Miami Heat Check: Will Pat Riley Regret Signing Chris Bosh?

It's hard to imagine the Miami Heat losing a game where Dwyane Wade has 39 points and LeBron James has a 20-point triple-double, but the Utah Jazz's 116-114 overtime win on Tuesday night proves the Heat's major issues will not be solved with better chemistry.

Many observers have credited the Heat's 5-3 start to an unfamiliarity with each other, and while that line of thought does have merit, the problem extends a little deeper than that.

The most glaring and obvious concern is the inability of Miami to contain opposing elite point guards.

Boston, New Orleans and Utah all dominated from the point of attack, and so far Carlos Arroyo and Mario Chalmers have not been the solution for Miami.

Most of the attention for the Heat's early season woes have been focused on the point guard position, but in each of the three games Miami has lost they have also been killed in the interior.

Post production was also seen as an Achilles' heel for Miami, because beyond Chris Bosh there was doubt as to which players would produce playing beside him.

So far those fears seem well-founded because players like Udonis Haslem have provided exactly what was expected of them, but players like Joel Anthony have yet to demonstrate they are capable of living up to expectations.

Anthony's production was counted on, but still uncertain. Harder to explain has been the performance of Bosh, whose play has failed to live up to the hype surrounding his signing.

Bosh was supposed to impose his will on the interior for Miami, but in each of the Heat's losses Bosh has been thoroughly out-played by his counterpart.

Kevin Garnett, David West and Paul Milsap have each took turns abusing Bosh, and with each loss the reality of what Bosh is actually capable of providing to the Heat is slowly sinking in.

Bosh is averaging 14.8 points and 5.9 rebounds through the Heat's first eight games, and although those numbers are not terrible, I'm not sure they are what Miami fans expected.

Especially the rebounds.

The Heat have numerous post players, but the only one with any real reputation as a rebounder outside of Bosh was Haslem.

Haslem has held his part of the bargain by leading the Heat in rebounding at 8.3 per game, but Bosh's highest rebound total so far has been 13, and against the Hornets he actually finished the game with one single rebound.

Of course all of the Heat's interior problems are not Bosh's alone, but the easiest part of his adjustment to a new team should be rebounding, since it's the most natural part of his game.

In theory it's pretty simple. Box out your opponent, establish position, and secure the rebound.

With Bosh it seems like something has been lost in translation, which makes me wonder if team President Pat Riley would not have been better served pursuing Amare' Stoudemire or Carlos Boozer a little harder.

Bosh is generally perceived as a better overall talent than either Stoudemire or Boozer, but the true post-nature of their respective games may have been a better fit with James and Wade.

Bosh has shown that he is more comfortable playing on the perimeter, facing the basket, but his tendency to drift beyond the lane often leaves him in bad position to secure offensive rebounds.

On the other end of the court, Bosh has yet to show the willingness to battle on the inside with opponents, and this does not seem like the type of thing that can be corrected.

Bosh can make a concerted effort to involve himself more on the interior, but the image of him as a dominant force in the post has been shattered, if it ever existed.

Of course hindsight is 20/20 and there may have been other extenuating circumstances involving Stoudemire and Boozer since Riley did publicly target each player.

Maybe neither player was willing to sacrifice the money needed to make a deal work, but in any case, they both appear to have exactly the type of post presence that Miami is lacking now.

The Heat will continue to improve as they play more games together, and the return of Mike Miller should allow James to man the point guard position more, which should relieve some of the pressure on that situation.

But the lack of a dominant post player is not something that can be corrected over time, and the Heat may have to pursue trade options to have any chance of realizing their goal of a championship.