NBA Rumors: Why Miami Heat Are Foolish to Not Use Amnesty Clause on Mike Miller

Like any team, the Miami Heat have had their share of amazing deals offset with a great deal of questionable moves that still leave us scratching our heads.

For an example of an amazing deal, their acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal without having to include Dwyane Wade is by far the best deal of the decade and one of the best in the history of the game. The Heat threw in Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, a first-round pick and a second-rounder instead of Wade and still managed to obtain the NBA's most dominant center, who was still a force to be reckoned with.

As a result, Wade and O'Neal formed one of the league's greatest duos and won a championship in 2006.

For an example of a horrible deal, you don't have to go back too far to remember the deal that brought in the likes of Ricky Davis and Mark Blount. The worst part of each deal was just whom exactly they had to give up in order for the the services of an extremely selfish ball distributor and quite possibly the softest center the NBA has ever had the misfortune of seeing.

To obtain these two, the Heat gave up Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien, Antoine Walker and a first-round pick that ended up being Ty Lawson. In return, the Heat received two horrible players that were out of the league as soon as Miami decided that it was a terrible move in the first place by waiving Davis and trading Blount back to Minnesota for Quentin Richardson.

Yet, those two may not even be the worst moves they've ever made. The Heat might have just made one of the worst decisions they could have made in relation to their suddenly oft-injured sharp shooter Mike Miller. The Heat signed Miller to a contract last year that was worth $30 million for a five-year period and the perimeter specialist responded by hurting his thumb in a practice during the preseason and then shooting 36 percent in the regular season upon his return in December.

Miller was abysmal in the regular season and the postseason, where he shot 30 percent from the field, but at least the team would think it gets a healthy player back in time for the 2010-'11 campaign. After all, it's legitimate to excuse Miller for what happened last year because he injured the two most important parts of a shooter's stroke: his thumbs.

However, we're not sure how healthy Miller and his thumbs were, and the Heat now recognize he's not going to be able to return for another two months, as it was reported earlier this week by teammate Udonis Haslem that Miller had a sports hernia he just had surgery on.

Once again, the Heat are left without a sharp shooter and they might not even get him back at 100 percent for the entire season because of the extent of the injury and the surgery. A two-month layoff is an extremely long time for any player, and that includes a player who is coming off the worst season of his career. The player the Heat hoped would shoot 40 percent and hit the open perimeter shots the Big Three fed him was suddenly becoming more of a dream than an actual reality.

But hey, at least the Miami Heat got the amnesty clause. By utilizing, the Heat not only can cut Mike Miller, but they also scratch the remaining $24 million of his contract off the books and be free to pursue free agents to replace him. The Heat would, of course, continue paying Miller, but they can at least cut their losses and obtain a sharp shooter of equal or lesser value to replace him.

The amnesty clause is one of the greatest innovations of the NBA as it allows teams one chance to make up for a mistake they made in the past. It's already going to be put to good use as well with the San Antonio Spurs electing to utilize the clause on Richard Jefferson and that ridiculous $40 million deal they rewarded him last year.

I wish I could say the same for the Heat, I really wish I could, but I can't because the team is actually electing to not utilize the amnesty clause and will instead keep Miller through his injury and then wish for the best upon his return. In what may possibly be one of the worst decisions in the history of the franchise, the Heat are electing to stick by their guns and are willing to wait out yet another injury to their sharp shooter rather than pursuing a more capable player to replace him.

As far as bewildering moves go, this one takes the cake. The Heat are in an unbelievably desperate need for a three-point specialist after witnessing just how abysmal they were without Miller last season. James Jones isn't the answer to this because all he can do is shoot three-pointers when they don't matter and then provide absolutely nothing else because he doesn't drive, play defense or rebound.

This year's free agency is absolutely overstocked on three-point specialists, and even if Shane Battier does join the team that still might not be enough. If the team were at least able to write Miller's salary off the books, it could have made a cheap perimeter acquisition by going for the likes of Rasual Butler, Jamario Moon or even taking a chance on Michael Redd.

Maybe I'm not seeing what the Heat are seeing, however. Maybe Miller is making 100 percent of his shots in the practice gym and the team is just giddily waiting for his injury to heal so he can go back to playing full-contact basketball. Even then, we're still not sure how the Heat are expecting Miller to effectively contribute by shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc, averaging 10 points per, and then contributing intangibles such as hustling after loose balls and grabbing rebounds.

Of the little intelligence I have relating to my insider knowledge of Miller, I don't know much, but I can tell you just based on history and what I've seen from the perimeter specialist before is this team should have cut its losses when it had its chance. This team needs three-point threats and there is just no leverage to spend when you have a contract like Miller's sitting on the bench attempting to heal a hernia surgery.

Miami will make its moves this offseason and it'll improve, but not using the amnesty clause on Miller may be a deal that will come back to get the team later on.