Smush, huh

I don't mind the Smush Parker signing. To be honest, I didn't even realize he was a free agent.
The guy he reminds me most of is Keyon Dooling. He's long, athletic, can defend and he is actually a better three-point shooter than Keyon.
I remember watching Smush in summer league a few years ago and thinking he was a hell of an athlete but a turnover machine. He hasn't really gotten a chance to be a true point guard in L.A., but he won't be asked to do too much of that in Miami, either.
What he does do is give Riley a complete change of pace at point guard, which a guy like Steve Blake wouldn't have given him.
Not a bad contingency plan.

No Mo, fo' sho

Honestly, I was never really that high on Mo Williams anyway. He had way too many high turnover games -- I counted 15 of five or more in 68 games last season -- for a guy who's not required to be his team's top creator. And he has never shot better than 38 percent from three. He was OK, but I don't know if he's a guy you commit to. It could've been one of those cases where the Heat fell in love with him because he had his two best games (a 38-point game and a triple-double) against the Heat.

Anyway, the point guard spot now is a bigger question mark -- the backup spot, at least. I actually like the idea of Steve Francis. As long as he knows he's going to play, at this point, I think he'll defer to Shaq and Dwyane, and he can create some when Dwyane's off the floor. I think the Heat could go into the season with J-Will, Steve Francis, Chris Quinn and, say, Orien Greene as its point guards/combo guards, then go after a guy who can play the small forward spot (I still like Mickael Pietrus, a lot). Of course, the only way you take a chance on Francis is if it's a one or two-year deal for very little money.

Interesting idea

Read this comment from heatfan4life, and it's a pretty good trade idea...

I came up with this 3 way trade. I wanna know what u guys think of it:

Miami gets: Shawn Marion
Phoenix gets: Kevin Garnett and James Posey
Minnesota gets: Leandro Barbosa, Udonis Haslem, Dorrell Wright, and Kurt Thomas' expiring contract plus possible 1st round picks from either the suns and/or heat. The salaries would match if posey agreed to sign and trade which he said he would do (and i cant see him saying no to a deal that would send him to the suns) KG goes to phoenix which probably is his 1st choice and Marion most likely would welcome this trade (unlike the rumored Celtics deal). Minnesota gets youth and no bad contracts. Only downside is they dont get a true big man in return but they could use the draft picks to get one

I see two problems with this (and I haven't double-checked it, just assuming the money works).
First, I have a hard time believing the Wolves would take this trade, unless it includes first-rounders from the Suns and the Heat, and even then it would seem difficult to sell them on a Barbosa-Wright headliner for Garnett.
The other problem might actually be more significant. Good luck to the rest of the league if the Suns get Garnett without giving up Amare. That team would be close to impossible to beat.
I do love Marion's game, though.

I shouldn't even be typing this

I feel dirty just mentioning it, because here I am thinking about the Heat's point guard needs when Derek Fisher is going through a medical ordeal with his daughter, but I'm going to write it anyway.
Fisher was waived by the Jazz so he can concentrate on the needs of his daughter, who has retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina. He said he'd consider retirement, but if he plays he'll only play for one of the few cities being considered for his daughter's care.
Well, Miami has the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, which boasts itself as the No. 1 ranked eye hospital in the United States (U.S. News in 2006) and is constantly doing research on retinoblastoma.
Fisher also said he's not sure how many teams appreciate what he brings to the table anymore, but Riley is definitely someone who would appreciate Fisher's defense and shooting ability, as well as his professionalism and leadership. Shaq has always liked D-Fish from their days together in L.A., also.
So I'm just saying, if Derek finds Miami as the best place to care for his daughter, then I'm sure Riles would love to have him on the team.

Holy Kapono!

Jason didn't waste any time cashing in.
The best shooter in the league, IMO, just got 4 years, $24 million from the Raptors, where they're implementing a Phoenix Suns type system, which means he can fire away.
Nice. He deserves it. Just hope he still gets the open looks out there. Outside of Bosh, they don't have a whole lot to make defenses collapse.
With all that money, he can just pay the defenses to go away.

Sleeper FAs

The more I read about Rashard Lewis and all the teams interested in him, the less I think there's a possibility he'll land in Miami. There are teams like the Magic who can sign him straight up, without any sign-and-trade complications, and there are teams like the Rockets who might have more to offer in a sign-and-trade scenario (plus, 'Shard is from Houston).

So that got me to thinking about some sleeper free agents who would look real nice playing alongside Shaq and Dwyane. The two atop my list are restricted free agents, which could make things tricky.
The first is Andres Nocioni, a restricted free agent with the Bulls. Chicago would likely match any offer that starts at the mid-level exception, but they've also got a boatload of players on that team and may have to decide pretty soon which ones they're going to pay long-term and which ones they're not. Deng is clearly the long-term answer at small forward for them, and they got Tyrus Thomas and now Joakim Noah to play at power forward. So maybe the Heat can take a chance and offer him a long-term deal starting at the mid-level and see if the Bulls want to commit that kind of money to him. The other option is offering the Bulls a sign-and-trade package, but I don't see too many available Heat players the Bulls would want to add.

The second is Mickael Pietrus, the 6-6 Warriors swingman. Now, I know the Warriors just traded Jason Richardson, which gives them enough room to play Pietrus if they bring him back. But it's also doubtful the Warriors would match a decent sized deal because they still have Stephen Jackson under contract through 2010, Al Harrington through 2010 and will probably re-sign Matt Barnes unless someone else offers him a huge deal. That doesn't leave much room for Pietrus, unless he's higher on their priority list than his minutes last year would indicate.
I think at 6-6 he's a quality swingman, and he shot 38 percent from three last season, which means he can shoot something like 40 percent with Shaq and Dwyane on the same team. Plus he's athletic and can run the floor well and has the potential to be a quality defender and rebounder.
The Warriors, by the way, would probably be more willing to take a sign-and-trade deal than the Bulls, with Dorell Wright as an attractive option, as well has Jason Williams, who is boys with B-Davis and would play Don Nelson's style perfectly (I have a hard time the Heat would trade its starting point guard without a replacement in place, however).

Some other guys I like as potential cheaper free agents who can fill the small forward spot (assuming either Kapono or Posey, or both, end up elswhere) are Ime Udoka from Portland, Morris Peterson from Toronto and Devean George from Dallas.
Udoka was huge for the Blazers last season, shooting 41 percent from three and playing pretty decent defense while starting all 75 games he played in. The Blazers have so many young players at the wing positions that they need to commit time and money to (Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Derrick Byars, Demetris Nichols) that they might have to let Udoka get away.
Peterson is also a shooter who would love the open looks, but he's also an underrated defender, which Riles would like.
George isn't great at anything in particular, but he's solid all-around and played and won with Shaq before.