 21-year old Beasley played in 78 games (all starts) for the Heat last season and he averaged 29.8 minutes, 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Beasley has now played in 159 games (97 starts) in his two years with the Heat and he is averaging 27.3 minutes, 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Obviously the Heat want to rid themselves of Beasley for some issues off the court because he is a good basketball player. If they were willing to take Dooling straight up for Beasley I think they will find a team that is interested in dealing for him maybe during the NBA Draft or shortly after it.

The Heat have 12 free agents heading into this summer but they need to focus on bringing Dwyane Wade back for the future before any of the other 11 free agents are addressed. D-Wade is going to have a lot of suitors outside of Miami but the Heat are the best team for him. That is because they can sign a couple of free agents (other than their own) and use their Larry Bird rights to go over the cap to bring back D-Wade. Udonis Haslem, Jermaine O’Neal and Quentin Richardson are the best of the unrestricted free agents that the Heat have and it will be interesting to see if they bring any of them back as they all still are decent players. Carlos Arroyo and Dorell Wright are also likely to be on some interest for the Heat to bring back into the fold. But, Rafer Alston, Yakhouba Diawara, Jamal Magloire and Shavlik Randolph are likely history for the Miami Heat. Backup C/PF Joel Anthony has a player option for 2010-11 but he is considering hitting the open market as a restricted free agent likely looking as much for minutes as money. Mario Chalmers has a team option for 2010-11 and they will likely exercise it seeing how he doesn’t make much money anyway.

Dwyane Wade put together another MVP like season for the Miami Heat, averaging 26.6 points, 6.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game.  He also shot 48% from the field, 30% from three, and 76% from the free throw line while playing 36.3 minutes per game.  This season wrapped up Wade’s seventh season in Miami, where he has career averages of 25.4 points, 6.6 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game.  Year in and year out Wade puts up these types of numbers and always has the Heat competing.  Just competing isn’t enough for D. Wade though, who led the Heat to the NBA Championship in 2006.  Wade wants to get back to the Championship level, and the Heat just have not been close to that since ’06.  Wade has put his body on the line during his seven year career with Miami, and it has taken it’s toll.  He has missed 103 games during those seven seasons and he deserves to be on a contender.  The Heat need to make sure they do everything they can to make that happen, because Wade is a free agent and he will probably leave if they don’t make any major improvements.  A rumor has been swirling around that the Heat will sign Chris Bosh.  That would definitely keep Wade in Miami and will instantly make them contenders again.  Whether it is Bosh or another big free agent, the Heat need to make some major moves if they want to keep Wade.

Kevin Garnett of the Celtics has been suspended for game #2 tomorrow night in Boston. He won’t play tomorrow night because of an elbow that he threw at Quentin Richardson of the Heat. Richardson was fined $25,000 bucks for his role in the altercation but he will get to play in game #2 for the Heat. This is big for the Heat as the Celtics will start Rasheed Wallace in Garnett’s spot and he isn’t near the player either K.G. is or that Wallace was himself just a couple of years ago.

Dwyane Wade has taken his team and put it on his back recently. In his last 5 games, D-Wade is averaging 38.4 minutes, 30.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.4 blocked shots per game. D-Wade has now played in 73 games (all starts) this season for the Heat and he is averaging 36.2 minutes, 26.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. The Heat better hope that they can convince D-Wade to re-sign with him over the summer or it will be rebuilding time in Miami.

The Miami Heat were on top of their game in March, finishing the month 12-3 and putting themselves only 1/2 game out of the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference standings.  Their leader Dwyane Wade had a great month of March.  He had six games where he scored 30 points or more and also had five games where he had 10 assists or more.  For the month, he ended up averaging 26.9 points, 7.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 1.0 blocks.  Those are all above his season averages.  Wade got some great help from his supporting cast as well.  Guys like Jermaine O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, and Carlos Arroyo all had some nice contributions over the past month.  The Heat have obviously been hot, and after a 98-81 blowout win Wednesday over the Detroit Pistons, they have now won six in a row heading into the final stretch of the season.  They only have seven games left, and all seven of those games are against some pretty weak opponents.  All seven of their final opponents have records well below .500.  The toughest team left on their schedule is the 28-47 Indiana Pacers.  The only negative for the Heat right now is that Jermaine O’Neal is battling a knee injury, which forced him out of Wednesday night’s win.  Still, the Heat should be pretty confident as the season winds down and I expect them to beat out the Milwaukee Bucks for the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.  The Bucks have a much more difficult schedule down the stretch, and the Heat are red hot.

Dwyane Wade has been a superstar for the Miami Heat all season long, but he has been playing some of his best basketball of the season in the month of March.  On the season Wade is averaging 26.7 points, 6.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 1.9 steals, and 1.0 blocks while shooting 47% from the field and 30% from three.  In nine games this month, Wade has averaged 30.9 points, 7.4 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.2 steals while shooting 48% from the field and 31% from three.  Wade had missed four of the last five games in February, and the Heat ended that month on a four-game losing streak.  Wade’s great play has helped the Heat go 6-3 this month and put them at the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference Playoff picture.  If Wade rides this hot streak into the playoffs, the Heat will be a very dangerous team to face in the first round.  Wade has the ability to put a team on his back, and with Jermaine O’Neal playing well, they could make a nice run in the postseason.