A few months ago, before the NBA season was done, I wrote about how Boozer’s ultimate destination should and will be the Miami Heat. Well, guess who answered my prayers - Dwyane Wade. It seems as if Wade, who is entrenched in a contract dispute with the Heat, has lobbied for an improvement to the Heat’s young roster.

The good news for the Heat is multi-faceted. They have youth to move (Beasley, Haslem, Chalmers, Cook), and they also have Wade, one of the top-3 players in the NBA right now. Wade averaged 30.1 points per game, but nobody on the Heat’s roster breached the 20-point ceiling after him. That’s why Boozer, who put up 16.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, is such an attractive teammate.

The bad news for the Heat is that they’ve already reached the salary cap limit, and the presence of Jermaine O’Neal’s $23 million contract (which expires after this season) doesn’t help matters at all. By the way, that makes Jermaine O’Neal the third-highest paid athlete in the NBA next season. With Boozer on the hook for nearly $12.7 million next season, the addition of Boozer would do two major things.

The first is that it would devote $51.3 million of salary cap space to three players in Wade, O’Neal and Boozer. That leaves not-so-much wiggle room for anyone else on the team. The team would undoubtedly need to find a taker for Mark Blount’s $8 million contract, which expires in 2010/11. They’d also likely stand to lose Michael Beasley or Udonis Haslem.

And that’s the second major issue. Beasley’s ceiling is enormous. Nobody doubts his athleticism, especially given what he did while in college. The guy is a beast, and was second on the team in scoring with 13. 9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. His attractive rookie contract, and his youth, make Beasley an easy target for any team. The problem here is that Beasley is a natural small-forward, so the Heat would move than wish to retain The Beast so they could roll out a starting line of Chalmers, Wade, Beasley, Boozer and O’Neal. The problem is that Beasley is the only other attractive player on the Heat’s roster, especially if we’re talking about shipping in a talent like Boozer.

So while the Heat would prefer to keep Beasley, they’d likely have to keep Haslem instead. Udonis’s energy and leadership by example are what you pay $7.1 million for. He is good for 10-10 a night…but that’s about it. His deal also expires next year, and his fate is very much tied to what the Heat decide to do with Wade’s contract. But if you bring in Boozer, you’re paying over $21 million for two starting power-forwards. That’s a position no team wants to be in.

The only shining light in this whole situation is that Miami has Wade’s player option in 2010 counting for $17.1 million. After that, they are committed to zero players on their roster. Zero. They have four players on team option (meaning that a team can make the decision to resign or release said player, or match any offers made by other teams) and that’s it.

Boozer is sitting out there, dangling down a long line that is attracting teams like Chicago and Portland. But Miami remains Boozer’s best bet for a championship. It would also be his best basketball decision since he inexplicably left Cleveland and LeBron James for Utah. If I’m Pat Riley and the Heat, I’m not willing to gamble losing Wade by not picking up Boozer’s contract. And if I’m a Heat fan, there’s no way I’m sitting on my hands while the Heat are +4000 to win the NBA Championship in our NBA futures.

I’ve been saying it all along this summer – all you need to win an NBA championship is a small superstar (Wade) and a big superstar (Boozer). Kobe and Shaq did it. Paul Pierce and Garnett did it. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan did it. The Heat can not afford to miss out on Boozer this summer, especially given how many young contracts they have remaining. Get creative, Pat Riley. Your franchise’s immediate future depends on it.


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