Deal or No Deal?

The question is becoming paramount, almost the defining point of this season - should Miami trade for help or not?

The Heat are 8-24 and even as Ira Winderman points out, it is with great optimism at this point the Heat could get back to contending for a playoff spot. Let alone a shot at the title. The Heat would have to win 33 of their remaining 50 games to get to that .500 winning percentage which basically assures a playoff spot. That means 33-17 the rest of the way and there is no reason to estimate that as probable.

The season, as it stands, is a failure. The only questions to be answered is how many games will Whaq show up for and how many games will Riley coach from here on out.

The Heat have to commit to the future - that is what Riley himself seems to be commenting about.

So the answer is obvious - the Heat are in win maybe mode. They need to refocus on the young players they have (Cook, Wright, Barron, Quinn, Joel Anthony and Alexander Johnson) and see where that takes them. Maybe even Cook, Wright and Wade could turn out to be something akin to the Odom, Butler and Wade lineup that was on the verge of shocking the world (at least Indiana) in the 2003-2004 season.

Even Isiah Thomas, the league's worst GM, realizes that today's NBA game is a small man's game. Riley, for all his coaching talents, has only begun to realize this last season. At least publicly. But let's not make the same mistake Thomas has made - taking whatever is available and forcing it to work - that seems to be what this past offseason was about.

Sure, Riley tried this offseason: yet as Yoda says, "do or do not, there is no try". And he did not improve the Heat's chances with the players he acquired. Thankfully, he did not put the Heat in as bad of a position as Isiah did with the contracts he got in return. Arison wouldn't sign off on it.

The Heat now are forced to build around what they have. What they have is a frustrated young superstar in Wade who doesn't like losing. What they have is a grumpy old center that has to find a way to recover his game as it slips from his mighty hands. Shaq's refusal to reinvent himself in his latter years is the true reason why Miami is faced with the fall from grace few championship teams have ever faced. The Heat look more like a flash in the pan than a sustaining force. A trend more than a classic.

But there is hope if one chooses to see it. Daequan Cook looks to be a legit NBA scorer with star potential - he has the mental makeup to stay in this league and build with Wade. So does Dorell Wright - when Riley actually plays the both of them which injury has forced him to.

Riley's inability to change also has been his downfall. Stan Van Gundy always showed an ability to work with whatever he was given - just look at how much his team changed from 03-04 to 04-05 and how the Heat sustained success. He did something even Riley in his rigidness could not do.

There should be no deal for Miami unless it is a deal for the future and not for the now. Any deal to try and salvage this season should be predicated on the fact that the Heat are not going to win a championship this season but look to the future instead. If Riley, proving stubborn and ever the optimist, makes the mistake of dealing for parts to win now, he is mortgaging the future on his narrow view as a coach instead of a broader view which is demanded of a GM.

There is no greater illustration of this than Riley's gamble on Jason Williams knees. The Heat's 2007-2008 season was bet on his creaky knees being healthy and as a result the Heat franchise has stumbled and now are found on their knees.