Heat-Burn: All Eyes on Me ...

BU ... No. Not on her. Rather, on Luther Campbell (pictured below). But I can understand the distraction (or is it attraction?) Ms. Dash causes on the cover of the June issue of King magazine, available at area CVS and other retail stores near you.  By now, you probably figured my colleague Sarah isn't the author of today's blog installment. But she'll be back.

What does this have to do with the Heat, you might ask? Plenty. Or at least something. Those who have the focus and commitment and strength and audacity to venture just a few pages inside this issue will find a rather candid and amusing take from Miami hip-hop icon Uncle Luke. He takes aim at Shaquille O'Neal in a Q&A segment in the mag.

I know, I know. We're violating our own request. A few days back, we asked for a hiatus on the Shaq hatefest. We wanted to focus on moving forward with the Heat's offseason. But we'll make an exception here, courtesy of Ms. Dash, because when Luke talks - provided we're able to understand at least some of the words that usually are mumbled out of his mouth - we listen. He's usually pretty amusing, whether he intends it to be that way or not.

Asked by the men's fashion, cars, music and other things magazine "What happened to the Miami Heat" this season, Uncle Luke unloads:

"Basically, the same thing that happens to every team Shaq plays on," Luke says. "For years, we thought it was Penny Hardaway, and then we thought it was Kobe, but there's no way he could put it on D. Wade. 'Cause (Wade's) the nicest guy in the world. They gave up Lamar Odom and Caron Butler to get (Shaq), and he single-handedly (messed) that franchise up."

Luke wraps up his thoughts on the good, bad and ugly of Shaq's three-plus years here, which included the Heat winning an NBA title in 2006. Shaq was traded to Phoenix in February for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

"The championship wasn't worth it, 'cause we're not even competitive" Luke tells King magazine in the aftermath of Heat's 15-67 season. "We can't even beat Duke now."

In other Heat-related magazine talk, Marion is interviewed in the June issue of SLAM magazine, which has an equally-unique but far less interesting cover shot. Most of what Marion says, we've all heard before. They include how things weren't going that well for him in Phoenix before he was traded to Miami for Shaq. How he loves Miami and hopes to build a home and play here a long time. How it was quite an adjustment to go from a winning team to one having the worst year in franchise history.

He did offer one interesting nugget, though, regarding the Suns' adjustment without him.

"I've been watching (the Suns) play lately, and I think they do miss me a little bit," Marion tells SLAM about his former team, which was bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. "I do stuff on the floor they probably won't be able to replace, but they have great players and they will be OK."

Coming Friday: Back from the Bottom - Our offseason evaluations of the Heat's roster, examining the role, status and value of each player - and options that might be available out there as potential replacements - in what shapes up as a busy offseason of transition in Miami.

Comments

[Shawn]

man, I miss Luther Campbell and 2 live crew;

"Me and my holmies like to play this game, we call it Amtrak but some call it the train. We all would line up in a single-file line And take our turns at waxing girls behinds. But every time it came to me...

awwww, Miyami in the '80s.

9/11 was an inside job

checkout wtc7.net watch the collapse videos

learn the truth

[ARay]

Looking at the upcoming draft. If the HEAT are able to get Besley, then what do they do with Haslem? If they get Rose, that will address the PG position. I have ask this question before, is Marion and Haslem a good fit for the starting forwards @ 6'7'' and 6'8"?

[maria]

1 and 1 we're having some fun in the bedroom all day and all of the night... 2 and 2 I took of my shoes in the bedroom all day and all of the night... all right that's my 2 cents on Luke. Miami, the good old days! Back to the Heat, I think either Beasley or Rose ould be great for Miami. I hope we don't get rid of Haslem... he's an UNDER rated player. No one understands the importance of his defense. They can work with him and make him great. I think we need someone in the middle. Definitely keep Marion, he's great! And he fits into the uptempo type team Spoelstra wants to put together. The most important thing is to have a healthy DWade! Please, tell me the rumors aren't true: Josh Howard to the Heat? Please! They would have to get rid of Marion and why would you choose Howard over Marion? So he can choke if we make the play offs???

[CSG]

C'mon now, didn't everybody know that when the Heat pulled the trigger on the Shaq trade four years ago that it would basically give the team a 1 or 2 year window of opportuntity to win a title (given his age)?

And in those two seasons, Miami won a title and came 1 game away from playing for another one. That's a pretty damn good return on investment.

Anybody who thinks a team made up of Wade, Butler and Odom could've had the same success needs to check out the Washington Wizards.