Miami Heat Tickets

Miami Heat 2008/2009 Season Preview The Miami Heat were supposed to contend for possibly one final NBA title before Shaquille O' Neal faded off into the sunset, but instead a disastrous season saw a major overhaul in their roster.

The Heat finished with one of the worst records in the NBA thanks to Dwayne Wade's slow recovery from a couple of injuries and the dramaticly quick falloff in the play of O' Neal. The Heat quickly gave up on the season traded O' Neal to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

While Banks was just a throw-in to make the trade work for financial reasons, Marion was considered a valuable piece that could be used as part of a larger rebuilding plan alongside Wade or in a possible trade. The team still seems undecided on whether to include Marion as part of the rebuilding plan or look to deal him elsewhere.

Thanks to their awful record, the Heat was able to retain the second overall pick in the NBA Draft. Miami had hoped to select point guard Derrick Rose, pairing him with Wade to form a lethal backcourt. Instead, Rose went to Chicago with the first pick and the Heat selected forward Michael Beasley.

Despite questions about his character, Beasley is arguably the most talented player in the draft and is certainly expected to make the most immediate impact. He should be putting up a double-double on a nightly basis.

Lost in the selection of Beasley was the fact that the Heat were able to steal guard Mario Chalmers in the second round of the draft. How Chalmers fell to the second round is anybody's best guess, but at worst he will be a solid role player and a mainstay with the franchise for a long time to come.

General manager Pat Riley really likes Chalmers and could even make him the starting point guard and pair him with Dwayne Wade in the backcourt. It's also worth mentioning here that Riley decided to step down following the season (and no, it's not a coincidence that it just happens to coincide with the team's rebuilding effort) to return to his full-time role in the front office.

Outside of Wade, Beasley, Marion and Chalmers, forward Udonis Haslem is the only real serviceable player on this roster. The Heat are just counting down the days until players like Ricky Davis, Mark Blount and Jason Williams have their contracts expire, freeing up a ton of money to use in free agency.

The Heat will certainly improve upon last year's dismal record, but the health of Wade is still a concern. Until he can show he is 100 percent healthy and able to withstand the pounding of an entire NBA season, this doesn't look like a playoff team. If he is healthy, they might be able to hang around the middle of the Eastern Conference.