The Fallout

In the midst of his induction into the Hall of Fame, Pat Riley addressed two pertinent issues about the Heat: the release of Stephane Lasme and the expulsion of rookie guard Mario Chalmers from the NBA's Rookie Transitional Program.

"We didn't know where we were going to head, as far as trades or whatever," Riley said, regarding the Lasme situation. "But we're really close to the tax, our roster's almost full, and we wanted to give him a chance, a real chance he could hook up with another team. He's got a lot of ability, and I think with the right team, he's going to hang in there. We have some other guys who probably are going to make the team in his spot."

Riley certainly has a point. Lasme is just 6'8", and Miami already has Udonis Haslem, Shawn Marion, and Michael Beasley. Barring an injury to any of those three guys, I never envisioned Lasme receiving much time on the court. But Lasme did have a strong summer league showing and appears to be fundamentally sound. I did not get the same impression when I saw David Padgett and Jason Richards two months ago. Padgett wouldn't have gotten a place on the rotation with Jamaal Magloire, Mark Blount, and Joel Anthony at the five. It would be difficult for Richards to find minutes with Marcus Banks, Mario Chalmers, and the plausible re-signing of Chris Quinn. Pat Riley, despite being in the Hall-of-Fame, is not infallible. He makes mistakes. This was one of them.

On to fallout with the Mario Chalmers incident. He released a statement through the team in which he stated he used bad judgment. He said he was embarrased by what happened and broke the rules; but denied smoking marijuana. Chalmers was very coy about the situation. So was the only rule he broke the fact that he invited women? Therefore, was Darrell Arthur the one who brought weed? Or maybe he brought weed but didn't smoke it? Regardless of what really happened, David Stern could end up giving Chalmers a brief suspension at the commencement of the season.

Will the Heat make a trade that could trigger a ripple effect in the NBA? I have no idea. Although Jamaal Magloire gives Miami some size in the middle, he is not a quality starting center. I still have a hard time seeing Marion in a Heat uniform beyond this season. The Heat have already signed James Jones, Dorell Wright, and Yakhouba Diawara to contracts this off-season, all small forwards. Hopefully something will happen. Because a few phone calls to fellow GMs could improve Miami from a .500 team to a contender.