The signing of Ray Allen definitely points the Miami Heat towards "Winning" in the offseason.

When there isn’t any basketball to watch and analyze, journalists are forced to go to option B, covering the NBA offseason movement.

The last few summers haven’t disappointed at all. LeBron James made the “Decision”. Dwayne Wade stayed in the NBA city that he has developed into a household name. Kevin Durant made post-modern history by not making a skeptical out of his contract extension by simply mentioning it on Twitter.

The summer of 2012 wasn’t as predominantly awesome as 2012 with the resigning of Wade, James taking his talents to South Beach for the first time and Chris Bosh hoping in his carry-on bag, but adding Ray Allen — no matter how old the man is, he will always be able to shoot the rock — never hurt anyone.

If a general manager or franchise owner then throws in a Rashard Lewis to reunite Allen and Lewis from their days in Seattle like the Heat front brass did, I’d say there is no reason at all to say the Heat didn’t win this offseason.

Rashard Lewis leaves a bad situation with the Washington Wizards for a winning one with the Miami Heat.

Let’s face it James, Wade and Bosh are not making small change. With three players making as much money as they are ($52,114,000 of the team’s $82,629,170 payroll for the 2012-13 season), it is almost impossible to build a team around them.

We seen the problems or issues of this very situation last season. Bosh was uncertain with his role and the other two superstars couldn’t beat the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals by themselves. They needed help.

This past season, they still needed offensive help — Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier and Mike Miller came up huge in the playoffs but struggled to stay consistent in the regular season — but Miami managed to add some defensive stoppers to the team. The aged knees of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Erick Dampier were replaced by a great interior defender in Joel Anthony; although, he was useless on the other side of the ball.

Battier improved defense on the wing and a healthy Udonis Haslem made for mass improvement for upfront depth and rebounding.

On the other hand, the Heat didn’t have much scoring at all.

Now Allen and Lewis add two lethal snipers from the perimeter, who will make any Miami ball carrier’s eyes light up when they see these two on the other end of their pass. Both of these guys can score 15-plus points on any given night. Besides James, Wade and Bosh, Miami hasn’t had anyone else who can fill up the net like these two can.

No one can deny the scoring ability of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James.

Lewis has dropped off from his three consecutive seasons of 20-plus points per game when he was with the Seattle Super Sonics, but his is still a legitimate threat. He isn’t going to be an All-Star on the Heat because that isn’t his role anymore. The Washington Wizards asked him to do too much with a squad with too little. The young players had talent, but no heart, no drive and no discipline what so ever.

There are only a few guys in the NBA I would expect to thrive in this situation — Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and James. If you didn’t notice, these are three of the best players to ever play in the league; far advanced from Lewis’ level of a solid player.

If the Miami Heat won a ring without much offense coming from outside the three superstars, then I don’t see why they couldn’t or shouldn’t repeat with them.

Not only can these guys shoot, but Allen is a clutch shooter who looks a buzzer-beater in the face without blinking and Lewis is a lengthy defender who can handle the ball and grab five or six boards a game.

I have no problem saying the Heat are the biggest winners of the offseason. They got two prime time scores who will help in other areas and will still have one of the best defenses in the league.

Also, who do they have to contend with?

Old Man Winter better known as Steve Nash joined the already aged Los Angeles Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a fossil in Steve Nash for four draft picks, including two first round selections. Nash is great and Kobe Bryant is 1B behind Michael Jordan when it comes to the best guards of all-time, but the Lakers are old and are not going to maintain a high level of play if Pau Gasol loses his edge — like he does midway through every other season — or Bynum does something stupid.

Plus, LA’s bench is still awful.

The New York Knicks signed Jason Kidd, also super old, and Raymond Felton, who is over weight and doesn’t seem to want to be in the NBA at times.

Houston over spent on potential in Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. If these two don’t pan out, neither do the Rockets.

The Nets made some key moves by resigning Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace while trading for Joe Johnson. I’m a fan of all three of these guys and think them plus Brook Lopez is a solid four. They will be in the playoffs and could even be a contender for a championship.

However, their bench is weak after MarShon Brooks and would get rolled in a seven-game series against the Heat or a Chicago Bulls team with a healthy Derrick Rose, even though they haven’t done anything other than let last years deep roster thin.

Miami has done a great job of not only enticing players to come to South Beach, but to sign on the dotted line as well. The Heat’s ability to get it done in the offseason will only transfer to impressive achievements such as a second consecutive NBA Championship.

            Tonight the Miami Heat (28-9) head back home to the American Airlines Arena to take on the New Jersey Nets (12-26). This is a big game where Miami needs to get back on a winning track after losing to the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers. The Nets head into the matchup after a big win against against the Charlotte Bobcats where Derron Williams scored 57 points. The Heat will welcome the return of much-missed Chris Bosh back into the lineup.

The first time these two teams met, Miami won 101-90. Since the Big Three formed last year, the Heat have not lost to the Nets. The Heat will have a chip on their shoulder after losing the last 2 games. Dwyane Wade needs to have a big game after his terrible performance against the Lakers and LeBron James will need to play like an MVP so that the Heat get back on track. Miami is very fortunate to have Chris Bosh back in the lineup tonight. The team missed him and will be looking to work him back into things.

As for the rest of the team, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem need to bounce back after having pretty bad games against the Lakers. Udonis will have to play some tough D on Kris Humphries and Battier will be asked to guard rookie MarShon Brooks for a few minutes. Chalmers and Cole have been playing well and need to continue to not turn the ball over. They also need to play lockdown defense when they are asked to guard Derron Williams.

The Nets are led by All-Star point guard Derron Williams. Throughout all of the trade rumors, he has continued to play at an All-Star level, evident by his 57 point performance the other night against the Bobcats. In that game, the Nets lost center Brook Lopez, who hurt his right ankle after missing the beginning of the season after having foot surgery. This is good news for Miami, who got killed by the Lakers size on Sunday afternoon. Miami also needs to watch out for Humphries and Brooks, who will be helping Williams manage the scoring load.

Miami should get the win here tonight, but I said the same thing on Friday night against Utah, so you never know. But the truth is, the Heat will have Bosh back and will be at full-speed against a team they haven’t lost to in two years. Expect a big game from the Big Three and the Heat to get back on a winning note. Check back after the game for some post-game analysis.