Plenty of Happenings with Heat

In the past few hours, reports have surfaced that Mario Chalmers was sent home from the NBA's mandatory rookie symposium after weed and women were found to be in his room, the Heat have waived Stephane Lasme, and are close to re-signing Chris Quinn.

The one that most people will be talking about is that Chalmers may not turn out to be Super Mario. Now, I don't want to be hard on the kid, but what Chalmers did was nothing short of idiotic. I'm not saying that weed is that big of a deal. But taking it to a rookie orientation program is just absurd. David Stern has installed programs such as NBA Cares to help with the League's image problem in the wake of the 2004 Pacers-Pistons brawl. Shouldn't he have players who are good examples?

Mario Chalmers could face a short League suspension, and I would not disagree. Even when he comes back, I would make him earn every minute of playing time. Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra have to send a strong message that this childish behavior should have been out the door the day he graduated from college. Some may call it a 22-year-old acting like a 22-year-old. I call it "Welcome to the world, Mario."

Staying within the point guard situation, the Heat are close to re-signing Chris Quinn. It's a solid move by Miami. At the very least, Quinn is a young point guard who is a good shooter, has a great vision of the court, and knows his place on the team. He doesn't have the foot-speed to keep up with an uptempo Miami team, especially as the point guard. His foot-speed is an even bigger liability on defense. However, I expect to see some more of Chris Quinn this season. Quinn was starting to come around towards the end of the season and showed great maturation. On a team with more than enough offensive firepower, Quinn isn't bad in a halfcourt setting.

To possibly make room for Quinn, Pat Riley has waived goodbye to power forward Stephane Lasme. This is a move in which I don't agree with Riles. Lasme showed good rebounding, defense, and pick-and-pop capabilities during Miami's summer league. I'm not saying that Lasme will make a name for himself in the NBA. But I would have been much more comfortable with Riles waiving someone who didn't impress during the summer league and only adds to a logjam of sorts at their respective positions. The first two names that come to my mind? Jason Richards and David Padgett.

Pat Riley has implied that this is the team he feels confident with going into training camp. I disagree, quite strongly. With a void at the five, I still feel as though Riles has not filled that hole. Shawn Marion is going to go to another team next summer anyways. Why doesn't he make something out of it and at least bring a legitimiate post-presence? But don't lose faith yet. Pat Riley made a significant move in October of last season, although it proved not be the smartest trade Riles has made in his Hall-of-Fame career.