Miami Heat: Despite Missing Beasley, Heat Can Return To Form

With a 1.7 percent chance to acquire the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls somehow beat out the Miami Heat, who had a 25 percent chance of getting it.

And just their luck too.

It's almost safe to assume (it's never completely safe) that with Chicago's current build, that they will select Forward Michael Beasley with the first pick.  They have once-stellar guards in Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Larry Hughes and decent bench guards in Thabo Sefolosha and Chris Duhon.  Unless they move Hinrich, they don't need Derrick Rose.

Problem is, neither do the Heat.

But as peer pressure and media hype would have it, they are almost forced to select the Memphis guard with their pick, it's already been written in the stars like Kwame Brown and Tyson Chandler were once upon a time.

While I am Derrick Rose fan and supporter, he's not what the Heat should be going for.  The Heat need a Center, Forward (doesn't matter which since Shawn Marion plays both) or a Shooting Guard.

A Shooting Guard?  Isn't that Dwyane Wade's position?

No.  It's not.  It never was and it should never be again.

When the Heat were great—right before and right after the Shaquille O' Neal trade—Wade played the Point Guard position.  That drove opposing defenses up a wall.  There is no describing how difficult it is to ALWAYS have to account for the best player on the court. 

There's no way every defender could focus on their man when D-Wade has the ball—life doesn't work that way.  There were always five sets of eyes on him which open up opportunities for Shaq, Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Gary Payton and anyone else who wore a Heat jersey for those two years.

Now, Jason Williams walks the ball up the court, and Wade walks next to him, and Marion walks a little bit in front of him and Blount mosies along behind all of them and Ricky Davis lightly jogs to nowhere in particular and the opposing defense gets to set up the defense they want AND take a nap.

While they Heat may have made the switch to extend his career, it is better to have seven or eight Hall of Fame seasons than it is to have 15 seasons like last year's.

If the Heat are to return to prominence, they must put Wade back at the one spot much like fellow draft class member, LeBron James.  To have it any other way is to do the defense a favor and unless the opposing team bought Pat Riley's mom something nice for Mother's Day, they don't deserve any favors.

Wade constantly pushed the ball and constantly drove to the lane, always drawing double and triple teams, forcing the defense to collapse around him which left spot-up shooters like Williams and ex-teammate Damon Jones open.  It allowed Shaq to dominate from the weak side of the paint, even as a shadow of his Laker self.

If new coach Erik Spoelstra wants to keep his job (or lose it since likes Riley gets back on the boat when things are looking good) he will seriously consider moving Wade back to the one guard and drafting a player at any other position. 

Kevin Love hitting threes at one end blocking shots at the other sounds like a perfect fit.  Keeps one big man out of the lane and gives Wade a proven shooting threat on the perimeter—and that's what every great slasher needs, and Wade maybe the best of the bunch.