Finally, it looks like the hammer might be meeting the nail a little bit. On message boards and on the radio, fans have been drilling young Heat coach Erik Spoelstra for the team’s inconsistency and failures.

It looks like Wade also may be taking umbrage with his coach.

As per Ira Winderman’s article,

“Wade said predictability has contributed to the team’s series of late-game struggles.

“We’ve got to find a way also to mix it up, stop being a team that everybody knows exactly what we’re going to do and they just play us the same way,” the seventh-year guard said.

While this season never has been cast as one of championship contention, it has been cast as a bridge to this summer’s free agency, with Wade’s future in the balance.

For the moment, the foundation of support between player and team appears to be fractured.

“We should be much better,” Wade said. “I’m not going to say we should be number one in the East, but we should be a little better.”

I’d like to see them play more up-tempo and perhaps replace Quentin Richardson in the starting lineup with Dorell Wright. Beasley has proven he deserves as many minutes as he can physically handle, in my mind, all the way through the fourth quarter.

No one else on the roster, other than Wade, can get his own shot, and we need him out there.

Again, the focus remains the 2010 offseason and it almost seems like the team knows its zombies – walking dead who more than likely won’t be here next year and if they are, they ain’t getting paid like they think they should (I think there’s a chance guys like Q, Jermaine O’Neal, Rafer Alston may be back at minimal salaries, but if they expect paydays, it won’t be down here).

Is replacing Spoelstra the answer? Not this season, to me. I don’t think having Ron Rothstein (or one of the other assistants) at the helm would make an impact.

Riley isn’t coming down from the front office to coach a 6th-8th seeded team.

My own feeling on coaching is it is SO overrated: Doc Rivers coached an Orlando team that lost 20 games in a row, then became a genius in Boston, something tells me he didn’t get smarter as much as his players were better. We had Riley coach a 15 win team down here. However, coaches can be replaced and the 8 guys on the roster who don’t play well can’t, easily.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Spo isn’t the coach here next year, when we get our max player(s) to go along with Wade. I could see Riley disciple Byron Scott or even close ally Mike Fratello coming in if Wade and company don’t see Spo as the person to lead them when we expect a legit run.

There’s been speculation raised recently that the Suns are realizing they either can’t or won’t pay Amare Stoudamire to re-sign this offseason and that the Heat, among other teams, have shown interest in him.

Here’s the thing, Heat fans. The Suns would only do this trade to receive Michael Beasley in return. They don’t need expiring contracts because, well, Amare IS expiring already. They’d be better off keeping him and using him as a sign and trade bait in the offseason, and get something from someone in return… a player, picks, etc.

Now if you’d move Beasley, who has been steadily improving and is cheap for Amare, who’d you have to be to re-sign at a max contract is a fair debate.

The cons: Amare has had injury trouble in the past, has had microfracture knee surgery, and bases his game on athleticism. He is going to be 28 in November, and has a lot of mileage already. He is a great player, but Beasley is 1/4th the price and 7 years younger. One can argue Amare is tailor suited in the offense he is already in, playing with one of the best point guards of all time in a high octane system, and yet never has stood out as a winning player. You’d be giving up the chance at LeBron or Bosh in the offseason.

Pros: By trading for a chip you’d like to have now, you can trade off your other assets (expiring contracts like Jermaine O’Neal, Quentin Richardson, Dorell Wright) for other pieces and be ready to make a move. Other names who we’ve heard as potentially being available include Andre Iguodala, Tracy McGrady, and any Washington Wizard, up to and including George Muresan and Micheal Adams.

My verdict: I see the appeal if the target was Bosh, which is not likely now that Toronto has gotten hot and is playing well. To me, Amare is not worth Beasley at this point, and I’d hold off.

Any thoughts by you guys?

Dwyane was on MSNBC today talking about the efforts that he and Alonzo Mourning are making to help Haiti.
Please consider donating to the Red Cross, the new Clinton Bush fund, or Project Medishare, http://projectmedishare.org/who-are-we/index.cfm?page=Our%20Mission&id=3, which is the charity Wade is talking about here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

According to this article from the Memphis Newspaper, Memphis has it’s eye on Dorell Wright…

Meanwhile, the Griz haven’t abandoned their quest to potentially add another player through free agency or trade. Memphis is one of several teams showing interest in Miami Heat swingman Dorell Wright.

The Heat appears to be faced with the choice of dumping Wright or paying the NBA’s luxury tax.

Wright, a 6-9 forward, is earning $2.9 million this season. A versatile and energetic player, Wright is seen as expendable only because the Heat is unlikely to be in a position to re-sign him this summer.

Miami stands roughly $2.8 million over the tax threshold, after reducing its payroll by about $500,000 with last week’s trade of guard Chris Quinn to the New Jersey Nets.

Should the Heat get below the tax threshold, with the Feb. 18 NBA trading deadline essentially the cutoff for doing so, it would be eligible to share in a tax redistribution given each non-taxed team.

It’s no secret that the Griz have been shopping one or more of their three 2010 first-round draft picks.

A few things here… the Heat are trying to get under the luxury tax and wiping DW1 off the books accomplishes that. They probably need to renounce his rights in the offseason anyway to add a bigtime free agent, even though he is Wade’s BFF, which I am sure will cause some distress in the locker room.

Having an extra first round pick is VERY valuable, since we’d be trying to fill out our roster on the cheap next season OR to package it in trades for incoming contracts (since we’ll be under the salary cap, for example, we can give a team two picks for a contract like Caron Butler, or something like that).

Memphis has Denver’s and the Lakers’ picks for this year in addition to their own.

so I was watching todays game vs OKC with my buddy and we were brainstorming about the offseason. Assuming LeBron is a pipedream, he is pretty adamant that Bosh is still the #1 choice and put him at the 5 and keep Beasley at the 4. I think if we pick up Bosh (or another PF like Boozer or Amare for instance), we HAVE to trade Beas for 2 of the three: center or SF or PG. I can’t see Beasley and Bosh together, I don’t see them meshing on offense or defense.

We both agreed Joe Johnson is high on the priority list, but he is likely to stay in ATL. I like the idea of DW/Joe/Beas. Add a center thru FA like Camby or Heywood.

A secondary name as sort of a poor man’s Joe Johnson we discussed is Mike Miller, a large guard/SF who also has handle and can share ballhandling duties.

Short of adding free agents, the trade market is out there. I noticed the Wolves supposedly offered Al Jefferson for Danny Granger. Would you consider trading Beasley for Al if we added a PF in free agency? Al is more suited to play center… so Jefferson/Bosh at the 5 and 4 is pretty nice, for instance.

Thoughts?

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson had a lot of Heat intel for the Heat’s offseason plans, which, of course, start with the LeBron James pipe dream…

• Two people who spoke to the Heat said LeBron James is clearly the outside free agent most coveted by the Heat, but Miami does not want to risk losing out on other targeted stars by waiting too long. Re-signing Dwyane Wade remains the No. 1 priority.

“They’re going to get a feel for who they have the best shot at and will craft their strategy accordingly,” a source close to the Heat said. “They will pursue more than one guy. James is their top choice, but if they get a yes from Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire, I’d be shocked if they told either to hold on so they can wait on LeBron” — unless Miami has strong reason to believe James is coming. “If they get one of those three, they would feel confident they can keep Wade. Their biggest anxiety is losing Wade.”

The Heat expects to have between $17 million and $22 million in cap space after re-signing Wade — enough to add a second maximum-salary player but not a third.

Though Wade has said he prefers to stay, the Heat fears he could bolt if the team does not upgrade a lot this summer. Free agents can agree to deals beginning July 1, but cannot sign until July 7.

Though odds are against a James/Wade pairing, “the way the Heat looks at it is how do you pass on a chance to try to get two of the three best players in the league?” one source said. “They raised the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen comparison.”

The Heat believes Bosh could play center, and Bosh has talked about the appeal of playing with Wade. Miami’s chances of signing Bosh would diminish if he is traded to the Lakers, but ESPN said Tuesday there have been no Raptors-Lakers talks.

• Among other potential unrestricted free agents, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki and Boston’s Paul Pierce are expected to stay put. The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, Houston’s injured Yao Ming and Denver’s Kenyon Martin reportedly won’t opt out.

Among other potential unrestricteds, Joe Johnson, Michael Redd, Ray Allen and Manu Ginobili play Wade’s position, and moving Johnson back to point guard isn’t ideal. Though Carlos Boozer wants to come here, the Heat sees duplication with Boozer and Beasley.

If Miami cannot get James, Bosh or Stoudemire (and if Wade stays), one option would be trying to sign Memphis restricted free agent small forward Rudy Gay; or signing Boozer and offering Beasley (plus cap-fillers) for Gay or a front-line center or point guard.

If Wade re-signs, the other last-resort option would be splitting cap space among two or three potential unrestricted free agents including Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, Al Harrington, David Lee, Raymond Felton, Nate Robinson, Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, Brad Miller, Mike Miller, Peja Stojakovic, Brendan Haywood, Tyson Chandler, John Salmons and Channing Frye. (Dallas has an $11.8 million team option on Josh Howard.)

• Teams expect the 2010-11 cap to be between $52 million and $54 million. If it’s $52 million, Wade’s first-year salary would be about $17 million, a bit higher if the cap is higher. That would also be the first-year salary for James or Bosh with Miami. Players make more by re-signing with their current teams because they’re allowed 10.5 percent annual raises — compared with 8 percent — and sign for six years, not five.

On the Heat’s books for 2010-11: Beasley ($4.9 million), Daequan Cook ($2.2 million), Mario Chalmers ($847,000), James Jones ($4.7 million). But Jones’ cap number is $1.85 million if Miami buys him out.

Add about $1.5 million on the cap for the Heat’s first-rounder, and another $1.5 million or so if the Heat gets the Raptors’ first-rounder — which happens if Toronto makes the playoffs. There’s also a $473,604 cap hold for each of 12 unfilled roster spots, but those disappear when they are filled.

Bottom line: If the Heat has two first-rounders, buys out Jones and re-signs Wade, it should have $20 million or a bit more in remaining space.

• The Heat would love to re-sign Udonis Haslem, but he should get more elsewhere. To clear room to sign outside free agents, Miami likely will need to renounce Haslem, Jermaine O’Neal and Quentin Richardson, among others. That doesn’t prevent the Heat from re-signing them, but Miami could no longer exceed the cap to do it. Once a team uses cap space, it cannot use either cap exception.

Some noteworth stuff (if true)…

* They believe Bosh can play center.

* They seemingly will play one against another with Bosh vs Lebron vs Amare. Not sure if this is smart. First things first, they need to cement Wade though.

* Trades will probably be a big route available to them. But it’s disappointing we probably won’t use the expiring contracts we have to get good players now. In a usual year, having expirings like Jermaine O’Neal or Haslem would have netted some big name players. Now we’re going to renounce them and let them walk for nothing.

* Rudy Gay? I mean he’s a nice player but if he is the big acquistion, I’d be disgusted with how they played their cards.

In lieu of recent media reports that the Lakers (offering Andrew Bynum + filler) and Rockets are trying to get Chris Bosh before the mid February trading deadline, I was wondering, with the emergence of Michael Beasley at the power forward spot, if Bosh (or the other free agent power forwards) are no longer a consideration for the Heat this offseason.

I’ve long opined that LeBron is Pat Riley’s pipe dream of choice to bring to Miami, but even I admit there is probably as good a chance of me suiting up for the Heat.

With Beasley maturing (on and off the court), is the need for Bosh there? I don’t think Bosh can reasonably play starting center, nor does his game mesh with Beasley in the power rotation. Carlos Boozer would love to play here, but, again, he is a 4 and no way can play center. I believe Amare CAN play center in the east, but will Phoenix let him go, and would he be ok being a second (or third) banana with Wade when the Knicks can promise him first banana status with a coach he knows.

One under-reported avenue of improving the team will be via trade. We’ll have a ton of cap room to absorb other teams contracts, teams who perhaps have a bad combination of players or who are mired with contracts and want to get some breathing room.

With Beasley approaching legit status and assuming he’s a keeper, we can add a complimentary small forward like Tayshaun Prince, or a point guard like Monta Ellis, or a center like Emeka Okafor. We’ll have the sign and trade ability of our expiring guys, and probably 2 number one picks (ours and Toronto’s) to dangle.

Just some food for thought. Any comments would be appreciated.

This team is very disheartening. Losing to the Bobcats after having a 20 point first quarter lead is pretty awful.

I was thinking about how the cloud of 2010 is the cause of this season’s inconsistencies and attitude.

For one thing, the front office and coaching staff’s #1 goal is appeasing Dwyane Wade. Making sure not to piss him off, lest he leave in a huff, screwing the team in the process.

This is why no one can question his shot selection, and why Riley had to make a carefully worded statement about getting him in optimum shape and bringing in his personal trainer Tim Grover.

The other big name veterans on the team – Jermaine O’Neal, Quentin Richardson, Udonis Haslem, Carlos Arroyo, Dorell Wright, are all impending free agents, and their future in the league depends on their stats. Most, if not all, are not assured of being back here, and if they are it will be at the Heat’s price.

The young guys are not being helped by this. Ira Winderman alluded to the Beasley “freeze-out” in San Antonio. He went off for 20 in the first half and then didn’t get the ball much after that. Was it just bad chemistry? Was it intentional to appease Wade and make sure he is still the offensive star, no matter what? Coincidence?

The other youngsters – Mario Chalmers and Daequan Cook have unquestionably regressed and the chance they have of becoming prominent forces on the team are slight, this season anyway.

I think Coach Spo is in an unfortunate position. He has to walk on eggshells as the team is essentially being held hostage until next season.

More bad news: the upswinging Hawks and Celtics come to town before a 6 game road trip. We could be looking at a team 4 or 5 games under .500 and at the bottom of the playoff race as soon as mid January.