The Miami Heat have lost center Shaquille O’Neal indefinately with a hip injury. The Deisel is starting to slow down at his advancing age but he still is one of the better centers in the NBA. He has played in 32 games (all starts) this season for the Heat and he is averaging 28.5 minutes, 14.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.7 blocked shots. Shaq is shooting 58.1% from the floor but only 48.2% from the free throw line. Veteran Mark Blount will replace Shaq in the starting lineup and he is a decent center. He has played in 29 games (8 starts) this season for the Heat and he is averaging 17.3 minutes, 6.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Like Shaq, Blount is a good shooter from the floor (50.3%) but he’s a poor free throw shooter (57.1%).

Alonzo Mourning will miss the remainder of the season after having surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his knee. The injury might force him to retire and that would be a sad way for the warrior to have to leave the game. Mourning played in 24 games this season and he averaged 16.0 minutes, 6.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game. The Heat will miss Mourning’s leadership and burning desire to win the rest of this season.

The Miami Heat have signed 2nd year forward Alexander Johnson to a 2-year, $1.5 million dollar contract.  The 6’9″, 240 pound Johnson played in 59 games (19 starts) as a rookie last season for the Memphis Grizzlies and he averaged 12.8 minutes, 4.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.  He shot 53.8% from the floor but most of the shots were from close range and he made 66.1% of his free throws.  Look for Johnson to back up Udonis Haslem unless the Heat him before the season starts making either Johnson or Wayne Simien the starting power forward for 2007-08.

The Miami Heat have signed Anfernee Hardaway to a 1-year contract.  Hardaway was last seen playing in 4 games during the 2005-2006 season with the New York Knicks so it will be interesting to see if he has anything left in the tank or not.  He will likely slide into Eddie Jones role of last season off of the bench if he makes the team.  Penny Hardaway has had a long, good NBA career.  He has played in 688 games (549 starts) and he has averaged 34 minutes, 15.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  He also has shot pretty well as he has hit 45.8% from the floor, 31.5% from three point range and 77.4% from the free throw line.  You know this move had to please Shaq as he and Hardaway played together with the Orlando Magic in their younger days.

The Miami Heat have signed point guard Smush Parker to a 2-year contract.  He played in 82 games (80 starts) last season for the Lakers and he averaged 30.0 minutes, 11.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  Parker shot 43.6% from the floor, 36.5% from three point range and 64.6% from the free throw line.  Parker will battle Jason Williams for the starting job unless the Heat winds up trading Williams before the season starts.

Parker has played in 246 games (181 starts) and he has averaged 26.3 minutes, 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  He has made 43.4% of his shots from the floor, 35.7% from three point range and 71% from the free throw line.

The Heat have signed guard Jeremy Richardson to a 1-year contract.  Richardson played in 6 games (1 start) as a rookie for the Hawks and Blazers last season.  He averaged only 3.3 minutes, 1.3 points and 0.3 rebounds per game.  Richardson hit 3 of 6 (50%) of his shots from the floor and he hit 2 of 3 (66.7%) from three point range.  Richardson will be a long shot to make the Heat.

The Miami Heat acquired Daequan Cook, a 2009 2nd round pick and cash for Jason Smith.  The Heat took full advatage of the Sixers who had the hots for Smith.  Cook is a 6’5″, 210 pound shooting guard/small forward.  Cook played in 39 games last season for the Ohio State Buckeyes and he averaged 9.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game as a freshman.  He also is a solid shooter as he hit 44.5% from the floor, 41.5% from three point range and 69.7% from the free throw line.  Cook’s playing time as a rookie will hinge on how many of the Heat’s free agents they re-sign.

The Miami Heat will likely say goodbye to a lot of players that underperformed last season for them.  Eddie Jones, Jason Kapono, Gary Payton and James Posey are all free agents.  The Heat will likely only try to sign Kapono and Posey as they both really help out with their long range shooting as they make teams pay for stacking up their defense in the paint.  The Heat needs to get younger and more athletic.  With that in mind the Heat will likely look to draft a small forward or a point guard…whichever is the best available of those two positions.  The Heat hold the #20 and #39 pick in tomorrow’s NBA Draft.

Dwyane Wade willed his team to a division title with his outstanding effort last season.  He was beat up all season long as he only played in 51 games last season.   He averaged 37.9 minutes, 27.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  Wade shot 49.1% from the floor and 80.7% from the line so his shooting was fine.  But, he should quit shooting 3-pointers as he only hit 26.6% from that range…..which is too far for him.  Still, D-Wade is the best player on the Miami Heat.

Dwyane Wade’s career numbers are on the upswing as he keeps improving as a player every season.  In 264 career games, D-Wade has averaged 37.6 minutes, 23.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.  All three of his career shooting percentages went up after his 2006-07 season.  He has hit 48.4% of his field goals, 24.9% of his 3-pointers and 77.7% of his free throws. 

The Heat showed no heart yesterday and the Bulls took it to them on their own court and ended the Heat’s season!    Dwyane Wade was only 8 for 22 from the floor and he turned the ball over 7 times.  He still finished up with good numbers (24 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists) but anyone that saw the game knows that D-Wade didn’t play well yesterday.  Shaquille O’Neal wound up wth 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.  Alonzo Mourning is one player on the Heat that came to play yesterday as he finished with 14 points, hitting all 6 of his shots from the floor in 16 minutes off of the bench.  James Posey got a rare start and he finished up with 5 points, 18 rebounds and 2 assists in 36 minutes.  Udonis Haslem bounced back and had 8 points and 19 rebounds after having a terrible game in Game #3.  The Miami Heat’s season is now over after getting swept 4-0 by the Chicago Bulls!

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270429014