Miami Heat: T.J. Ford and 5 Free Agents to Help Reload

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For the Miami Heat, it's time to take a break from the seemingly never ending soap opera, sit down and consider their options going forward.  

Despite reaching the NBA finals, the Heat have just as many holes to fill as any other team in the NBA.  

On the top of that list are the glaring needs for a true point guard, a dominant center and clutch shooting off the bench.  

It's difficult to access where each NBA Free Agent will end up due to the uncertainty surrounding the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, but here is a list of 5 Free Agents that can help the Miami Heat reload and get over the hump in 2011-2012.  

T.J. Ford

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The Miami Heat need a true point guard.  

Look no further than T.J. Ford, who is set to test the free agent market this summer. 

Sure, Ford isn't going to turn heads with the numbers that he puts up, but it's the intangibles and sheer point guard sense that make him such an appealing option.  

He's quick in the opened court, and has an innate ability to find the opened man through his impressive court vision.  

The presence of Ford would allow the Heat to mold Mario Chalmers into the sixth man role, where he could blossom into an effective spark off the bench, given his shooting pedigree.  

No matter how you break it down, a team with championship aspirations needs a true, pass first point guard, and that's a luxury that the Miami Heat sorely lacked this past season.  

Sebastian Telfair

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Sebastian Telfair would be another great fit for the Miami Heat.  

The well-traveled former 13th overall pick is still only 25-years-old, and he'd bring a breath of fresh air to Miami's offensive template as a floor general.  

Far too often this season, Heat players have approached the offensive end of the floor in a one-on-five fashion. This deficiency was clearly the product of a lack of a true point guard on the floor.  

Despite suffering through a foot injury and falling out of favor with the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2010-2011 season, Telfair is young enough and talented enough to salvage his career. 

What other place would a point guard have a better chance at reviving his career than in Miami, alongside the Big Three? 

Glen Davis

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With the oft-ineffective Erik Dampier and Zydrunas Ilgauskas set to become free agents this summer, the Miami Heat are facing a potential glaring need at the center position.

Rather than blindly throwing their money at one of the two inconsistent, under-performing centers they had in uniform this past season, the Heat should choose to instead go a different route. 

That route leads to Glen Davis. 

Davis is a physical presence in the paint, can finish around the basket and has the ability to pull down his fair share of boards. 

Compare Davis' stat line of 11.7 PPG, 5.4 RBG, 1.2 APG to Heat centers Erik Dampier (2.5, 3.5, .4,) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (5.0, 4.0, .4) and you can begin to see how much of an upgrade Glen Davis would be for the Miami Heat.  

He knows what it takes to win a championship, as he was part of the Boston Celtics' championship team in 2008. The type of physical presence coupled with the championship pedigree that Davis can bring to South Beach cannot be overlooked.  

Greg Oden

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Yes, Greg Oden.  

All signs point to Oden making a speedy recovery in time for training camp.  

Miami won't be able to throw big time money out this summer, so the prospect of handing out a low-risk, high-reward contract to Greg Oden is an ideal situation for the Heat.  

No one has ever questioned Oden's skill set; he's one of the most physically gifted centers to come out of college in quite some time.  

His biggest Achilles heel, so to speak, is his health.   

Ultimately, IF Oden is declared fully recovered from his latest knee surgery, the temptation to sign him may be all too powerful for Miami to ignore. 

There's a lot of IF's here, but IF Oden can produce anywhere near the level he was expected to coming out of Ohio State, then we could be talking about the Heat as NBA Champions come this time next year.  

Michael Redd

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The Miami Heat saw it first hand. 

They witnessed the advantages that having a veteran scorer coming off the bench, such as the Dallas Mavericks' Jason Terry can provide.  

Luckily for the Heat, a player cut from the same mold as Terry, Michael Redd, is set to test the free agent market this summer.  

For a long time Redd was one of the premier scorers and three-point shooters in the NBA, but injuries over the past three seasons have seen him come crashing back down to earth.  

However, Redd returned at the end of this past season, and looked fairly healthy.  

He won't have the leverage to ask for a big contract, and given his age, you can bet Michael Redd has championship aspirations on his mind.

If Redd can consistently come off the bench and provide the Heat with an offensive spark, then we could be looking at a perfect match for both parties involved.